Should supper made for a family be hot?

amother

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 5:12 am

Cooking for family after a baby- should the food be hot? What about soup? It seems difficult to package if it doesn't cool down first.

SG18

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 5:17 am

In my area in Israel, people generally want lunch instead of supper for meal trains. I make the food either the night before or morning of, let it cool down, and send in a plastic container or 9x13. Definitely not hot.
When I received dinners for my first baby, in the US, even when it was delivered hot, I often heated it up again when my husband got home from work.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 5:21 am

SG18 wrote:

Wow, thats so interesting. I have never heard of that before Smile

and Ive been in Israel for almost 20 years.

In terms of dinner, OP, I think its very fair to cool things off. I remember once bringing hot chicken, with gravy to someone and lets just say my car smelled like delicious chicken sauce for days. Wink

Now I always make sure it has cooled off (thereby also allowing any liquid to gel or solidify).
To heat up whatever is brought doesnt take all that much koach.

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 5:34 am

I think it should be warm not hot. Definitely not cold coming out of the fridge. That’s not so appetizing. I know when meals are delivered and my little kids are hungry they eat right away. I don’t remember heating things up for them. I probably has to reheat much later for my husband.

DrMom

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 5:59 am

Not everybody can drop off food immediately before it is going to be eaten.

If it's not hot, people can just heat it up. Most people have microwaves.

amother

Brickred

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 6:24 am

amother OP wrote:

Cooking for family after a baby- should the food be hot? What about soup? It seems difficult to package if it doesn't cool down first.

So nice of you !

I would say that food I have gotten over the years is 80% of the time hot. Some people can't bring it over hot, they usually ask me if I'm still interested. I have done the same.. Depending on how close to birth they are and what's in their freezer they may decline.

To traposrt I take a box and line with a towel or two. I take my items out of the oven,asking sure they are tightly wrapped and not putting anything on top of an item that's saucy (I usually avoid saucy foods for this reason). Soup goes right from the pot into a plastic container. It's won't be boiling hot but will be in a good place. I cover w another towel. Cold foods (fruit, salad) are in a different box or bag.

amother

Snowdrop

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 10:32 am

If you are bringing the food at suppertime, it should be hot and ready to go. Makes it much easier for the new mother, especially if there are little kids that can't heat up food themselves.

If the food is bring brought earlier in the day, which is also fine but should be communicated to the family beforehand, it's okay for it to be cold but preferably should be in pans easy to pop into the oven.

essie14

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 10:37 am

I try to bring it hot but I can't always deliver at the family's preferred dinnertime.
So then I'll deliver earlier in the day.

I often make dinner for new families in my neighborhood and they usually don't have their oven hooked up yet so then I make an effort to deliver the food hot at dinnertime.

amother

Tulip

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 10:38 am

amother OP wrote:

Cooking for family after a baby- should the food be hot? What about soup? It seems difficult to package if it doesn't cool down first.

It’s very hard (at least for me) to transport hot food. How would you even transport hot soup?
I haven’t made meals for people in a while, but when I did, I would make stuff earlier in the day, let it cool, transfer to whatever I was transporting in, and then take it over later.

SG18

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 11:36 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Wow, thats so interesting. I have never heard of that before Smile

Now I always make sure it has cooled off (thereby also allowing any liquid to gel or solidify).
To heat up whatever is brought doesnt take all that much koach.

Yep! Was surprised by it as well, but it makes sense- lunch is the main meal here.
Imy"h when we have our next, I'll just save the food for dinner haha.

asmileaday

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 11:53 am

I like to send it over hot. Even or especially soup. I put it into a very big plastic container and put that into a bag. I never had any spill issues but I'm usually not transporting it very far.

For me personally it is unappetizing to receive cold food so I will not send cold food.

Obviously it depends what time of the day your sending it. If someone is sending it over in the morning I suppose it's ok. But at 4-5pm you want warm food ready to serve.

amother

Cyclamen

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 11:57 am

If this was an expectation I’d literally never send food. I love doing this chesed for people but BH I work full time. I often cook a day or 2 in advance (never the day of. I don’t cook the day of from my family either) and food gets walked over in bags. Hot food can’t be easily transported and my life just doesn’t support that

mommyhood

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 12:00 pm

amother Cyclamen wrote:

I sometimes cook in advance but when I do I offer to drop it off the night before and they can heat it up whenever is convenient.
If I'm dropping off at dinner time for that night's dinner I send it warm/hot. I use a box to transport.

zaq

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 12:28 pm

DrMom wrote:

Not everybody can drop off food immediately before it is going to be eaten.

If it's not hot, people can just heat it up. Most people have microwaves.

And if they don't, they have, presumably, a stove and some pots and pans. Except for Essie 14's "customers."

sbil

Mon, Sep 19 2022, 1:27 pm

Hot ready to eat. I remember when I had a baby someone brought over a pan of noodles with sauce that was cold and dry. Kids were supper hungry and it barely got touched. I'm pretty sure had it been hot it would probably have tasted better. Not everyone has microwaves to warm food in.