I try to pack school lunches for kids as much as I can. However, recently I’ve given up, having to throw away so many untouched foods, half eaten or even barely eaten sandwiches. I let the kids eat school’s cafeteria lunch instead of spending all that time to think, prepare and see all that wasted food.
The school cafeteria lunch menu this year, unfortunately, is not-so-healthy, fast food type food that repeats week in and week out. My options looked bleak: unhealthy cafeteria food vs. healthy food that’s uneaten.
Finally, it dawned on me, that the main problem was food being cold, really cold especially with this exceptionally cold winter. I usually prepare cold sandwiches but they complain about them getting soggy. I prepare warmer type of foods and save the lunch boxes in insulated bags. They get cold nonetheless. Their lunch break is only 20 minutes, which is not enough to eat properly either.
I decided to try out insulated food containers. I got two small (Thermos Funtainer, 10 Ounce Food Jar ), two big (LunchBots Thermal 16-ounce Stainless Steel Insulated Food Container) stainless steel insulated containers. I read the reviews for different brands as well as different shapes and sizes. These two seemed the most favored options. I’ve been packing hot lunches, mostly leftovers from the night before and the results are pleasingly satisfying. As a result:
1. I don’t have to spend a lot of time preparing new food in the morning. I can warm up and pack leftovers from dinner.
2. Based on their feedback, food seems to be staying warm until lunch break.
3. The containers come back empty.
INSULATED LUNCH CONTAINERS WE USE
Here is my trick to pack warm lunch in insulated containers and keep the food warm until lunch break:
1. Boil water.
2. Pour boiling water into the container and close the lid to wait until you heat up the food that’ll go in the container.
3. Warm up the food.
4. Empty the water in the container. Dry inside the container.
5. Put hot food in it and close the lid tightly.
6. Put the containers in their insulated lunch bags.
I ask them every single day to make sure the lunch stays warm. The containers come back empty and they confirm the food was warm. I usually put one serving of a main dish (meat + veggies + carb). I do not put fruit, dessert, or snacks for lunch because they barely have time to finish the main meal. If I put anything else, especially snacks, they eat that first and don’t have any time left for the main meal. I put separate snacks (fruit, yogurt, granola bars, crackers, etc) for the afternoon.
One other consideration is my kids’ palm size vs. the container’s cap size. My son, 8.5 y.o., can open both the big and small containers. My daughter, 6 y.o., on the other hand, can only open the small container. Her palm is not big enough for gripping the big container’s cap.
I don’t know why I didn’t think if this before. I am happy that it’s working out well both for me and the kids
LUNCH BOXES AND BAGS
Do you use microwave to warm up the food you cooked before? Can you give us more ideas for kids school lunch? Do you put yogurt in your kids lunch bag? How do you make sure that it’s cold enough to be safe?
Thanks a lot…
I send frozen tubes of gogart and I wrap it in a few paper towels to collect the condensation by the time they eat lunch is defrosted yet still cool to eat!
Great idea. My kids eat gogurts tubes(frozen or regular) only at home because it gets warm until lunch time. I’ll try this.
Hi Sue. I heat up my kids’ thermos the same way, sometimes just using very hot water from the tap. If I send yogurt or a sandwich with cheese, I use the reusable ice packs and set the cold item directly on top. There are also lunch boxes that have a plastic insert for the good and a pocket to put a large ice pack. This keeps the whole lunch cold. My kids have used both of these methods for years and have had no problems keeping lunches safely warm and cold. In other words, they’re both still alive and well today and they appreciate their homemade lunches! Amazon has many options for hot and cold. I like the rectangular leak-proof hot lunch containers. They are more expensive, but I can fit a meal including protein, carb, and vegetable inside and it lays flat.
Natalie, Do you have a link to the insulated leak-proof lunch container you’ve purchased?
What container do you use?
I have started doing this for my son and he loves it. He isn’t a picky eater such as only eats chicken nuggets. He just doesn’t eat gross foods. So I have to come up with different ideas. You will want to heat the food up just a little hotter than usual so it stays hot longer in the thermos. I have done soups, ravioli, nachos with hamburger and salsa on the side he can dip chips in. I add a yogurt, a snack size apple and a veggie like raw broccoli or mushrooms and fruit snacks or something along with iced tea or water in this thermos. I add ice to that one to keep it cold til lunch. He is loving it
Use a kitchen cloth to wrap the thermo and place an ice pack on the opposite end of the lunchbox. With this trick you can keep things hot and cold in the same lunch bag.
My grandma made me lunches this way when I was in elementary school. I wouldn’t eat sandwiches. Sometimes I had leftovers and sometimes it was spaghetti o’s or soup.
Hi! Do your kiddos complain of the condensation that accumulates in the containers by lunch? My 5 year old just started Kindergarten, and I’m having the hardest time with him wanting to eat due to the condensation turning food soggy.
Candace, I don’t pack any food like bread, bunds or wraps that’ll get soggy in the insulated containers. I pack them separately in non-insulated containers and pack the content such as grilled chicken pieces, burger or even ground beef for sloppy joes individually in the containers. I provided examples in this post {https://practicalmama.com/2017/04/20-thermos-school-lunch-ideas/} but I’ll update this one with that trick as well.
I saw a tip to put a wadded paper towel in bottom of thermos. It will help absorb the moisture.
You can also heat the thermos with HOT water from the Keurig. It’s super hot and much quicker than the stove!
Hi,
You show a container with a white lid. Would you please post the link for that one. It looks like it would hold hamburger patties.
Those are Lunchbot thermos containers. They are wide mouth. Their designs changed a little bit over the years but yes they are the ones you can comfortably place the burger patties in. The link is here
I’m having the same problem. Put hot chicken nuggets in thermal. She bought it back home and it was wet. How do I pack her a hot lunch and it not be soggy wet? Please help.
Thank you so much for this!!! I have been looking for days for a stainless steel container for my kids lunches and I kept finding ones with a plastic lid, which is a hard no for me considering the food in these containers will be pretty hot. The Lunchbots thermos is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hi Practical Mama! I like this, it looks promising. I’m curious when you started this and how long you kept up with it?
I started packing hot lunches when my first child was in Kindergarten, circa 2010-2011. I packed his last hot lunch in May 2023, on the last week of his HS senior year. I still pack hot lunches for my second child, HS Junior. Two more years to go. 🙂 I still use these thermoses.