Does it keep food warm? If so, do you have to warm it piping hot before you out it in and it maintains it? Also how many hours??
1153317
The bag is not insulated so maintaining foods at specific temperatures would not be ideal.
1153318
To an extent it does. It's not a magical box- I'd suggest small Thermos' for them to keep food hot
526816
Should keep warm for at least 30 minutes. We use ours to keep food warm on camping trips.
562961
Agree with many other responders -- stays warm for maybe 8 hours -- but definitely not hot after that. Insulation is present, but it's not like a thermos at all.
371143
I find it stays warm for about 10 minutes. I microwave it for 1min and 15 sec.
4671
I don't use it for hot food, I use a cold pack. I would say it is not insulated so I don't think it would keep hot very long at all.
2246246
Yes, it does. I warm up soup very hot, then let it sit. After a minute I cap it, wait, then take the cap off. I do this twice to let out steam so the cap doesn't get sucked shut. I put the soup around 7 am and eat it at 4:30 pm and it is still very warm. At lunch it is hot.
88409
I didn't remove the food from the inner metal cylinder so my food stayed warm for about 3 hours. I left the inner part inside the base because I didn't have pot holders to remove it at work and it gets hot. I don't know how long it would stay warm if you unplugged it and left the lid closed.
595131
Probably just warm up the food but it does get things really hot. In fact, I had to turn it off otherwise it would scorch the food.
1775158
It blends at such a high speed that whatever you put in it will get hot from the friction. It takes about 5 minutes and you have perfectly smooth piping hot soup. Then you can dial it back to "idle" and chop in some other veggies for different texture. but to answer your question: Yes it will absolutely heat the food you put in it...
1905748
No, it does not keep food hot; but it has a built in ice-pack to help keep food in the top section cool for a few hours.
1159189
It defintely keeps the food hot for at least six hours. My only complaint is you can microwave using it.
2260267
I put soup in it in the morning, about 8 or so, after putting boiling water like it says andit is warm, not hot, at lunch time, about 12 or 12:30. It's not cold, but not hot, just warm.I like the lunch box and use it all the time!
171416
I don't have a definate answer. It would depend on how hot the food was that to begin and how well it was insulated. We use ours in the insulated Pyrex containers immediately out of the oven. We usually serve the food within 3 to 4 hrs and it has been just about the correct temperature. I would think if the insulation was good it could at least be very warm. Very few other alternatives out there. This about as good as it gets besides bringing your own stove.
646462
My concern would be bacteria. Does Mr Bento keep food warm enough... say, if I packed it @ 7am to eat at 1pm...my concern isn't so much that the food be hot enough to eat, but, you read so much about not leaving food out...would it remain warm enough to keep "bad" bacteria from forming?
1897399
It keeps food warm when it is plugging in. It is not a thermos but a food warmer.
2112269
It does keep the food hot but not sure for how long. At least through a meal.
577314
I don't think it would stay hot for quite that long. I usually eat my food about 30-60 minutes after unplugging it. But, I haven't tried!