insulated food boxes for hot lunches

luckypanda

Hello, I'm a bit of a lurker and would like to pick your brains!

We don't have a microwave at work and I like having hot meals and get bored of soups/stews in the thermos and would like to take things like jacket spuds

I've seen some bento boxes and various different containers that say they keep food hot for up to 5 hours. The review vary wildly, some say they're brill and some say they're pants

Has anyone got something like this that you can recommend?

Thanks! :T

seraphina

I have an insulated bento set that I got in Hong Kong - You can pick them up occasionally on e bay.

However the most important thing is choosing what food to take - I can't think of any way a jacket potato would be tasty after 5 hours' keeping, no matter what you pack it in. Anything with a high water content will keep hot longer in a vacuum pot than things with a lower water content - that's why soups work so well in a flask.

You can also help things stay warmer for longer by packing them correctly - so you can put curry in the bottom and then pack rice over the top of it to keep the heat in.

luckypanda

That's a good point, I hadn't thought it through properly had I!

Hmm, maybe a bento box then for curry etc and just treat myself to a jacket spud every now and then from the sandwich shop.

Thanks seraphina

rachbc

plus you'd have to get up very early to get a jacket spud cooked before going to work....

Owain_Moneysaver

Is there any reason why you can't have a microwave at work? Cheap ones are £30, which is £5 each for 6 employees, if the boss won't stump up out of petty cash. You would probably save that £5 in a week compared to going to a sandwich shop for a baked potato.

katylou6180

Picked son up a Stanley Food Flask at Aldi, can fit more or less anything in there!!! I don't know why they call it a flask!! It is an outlay of a fiver, you put whatever you want in (have tried more or less everything) and shove the whole thing in the micro with the lid off before you go to work in the morning (in my case is 6am) Son gets it out for lunch at 12.30-12.45 and is still steaming when he takes the lid off! A nice decent sized spud with filling is easily "input"..I think they are still selling them at the moment! HTH

Kimitatsu

I bought food flasks for my boys they are great! THey take leftovers such as fried rice, chilli, spag bol, any type of soup, stew and dumplings the list is endless!

We started out with the cheap ones but they inevitably got broken as bags were flung around so invested in an unbreakable one from Lakeland, which has saved me a fortune.

luckypanda

Ooh, that sounds good. Thanks! :T

wogglemaker

I've bought several aladdin bento boxes recently.

Having spent a lot of time in hospital this summer, I've got well fedup with a weekly rotating menu and although the hospital resteraunt is not vastly expensive it can soon mount up,

hopefully they will allow hubby to bring me some of the meals I fantasize about after 5 weeks of the same menu.

luckypanda

Great, let me know what you think of the aladdin bento boxes as I was looking at those!

camelot1001

I agree with Katielou, the Aldi food flask is brill, just wish I had bought more than one!! They are made by Stanley so may be able to find them elsewhere.