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 Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:51 pm
So, with the impending school season my focus is shifting towards trying to find delicious, easy lunches that I can scarf in the 30 minutes we're allowed to eat lunch (I've been pampered all Summer to spending a luxurious hour and a half making and eating lunch each day).. Cold food is alright, but most of the foods that I enjoy are best eaten hot. However, there is a minumum of four hours between the time school starts and when I might get lunch (depending on which lunch cycle I get this year), and I don't have access to a microwave at school, so every hot lunch I've taken has been reduced to a grizzly 75 degrees in my locker.
I have a thermos and an insulated lunchbox; the thermos is nice for chili and soup but I don't like to eat those very often, and the lunchbox doesn't work very well on the heating aspect.
Any suggestions for how to keep my food hot until lunchtime?
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Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:21 pm
There a lunch system called mr. bento (and it's smaller option ms. bento) They're like super thermoses with compartments that you stack food in. The bottom level insulates the most and the top will stay about room temp.
I've been wanting one but I am a poor girl. And my insulated lunch bag does fine as I don't mind eating room temp/cold food.
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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:44 am
I usually ate school lunch since for me it was free.
But the few times i DID take a hot lunch, i just went into the teachers lounge and used their microwave.
Oh the perks of being a Teachers Aid for 2 periods XD
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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 3:56 pm
It really depends on what you want to take for lunch and how you're packing it.
There are reusable hot/cold packs, mostly for sore muscles, but they would keep something hot for a long time. They get really hot in the microwave! In fact, you could probably make one just the size that you need, since they are just cloth bags filled with grain (rice?), then heated in the microwave with a cup of water beside them. They will burn you if you are not careful!
Newspaper is a good insulator, and won't melt like small pieces of foam insulation might. Oven mitts might be a good ---and funny!-- choice for this, too.
I would try wrapping my food in foil, and packing it with a small hotpack with newspaper insulation all around. It should stay really hot! biggrin
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:55 am
onicoe There a lunch system called mr. bento (and it's smaller option ms. bento) They're like super thermoses with compartments that you stack food in. The bottom level insulates the most and the top will stay about room temp. I've been wanting one but I am a poor girl. And my insulated lunch bag does fine as I don't mind eating room temp/cold food.
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:00 pm
sunsetsmile It really depends on what you want to take for lunch and how you're packing it. There are reusable hot/cold packs, mostly for sore muscles, but they would keep something hot for a long time. They get really hot in the microwave! In fact, you could probably make one just the size that you need, since they are just cloth bags filled with grain (rice?), then heated in the microwave with a cup of water beside them. They will burn you if you are not careful! Newspaper is a good insulator, and won't melt like small pieces of foam insulation might. Oven mitts might be a good ---and funny!-- choice for this, too. I would try wrapping my food in foil, and packing it with a small hotpack with newspaper insulation all around. It should stay really hot! biggrin
I usually try to take quick things like baked potatoes, stir fry, quesadillas, etc., but they always ended up lukewarm stressed I've tried sticking them in my thermos but since it wasn't filled up they still ended up cold, and wrapping it foil alone hadn't worked either..
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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:45 pm
Artistic Mystic sunsetsmile It really depends on what you want to take for lunch and how you're packing it. There are reusable hot/cold packs, mostly for sore muscles, but they would keep something hot for a long time. They get really hot in the microwave! In fact, you could probably make one just the size that you need, since they are just cloth bags filled with grain (rice?), then heated in the microwave with a cup of water beside them. They will burn you if you are not careful! Newspaper is a good insulator, and won't melt like small pieces of foam insulation might. Oven mitts might be a good ---and funny!-- choice for this, too. I would try wrapping my food in foil, and packing it with a small hotpack with newspaper insulation all around. It should stay really hot! biggrin
I usually try to take quick things like baked potatoes, stir fry, quesadillas, etc., but they always ended up lukewarm stressed I've tried sticking them in my thermos but since it wasn't filled up they still ended up cold, and wrapping it foil alone hadn't worked either..
Just be sure when you make it to leave enough "wiggle room" to wrap the heat pack all the way around your food----and don't forget the water in the microwave! The smaller one that I have is about 5" x 9", and if I heat it in the microwave for three minutes, it's steaming!!!! It will stay really hot just on my back for over 45 minutes, and that's not an enclosed or insulated area, like your lunchbox. Good luck and don't get burned! biggrin
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:02 pm
sunsetsmile It really depends on what you want to take for lunch and how you're packing it. There are reusable hot/cold packs, mostly for sore muscles, but they would keep something hot for a long time. They get really hot in the microwave! In fact, you could probably make one just the size that you need, since they are just cloth bags filled with grain (rice?), then heated in the microwave with a cup of water beside them. They will burn you if you are not careful! Newspaper is a good insulator, and won't melt like small pieces of foam insulation might. Oven mitts might be a good ---and funny!-- choice for this, too. I would try wrapping my food in foil, and packing it with a small hotpack with newspaper insulation all around. It should stay really hot! biggrin Foil doesn't work, believe me. Mom wraps things in foil a lot, and they don't stay hot for long. Newspaper isn't such a good insulator, either. Oven mitts are only designed to keep the heat out, away from your hands, not to insulate. The bags with grain in them may work; I've never tried them before.
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:19 pm
You have to use all three things together. We've packed lots of lunches this way, both hot and cold, for years. Maybe it's a time issue---school lunches here have only had to stay at temp for 3-4 hours.
We've transported large quantities of food this way, too, several hours away---some even to Boulder for the 4th of July, from the southwest corner of Missouri. So sheer mass makes a difference, too, as does the percentage of liquid in the food. You just have to experiment, depending on what you're taking, and how much.
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