Thermos Containers for Soups Etc.

My daughter is 5yrs old and she says her food is still warm when she go to lunch at 11:45. She is using a stainless steel thermos. I boil water and the let it sit in the thermos with the lid on for about 5 or 10 minutes before adding fod. I also heat the food thats going in the thermos as well. HTH. I would also love to hear what others are doing.

Well I have a totally different approach. How are you heating the food before putting it in the thermos? Try heating in a pan on the stove. The reason I say this is that I have found that the food I heat in the microwave doesn't stay hot as long as if I heat it on the stove.
Just a thought. Good luck.

We use a thermos brand for my daughter. It is not the cute kid kind but the silver "man" version. If I heat it up hotter than she would eat it normally it is still too hot to eat when she eats it at lunch. That is a full 5 hours after it gets packed. Maybe try a different brand thermos. Good luck.

Dear TF:

What I do is first boil water in my teakettle, pour it in the thermos and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Then pour out the water, dry the thermos slightly, then put in the ultra hot lunch item.

It's not scalding hot by lunchtime, but it is kid warm temperature.

Hope that helps.

L. F.

What kind do you have? I purchased some at Target and they seem to work great. Both my kids have never complained about there food being cold. I have heard that Bento Stainless Steel Lunch Thermo's work great. You can find them online.

I do not think it is you but maybe the thermos. If it is Thermos brand you can call and they will replace it for free! I make pasta's etc in ours and they are still warm at lunch so it sounds like you are doing it right. We had a thermos (thermos brand) sippy cup style that didn't keep milk very cold for very long and I called and they sent another and it worked great....get the 800 customer service number online.

I have found the only ones that work are the expensove metal ones that are about 15 dollars to purchase. The cheap plactic ones do not. With the metal ones the directions say take hot water and put into the thermos and set for 1-2 minutes then dump out and put in the hot food. I have always done this and my daughter says her food is hot at lunch. Target usually has a great selection of these containers. Good Luck!!

Get a Stanley thermos. They are the best ones out there. They have been around for a million years and they truly keep things hot...coffee, soup, whatever. So they are worth the extra money. My father always carried one and it lasted him more then 35 years that I know of. My husband tried every cheap brand in the world before breaking down and buying one...we've had it about 5.

VickiS

TF, I'm not sure what kind of insulated container you have, so I'll tell you how I always do my coffee thermos. First I clean it and pour boiling water in it until ready to fill it,(tighten lid on it also). When coff is ready , dump the hot water, and add hot coffee. Has stayed warm til next day.
With cold items, we did the opposite , and pre filled with ice water for 10-15 min. then dump, and add milk or tea, or juice.
my 2 cents worth, hope it helps.
BF

My husband bought a thermos at Starbucks that will keep his coffee HOT for up to 12 hours. I'm sure it would work for other hot liquids too. Pricey, but worth it if it does the job.

As you are warming up the food, put really hot water in the thermos first to get it hot, pour out and then add heated food.

I use a thermos for my sons lunch and here are 2 things i figured out that work. 1)Definately buy a "thermos" brand, i bought 2 off brands and they didn't keep the food warm. 2)I boil water in the micro and put in the thermos prior to putting the food in it to warm it up first, this really works. My kids told me the food was warm at lunch. Hope this helps.

I do the same as a previous post. I boil water and pour it in the thermos for 10 min or so. Then heat the food really hot and pour it in the thermos as soon as water is out!

I had heard that if you boil water first (I do it in a tea kettle), pour it in the thermos and let set for a little while, pour out the hot water and then add your hot food. It works pretty well for us and the food is still warm enough at lunch! Hope this helps.

I agree with the others, it sounds like you are doing it right and we have never had a problem with ours. I have been told that you are not suppose to put them in the dishwasher; that can affect their insulation ability. I have never tried it so I dont know, but that may be a reason.
:)

Some of the containers say to fill them with boiling water to heat the core before adding hot food. If you put hot food into a cold container the container will absorb the heat from the food. Good luck on this one.
A.

Fill the thermos with hot, hot water first, then heat your soup, then dump the water from the thermos and then put the soup in. This way the thermos is already heated up so it doesn't take the heat from your food to warm up the thermos. Hope this works for you! :)

My directions on mine said to put boiling water in it for 10 minutes before putting the food in! It always keeps his food warm enough for lunch time! Might try that!
E.

I agree that the stainless steel containers work much better than the plastic ones.

I am interested in receiving the tips as well. It must be a common problem.