Good hot food thermos?

[Heavenly]

My kids new school doesn't have microwaves so I want to get them a good stainless steel thermos/food jar that will actually keep the good warm until lunchtime. I run out of ideas when just have to send them a cold lunch every day. The walmart near me has ThermoCafe, Thermos brand, Thermos Funtainer, and Fuel. Does anyone know if any of those are good and actually work. I bought some last year (don't remember the brand) and it didn't keep it warm at all.

[Arduinna]

kleen kanteen wide insulated, comes in a variety of sizes. Warm for 6 hours.

[emilysmama]

I have Thermos brand Foogo 10 oz food cup wide mouth food cup. It works great. I was initially disappointed with it because if you close it tightly enough to keep liquids (soup, hot water) from leaking, then it is challenging for even an adult to open, let alone a young child. So for a long time, I only used it to store hot water for work. It keeps the water piping hot for at least 5 hours. But now I am happy with them for my child's school. I still don't send soups like liquid. But I do send hot solids: pasta, rice, mashed potatoes, etc. I close it, but not super tight. It doesn't leak, and my then 5 y.o. (now 6 y.o.) Kindergartener was able to open it by herself. In fact, she preferred her lunches that way, instead of the usual cold sandwich.

So this is what we've got, although you can probably find it at a local store like Target. I assume that the thermos brand that you found will work just as good as the Foogo to keep food hot.

Our Thermos Brand Foogo

We also have KidsKonserve:
Stainless Steel Wide-mouth food jar

We ordered that directly from the company. The Company swore that a 4year old would have no trouble opening it, but mine did because I thought you had to close it very tightly. Once started closing it more loosely (as I described above), my dd had no trouble opening it. These were just as good as the Foogo.

We have Fuel, but I didn't use them for hot. I used them for cold. I don't remember very clearly, but I don't think they were nearly as good as the other two that I mentioned above.

So, for you, I think either Thermos brand or Thermos funtainer will be fine. You can keep it hot even longer if you put hot water in the container before putting your hot food inside. I'm too lazy to heat up the water to do so. Thermos is a very good brand.

[cycle]

We have the thermos brand vacuum insulated 10 oz jar. This one; http://www.thermos.com/product_detai...2&CatCode=LUNC

It works really well for ds for soups, pastas, stews, etc. It keeps stuff hot, I actually have to be careful not to heat the stuff up too much so its not too hot for hum at lunch. It doesn't leak and I don't have to tighten the lid to the point that ds can't open it.

[Heavenly]

Originally Posted by cycle

We have the thermos brand vacuum insulated 10 oz jar. This one; http://www.thermos.com/product_detai...2&CatCode=LUNC

It works really well for ds for soups, pastas, stews, etc. It keeps stuff hot, I actually have to be careful not to heat the stuff up too much so its not too hot for hum at lunch. It doesn't leak and I don't have to tighten the lid to the point that ds can't open it.

Those are the same ones I saw at Walmart. Thanks! I think I will pick some up. Do you preheat it with hot water or not?

[tazzae]

I have the Foogo ones by thermos, too. They work very well for keeping food hot until lunchtime.

Yes, I do suggest preheating. I use the hottest water from the tap, seal and wait 5 minutes for container to warm up.

[greenmom4]

I have the Foogos, too - a hello kitty one for my dd (4) and transformers for my ds (6). I got them at Target last year and they worked wonderfully for us. I packed soup, mashed potatoes, pasta, stew, etc. No leaks at all.

[emilysmama]

Originally Posted by Heavenly

Those are the same ones I saw at Walmart. Thanks! I think I will pick some up. Do you preheat it with hot water or not?

I don't. First of all, I'm usually too rushed to do it. Plus, if it is too hot, at lunchtime, then child won't have time to let it cool and eat it.

You didn't ask, but you want to make sure that your kids can easily open everything that you pack by themselves, because they will essentially have no assistance with that. You would not believe how little time the children have to eat. I know that I was shocked. The official schedule says that lunch lasts 20 min. But by the time they get into the cafeteria and sit down, they have at most 5 minutes to eat. And that's assuming that they aren't chit-chatting. The teachers aren't present in the lunch room at my dd's school. The children get dropped off at the cafeteria, and if they need help opening stuff or unwrapping packages, then they have to get the attention of one of the two cafeteria ladies who are amongst the 75 children. (3 K classes) And the cafeteria staff don't usually see the children's raised hands because the staff is busy cleaning up. I ate lunch with my dd a few times, and I was kept busy they whole time opening all kinds of packages of chips, wrappers etc from random children.

[emilysmama]

Originally Posted by Heavenly

Those are the same ones I saw at Walmart. Thanks! I think I will pick some up. Do you preheat it with hot water or not?

I don't. First of all, I'm usually too rushed to do it. Plus, if it is too hot, at lunchtime, then child won't have time to let it cool and eat it.

You didn't ask, but you want to make sure that your kids can easily open everything that you pack by themselves, because they will essentially have no assistance with that. You would not believe how little time the children have to eat. I know that I was shocked. The official schedule says that lunch lasts 20 min. But by the time they get into the cafeteria and sit down, they have at most 5 minutes to eat. And that's assuming that they aren't chit-chatting. The teachers aren't present in the lunch room at my dd's school. The children get dropped off at the cafeteria, and if they need help opening stuff or unwrapping packages, then they have to get the attention of one of the two cafeteria ladies who are amongst the 75 children. (3 K classes) And the cafeteria staff don't usually see the children's raised hands because the staff is busy cleaning up. I ate lunch with my dd a few times, and I was kept busy they whole time opening all kinds of packages of chips, wrappers etc from random children.

[Polliwog]

Originally Posted by emilysmama

I don't. First of all, I'm usually too rushed to do it. Plus, if it is too hot, at lunchtime, then child won't have time to let it cool and eat it.

You didn't ask, but you want to make sure that your kids can easily open everything that you pack by themselves, because they will essentially have no assistance with that. You would not believe how little time the children have to eat. I know that I was shocked. The official schedule says that lunch lasts 20 min. But by the time they get into the cafeteria and sit down, they have at most 5 minutes to eat. And that's assuming that they aren't chit-chatting. The teachers aren't present in the lunch room at my dd's school. The children get dropped off at the cafeteria, and if they need help opening stuff or unwrapping packages, then they have to get the attention of one of the two cafeteria ladies who are amongst the 75 children. (3 K classes) And the cafeteria staff don't usually see the children's raised hands because the staff is busy cleaning up. I ate lunch with my dd a few times, and I was kept busy they whole time opening all kinds of packages of chips, wrappers etc from random children.

Our school does things differently. The assistant teachers eat lunch with their kindergarten classes and are able to help the children open what is needed. And they get a full 25 minutes to eat before they use the bathroom and go outside.

[mama1803]

Originally Posted by cycle

We have the thermos brand vacuum insulated 10 oz jar. This one; http://www.thermos.com/product_detai...2&CatCode=LUNC

It works really well for ds for soups, pastas, stews, etc. It keeps stuff hot, I actually have to be careful not to heat the stuff up too much so its not too hot for hum at lunch. It doesn't leak and I don't have to tighten the lid to the point that ds can't open it.

This is what we have been using and have been very pleased with it. Keeps the food hot, doesn't leak, not too hard to open, washes easily.

[laurabfig]

We have the same ones as others have above and they work great- and have held up for several years. I think I got them at target?

[lauren]

I just ordered this one because it got really good reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00..._ya_os_product