A few weeks ago, I was reading one of my favorite food blogs and I saw a post about pre-packing lunches. I usually don’t pre-pack my lunch because I like to flee my office during lunchtime. But then I realized that I could still escape, as long as I eat at my desk, first.

Enter: The tiffin. In the blog post, Heidi Swanson talks about packing a lunch in an Indian lunchbox. Maybe you’ve seen them before. My colleague told me that her grandfather, who was a coal miner, used to bring one everyday for lunch.

Tiffins are multi-tiered cylinders with removable layers, so you can put different things in each compartment. The one I ordered has latches on both sides, so it’s very sturdy and it prevents spills.

My favorite part about tiffins is how many different things you can pack in one, seemingly small container. Tiffins are practical, but they’re also fun. It’s sort of like having a babushka doll, but even better because there’s food inside.

A word to the wise: Pack tiffins carefully. I made the mistake of putting the chana masala from last night in the middle compartment, so it flooded over a little when I closed the three layers together. If you put the messiest food item on top (the one with the most liquid, etc.), you can avoid that problem.

I’m excited for my next tiffin lunch. If you want to buy one, here’s where I found mine. And here’s a link to one of my favorite movies, in which tiffins have a starring role. The movie also has one of my favorite quotes: “The wrong train can take you to the right station.”