Revealed: The (Sometimes Strange) Things We Stash in Our Bags

We know we're not the only ones who stash a snack or two in our bag for later. After all, you never know when a granola bar will come in handy and prevent you from speaking while hangry—nothing good comes of that.​

Working where we do, we have food on the brain at all times. That, combined with constant photo shoots (which need to be shopped for and then produce delicious dishes that need to be eaten), means the contents of our bags are often food-related and almost always a little more unexpected than gum or mints.

At least one of us keeps a small tin of salt on hand. (As Kenzi explained: "I never, ever mean to imply that I think I’ll need it for other people’s food. It’s just that one summer I found myself near a lot of tomato patches—a lot of tomato patches that seemed overflowing and like they needed just one, or two, okay, three tomatoes taken away from them—and it came in very handy.") And a quick poll of the office revealed that we're carting around a lot of other interesting cargo​:

This is Olivia's gym bag—which has a can of tuna in it. Post-workout protein snack?

What? You don't have poultry stashed in your bag?

And it's not just Ali. Clare also fessed up to having "bag chicken" on her recently: "I took a cooked leg of chicken as a post-cooking demo snack for myself last night. Pulled it out and ate it on the move while cleaning up at 10 PM."

Caroline says: "If I don't eat something small between the hours of 4 and 6, my commute home begins to feel like a battle zone. I'm not usually one to buy Snacks with a capital S, but salty things like sesame sticks and corn nuts and crunchy Japanese snack mixes are the exception. I crunch them very loudly on the train."

Victoria's long weekend is starting with a train ride, and she's ready with refreshments.

Jojo says, "These days, I keep an apple in my purse at all times (and sometimes another one in a filing cabinet!) to try and encourage healthy snacking in the face of Food52 kitchen treats. It works about 17% of the time; usually, I end up consuming both."

Briana doesn't mess around with a single snack, she has an entire meal in her bag, complete with a red velvet ice cream sandwich for dessert!

Rebecca's tote is stuffed with seasonal goodness: "On my mad dash home to beat traffic down the shore, I stopped at the farmers market stands they set up outside of the Grove Street PATH station to grab these beauties. I'll give you two guesses as to what I'm making tonight."

Of her mini bottles Kaitlin says, "I wouldn't be a card-carrying Vermonter without a nip or two of maple syrup."

Lindsay-Jean (hi, that's me): I have a tiny bottle of hot sauce in my bag and a bottle opener. You just never know when you'll need to make a Michelada in a bottle.

Tell us: What's the strangest food-related item in your bag?