Hot packed lunch ideas, please!

[Ihatesandwiches]

DD's school has opened their kitchen but cold food only at the moment. As the weather is getting cooler she wants something warm in her packed lunch. She has a flask for soup. I'm happy because she's getting in an extra 1 of her 5 a day, but curious if any one has ideas of what else we could heat up and put in her flask for lunch. She's not particularly fussy!

Soup, stews etc obviously. I've seen flasks or rather boxes with two compartments so for say chilli and rice. I have a single compartment bowl type which I put pasta in

Daal is my favourite lunch.

I have a ‘fat thermos’ flask and it’s great for keeping soup and other foods warm:

Pasta
Rice and: curry, Dahl, meatballs
Stew with dumplings

If you microwave the foods before they go in so they are super-hot then they will still be warm at lunchtime. I even managed to burn my lip on some tomato soup once!

Ours has noodle pasta with tomato sauce and thinly sliced Italian sausage, all mixed up together..
It is absolutely his Best Thing and he will take pasta every day.

Watching with interest as my dd is loving her hot lunches in her flask at the moment - so far we've had minestrone soup, cawl and leek and potato soup.

Pasta in ragu
Sausage casserole
Macaroni cheese with broccoli

Just one thing I thought of, the Junior Engineer took home made haddock chowder the other day - which is lovely, chunky, all full of cream and sweetcorn and smoked haddock and speckled with parsley - dear God the complaints from the other kids about the fishiness, though.
If they're having to eat at their desks strong smelling things may not be popular with the others....

Wow - smoked fish? Yeh, that would be a bit smelly... I worked with someone and used to dread her heading to the microwave ‘oh I’ve got chowder today!’.

Thanks, all! We'll pass on the fish, don't think I could cope reheating that in the morning! I think my main concern would be that the pasta would get a bit limp sitting in a flask all morning.

DD1 has tortellini and I am thinking of doing beans and cocktail sausages for DD2!

Pasta is actually ok as long as it wasn’t floppy to start with. If you have the energy maybe make some fresh al dente in the morning and add the microwaved sauce? Some pasta does reheat well (tends to be the expensive fancy type).

@AestheticWitch

DD1 has tortellini and I am thinking of doing beans and cocktail sausages for DD2!

Oh yes cowboy stew!

Onion, green pepper, sausages, one chopped tomato - fry this and the add the baked beans and cook until warmed through. I love this!

Great ideas, thank you! I'm very boring, soup and crackers every day at work from Oct to Easter!

Nothing wrong with that - I have soup and oatcakes!

Orzo is a good pasta to add to soups etc as it can be dropped into a hot flask of soup in the morning and it will be edible by lunchtime.

Cous cous with roasted vege - one of the Ainsley Harriot sachets plus some roasted vege will make enough for 2 or 3 days. Just nuke a portion in the microwave before putting into the flask.

I do the same as above, but with a packet of the flavoured Tilda microwave rice - the Mexican one mixed with some roasted onions and peppers plus sweetcorn and/or kidney beans is nice.

Leftover chilli or curry or stew, with a bread roll maybe

I haven't tried it yet but I quite fancy chopped up veggie sausage and roasted mushrooms in the flask, with a cold Yorkshire pudding on the side!

Actually teenage dd recently discovered that you can heat up things like bhajis, drop them into a wideneck flask & they are still pleasantly warm for lunch. She takes raita in a separate pot.

Other dd likes literally any leftovers. Soup/pasta/curry, I get. But a recent favourite is a dollop of leftover shepherd's pie, microwaved & then dolloped into a flask.

Or if you get a snugly fitting thermos lunch bag, breville toasties stay warm if double wrapped in foil - ds's favourite.

If all else fails, snap up a packet of instant noodles, add to a flask with very thinly sliced veg, leftover cooked chicken, peanuts & soy sauce, then fill the flask from the kettle - perfectly cooked by lunchtime & all 3 of mine will eat this happily.

Bhajis and raita - ooh, now we're talking! I'm definitely going to copy that.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Orzo is a good pasta to add to soups etc as it can be dropped into a hot flask of soup in the morning and it will be edible by lunchtime.

This is a great idea!

Oh my! I'm actually quite sad I have made soup! Totally want to try these!

We got two flasks when we discovered that hot food was only for the FSM pupils. They have leftovers/freezer meals that are heated up in the microwave in the mornings. We preheat the flasks with boiling water and it stays hot until lunch time.

They've had chicken stew, curry, macaroni cheese, filled pasta with homemade tomato sauce, chilli, meatballs. I think tomorrow's lunch is chicken tikka, rice and okra.

Costco have a 2 pack of wide thermos flasks at the moment.

Mine enjoys leftovers, so, Curry and Rice, Pasta Bake, Stirfry and Noodles ...

No Costco here, but she has a flask and we will go with that for the moment :-) As my user name suggests I am not a fan of sandwiches. Neither is DD so I have cold lunch spot on, but during the colder months I rely on hot lunches via the school kitchen. Love all the ideas, thank you!