Brown Bagging Is Not An Option: Get A Fashionable Lunch Tote

At my office, lunch is a fashion show. I work in a 44 floor building in NYC with over 2,000 of the US's most fashionable lifestyle and fashion magazine peeps. So naturally, when you go to get lunch in the gourmet cafeteria, you're not really there for the food, you're checking out the shoes. But now, I have no excuse to go down to get lunch anymore – I can't afford it. "Make room for another victim of the weak economy: lunch," says Dana Mattioli from the Wall Steet Journal.

The prices of food have risen, and if you aren't lucky enough to work for a company that realizes this (like Google and its free cafe!), then what are you to do? Bring a brown-bag lunch? It's so second grade.

Not anymore. eBags.com is reporting an increase of 39% in the sales of lunch bags and coolers this June over last year. People are bringing their lunch to work more than ever.

By going this route I'll save myself over $200 a month. That will likely be eaten up by the rising prices of so many other victims of the economy, such as plane tickets and gas. But for week one of my new money-saving adventure, I'm going to take the money and buy a fashionable lunch bag.

eBags.com is selling Elle's line of lunch accessories. The Nicolette lunch bag ($24.95) has an insulated interior and carries any meal or snack. The thermal interior is water and stain resistant and can be easily wiped clean.

The Milano Insulated Neoprene Lunch Tote from Target ($15) has clear acrylic handles, separate sections for food and drink, and an outside compartment for napkins or utensils.

The Built NY Gourmet Getaway Lunch Tote ($22.77) insulates hot or cold food for up to four hours and is just adorable in polk-a-dots.