Customer Reviews

Aladdin 12oz. Heat & Go- Micro Lunch Bowl, Assorted Colors: Pink & Blue.

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I've been using this for my kids' "hot lunch" for 2 years. The food does not come out "piping hot", but who wants to burn your kid's mouth? We put everying thing in this, from pizza cut up small and layered with parchment paper, to soup, to fried rice, to spaghetti to chicken nuggets and tater tots. The trick is that you need to know how to maximize your heat retention. First, fill the bowl with tap water and pop it into the microwave for 2-3 minutes (longer if you are zapping more than one bowl). As soon as it's done, put the lid on (must be straight) while it's still in the microwave (so you don't scald yourself) and screw shut. I let the hot water sit in the bowl while I fix the kids breakfast and get ready. About 15 minutes before we leave, I dump out the hot water, dry the bowl and lid (only if you want to keep something crisp like nuggets, egg rolls, etc.) and put the food in. I zap it for 2 minutes, toss/stir it and re-zap for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on how cold the food was going in. As soon as it is done, the lid goes on (straight)immeidately, tightened down and put in the lunch box. Avoid storing cold items in the same box. My kids have 2-tiered insulated lunch boxes from Land's End to separate hot from cold.

For crispier foods like nuggets, I first heat them in the toaster oven. When the food is ready, I dry out the bowl and lid, pop the food in and zap it for 60-90 seconds. The lid must go on immnediately, or you will lose some heat.

We loathe our school's over-priced "hippy-dippy organic" healthy lunch vendor, so this is the perfect way around it. You save money by eating leftovers or food from home and your kids aren't throwing away their hot lunch behind your back. Give them what they like to eat and everyone is happy. The only drawback to this item that I've found is the lid. It takes a little practice to get it on straight the first time. If you screw it down off-kilter, it will leak both it's contents and heat. After 2 years, I think I've gotten my money's worth.

This is a follow up to my previous 4 star review....
After using this item for the previous 6 weeks or so I have to rerate it as 1 star. The food won't stay warm let alone hot and today after tightening the lid in an effort to keep the food warmer longer I can't get the lid off. Its in the garbage now. End of follow up.

I got one of these the other day despite its previous one star review. Its the only microwavable food jar on the market (that I could find.) This feature was important to me as the others require you to pour boiling water into it and let sit for up to 15 minutes. As a mom, I don't have that kind of time early in the morning.
The first thing I did was to pour some hot soup into it, tighten it and turn upside down on the counter for 4 hours (the length of time from wakeup to lunch at my sons school.) As soon as I turned it upside down, it leaked. I tightened it further and let sit for the remainder of the time. The problem is that I had to tighten it SO TIGHT that there was no way that my son was going to be able to get the lid off at lunchtime. I had to have my husband turn it while I held it down. After the 4 hours, soup was moderately warm not nearly as warm as I had hoped.
For lunch the next day I packed mostaccolli. After tightening it just enough so that my son could get the lid off I turned it upside down. No leaks. My son said that it was about room temperature when he opened it. By the way, he still had to ask a lunchroom aide to help him. Good thing to keep in mind if your school doesn't have lunchroom aides.

In summary, thicker foods are much better than soup as it DOES leak. Hard to open for small children. The hotter you can get the food before sealing the jar, the better. You must microwave the food IN the container for it to work. Do NOT store your food overnight in the fridge and then try to microwave in the morning. The food will burn before you'll be able to get the jar warm, fill jar in morning.

Overall, this is a great idea but just not perfected. I'm going to try to make it work for us. Kids tired of sandwiches.

I bought this for my daughter's lunch box. The first two times we used it, I didn't put the lid on too tight and the food was lukewarm. The third try, we put soup in it and the lid locked on so hard that not only could she not open it, my husband couldn't get it open till 8 that night. This product is a waste of money.

