- Back to School -
How to Keep Food
Warm for Lunchtime
The start of school is an exciting time for both parents and children. However, sending them off to school also comes with a few challenges, like finding any back-to-school essentials they need and figuring out how to keep food warm for lunch.
Luckily, there are a variety of tips and tricks to ensure your child’s lunches stay warm and tasty from drop-off to lunchtime. Below, we cover nine ways to do just that!
7 Ways to Keep Food Hot for Lunch
Depending on where you live, what food you’re packing and a few other factors, different methods will work for different people to keep lunch warm. But using hot and cold containers, stainless steel containers and other tricks is bound to keep your child’s food warm, no matter what your circumstances may be.
1. Lunch Boxes
When you think of keeping food warm, your mind probably goes to a lunch box. It’s a classic that’s been around for a long time, for good reason. Not only does it fit perfectly in a kindergartener or elementary schooler’s small backpack, it helps keep hot food hot and cold food cold and you can use other warming methods we cover below inside of it!
2. Hot & Cold Containers
If a normal lunch box isn’t quite doing the trick, a hot and cold container may be a better option for you. Hot and cold containers are especially useful for storing liquids like soup or hot chocolate, but they can be used for solid food as well. They also fit great in a lunch box due to their slender and compact size.
3. Stainless Steel Containers
Stainless steel containers or bento boxes help keep food warm as well. They separate hot food from cold food, which helps control temperatures for longer. The stainless steel material also provides some insulation on its own and can be heated up at home before school by placing it in a bowl of boiling water to keep food warmer for longer.
Other Tips & Tricks
If those options don’t work for you, that’s no problem! Here are six other tips and tricks to help keep your child’s food warm.
4. Wrap Food in Foil
Wrapping food in foil helps keep it separate from other food and traps heat. As an added bonus, this is an easy and inexpensive method.
5. Separate Hot & Cold Food
Keeping hot and cold foods apart from each other substantially helps maintain the desired temperatures. You can make a simple barrier with napkins or utensils that’ll help keep your food separate.
6. Use a Hot Water Bottle
Filling a hot water bottle with boiling water and then putting that into a lunch box will keep food warm for hours.
7. Heat Packs
Heat packs, especially long-lasting ones, can help keep food hot or heat it up if it’s gone cold. Place one in your child’s lunch box beneath the hot food and you’re good to go!
Tips for Packing Warm Lunches
Here are a few additional tips to keep in mind when packing lunches.
- Be mindful of the time between drop-off and lunchtime. Consider the time between when you pack the lunch and when your child’s lunchtime is. If it’s a long time, like over five or six hours, then consider a cold lunch. No heat preservation method lasts forever and there’s nothing wrong with a sandwich every now and then!
- Use a microwave, if you can. Some schools have microwaves in the cafeteria. Check if your child’s school is one of them, and if it is, you can save yourself a lot of trouble by teaching them how to use a microwave safely.
- Make lunches that fit in a hot and cold container. Of the options listed above, hot and cold containers are the most reliable. Consider some easy lunches that can fit inside one, like soup, mac and cheese, lasagna or spaghetti and meatballs.
Keeping food warm for lunch is as easy as that. If you just take these simple steps, your child will be able to eat hot, home-cooked meals for lunch as often as they’d like.
Once you begin packing hot lunches, you may come across a mess or two, as foods like soups and pastas can be more prone to spills. Brush up on how to clean backpacks and lunch boxes to keep them looking good as new.