Mrs Bloke has a little artwork business and sells at a local farmers market and various country fairs and outdoor events.  She feels the cold and it can obviously be a bit baltic at this time of year.  Apart from layering up until she looks like the Michelin man, she likes to take a flask of tea or coffee and we have a couple of different sized stainless steel flasks.

She moans that they don’t stay hot enough and is convinced acquisition of a spendy, blingy replacement will resolve this.  I use them too from time to time and don’t have this issue.  I preheat them with boiling water and make sure whatever I put in them is piping hot.  If it’s a hot drink with milk in, I take the milk separately and add it when I pour the drink.  Drinks are nice and hot for hours. She says she does all this, but I’m not totally convinced.  I think she just wants a new flask, which is fair enough.

She has her eye on one of those Stanley Aladdin flasks with the green enamelled finish. I had one of these years ago and as I recall, it was no better, or worse at keeping drinks hot than the stainless steel flasks we currently use.  Am I wrong?  Does my memory fail me?  Are they significantly better than other flasks? If not, any others we might look at?

Ey up BUTR, I use this badboy Thermos Ultimate does what it says. Kept brews hot on long Sennybridge range days so it’s a win from me, can’t sing its praises enough.

Zojirushi. Accept no substitutes.

Yeti flasks are really good too.

Wrap current flask in more insulation – just stuffed into a blanket in a bag would work.
Don’t leave it sat in the wind or on cold surface.

Stalnless flasks, especially lower price ones can easily lose their vacuum, and effectiveness – they can look absolutely fine but just not work properly anymore – so may well be correct that they’re not working well – are you still using the same flasks? Or do you just remember them being good?

I’ve found both Stanley and Thermos (the brand not the generic term) flasks to both be very good – especially their smaller flasks which with less favourable volume/ surface area ratio would be less effective. Theres often good deals on thermos and Stanley flasks in TK Maxx

Also if  your wife’s working in cold environments  – make extra flasks, take a week backpack and use the flasks to fill a hot waterbottle in the backpack 🙂

Get her something to stand on whilst at her stall. Like foam floor mats or something similar. This really does help.

Flask wise, i’ve heard only good things about contigo.

I’ve a couple of steel Thermos flasks. The full size one can keep drinks hot for 24 hours.

Some great suggestions here thanks.  I wonder if I can palm a new one off as her Christmas present? 🤔  I may actually get her to try the hot water bottle in a back pack.

Ey up BUTR, I use this badboy Thermos Ultimate does what it says. Kept brews hot on long Sennybridge range days so it’s a win from me, can’t sing its praises enough.

Ordered. I watched a YT review of several flasks by some polar explorer chap, and this came out on top for heat retention, light weight and robustness. Thank you muchly 👍

Talk of Sennybridge brought on flash backs of horizontal rain, gopping range stew out of Norwegian containers and being wetter than than an otter’s pocket.  Thanks for that…..! 😉

contigo

Picked up a mug/coffee cup thing years ago on a whim for the GF. Six or seven years later and it’s still going strong.

Hot drinks are still too hot to drink hours later. If I make her tea I’ll add a dash of cold water so that it’s drinkable without having to remove the lid to let it cool.

Picked up a large Emsa flask for the van. Does its job very well and the quick pour is good.

I’ve got several of the insulated drink bottles, ones you just unscrew the top and drink directly from. Three are ones I was given at work, and a couple I bought from Wilco’s; those two cost £5, IIRC. My oldest one, my first that came from Wilco’s, I’m still using every day when I’m at work, and I always have green tea in it. I boil the kettle around 5.30 in the morning, fill it with boiling water straight from the kettle, then empty that into a Pyrex jug with a green tea bag in, stir that around for a minute or so, then pour back into the bottle, obviously without the bag in. I have a drink from it at my first break at 9.30, then again at lunch at 12.30, then finish it up at my afternoon break at 3.30. At which point it’s still warm enough to be enjoyable.
The only reason those bottles will lose their insulation is if they’re dropped bottom first, especially if they’re full, because the impact will dislodge the base which is forced on in a vacuum, and the seal will be broken.
Don’t drop them, and they’ll last for years. My first one is five or six years old, at a rough guess. The only other thing that can be compromised is the seal around the screw cap.

Best option is fill one with almost boiling water, and take a mug to fill, with a choice of beverages to choose from during the day.

