Add a cup of hot, homemade soup with your packed lunch by using a thermos.
To add a little variety to your packed lunches, you may opt to include leftover goodies like soup, chili or other hot foods. You have two choices when it comes to a hot lunch. You may decide to refrigerate your food and microwave it or reheat it at your destination like the workplace or school. But there might be times when you will be unable to reheat a cold meal. In these cases, you will need to pack a hot lunch in such a way that it will still be hot by the time you sit down to eat.
Instructions
1. Select an insulated container to use for your hot food products. This insulation will keep your hot foods hot until lunchtime. Hot/cold containers work for both food and beverages.
2. Prep your container by filling it with hot water. Allow it to sit for a few minutes to bring up the temperature. Once preheated, dump out the water and fill immediately with the food product.
3. Heat the food to steaming immediately prior to packaging it. Thermoses and insulated containers will lose heat over time, and if the temperature hits the danger zone between 40 to 140º Fahrenheit, bacteria will grow quickly.
4. Immediately secure the lid or top of the thermos to contain the heat. Use caution as the contents will be, or should be, boiling hot.
5. In between uses, rinse your containers with boiling water to keep them cleaned and sanitized for the next use.
Tags: your food, your packed