Any special likes or dislikes?
One suggestion is to get the bowls and boxes with built-in gel packs to freeze. That will help keep things cooler for a longer period. Or freeze an extra water bottle with ice to use along with the one to drink from. Bonus is an extra bottle of water as it melts.
Heartier sandwiches, noodle salads, potato salad, plenty of fruits and cut up veggies along side the sandwich.
Trail mix is a really good pick me up in the middle of the day to keep the energy flowing. There are many recipes on the web and you can adjust them to personal taste.
Make the sandwiches on hearty bread instead of white bread. The complex carbs provide much more energy.
Hope this helps a little.
Lisa

I like to make something similar to calzone, except that I braid it on top. I generally put cold cuts and cheese inside with a bit of pasta sauce so that it won't be dry, and it seems to travel well without refrigeration. It holds up much better than a sandwich, although it is fairly similar but much more labor intensive to make. It's better than cold pizza. Empanadas are anther good choice.

Another alternative is to put chili in a thermos and have a hot meal, perhaps with some cornbread.

Lars

Pasta salad with a vinegar and oil dressing is great when its hot. There are so many ways you can dress it up. Same with coleslaw. I had one last night at Whole Foods with an orange juice, cilantro, rice vinegar, ginger, scallion and jalepeno dressing. The coleslaw was made with black quinoa, pea pods, carrots and fresh mangoes along with red cabbage and nappa cabbage. I'm not crazy about brown quinoa, but the black seemed ok but could easily be left out. Tabouleh is another great salad with an oil and lemon based dressing. A cheese sandwich with some grilled or roasted vegetables made with olive oil squeezed into a hard roll is one of my favorites. I also like salad-ey wraps. I make tuna salad with an olive oil based dressing too. I also make greek style potato salad, with EVOO, green beans, red onions, red potatoes and either lemon juice or balsamic vinegar or a little of both, which is how I make it. I also sometimes add olives, feta and celery in any combination. Southwestern bean salad is another type of acid and oil dressed salad I like. I am particularly fond of lime juice in that type of salad. I've been eating something like that over lettuce these days, with crumbled corn chips tossed over it, and a half an avocado. Now that's something that tastes good warm, avocado!

Apparently there is some debate on the problems associated with warm mayo, at least modern store bought may, not the fresh stuff, but really for me it is a taste and consistency issue. I just don't care for it all that much, I am not an egg fan.

A can of tuna and individual packages of mayo or mustard can be packed, along with bread/bagels/crackers, etc. Just pop the top on the tuna, mix in the mayo or whatever and spread on bread or crackers. Salmon works too, if he prefers it.

An unbreakfable camping type thermos will keep something like chili hot and it can be poured over a bag of fritos or tortilla chips for a "walking nacho".

That same Thermos can keep a couple of hot dogs hot, or the filling for sloppy joes. tuna casserole carries well in a thermos and mac and cheese does OK too. Just make sure it's a good thermos, some of those Stanley brand thermoses keep thing hot for 10 or 12 hours and they are pretty much unbreakable. Some will also keep cold foods cold, like pasta salad or potato salad.

My girls always liked a can of cold baked beans and a chunk of cornbread or a pita, they'd spoon the beans into the pita and have a sandwich or just eat the beans straight out of the can.

Cheese won't spoil, although it gets soft, so a cheese sandwich or cheese and crackers would work.

Personally, I'd go for a jar of Nutella and a box of graham crackers, but I don't think that's particularly hearty OR healthy!

Good luck to the young man and if you can find one at WalMart or somewhere, my girls got water bottles that ran on batteries and had a fan, turn it on and you'd get a spray of water with a breeze. We took them hiking in the Grand Canyon and every single adult hiker asked where we got them!

Annie

Some sandwiches can be frozen the night before and then they thaw while waiting for lunch. They don't get squished as much because they are frozen.

I eat tuna straight from the can... foil pouches are nice because you don't need to drain those. I get the better albacore. Good salmon can also be eaten from the can. I'm not big on sardines but kippered herring is a favorite. Gal at work is noted for her fondness of smoked oysters.

Canned pineapple is a staple for me. I throw a can in my lunch bag and sometimes it waits for day before I'm in the mood.... so good when I'm ready and the juice is great over ice (if you have ice). Sometimes I do mandarin oranges for variation. Bannanas and apples don't even need the can. Gal friend at work brings me grapes!

Fried chicken/pork chops eat cold very well. They won't go bad before lunch. A cold pork chop on a hot day can be so good. I just put them in ziplock baggies.

Dill pickle in a zip lock?... garden mix? Veggies and dill dip? Raisans, prunes, dried apricots?

