My daughter is a very picky eater. She is not a big sandwich eater so lunches are going to be hard (she starts full day next year). She eats more hot than cold food. Is there a good food container out there that keeps food hot? I would need to het it up in morning and put in her lunchbox. It would need to at least be warm at lunchtime. Anyone found a food container that will keep food warm that long??
My son hates sandwiches.
I use a Thermos.
The truck is to put boiling water in there with lid for about 10 minutes, drain, then add the hot food. Works pretty well!
What type of hot food? You can use a thermos for some hot items. In the morning, put boiling water in it to heat the Thermos up (with lid on for several minutes), while you heat the food up, then dump the water out and put the food in it. It should keep it warm. I think it's pretty hard to keep anything "hot" when it's sitting in a lunch box for several hours, but "warm" is doable.
We got ours at "Savers" (a 2nd hand store) for a few bucks. It's stainless steel and once we sanitized it, it was good as new. I wouldn't spend $40+ bucks on a kid's hot food container, personally. They lose and misplace things so frequently.
We also use a stainless steel Thermos for my son's lunches. I think it keeps it hot for 6 hours, if I am remembering correctly. But, I had never heard the boiling water trick--so going to use that tomorrow!
Thermos works great. I bought one for my son when he was little, so he could take soup and his favorite spaghetti-o's to school. The first time I sent it with him, I boiled the soup, thinking it would cool down and be warm just in time for lunch. Wrong!! He said it was still very very hot and had trouble eating it. So, Thermos works great for us!
We use the stainless steel thermoses often for lunch.
Here is the step alot of people miss. You have to put boiling hot water in it with the top on for about 15 minutes....then dump out the water and put your warmed up food in it. The heating element inside has to be heated up...then you put in your warm food.
My kids always say their food is still warm...sometimes they say."Dang mom..my soup was too hot."
You can also do the opposite and put in really cold water with ice cubes to get it super d duper cold. Then dump out the cold water and put in yogurt ,pudding or ice cream for a yummy surprise.
We heart thermoses!! It allows for variety...and a way to use up last night's dinner. We have even put chicken nuggets and hot dogs in it. Then a bun and mustard,catsup packets in the lunch box. Refried beans in the thermos then the tortilla and shredded cheese in bags. Nacho cheese in the thermos and tortilla chips in a bag. Soups are great and my kids love pasta in it too.
Our thermoses were purchased at Target for about 15 bucks each.
A good quality stainless steel thermos will keep food fairly warm.
Also, think outside the box. Surely you all must pack lunches occasionally, or go on a picnic? What about things that can be served at room temp, like fruit, nuts/trail mix, popcorn, seeds, crackers, etc?
As far as cold/cool food I would suggest cheese, yogurt, pasta salad, hard boiled eggs, pickles, sushi and of course veges with ranch dip.
This:
"Mr. Bento"
http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-SL-JAE14-Bento-Stainless-...
It is a very good brand. High quality.
It is WELL worth the price.
It comes in different sizes too.
It is very common in my city, for adults or kids.
My kids have it too.
So do MANY other kids at my kids' school.
It keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold.
It is for hot or cold food.
My daughter for example, is in 5th grade. Their lunch time is not until 12:15pm.
Before school, at like 6:30am, she heats up her food for lunch. It typically being left overs from dinner. She then puts it in her Mr. Bento food container. And when she eats at her school lunch time, it is still... warm/hot. And perfectly fine.
It comes with its own lunch bag too.
WE like our Thermos funtainers. They are stainless steel and have fun characters on them.
On days they will be used, I fill it with hot water in the morning while we are getting around (I use the Keurig for this). Right before we leave I heat up the food, a little hotter than I would if we were going to eat it right them. Dump the water, dry it out and fill it up. We leave our house at 7:30 and he eats at noon. He's never complained about lunch being cold.
I agree a stainless thermos..
Also you will be amazed at what kids will start eating once school starts.
They see the other kids eating all sorts of different things and can actually become a bit adventurous.
Every year k-12.. Our daughter took Chinese pork dumplings for her first day of school.. She ate them cooked, but not warm.. We used to laugh about how odd it was to be in Central Texas and our Mexican American child took Chinese dumplings to the first day of school.
Another vote for Thermos Funtainers. I also have stainless lunch containers that I will use with a "heating pad" gel pack underneath.
I used to do the boiling water trick, but found that it doesn't really matter. It still keeps things warm even without it.
I tried the stainless steel thermos thing, several different ones, and none of them kept the food warm until their lunch, which is early at 11. Sorry. but you will be surprised, most kids start eating more foods at that point, even my very picky youngest will eat more variety then now then before he started school
Thermos brand works great. What Karen A said.
