How to Keep Food Warm for a Picnic?

What can be better than a cozy get-together with family and friends in the park or at the beach? Away from city traffic and crowds. I think that only a nice and hot meal in the open air in addition. But keeping food warm for a whole day might become a real challenge, especially when it’s chilly outside. In the summer, when it is hot keeping food is special containers is equally important. Otherwise, it can go bad very quickly. So, how to keep food warm for a picnic? That’s what we are going to discuss in this article.

how to keep food warm for a picnic

How do you keep food warm for hours?

There are several ways to keep your meals warm while traveling or going out on a picnic. Some of them are very effective, while others can only work for a couple of hours. There are low-budget solutions, as well as rather expensive ones. Let’s see what options we have:

  1. Aluminum containers.
  2. Thermal bags.
  3. Food thermoses.

Of course, there are last-minute makeshift remedies, such as wrapping your lunch in tinfoil and/or layers of thick cloth. That might help you keep the meal lukewarm for an hour or two, but that is clearly not the best decision for a picnic or tailgating.

Here you can see more information about best thermos for food!

How to keep food warm for lunch?

Aluminum containers. Foil containers are available in a variety of shapes and sizes. They come with lids or can be covered with foil wrap. These containers are relatively inexpensive. And can come in handy in a number of ways.

Pros
  • For instance, if you need to bring lunch or potluck dinner for a large group of people. Then you can just fill each container with one serving and forget about messy dishes.
  • Foil containers are very convenient. They are practically weightless and compact.
  • Aluminum containers are disposable. So you can just recycle them afterward.
  • Furthermore, save time and energy on washing.
Cons

On the downside, such containers won’t keep your food warm for a long time. It is safe to keep food in aluminum containers for up to 3 and sometimes 4 hours (depending on the temperature outside).

That’s not much. But can be enough for short field trips or picnics. Besides, if you are wondering how to keep food warm for a work potluck, an aluminum container might be a good idea. Of course, if the potluck dinner is hosted not too far from your home.

how to keep food warm while traveling

Foil containers can come in handy every once in a while. But if you need to carry hot meals with you regularly, there are better ways to do that.

Why Is Aluminum Foil a Good Insulator?

A layer of aluminum foil is commonly available. You find it inside any thermal bag. Whenever you use it to keep your buss food hot or as a cooler, it works. Manufacturers add a layer of aluminum foil to every flexible bag or food container. Why is the material so popular to store food?

Of course, tin foil is a lightweight, affordable and durable material. A thin layer of foil is easy to bend and wrap your lunch. It’s paper-thin but tough and efficient. What are the material benefits? It conducts heat and electricity very well. Aluminum alloys conduct heat 3 times faster than steel.

Nevertheless, tin foil is beneficial as it is:

  • reflective;
  • airtight;
  • waterproof;
  • lightweight;
  • strong and durable.

Aluminum stands out by high strength-to-weight ratio. It exceeds the corresponding property of steel about twice. So, it protects your food from sunlight, moisture and spoilage.

How to Use Aluminum Foil to Store and Preserve Food?

As aluminum has shiny, metallic surface. It reflects heat emissions, light and, radiation, sending it back to the source. Therefore, manufacturers use it inside every lunch box. They place it not between layers of fabric, but on a certain side, like:

  1. Inner – to keep your food hot.
  2. Outer – to reflect heat away from your lunch box.

Thus, there are two types of lunch boxes. The ones that keep your food cold have aluminum foil outside. Other ones are aluminum inside. It prevents heat from escaping. Anyway, this thin and durable layer is literally impermeable to UV light, moisture and hot air. It seals your food properly.

So, you can use aluminum foils at home or on the picnic. Wrap vegetables or meat in it, and they don’t lose their natural moisture. Foil retains flavor and aroma over the flame. If you temporarily have no access to a fridge, it keeps your food fresh. Wrap smelly food in aluminum foil, and it retains its moisture and odor.

How to keep food warm while traveling?

Thermal bags. An insulated bag that keeps food cold or hot is one of the traveler’s essentials. Whether it’s a picnic in the countryside, a camping trip or a tailgate party, you’ll need to bring lots of food and keep it warm for as long as possible. Thermal bags come in a variety of designs and sizes. You can buy a small bag to carry lunch for one person or a large travel-size bag for a large party. The time during which meals can stay hot inside a thermal bag depends on the quality of the bag itself and other media that you use to pack your food.

