Aibu to ask how you keep pack lunch hot for school lunch?

[Threeandacat]

So with the kids back to school and the cost of lunches gone up to £3 each this means it will cost me £30 a week to give them school lunches. Single parent three kids and childcare means this is really stretching the budget. They have said they don't always like school lunch and prefer packed lunch on certain days (they can see the menu) I have really struggled with ways to keep lunches hot/warm I've tried various techniques and flasks but so far only one I have found is only really suitable for soup (small opening)

Aibu to ask if you have any hacks or recommendations for anything else I could use?

I use a Swivlet for work sometimes - really handy and you can use it for loads of different things. Not the cheapest option though!

I just don't send hot food

Thermos food flask (look on Amazon, also often in tk max). Worth its weight in gold. (Pasta, chili or curry and rice, soups etc)

My SHO flask keeps my food warm until lunch. I leave at 8 and usually eat at 12.30/1. They have a 50% discount for key workers at the minute too.
I wish our school allowed hot food packed lunches. My kids hate school dinners and there are only so many cold dinners you can do.

I use a Thermos soup flask but warm it with boiling water first. Seems to make a big difference.

Why does it have to be hot?
I wouldn't even take a hot lunch for myself.
I'm assuming they're primary age if childcare is an issue, I'd just give them sandwiches or boiled eggs or veg and dips etc. Especially if only a few days per week.

We've found Stanley food flasks to be the best. Piping hot at lunch time still. Definitely worth bringing them up to temperature with boiling water first as @feenie says.

We bought some expensive Frozen branded ones from S'well and they are absolutely useless - food only lukewarm after just a couple of hours.

Presumably only two pay, because that's actually£45pw!
Anyway we use thermos food flasks. They're an expensive outlay initially (usually around£22ea, but I have seen them on offer in Sainsbury's last week for £13) but they last forever (though my eldest's looks like it's been through a warzone tbf).
You will save £££ on packed lunches though- I tend to send leftovers from meals (Bolognese, curry, tajine, casserole etc) and it is far far cheaper than canteen, especially at secondary.
One of the other reasons mine have hot food is that my eldest can't eat wheat/dairy, so can't actually find things to eat from school- taking her own means it's always safe for her.

Most take a sandwich or pasta salad.

Before buying anything check they are allowed hot pack lunch at their school. Ours don't primary age

I've never sent hot food for packed lunch, only ever sandwiches, wraps or salads.

Also here to say thermos hot food flask and fill with boiling water and close it while you heat up the food so it's already piping hot in there before the food goes in.

Another vote for the wide necked thermos. My son loves to take soup or leftover pasta. He hates regular sandwich fillings and can’t take peanut butter. I will even heat a sausage roll, wrap in foil and put on the pre-warmed flask for him.

Yes, as pp said I saw thermos for 13.00 in Sains. It has a wide mouth so you can get a spoon in. You can get flasks with a spoon in the lid. My DD has one from Amazon.

I used a thermos food flask for dp when in hospital. Food stayed hot and it was easy to eat from. Wide opening. Good for egnall pastas, stews, can imagine saisage and mash etc. Robert Dyas sells them. Lots on Amazon.

It’s packed lunch, not pack lunch. That would be lunch for a pack.

Search for thermal lunch bowl on Amazon.

It’s packed lunch, not pack lunch

Where I live it is pack lunch. Nobody has a packed lunch.

packed

But ‘pack lunch’ doesn’t make sense if you think about it. Even if everyone says it and even writes it etc. Not that it matters. Scran is after all scran.

The trouble with food flasks is that either they don't keep the food hot, or the lids are too tight for the kids to open once they get to school!! 😂 I give up....

Well this is fascinating. From wiki. Looks like it may be American (wrong) usage which has crept over here. Damn those yanks eh (I am one originally).

A packed lunch (also called pack lunch, sack lunch or bag lunch in North America) is a lunch prepared at home (or elsewhere, e.g

@AtillatheHun

Thermos food flask (look on Amazon, also often in tk max). Worth its weight in gold. (Pasta, chili or curry and rice, soups etc)

How do you make it actually work as all food flasks I've used are luke warm at best.

My mum definitely called it ‘pack up’ when we were small.

‘ don’t forget your pack up’

I've always found the food thermos needs to be good and warm first. So fill it with boiling water and put the lid on for 5 minutes, then empty it out and put your food in. If I do that then food stays hot for 5-6 hours.