Or take two, at a fiver each, you’ve got nothing to lose. They’re no different to bottles from swanky manufacturers charging three or four times as much. My other ones get used during the summer; I’ve got an ice tray from B&M, that produces ice that’s a tapered cylinder, that fits perfectly into the neck of one of those bottles, sometimes there’s a bit of excess around the edge, I just bang them in with a wooden spoon handle, half a dozen of those, topped up with cold water, it’ll still chill your teeth eight or nine hours later.

I’d get annoyed if I dropped one costing a fiver and it didn’t keep things hot or cold anymore – if I did that to one costing four times as much I’d be furious.

Moral – buy cheap that does the job just as well, then you can afford to buy several more for others, or for putting different contents in.

https://thermos.co.uk/stainless-kingtm-food-flask-710ml
I’ve had this for years it’s bomb proof.

Make the drink off choice in a jug and super heat it by microwaving for 2 minutes

Get her something to stand on whilst at her stall. Like foam floor mats or something similar. This really does help.

I doing a pretty sedentary job in the cold a few years ago – had a spare bit of kingspan insulation kicking about – put it on the stool I was sitting on an it was like sitting on a radiator!

Some great suggestions here thanks. I wonder if I can palm a new one off as her Christmas present?

My first thought was “she’s giving you a hint for a Christmas present!”

i had one of those green stanley flasks …..

seems to have lost its vacumn.

Unlike my kleen kanteen day to day mug which keeps half a litre of home brewed coffee warm and drinkable till lunch without preheating …..its been dropped quite a few times.

Likewise my 12 year old travelled the world bodum cafepress also kept stuff warm for ages – Celtman this year killed that when the high winds blew a full mug off the roof of the berlingo and it landed plastic lid down and shattered – and they dont sell the lids separate

But both have been infinitely better at being dropped than the previous 5 pound supermarket/poundland mugs ive had….. and no nasty plastic liner that taints – Which may not be important to you – but i have in the past used my mug for noodles/rice/Couscous when food available has been dubious.

I doing a pretty sedentary job in the cold a few years ago – had a spare bit of kingspan insulation kicking about – put it on the stool I was sitting on an it was like sitting on a radiator!

I wonder if you got a piece of thick kingspan (or layer up thin pieces) and made a thermos/mug sized hole in it – would it ever go cold? 😉

I was bought one of these as a leaving present and 4 years on its still brilliant.

In a morning I have to add cold water to it otherwise I can’t drink it out of the flask until after 3pm.

Comes with a neoprene cover so if you do drop it, it has a bit of a cushion.

1 litre flask is around £20 so a bit cheaper than the others

Hot drinks are still too hot to drink hours later.

A lot of people say that about a lot of flasks but I can only assume they’ve got girly tastebuds because it’s never my experience! I’ve got various flasks, including Contigo and a Thermos Ultimate – they’re decent (the Thermos is better) but if you’re out in the cold it never stays HOT hot for all that long. Warmish, perhaps, and yes if it’s on the passenger seat of the car you’re driving it’ll stay hot much longer.

Agree with Matt’s suggestion of wrapping the thermos up a bit too. In my studio I used to put it on the radiator in winter, which helped a little. Still didn’t stay piping hot all day though.

I have one of the thermos king mugs, only half a litre, but that keeps my tea hot until lumch time and pleasantly drinkable for up to 6-7 hours, even if I’m outside working in the garden. If i’m at work, it’s still nicely hot on the way home after 8+ hours.

A lot of people say that about a lot of flasks but I can only assume they’ve got girly tastebuds because it’s never my experience! I’ve got various flasks, including Contigo and a Thermos Ultimate – they’re decent (the Thermos is better) but if you’re out in the cold it never stays HOT hot for all that long. Warmish, perhaps, and yes if it’s on the passenger seat of the car you’re driving it’ll stay hot much longer.

Standard Thermos Thermocafe here. Cost about £8. Burns my mouth 2-3 hours into a winter walk if I forget to blow on it. Pretty much as hot as it came out of the kettle.

Another vote for thermos ultimate

Zojirushi. Accept no substitutes.

I have one. It’s *very* good.

But really, take the unambiguous hint, and get her the one she asked for for xmas

As someone who constantly has to grab dinner on the run i have lost count of the number of thermos flask storage containers that have let me down. Its hugely dissapointing.

Over the last 5 yrs though i had a game changer. It was a freebie from Mercedes. A food storage thermos type thing. The difference was though it was a thermos with a plastic container inside which you were able to put food into, microwave to nuclear temps then put inside thermos. Hours later i am burning my mouth trying to eat it.

