[cheftd]

I'm about to start delivering individually packaged hot lunches to private schools in my area and I am looking for any advice on how I could keep these meals at a perfect temperature. The schools are very strict about the temperature and check them every time they arrive so they have to be perfect and extra hot I'm getting fairly nice heavy duty containers with lids that can go in my electric hot box once they are plated. Then I plan on transferring that to the thermal bags that they sell with possibly a couple heated elements that I have to microwave to get them hot. Problems are I'm afraid the meals won't stay hot enough and that I have to heat up the heating pads one at a time and as of right now I'm already going to be delivering to 10 different schools so that's a whole lot of microwaving. Most of the meals will be getting delivered by car or truck so a tall electric hot box would be out of the question And I can't find any battery powered hot boxes. Has anybody dealt with this type of service before?

 

[ginamiriam]

Cambros will keep your food hot for 4 hours. Expensive but worth every penny. For a cheaper version, try Rubbermaid Pro-serve hot boxes. They are lighter weight. We use both. Put your food in there right from the oven and when you take it out again, it's just as hot. Nothing to plug in.

Gina

 

[foodpump]

I'll second the Cambro, the mpc 300 will give you the best bang for your buck, it will take 5 shallow hotel pans. We used to "preheat" the cambros by tossing a brick into a hotel pan in the middle of the cambro. We had a bunch if foil wrapped bricks we kept hot all the time in the garland oven. Camros are ideal for any "wet" food, soups, sauced pasta, etc, but are not good for any crispy or fried items.

 

[cheftd]

Yes I have a couple Cambros. They might work. When you say you heat up bricks are you talking about the Cambro bricks or are you referring to a regular brick that you build buildings with?

 

[foodpump]

I've used the freezer "Brick"  that Cambro makes, but have never used the hot one.  No, regular building bricks, the kind you get at Home Despot/Lowes for 99 cents ea.  Wrap em up in foil and toss them in a regular oven-under-the-range.  It won't affect your oven's performance--matter of fact it might even enhance the oven's performance....  I usually had 4 or 5 living in the oven f/t.

Make sure the hot brick sits in a hotelpan/ half sheetpan that's in the middle of the Cambro, in other words, make sure the brick doesn't rest on the bottom or touch the top, or it will melt the plastic.  I've seen other guys fill a hotel pan with hot water for the same effect, but I find this much messier and more fiddly.

 

[cheftd]

I like that. I will test a couple brick out. Thanks.