Lunchbox that will keep food warm for atleast 3 hours

[supermom23]

hi,

I am looking for a lunchbox that will keep food warm for a few hours atleast. I find loads of stuff on Amazon but I scroll down and the review aren't great. Could you suggest a few please. My 3 year old son is on the spectrum and is very particular about the food being warm :) . Please help...

I'd be concerned about food poisoning. Warm rather than hot is perfect for bacteria to grow.

It's really important to think about the food safety of the exact meals you use in these circumstances and buy a good digital probe food thermometer and test the temperature on a trial run for any meal. Generally something that is quite "wet" so there's no air gaps in the food (eg stew, curry, soup) especially if there's a higher sugar content such as having tomato as a key ingredient, because this helps it to retain heat. Things like this will probably stay at a safe eating temperature for several hours in a good food flask.
Dry things like chicken nuggets are a lot more risky. You could slightly boost the heat retention by filling the flask with boiling water and emptying it out immediately before putting the food in, but even so I would be surprised if it stayed at a safe temperature for as long as 3 hours. Once it drops below piping hot it becomes an ideal growing medium for bacteria and they could multiply quite a lot before lunch time.

I use a Chillys one but only ever for veggie meals, they don’t keep meat hot enough.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/food/23883100/

With dry food, or a half portion the food heats up the air which cools the food, no matter how well insulated a box / flask is if there is air it won't keep the heat in the food.

If you put hot food into a sealed container wont it just sweat and go soggy. I'd also worry about bacteria growth.

I would love to have two sections in a thermos or any food flask .. like a small one at the top and a larger portion at the bottom

I'm sure you can get those.

I bought the Ideus food jar from Amazon. Keeps things nice and warm for hours. Just make sure the food is steaming hot when it goes in, and swish some hot water inside just before you put the food in.
The only thing is, the lid can be a little tight for small hands. Will your son be helped to open it? If not, I’d look at an insulated bento box.

Thermos are really good

Put boiling water in beforehand to warm up, then toss out just before adding the heated food

Thank you @OlizraWiteomQua i just saw the article shared by @MinnieMouse0 .. it is scary and I’ll have to be more cautious. With my DS on the spectrum , he has a restrictive diet and definitely throwing in nuggets is not my first choice.. I would love for him to eat pasta and other stuff that are not dry.. he was drinking chicken clear soup but now is off it. I might try that after a while but that does not keep him full. I supplement with yogurts and if am lucky he eats a cheese sandwich that is provided at the nursery during lunch time

@Pocodaku will check that out thanks

My DC also has autism and a very restricted list of foods. I did try sending in a thermos of heinz Tomato soup (one of the few kinds of vegetable matter that gets eaten) and we found that a thermos done up tight enough not to leak is done up too tightly for little hands.

I got this one from Amazon a while ago for soup and it seems to to do ok - Prime Horizon Food Flask - 500ml... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Q5K9X42?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share. Not sure if your DD will find this ok to open. For my wee one, the nursery staff do it for him. So that’s one less blocker

Yes this would concern me too. Rice and chicken being the most risky too.