Whether you're preparing a lunch for a younger student or whether you're in college on your own, there are some helpful tips from the USDA.
When you're packing cold food, use an insulated lunchbox or cooler and at least two cold sources, such as freezer packs.
Put you can put juice boxes or water in the freezer, and use those the next morning in the lunchbox.
At the end of the day, clean out the lunchbox.
If you're a college student on your own and need a little help, there are a couple of apps you may want to look into.
One is Ask Karen. The other is Foodkeeper.
Ask Karen provides 24/7 assistance and tips on preventing food borne illness, safe food handling and storage, along with tips on how to safely prepare meat, poultry and egg products.
The Foodkeeper app will give you guidelines on how long food lasts and how to store it.
This helps you use the food you have while it's at its peak for quality, and it helps you reduce waste.
Billions of pounds of food go to waste every year in the U.S because consumers aren't sure of its quality or safety.