First off, I LOVE this brand. I have used other items by Simple Modern and my all time favorite tea mug is a champ which must be enchanted by faerie magic because it keeps my tea hot for a looooong time. When my daughters said they wanted something for their lunches to take hot meals to school, all the alarms in my head went off and flashbacks of past food safety classes flooded my brain BUT again, my tea mug rocks....so I took a chance. I have since done some experimenting and I will say: This will keep things HOT and within the food safe temp zone if used correctly. Pre-heating and food temp going in are definitely the key. Before sending them off to school I experimented with some cheap ramen and here's how it went. I pre-heated water to boil in my tea kettle and filled both food jars then capped them, allowing them to sit for about 10 minutes. After that, I added the Ramen and topped with more freshly boiled water, then capped them and put them into insulated lunch boxes to see how they would handle our everyday routine. The verdict: These things keep food HOT. I tested one of the food jars after 2 hours and it temped at 173° F. This is when we also learned that if you're actually going to take Ramen to school in them, you don't want to let it cook IN these jars, as it turns into a mushy, disgusting mess, so unless that's what you're into, you'll want to actually cook your Ramen and add it after you've preheated the jar. The other jar I let sit for another 2 1/2 hours, as my children eat roughly 4 hours after they get to school, thus placing food in the 'danger zone' if not kept at that 140° mark. Well, after 4 1/2 hours, it still tempted at 153°F making it above the safe mark for holding temp. I wouldnt feel confortable going any longer than those 4 hours, as I'm sorta paranoid like that, but they are good foe that lunchtime mark so it's a win. My youngest brought her beloved SpaghettiOs to school for lunch yesterday so I did the same, preheated the jars with boiling water, heated the Os to HOT, as in 212° hot and capped it immediately after. She reported that not only were they warm, but still almost too hot to eat without blowing on them when lunch time rolled around. Not only that but her friends were jealous that she got SpaghettiOs, and that her container was so darn cute. Also, and this is important for parents, she opened it easily by herself (she's 9) because of the awesome handle on top, even with pressure having built up a bit inside. That was also a huge selling point, as they wont eat it if they cant get it open, right? So, yeah. They're a win for me and yet another awesome product from this brand. I'm not sure how the other sizes would measure up as more space means more chance to lose heat, but the 12 oz size passed my Mommy tests with flying colors. Also, the rubber ring inside the lid has a nice little tab that you can use to pull it off for easy cleaning. It also goes back on fairly easily, which means no moldy mess growing in there. Yay! UPDATE: The paint started peeling off one of the two I purchased, so I contacted their customer support and they are just as amazing as their products! They sent me a replacement straight away. I highly recommend this company, both for their products and their practices.