I can understand the OP’s wife. It is a hugely frustrating thing knowing you are not getting a piping hot meal/drink. Although i must admit, i never find drinks in thermos taste half as good.

Thermos Mondial Flask – 1.8L £18.00 from Argos.

This one can maintain heat very well with drop in temperature not as significant as those stainless steel vacuum flask. I have them and water is still hot after a night by comparison to stainless steel thermos flask (I have two).

Although i must admit, i never find drinks in thermos taste half as good.

I sort of agree but a game changer in improving taste is putting black tea or coffee in the preheated flask and take cold milk in a separate bottle to add when pouring. If you put milk in when you make the flask it always tastes manky. Some kind of weird flavour affecting chemistry happens to milk when you heat it or keep it warm for hours.  The other thing is to rinse it straight after use and never store it with the lid on, to avoid the cultivation of manky odours. These things together mean you can get acceptable tasting brews IME.

I reckon you are bang on there blokeuptheroad.

I find the stainless steel ones create wire taste but the ones with glass insert less so. Oh I normally have coffee in them.

Talk of Sennybridge brought on flash backs of horizontal rain, gopping range stew out of Norwegian containers and being wetter than than an otter’s pocket. Thanks for that…..! 😉

You’re more than welcome! Happiness is a wet softy and a warm barrel as an old SSM used to say.

I don’t think you could go wrong with any of the suggestions given to be fair, a lot of good products out there. Hopefully it’ll solve the issue for the missus. 👍

Standard Thermos Thermocafe here. Cost about £8. Burns my mouth 2-3 hours into a winter walk if I forget to blow on it. Pretty much as hot as it came out of the kettle.

Was questioning myself on this as its been a while since I used it, so I thought I’d put it to the test…

Pre-heated and filled with boiling water, then put it outside in what the Met office says is 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, sat on its own, exposed to the wind. It’s been out for 4 hours now, outside of the flask stone cold, and the contents are still hot enough to burn yourself with. Dipped a finger in for a fraction of a second and it was too hot.

I sort of agree but a game changer in improving taste is putting black tea or coffee in the preheated flask and take cold milk in a separate bottle to add when pouring

I have a old glass Buxton water just for this job.

It’s been out for 4 hours

Coming up to 7 hours now. It’s cooled very slightly since last time. Still piping hot (too hot to do anything other than sip it) and can only put a finger in for a second before it burns. Going to leave it out overnight.

18 hours now. Temps dropped below freezing overnight. Although it no longer burns, I’d still describe the contents as hot. It’s marginally cooler than what comes out of my coffee machine.

18 hours now. Temps dropped below freezing overnight. Although it no longer burns, I’d still describe the contents as hot. It’s marginally cooler than what comes out of my coffee machine.

That’s impressive! Thanks for doing that and reporting back.  As I said earlier up the thread, I’ve opted for another Thermos product, the Ultimate*.  If it comes close to that level of performance I (and Mrs Bloke) will be chuffed.

*I actually bought 2 – a 900ml for my wife and a 500ml for me to take winter hill walking.

24 hours outside. Temps are hovering around zero (verified by the sheet of ice the car is encased in). The contents could now be described as warm, although it still steams when poured, and could just about pass as an acceptable hot drink. My insulated mug would be the same temp after about 2 hours.

That’s impressive!

I’m convinced it’s genuine magic. I can’t understand how it works.

Flask is 10 years old and full of dings where it’s been dropped.

Another vote for thermos ultimate

And another. I got one last winter – it squeezes into a bottle cage too. Oh and the matching food flask is nice.

Having said that my bigger day out in the hills flask is an old Vango job which is also very good.

Jetboil and she can make as many hot brews as she wants !!!

Jetboil and she can make as many hot brews as she wants !!!

I have a jetboil and I’ve suggested she takes it.  She’s not keen.  There’s a bit more faff involved with extra utensils and water bottles etc.  She already has a ton of kit to pack and unpack.  She’s usually on her own and often pretty flat out with customers so CBA brewing up when she can just open a flask and pour.

The bigger the flask, the longer it stays hot, as per increased thermal mass. We have giant of a Thermos- 1.4 litres I think. It was bought for us by a friend and I thought it was ridiculous at first, but it’s turned out to be one of our most used things!! Especially when swimming outdoors, we soon smash through it