Does anyone use a food thermos?

button_box · 20 April 2016 at 7:36PM

My student son works with an agricultural contractor at weekends and holidays. They regularly work 12hour days and don't have access to a microwave etc. They take their food for the day in their tractor. I don't really want him living on sandwiches but he is not keen on "cold" food other than sandwiches. He is eating a lot of bananas and drinking loads of milk. They don't usually stop for more than 10 mins for a meal. I bought a 0.5l food flask and thought that if there was mince/chilli/bolognaise in it, it could be poured over cold pasta/cold rice (allowing him to eat it quickly. One portion of mince didn't fill the flask and it didn't stay hot for long enough. Has anyone used these with success and what did you put in them?

singlestep · 20 April 2016 at 8:43PM

I use one for work, although in my case it's to avoid the queue for and the grottiness of the microwave on our level.

I tend to make soup on Sunday evening, some of which can be quite filling. In the mornings I fill the food flask with water from a kettle while heating the soup on the hob and eating breakfast. I fill it right up though mostly don't finish it. These last few weeks, I've been leaving at six and at lunchtime (1:15ish) it's still warm.

Whenever I've taken in chilli or stew leftovers or similar (a portion so not filled to the top) it hasn't stayed as hot for quite as long, although I'm usually so hungry at lunchtime I don't mind too much if it's lukewarm

BrassicWoman · 20 April 2016 at 9:07PM

mix the rice in, hot. the fuller the flask the warmer it stays.

thriftwizard · 20 April 2016 at 9:20PM

When I was running a shop, I used one, filled with hearty home-made soup, usually eaten with savoury (i.e. cheesy) flapjack, or oatcakes & cheese. The soup would be something like ham & mixed bean, chicken & lentil, male-chicken-a-leeky with oat groats, pea & ham - you get the drift, something really filling & nutritious, the kind of chunky soup the spoon stands up in! As the shop was freezing cold, hot soup was very, very welcome - the only problem was when customers insisted on buying things whilst my soup was going cold!

jackyann · 20 April 2016 at 10:25PM

I used to use one a lot. Agree with brassicwoman, don't try & mix with cold food. Put a complete meal in, piping hot.

jk0 · 20 April 2016 at 11:22PM

Also, you might want to do what I do with my tea flask: After warming the teapot by filling with hot water, I decant it into the flask to warm that. Thus the tea is not cooled by hitting a cold flask.

Tink_04 · 21 April 2016 at 9:48AM

I make sure all food is very hot going in and the flask was warmed with hot water previously and it stays hot.

button_box · 22 April 2016 at 7:55PM

Thanks to all have responded. Sorry I am a bit late in getting back to you all. A bit of a crisis developed but sorted out now. I had heated the flask with boiling water before I put in the mince. I think the answer will have to be to fill the flask with food to maintain temperature and experiment with a few things. I was a bit concerned that if I put pasta or rice in with the mince it would keep cooking and you would have a solid mass to prise out! I'll experiment with a few things and report back.