Fisher Price insulated warming flask

money_saving_diva

Hi....now I have just brought one of these and I need to ask the 'experts' before I decide whether or not to actually keep it or take it back. I want something to heat my babys food up when I am out. I looked at Thermos food flasks but the ones I saw say they only keep food warm for 2 hours so not sure that will be any use to me on a day out. I just saw these fisher price food flasks on offer at tesco (£10.99 - is that a good price??) and got one but I think I might take it back.............anyone that has one please help?! I feed my baby my own cooked food at home which I make in batches and freeze. I then get a portion out of the freezer when I need it, microwave, stir well, leave until right temp and feed baby. When I am out I usually give him jars of ready made food, cold....but now we are onto 7 month + jars I think they are horrible cold (cold lumps??! Yuck!!) I also think my own food is nicer so want a way of giving him this while out and about. so...can I defrost a portion overnight in fridge and then take it with me and use this flask?? Will it heat it enough?? I thought you kept the food in the flask but looking at the box it is just a thermos flask of water with a lid you sit a jar or tub of food in???? Am I paying £10.99 for a flask with a big lid?? If so it is going back and I will get a normal flask for half the price............please help!!!

elle_gee

This one? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FISHER-PRICE-THERMOS-FLASK_W0QQitemZ330245382747QQihZ014QQcategoryZ20404QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Not got a baby myself, but my friend has one of these (the flask and the baby!). She can fill it up at 10am, go out for the day and it's still warm enough to warm a bottle at our house at about half six / seven at night (though not at ten at night say).

pariskate

My advice is to say not to keep small children's food warm for any length of time before serving it to them. Tepid, home cooked food is perfect to promote bacterial growth - no preservatives, right temperature, very nutritious. I would say you run a good risk of upset tummies, especially at 7 months. Could you not take the food chilled and then ask a cafe to heat it up? Or perhaps take a range of cold finger foods - cheese, bread or rice cakes, fruit and yogurt would all provide a tasty and nutricious lunch.

Reading your post again, does the flask actually heat stuff up from cold -using batteries or something?

I got a normal side necked flask from Sainsbury's for £4.99 (for older kids packed lunches)

jopsey

from memory I think the one I had was fisher price and yes it was just a flask that held hot water ,I know what you are saying but as I combined bottle and breast fed LO I loved mine to heat up bottles while we were out and about it was a god send as most places wouldn't give you hot water and I had a "thing " about bottles being warmed in microwave

elle_gee

You take the big blue top off, tip it the other way up (like a vase) then unscrew the flask section and pour the hot water into the blue bit and put the bottle/jar in to warm up. Then you can pour the water back in the flask and screw the blue bit back on.

Savvy_Sue

You may not fancy cold lumpy food, but if baby doesn't mind, that really is the easiest option! DS1 actually preferred food cold, and when served hot food would just play with it until it cooled right down. Many disagreements with MIL over whether I shouldn't be heating his meals ...

money_saving_diva

It is this one:

http://www.johnlewis.com/230418762/Product.aspx

same idea as the bottle one I think but it is designed for food.

It does warm chilled food up by you sitting it in water. Thanks for the message above about keeping food warm for a long time in a food flask - i hadn't thought about the bad side of that, and I am finatical (sp?) about food health and safety!!

But is it worth paying for the fact it is designed for the purpose or just take a thermos (which I already have) out with me full of water and a beaker?

I don't like asking places to heat food up for me - and a lot of places are funny about doing it! (and I sometimes like to feed my baby not in a cafe where I have to spend £2 on a cup of coffe and £5 on a sandwich! - i like sitting in the fresh air - like a picnic in the park!)

My lo does eat finger food really well but I would like the option of giving him hot food out.

flea72

just use a normal flask and cup. although i would say, i find that baby food heats up quicker if in a glass jar, rather than plastic, when standing in hot water, so i tended to empty the food into am empty baby food jar for heating. or if im in a real hurry, i just add a couple of spoonfuls of hot water to the food and mix through

however this is all such a faff, i tend to get baby onto cold finger foods as young as possible. by the time baby has moved onto slightly lumpy food, they can usually manage a sandwich and a banana or yogurt, which is much easier to carry around

Flea

Carmina_Piranha_3

hi, yes it is just a flask with a big lid. i don't think i'd have had much use for the smaller food warmer one but i loved the bottle one and used it a lot. i wasn't warming anything from cold though, i wasn't happy with taking things from my fridge and trying to keep them cool enough all day then heating them later - i used it for heating things which were room temp to begin with, such as bought jars of food, and bottles of room temp water to which i added the powder at the time i needed the bottle, or perhaps the odd carton of ready made formula (had to be warmed to body temp for the colief to work though, a bit fiddly, much easier to use lactose free formula powder).

if you are only using it for food and not bottles then i would say it's not really necessary. i haven't seen the food one, maybe it's a new thing brought out because the bottle one was so popular.

it's only merit as far as i can tell is that it's compact - maybe you could fit it into a handbag, or a small corner of the changing bag.

Spendless

I have a 'normal' food flask and I'm pretty sure it keeps food warm for more than 2 hours but it's been a while since it was last used. Would an ordinary flask not do? I have to say I agree with Savvy Sue though, food that you don't warm up is so much easier. I was lucky with dd that she had a preference for cold food anyway, that she still has 5 years later (and why she's on packed lunches).:D

Alikay

Errmm.... like Savvy Sue I got my kids used to eating their food cold, straight out of the jar when out and about, and they had cold bottles too - just used to get them out of the fridge and take it upstairs at bedtime ready for the night feed.:o

They did have warm food and drinks during the day when we were at home, but didn't seem fussed about the temperature, just how quickly they were fed! Once they were eating little amounts of "proper" food it was always warmed up - cold shepherds pie somehow seems a lot worse than a cold jar of Heinz goo!:D