I bought this at Target and have been quite satisfied until recently. I've filled it with various things for my 4 year old son to take to school and most things are adequately warm by lunchtime... at least warm enough for him to eat it. I do keep it in a separate insulated lunch box from his cold lunch box which is a bit of a pain for him to have 2 insulated lunch boxes, but it works for us. I would agree that it is nearly impossible to open if you don't have a way of grasping the lid separately from the bowl.. which was why I returned the 24oz large gray lunch bowl with the divider also sold by Aladdin. I found this one to be really easy to open if you pop out the spoon tray first and use it as a lever to screw and unscrew the lid from the bowl which has a handle that can act as a counter lever. I hope I'm explaining that adequately.

The reason I didn't give this more stars is that the instructions say it is top-rack dishwasher safe which IT IS NOT. I usually hand-wash it, but the insert had said it can also go in the top-rack, so being lazy one night, I put it in. When I was ready to put my son's lunch in it the next day, the rubber gasket in the lid would no longer stay put and there was no way to close the lid without it falling out. Even if I put it on upside down, the lid no longer closed tightly. If something is not dish-washer safe, then don't advertise that it is! I would have been so happy with this product if I had not put it in the dishwasher (which I only did because it said it was okay to do so)! On top of it all, when I tried to call the company to see if this is covered under warranty or if I could purchase the lid separately, I always end up with a busy signal after pressing the button to be transferred to an operator. I sent an email as well, but have not heard back. This is really shoddy business practice!

But, after all that, I am tempted to just go back to Target and get another one. After all, it's cheap, and it does an adequate job of keeping my kid's meal warm by lunch time 4 hours later.

I decided to test this item alongside a 17 oz stainless steel Thermos brand food thermos, since they were both on sale at Target. I started with boiling water and checked temp with a professional ($90) Thermapen food thermometer after four hours. The water in the Aladdin was lukewarm (102 degrees); in the Thermos it was nice and hot (191 degrees). Since liquid stays hot longer than solid food like rice or pasta, I would expect that either thermos would be less effective with solid food. (I'll run that test in the next couple of days.) So ... STRIKE ONE, the Aladdin doesn't keep things hot. STRIKE TWO, it is almost impossible to open! Because of the large circumference (18.5" vs 11.5" for the Thermos), you simply cannot grip it well enough to open it easily, especially if you closed it tightly. STRIKE THREE, If you fill it with hot liquid, and try to open it while the liquid is still hot (say within 30 minutes) the contents will leak/spill onto your hands. I don't believe that any of these plastic thermos products can keep food hot, or even warm, especially solid food. Go for the stainless.

For my toddler going to daycare, this is a good option for a hot entree. The food is warm at lunch time and it is more than enough for him to have a lunch. My issue with this item is that you need to be very careful not to strip the threads when putting the lid on. If they are damaged, the lid will be very difficult to get on or will be on very tight - hence other complaints.

This thing is a little small but I was able to get a decent size portion in it. It didn't keep my lunch warm at all tho, but the time I had lunch it was almost cold! I heated it up by the instructions and even added an extra min or two in the microwave and it still didn't keep it warm!

I just bought my second one of these at Target (just for convenience). I tested the first one after I purchased it to make sure it would keep my daughter's food warm. Sure enough, after 5 hours, it was still warm. You have to follow the directions and microwave the heck out of the food right in the bowl right before you pack it. I find items with a little liquid work best. I've put it in the dishwasher many times with no problems. My daughter is not a big fan of sandwiches, so she is very happy with the variety this provides.

Like others have said, it can be hard to open. Once my daughter came home from school with it unopened and said that everyone from her teacher to the janitor had tried to open it, unsuccessfully. I put it into the microwave for 10 seconds and got it to open that day.

We've continued to use it all school year, though, without another incident like that. I'm careful not to tighten it too tight and to wait a minute after heating it before closing it up. It's such a handy size. I just bought another one, so I guess you could say that I'm willing to take the risk--but I do send lunch money to school with my daughter, just in case.

we love this product! it's made lunch fun for my kids. they love to take cereal to school for lunch and use the cute little spoon. very happy