How Do Thermal Bags Work

Thermal bags can be made of different materials, but they share the same technology. There is a thin inner layer and a thick, rugged outer layer with insulation material in between. Thanks to that, heat gets trapped inside a bag and keeps the food hot for quite a long time. However, there are still ways for the heat to escape: zippers and seams cannot be properly insulated. Nevertheless, thermal bags remain one of the most efficient and convenient ways to carry hot food. Click here for more info!

how thermal bags work

Types of thermal bags

  • Insulated tote bags (shopping bags).
  • Casserole carriers.
  • Pizza bags.
  • Insulated lunch bags.

How to keep food hot for a long time?

Food thermoses. Insulated flasks for food (also called food thermoses) are the best in terms of keeping food hot or cold. These flasks are made of stainless steel with a vacuum insulating layer between inner and outer walls. The outer walls can be covered with plastic, rubberized or silicone layer to provide a better grip and allow for design variations.

How to choose the best thermos for hot food?

The best food thermos will have a seamless inner vessel and an insulated lid with a pressure-release opening. Some food flasks also come with a spoon and/or fork. Besides, a lid can often be used as a bowl. That is very convenient if you bring a soup or a stew for lunch.

A thermal lunch box is another type of food thermos. It is made of stainless steel and uses the same technology to keep your food hot. The difference is that it comes in the shape of a box, as opposed to a flask. Therefore, it is more convenient for solid food, such as pasta, fries, steaks, burgers and so on.  Both food flasks and lunch boxes come in different sizes. There are small ones for one or two servings, as well as capacious ones, in which you can carry a meal for the whole family.

how to keep food hot for a long time

Of course, if you carry food for a company in a thermos you also need to bring plates and flatware. Besides, a thermos needs to be cleaned immediately after the food is gone. Otherwise, it can get a bad smell and even start growing mold.

How to Select Best Food Thermos for Hot Food

The table below summarizes everything you need to know about different types of food containers and bags:

TypeMax time of keeping food warmProsCons
Thermos (flask or lunch box)up to 12 hours-keeps food hot the longest
-available in a variety of sizes
-needs to be cleaned after each use (sometimes it can be hard)
-rather expensive
Thermal bag6-7 hours-can be used to haul large quantities of food
-convenient to carry
-rather bulky
Aluminum container3 hours (4 at most)-cheap and easy to use and dispose of
-doesn’t need to be cleaned
-doesn’t keep food hot long enough

Here you can see more information about best thermos for hot food!

Conclusion and Recommendations

Now that you know how to keep food warm all day you won’t be taken by surprise when invited to a potluck dinner, a picnic or a camping trip. There are means to keep food warm from 2 to 12 hours. Which one to choose? That depends on your needs and your budget. How often do you need to haul hot food with you? Do you need to provide food for large parties or just a couple of people? Are you willing to invest in an expensive item or you just need a quick one-time remedy? By answering these questions you will be able to understand your needs better. After that, all you have to do is find the right product. But that is a completely different topic for investigation.

Hello, my name is Beatrice. I’m from Miami, FL. Are you looking for the best vacuum flask, coffee mug or thermos? Do you prefer healthy food? This website is what you need. Get some scientifically grounded tips and enjoy your time outdoors!

3 Comments
  1. Did you know that food stays warm for a longer period of time when it’s packaged in a zip-top plastic bag? The minute the bag is opened, the temperature of the food will begin to drop. So all you have to do is zip the bag shut, and the food will stay warm until you’re ready to eat.

  2. There are many ways to keep food warm for a picnic in the fall and winter months. Some of the most important are the following: Place the food in a container filled with water and place that container in a plastic bag, which is then tied tightly with string. The food will stay hot for several hours. It’s possible to put the plastic bag in a cooler with ice, but be sure to remove it from the cooler at least every hour to add hot water, because the ice can melt and the food can become warm.

  3. If you’re heading out for a day in the great outdoors, you might want to take along some tasty treats. But what if you forget to pack them? All you need is an ordinary waterproof picnic bag and a little bit of ingenuity. Here’s how to keep food warm for a picnic.

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Quality insulated flasks are an excellent solution for keeping food and drinks!
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