Keep food warm on the go! Multiple options

You can keep food warm in food containers, you can also keep your food warm in electrical thermo boxes or in insulation boxes.

What could be nicer than being able to eat hot on the go when you want it. When you’re in the office or in the truck, you have to be able to eat, hot or cold. There are several ways to keep hot food or soup warm and take it with you without leaking and breaking. When you go by public transport, there are also options to take food warm, but in smaller sized boxes. But more on this later.

It depends on how many hours you want your food to stay warm. It can be for an hour or for a few hours. Of course, you adjust the packaging accordingly. The longer it has to stay warm, the more sophisticated the packaging becomes. And there are quite a few different types. One stays warm for 6 hours and the other is guaranteed to be leak and airtight. For example, you have food warmers that are electrically heated and food warmers that can stay warm due to the packaging itself. These are insulating boxes.

In the land of food warmers I have made a number of choices and described them so that you have a better overview.

• Aluminum foil with newspapers and cloths
• Cool box small: can be converted into a warming box
• Warming boxes without and with electrical connection
• Food containers for soup (but also other meals such as fried rice, spaghetti, etc.)

If you want to keep food warm at home: read our blog ‘ Keeping food warm can be done in different ways! .

Keep food warm on the go

Suppose you want to keep your hot food warm for an hour. Then the first thing that comes to mind is to put your hot food in a bowl as late as possible so that it stays warm long enough when you want to eat it.

Paper, aluminum foil, and towels can go a long way toward keeping food warm on the go without having to put in too much effort to keep it warm. By first folding paper (newspaper) around the container, then aluminum foil ensures that the air layer surrounding the container remains heated because aluminum foil insulates this layer. This means that it retains heat.

You can also fold a towel around it to keep it warm for longer. This is really only for an hour at most that it stays warm enough to eat. 

Cool box

When you have to take food warm with you, you usually don’t buy an expensive box. Then a cool box could be ideal to use. A cool box is primarily a box to keep products cool. But if you have a small cool box, you can ‘convert’ it into a warming box, without too much effort. After all, it’s all about the insulating layer in the box.

Line the cool box with aluminum foil on the inside. Place a towel in the bottom and place your container with food that you have completely covered with foil on it. The hotter the food is, the longer it stays warm. Place cherry pit cushions or keep warm patties that have been heated in the microwave between the containers with food (read the instructions for use).

You can also fill a sock with rice and put it in the microwave at the last minute to heat. Put the sock that is properly buttoned up between meals. Guaranteed that it certainly helps to keep the meal warm. Put towels on it again. This way you can go a long way in keeping the meal you want to take with you warm. 

Warming boxes

If you expect to be on the road for more than a few hours or if you are on the road for the day, it is nice if you have warming boxes that ensure that your food stays warm for longer. Then you quickly end up with insulated warming boxes without or with connection to 12 volts (cigarette lighter in a car, for example). These can also be used on 230V, so simply plug into the socket. This is certainly useful if you regularly take hot meals with you. Then it is worth purchasing such a box.

The boxes with 12V connection keep food warm in a car, for example. You can then connect them as long as you want as long as the engine is running. Only put the plug in the ‘cigarette lighter’ after the engine has started, otherwise the warming box will drain your battery.

For the food it is important that it should be eaten the same day if you keep it warm all day. It can stay warm as long as you want, but whether the taste benefits the food you heat is number two. In addition, the food also has a shelf life. So the shorter you heat the meal, the better the taste will be and the better the quality of the food will remain.  

The boxes can heat up to 120 degrees Celsius. So warm enough. Your food must be at least 60 degrees to serve. Not colder then it is no longer nice.

These boxes cannot warm up cold food completely into a hot meal, so you need to put it in as hot as possible to keep it warm. You can also drink cold here and use food to keep it cool, but not both at the same time.

The boxes without connection can keep meals warm for a long time, but not all day. This can usually be done for a few hours at most. That also depends on the quality of the box or how long you think it is necessary for the box to keep your food warm. These are light in weight, leak-proof and have well-closable lids. There are different types and sizes available. The box below has the best reviews at bol.com without connection.

Food container soup

Keeping soup warm on the go is not the hardest thing to do, but you have to know how to do it and how to keep it warm for the longest. Food containers are good for that, but thermos flasks can also keep soup warm.

There are different types that you can also use for different purposes. You have food containers that you can use for cooling salad for example and keeping soups and small meals warm, or for just cooling or keeping warm. Thermos flasks are of course only available for liquid meals or drinks.

There are food containers that are guaranteed to stay warm for 6 hours and are unbreakable. Below you can find a number of examples of food containers that also do not leak, which is very nice when you are on the road. No bag with soup underneath and strings between your important pieces. That is the first requirement: that your soup remains warm and that it is leak-tight.

How to keep food warm on the go

There are also food carriers (for soup or stews), as they call it, which are lightweight and made of stainless steel. Great when you have to lug it around in your bag. You certainly don’t want to carry too much weight. We already have to carry so much with us to and from the office or work environment.  Plus the fact that you have a 5-year warranty is of course ideal. Then you know for sure that it is of good quality. I personally like the beautiful bright blue color. What else do you want.

Hopefully you’ve gotten some ideas on how to keep food warm. There are plenty of options. Good luck choosing!