Food flask

[Emmabryant123]

I have bought my ds-6 and my dd-5 a thermocafe 0.5l food flask for school.
They are very bored with sandwiches, crackers, wraps, cold pizza etc etc.
So tomorrow I am trying them out as they are going out for the day with dh and wont be able to get food and need a lunch to take with them.
They are leaving at 6:30am lunch will be around 12-1pm.
I am going to heat a tin of heinz ravioli (not very healthy I know but they love it and a one off wont hurt).
Will this stay hot for them!? I've never even used a flask for coffee before. Am going to boil water put in them whilst I'm heating the food up but how long do I leave the boiled water in.
I am going to pack fruit, cheese strings and yoghurt to.
I am thinking of sending a sandwich each in case it's all nasty and cold.

3 mins with boiling water first. Absolutely nuke the ravioli and get lid on fast.

Dd 6 assures me her food is hot at lunchtime, but I make hers at 7.30
She has jacket spud and beans.

I heat soup at 6.30am and eat it at lunchtime at 1.30pm, it's just the right temperature but any later and it would be too cool. I preheat flask with boiling water and I nuke the soap for much longer than I would if just eating it straight away. For a child this timescale should be fine :)

They were rubbish. Barely lukewarm they had sandwiches waste of money

Not sure if it's a brand thing. Mine cost £16 and is thermos the original brand.

Sorry you were disappointed

ours is a stanley one and has been in use for a couple of years. my ds loves his. uses it for pasta with pesto mainly. usually a bit of meat chopped up in there too.

the instructions usually give an idea of how long the flask will keep things hot for but yes make things as hot as possible to start with.

I have a thermos .5 l keg thingie- it works well for up to 8 hours. Keeps my soup hot.

I use this Themos and it's perfect! Plastic kids ones are not great but I've been using this solid for two years every day with no problems at all. In fact we all have one at home :)

I have the same one that Redpriestandmozart has posted above and it is great for soup, etc

I have the Thermos 0.5 l food flask too. I always fill it with very hot water and out the lid on and leave for ten mins, whilst heating my soup really, really well. I then fill the flask, usually at about 8 am and when I eat it st about 1 pm it's still scalding hot.

We have the same ones as redpriest- they are fantastic, and great size for children's meals. They were expensive (over £20 I think) but I got with %discount from Lakeland (one) and one with my JL cashback vouchers.

Very easy to give them healthy, home-cooked food this way- way better than school dinners anyway!

I think the trick is to not only preheat the flask but to fill it to the top. I used to half fill the flask and the dc's food was always cold, but as their appetite has increased the food has stayed hotter. Mine won't touch sandwiches either and they complain that school dinners are awful and having seen them I tend to agree. I give them curries, pasta, stew, soup in their flask.

Can anyone advice which size is better for a small kid (currently 4 but would like to be able to use it for longer)? There are two Thermos options, one 290ml and another 470ml, priced similarly. I think 290ml should be sufficient but don't want to buy and find it is too small too soon. Or to buy 470ml one and find it is too bulky for a lunch box.

TIA!

I have a 290ml Thermos one that ds uses and it is perfect for him. I also have a 470ml one, but that is only used for tea - the food flasks are great for drinking directly from!

CMOT thanks! May I ask how old is your DS? It is a mug sized portion, right?
Would you fill the 470ml with food for DS if you did not have the 290ml one?
The 470ml seems more durable but I don't think my 4yo will eat almost half-a-liter of hot food..

Yes, a mug sized. No way would I give ds (who is 8) the larger flask full. We've had the blue thermos flask for 3 years now, and it gets used and abused a lot and still looks good