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?

Yes that's the one in the pic

Can you explain why it has to be hot? That would be fairly unusual to be honest.

Most children with a packed lunch take sandwiches, salads, wraps, samosas, scotch eggs, sausage rolls, fruit, veggie sticks, that kind of thing.

Is this an “only on mumsnet” thing? Nobody I know gives their kids hot food for school lunch

I do - don’t think it’s an only Mumsnet thing at all. Classic in our house is half a tin of baked beans, leftover spaghetti Bol, or noodle soup. My son only eats peanut butter in sandwiches and can’t take that to school - so he will have something hot a couple of times a week, and a bento boxes of ‘picky bits’ the other days.

It's more likely cultural. Sandwiches are a very British thing.

On Pinterest it explains how to keep toasted sandwiches hot in a food flask. I’ve got a wide necked thermos it’s great

Years ago under a different username it definitely WAS only a MN thing .
I started giving my children hot soups etc at primary school. First day taking it in ….. it was banned and I got a stern lecture on ‘elf and safety . My boys are now 25 and 21 😂. My daughter is going into year 9 . From year 7 she was taking hot food in those flasks mentioned above . The only think that kept absolutely piping hot was hot dog sausages . Boiling water , hot dog sausages, very hot still at lunchtime , all she had to do was tip the water out and fill in the prepped hot dog buns ..secondary school doesn’t seem to care much . Year 8 for her was pretty much written off due to Covid
Ravioli, pasta , rice ( very dangerous being constantly under optimum temperature) no good .
Everything seemed Luke warm , especially soup
I have about 5 different flasks ffs 🤦🏻‍♀️

My children have these:

www.johnlewis.com/thermos-king-food-flask-stainless-steel-470ml/red-silver/p3777605?sku=238225394&s_ppc=2dx92700064091866168&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gbraid=0AAAAAD2el1yqCns_9UmXE1QApFsmftDPd&gbraid=0AAAAAD2el1yqCns_9UmXE1QApFsmftDPd&gclid=CjwKCAjwj8eJBhA5EiwAg3z0myL69rBlPr2FLYHzxExa4EdbVYluSB9pl1HsTqqL1DSO2YJP4dS7zBoCv-cQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

You “charge it” with boiling water for half an hour prior to filling it and the food is still hot at lunchtime. Great for soup / pasta / chilli etc

Also put leftover chopped up roast dinner / hotdogs with a hotdog roll to fill…the possibilities are endless lol

I say packed lunch, but can see the logic in pack lunch.
Whoever said pack is not an adjective - substitute eg buffet lunch or snack lunch. In each case, the original noun (pack, buffet or snack) is acting adjectivally to modify the noun - help describe what type of lunch you are describing. In this case, a lunch from a (back)pack.

It doesn't 'have' to be hot lunch (and when I say hot I don't mean piping hot, just hot enough) but my kids get very tired of sandwiches and cold pasta and usually come home with them still in the lunch bag so just wasting more money I just thought as I'm cooking every night and there's usually left overs it's easier for me to just pack that in their lunch as I know they will eat it. Didnt realise having a hot packed lunch was such a rare thing I know plenty of people who do (or try to rather hence asking for suggestions lol)

But thank you for all the suggestions I will have a look at them now!

I don’t see the problem with hot lunches - it’s bizarre that people have an issue with this

If your child doesn’t like them or you’re strapped for time I understand but I find batch cooking means it’s sometime quicker and easier than making sandwiches

My son doesn’t really like sandwiches

This thread seems odd to me.

To the best of my knowledge no child in my kids' classes, no contemporary of mine in my own schools days and no pupil of mine as a teacher has EVER taken hot food to school in a packed lunch.

In my experience, children's packed lunches contain sandwiches, wraps, crisps,salads, crudités, cakes, cereal bars etc., but never hot food.

My eldest child took beans and sausages in her 191 Dalmatian flask in 2003 @CasperGutman

101

Ive come across adults bringing hot-type foods to work for lunch, but almost always cold food to heat in a microwave or, VERY rarely, soup in a flask.

@MyDcAreMarvel

My eldest child took beans and sausages in her 191 Dalmatian flask in 2003 *@CasperGutman*

Aha! It happened once, eighteen years ago then. To be fair, I only said I hadn't come across it. 🙂

Asda had some good wide necked ones last year, probably have them this year too. About £4 I think.

I didn’t realise so many did this. Our primary didn’t allow it and now they’re at secondary/college they buy something there. I may use some of these tips for myself though.

Maybe it's more common in cold places? Mine have to stand outside to eat now since Covid. No way would they take a flask of noodle soup. I would though.

When my youngest was little I would sometimes send him in with pasta meals in the thermos. I know they were heated up when I sent them, but he never mentioned if they were still hot/warm when he ate them.

As for "pack lunch" I'm American and I've never heard anyone here call it that. Packed Lunch for sure.

@Tippexy, pack is an adjective - pack horse is an example.

I've never heard 'pack lunch' in the US or elsewhere. Maybe the local dialect doesn't use the term. It's brown bag lunch around here.

I suspect the term originated the same way (chester) draws did.

I suggest to the OP that she pack sandwiches, fruit, carrots, yogurt, and an ice pack instead of anything hot.

I'm pretty sure Thermos wouldn't make food flasks especially for children if if was just a Mumsnet thing!

It certainly is packed lunch. Not pack lunch.