I keep spray cheese on my desk for cat treats... sometimes a bit will wind up on a cracker for me... cheese for all!

A bag of cashews rides my lunch box... a handful now and then. They keep for a few days. Some things just ride the lunch box until I'm ready for them. Most things won't go bad in the 4-5 hour wait for lunch. Lots of people at work carry personal coolers as lunch boxes. I use plastic shopping bags because I can throw them away when they get coffee spilled on them or otherwise yucky... they convert to a nice trash bag after lunch if need be.

: )
lyra

You guys have given me some great ideas, please keep them coming!!!

You can freeze lunchmeat/cheese packs, they'll easily thaw by lunchtime, but will remain cold longer than just refrigerated. Stack individual servings of meat/cheese on plastic wrap, fold the plastic over and freeze. Make stacks at a time!
To pack, spread mustard, relish, etc. on bread and put the two slices together (like a sandwich with no filling). Tuck in the meat pack. At lunch, he can just unwrap the meat and pop it in the sandwich.
Add nuts, granola, fruits & veggies for more bulk.
Granola bars are quick and easy.
Cured foods like salami will hold that long. Cheese/crackers/salami/olives/pepperoncici makes a meal for me!
Also, the little canned sardines and oysters are pretty portable. They have tuna and salmon in those vacuum pack bags that do not require refrigeration.

Walk down the unrefrigerated aisles and see what things can be eaten "as is". Pickles, olives, crackers, bean dips, fruits.

Plus all the above suggestions are awesome. I love marinated pasta salads in the summer.
Boil pasta, add a vinegar/oil style dressing, then load it up with all sorts of meat and veggies (mine usually have more veggies than pasta, but for a hard-working young man, a few more carbs won't hurt).

Beef jerky is a good one to tuck in also.

Deanna

Sorry, blueiris, in reading your post I see you said a young adult. That could just as easily be a young woman, so my apologies for jumping to conclusions.

Mercy, if anyone knows about women doing manual labor, it ought to be me!!!

Annie

Fritatta wedge. Very tasty at room temperature and can be made with whatever ingredients preferred. For DS, I make tamales, then put them in a widemouth thermos.
For cold/room temperature, couscous salad. Pasta salad with salami, roasted cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil. Black bean, corn, onion, lime juice, cilantro, jicama, jalapeno, red pepper salad with tortilla chips. 3 bean salad. Pasties. Cold wedge of polenta with fresh mozzarella & prosciutto.

Spacific when you mentioned pasties you just reminded me for some reason of how much I like cold pizza with warm coke to wash it down. One of my favorite breakfasts in my youth, lol. Hair of the dog as they say!

I pack hubbys lunch,cold cut sandwhich,fruit, maybe a salad,something sweet.yougart sometimes.He has the gel packs frozen I put in.

I know I'm strange, but when doing manual labor in hot weather the last thing I want for lunch is hot chili, soup or the like! LOL

What's popular around here are the small coolers, little six pack size, to use as a lunch box. Freeze water bottles to keep things chilled or get blue ice packs.

I always liked meatloaf, turkey, roast beef, chicken sandwiches, with or without cheese, on a nice coarse dark wheat bread. Cold chicken works great too, or turkey or ham chunks. Pasta salads, other salads that can handle some time, green salad, coleslaw and the like. A meat-laden chef's salad with lots of cheese can be very good too. Meatball sandwich and a container of marinara to pour on it would be good although meatloaf might be easier to make and eat both.

Without knowing more about the person it's tough to suggest things. Some like the foo-foo type spread it on a cracker things. I never did. That's a snack, when I want lunch, I want something to sink my teeth into. I even like cold hamburger patties with or without bread/bun. I second the cold/room temp pizza. I like the macaroni/beef hotdish cold too.

One thing, if a sandwich is going to have tomato, lettuce and stuff on it, I'd sometimes put that and condiments separate especially if using a soft white bread. If bread gets too wet, it gets gross like paste. I tend to use Ranch dressing on a sandwich rather than mayo or the dreaded "MW". A small bottle transports well and add it when you're ready to eat is my preference.

Either fresh fruit or the little containers of applesauce, diced fruit or the like are often welcome.

I even like *good* quality hot dogs/sausage to eat as a beef stick. Cheaper than the beef sticks out there and often better. Around here is a brand called Ambassador and their old fashioned, coarse ground dogs are great hot or cold. Salami, cheese, crackers or variations.

Forgot to mention shredded beef/pork makes a great cold/cool sandwich. Pork roast, pork chops, ribs. I like eating cold breakfast sausage. Often make some extra to snack on later.