How to keep a Sandwich warm for DD's School Lunch????

[princess crazy]

Need some help and I knew everyone here would probably have an answer.

My DD who is in second grade this year and does'nt really care for sandwiches has informed me that she would like to take Jelly sandwiches and or ham and cheese sandwiches for her lunch. OK no problem except she will only eat the ham and cheese if it's hot!! Soooo.... does anyone have any great ideas on how to keep a sandwich hot for 4 and half hours?????? Can it be done??? I'm thinking the bread would be soggy and what would I put it in???? I know silly question but I'm at a loss right now of what to do and would really like her to have something other than jelly sandwiches every day

Also if you have any other great school lunch ideas I would love to hear them too!! My DD's really not a picky eater only when it comes to sandwiches so any other lunch ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks --you guys are always the best!!

 

[MosMom]

I make Mosey grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and wrap it in 2 layers of aluminum foil and then stick it in a sandwich box. We have a two sided insulated lunchbox and I put cold in one side and hot on the other. Mo says it is still warm when she gets it. I believe Thermos makes the lunchbox.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

This sounds like a breeding ground for bacteria to me. (That isn't meant so sound snotty. I just would be a little concerned about the healthiness of it.)

I used to pack mac and cheese or soup in one of the short thermos bottles made for soup.

 

[powellrj]

will she make her own sandwich? Could you pack the warm ham and cheese in a thermos made for soup, and have the bread in a baggie and let her put the sandwich together at lunch? That way the meat would be warm but the bread wouldn't be soggy. I use to send hot dogs with my DS like that. I would cook the hot dogs in the morning and pack them in the thermos and have the buns in a baggie and it worked out well.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

My suggestion would have been to pack the warm ham and cheese separately too, only I never ever considered sending anything other than soup or Spaghettio's as hot lunch before now. Thanks for the ideas.

I was thinking that Pyrex makes Portables, with the hot pack. The hot pack warms in the microwave oven for a few minutes and keeps warm for a few hours. I think its only marketed for glass casseroles though and comes with a zippered bag to carry your warm dish to outings. Maybe you could email Pyrex/Corning asking if they make or could produce a portable plastic container for kids that works the same way.

 

[ptcruisermom]

We do mac and cheese in a wide mouth thermos bottle. Heat the thermos bottle first with hot hot hot water and the mac and cheese stays nice and warm. (my DD is known as macaroni girl, she will not eat sandwiches)

 

[dg39]

When my youngest was in the 1st and 2nd grade, she never ate sandwiches. This made it hard to pack a lunch for school. So what I did was make the sandwich anyway, but then used a nice cookie cutter. Either a star, a cat, whatever I had around the house. I would use the cookie cutter in the center of the sandwich and it would be sort of a designer sandwich. The shape used most of the sandwich, cutting away the crust part. She didn't like that part anyway. I know this has nothing to do with keeping a sandwich warm, but for those of you who's kids don't like to eat sandwiches maybe this will help. It helped us.

 

[mom2alix]

I use the cookie cutter idea too and DD loves it!

OP - Would she maybe do the ham and cheese cold if you made it into pinwheels? Just roll the slices in a tortilla with some cream cheese (or any spread she likes) and then slice. Sometimes just presenting the sandwich a little differently makes it more appealing.

 

[Disfan1]

In the camping sections of some stores, there is an item called Hot Hands. It is usually used to keep yourself warm when camping in cold weather, so it might be worth a try on the sandwiches. Let me know if that works - I'm curious now.

 

[allicat]

How about cheese and crackers that she could put together herself.
I would be a little worried about the meat going from hot to lukewarm and possibly spoiling. Try one of those insulated bags and do a trial run with the sandwich to see if it stays hot.

 

[tiggerlover]

This is probably silly, but does the cafeteria have a microwave? DS's last school had one and the kids were free to use it whenever they needed.

My son is not a sandwich eater either...he hates crust, so I think I may try the cookie cutter idea. Some of the things he likes are wraps, especially a tuna wrap or a ham and cheese wrap, he likes lunchables and soup.

 

[LisaZoe]

I was also thinking that I'd hesitate to send warm meats in a lunch box if I wasn't sure it would stay hot enough for safety. However, it then occured to me that it's really no different then sending a cold sandwich without some refrigeration to keep it cold.

Honestly, I think most packaged lunch meats have enough preservatives in them that they'd be OK for a few hours in less than ideal conditions. I wouldn't do this with meat from a deli counter, though. Of course, when I was a kid, I don't think we worried about these things and survived. Some summers I picked strawberries and our lunch bags (no boxes for us) would sit out in the sun until lunch time. We did freeze our soft drink cans and wrap them in foil so that helped keep other things cool but it amazes me know that we ate those sandwiches without a second thought

Sorry I can't answer your question about <I>how</I> to keep it hot.

 

[princess crazy]

Thanks guys! You're all so great here and I knew I would get alot of help!

We've done the cutout sandwiches before ---it was great at first but she's just not a great sandwich eater and that lost its appeal. I too get concerned about it not staying hot enough to kill bacteria but I think it will probably be Ok for the short period of time before she eats it. We don't have access to a microwave and there probably would'nt be enough time anyway ---they only get 20 min for lunch and I can't imagine how they could let all of the kids do that ---just not enough time. I do appreciate all of your thoughts and am still considering the foil option with a insulated sandwich holder ---if I can find it and the Hot Hands sounds like something to check out----Thanks and if there are anymore ideas some of you have used out there I'd love to hear them.

 

[KLAIT]

I am also worried about lunch for my first grader. Yesterday I was flipping through the channels and there was an insulated lunch kit on QVC. It had a insulated bag, a short wide mouth thermos and a heat/cold pack...could either heat it in the microwave to keep things hot in the bag or freeze it to keep them cold.

They did the thing where they packed a lunch (bot a hot one and a cold one) and 5 hours later opened it up and stuck a temp probe in it...and it was either still very hot or very cold...

I know, probable a lot cheaper somewhere else, but I did break down and buy it.....thinking it gives me a few more opportunities for lunches.