Hot Lunch in a Thermos: Desi Dishes That Hold Up

Cold lunch fatigue

By the third day in a row of cold sandwiches or paratha rolls, many kids bring half of it home. A hot lunch in a thermos flask is the answer for colder months, but it fails often, and for predictable reasons: the flask was cold, the food was lukewarm when it went in, or the dish turned to paste by noon.

This post covers a hot lunch in a thermos for school: which desi dishes hold up, how to pack the flask, and what to leave in the lunchbox. For cold options, see our school lunchbox ideas. Check your school's rules first. Some do not allow hot food, flasks or certain ingredients.

The preheat step most people skip

An unheated steel flask pulls warmth out of the food in the first minutes. Fix it with one habit.

1. Fill the flask with boiling water from the kettle.
2. Close the lid and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes while you pack the rest of the bag.
3. Tip the water out, wipe nothing, and add the food straight away.

The food itself must go in steaming hot, not warm. Reheat last night's leftovers until they are steaming throughout, and fill the flask right away. Chicken must have reached 74 C / 165 F and mince 71 C / 160 F when cooked, and leftovers should have been in the fridge for no more than a day. Pack the flask to the top; the less air space, the better it holds heat.

Dishes that hold up well

The rule of thumb: soft, saucy dishes survive a flask. Crisp or dry ones do not.

Khichdi. It is the best flask food in our library. It is soft by design, serves 4 with 10 minutes of prep and 30 of cooking, and the recipe tips say to loosen it with a little hot water if it thickens as it cools, which is exactly what happens in a flask. Add a splash of hot water before you pour it in, and pack a small pot of yogurt separately.

Aloo keema. Mince and potato in a thick sauce, serves 4, 15 minutes of prep and 35 of cooking. It sits well in a flask and a child can eat it with a spoon or scoop it into a roti you pack on the side. Cook the mince to 71 C / 160 F and reheat it until steaming before it goes in.

Chicken macaroni. Serves 4 with 10 minutes of prep and 25 of cooking. Pasta softens in a flask, so slightly undercook the macaroni and make the sauce a little looser than you would for the plate.

Daal moong. Thin moong daal can go in the flask as a soup with a roti or a small tub of rice. The recipe takes about 30 minutes of cooking. Keep the daal pourable, because it thickens as it sits.

Dishes that do not like a flask

• Egg fried rice. Egg fried rice is better in a regular lunchbox at room temperature. Rice kept warm for hours is a food safety risk, and in the flask it also goes soft and clumpy. Pack it cold from the fridge, and tell your child to eat it at lunch.
• Anything crisp, like pakoray or fried snacks. The steam turns them rubbery.
• Plain rice or roti in the flask. Dry foods stay warm for less time and become gummy.
• Dishes with raw salad on top. Pack the salad separately.

If your flask is not large enough for a full meal, aim for 300 to 350 ml (10 to 12 oz) for a younger child and up to 500 ml for an older one. Think about what your child actually eats, because a half-full flask does not stay as hot.

Safe packing rules

A flask holds food hot for a few hours, not all day. These are standard home guidelines.

• Heat food until it is steaming hot all the way through before filling.
• Preheat the flask with boiling water.
• Keep cooked rice dishes out of the flask when you can. If you do pack them, they must be freshly hot, and the food should be eaten at lunch, not brought home and eaten the next day.
• Tell your child that leftovers from the flask should not be saved. It goes in the bin, not back in the bag.
• Wash the flask with a bottle brush each night. Smells in the lid seal are a common problem.

A five-day thermos plan

You do not need five different dishes. Plan two hot days and three cold ones.

Make the hot dishes the night before and refrigerate, then reheat in the morning until steaming. Or, if your school has a microwave, send the food in a normal lunchbox and ask your child to use it, if the school allows.

What to do when the flask comes home full

If the flask comes home with most of the food still inside, do not eat it. Throw it away and think about the cause: the dish was too wet, too dry, or your child wanted something different. Ask what they would eat instead, and try a smaller portion next time.

Kids tend to eat more of foods they have picked themselves. Let them vote on the two hot lunches for next week. Degchi has a family dinner vote that works for this, and the try-it pantry on the home page shows dishes you can make from what you already have. If you want to link lunches to the evening meal, our post on packing a lunchbox from last night's dinner has a simple routine.