How to Pack Chicken Pie in a Lunchbox (School, Office, Picnic)
A chicken pie is almost the perfect packed lunch. Built-in container, no cutlery required, filling enough to carry you to dinner. The catch is that a chicken pie is also cooked chicken and gravy, which means it needs the same care as any other leftover. Here is how our crew packs Don chicken pies for school, work and the Botanic Gardens without ending up with a soggy, lukewarm, slightly worrying lunch.
Should you pack a chicken pie hot or cold?
Pick one and commit. The danger is the in-between.
Cooked food should spend as little time as possible in the temperature danger zone, roughly 5-60C, and no more than 2 hours there in total. A pie packed warm into a plain lunchbox drifts straight into that zone and sits there all morning. In Singapore, a school bag on a hot bus or an office tote by a sunny window makes the problem worse.
| Method | How it works | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot pack | Piping hot pie in a preheated insulated food jar | School recess, site visits, no microwave at work | The pie softens from steam; must still be hot when eaten |
| Cold pack | Fully chilled pie, ice pack, insulated bag | Office with a fridge and microwave or toaster oven | Must go into the fridge on arrival, or stay with the ice pack |
| Eat cold | Chilled pie kept cold until lunch, eaten as is | Picnics, kids who like cold pie | Crust is softer; keep it below 5C until eating |
How do you hot-pack a chicken pie in an insulated food jar?
Wide-mouth vacuum food jars, the thermos-style kind, can carry a hot pie well if you prepare them properly.
- Preheat the jar. Fill it with boiling water, close the lid and leave it for 5-10 minutes while you reheat the pie.
- Reheat the pie until piping hot. The whole pie should be hot through to the centre, 75C if you have a probe. The air fryer works well here: the maker’s guidance is 150C for 5 minutes then 200C for 5 minutes.
- Cut to fit. A personal pie usually needs halving to go into a jar. Cutting also lets you check the centre is genuinely hot.
- Empty the water, pack fast. Pour out the water, drop the pie in, lid on immediately.
- Eat within the jar’s hold time. Check what your jar’s maker says. If the pie is only warm at lunch, bin it.
Honest warning: a hot-packed pie will not be crisp at lunch. Steam has nowhere to go. A folded square of kitchen paper at the bottom of the jar soaks up some of it. We accept the trade-off for a hot lunch.
How do you cold-pack a chicken pie?
- Chill the pie overnight in the fridge, covered. A pie straight from the fridge starts its day cold.
- Pack with an ice pack in an insulated lunch bag. Put the ice pack on top or alongside the pie container.
- Use a container with a little breathing room. A rigid box stops the pie getting squashed in a bag.
- Fridge on arrival. At school or work, move the pie into a fridge if there is one. If not, the ice pack is doing the job until lunch.
- Reheat until piping hot before eating, unless you are deliberately eating it cold.
Remember the maker’s storage limit too: chilled up to 3 days. A pie bought on Monday and packed on Thursday is past its window. Our guide on how long chicken pie lasts in the fridge has the full rules.
What is the best way to reheat a chicken pie in the office microwave?
The pantry microwave is a shared, mysterious, usually filthy box. Work with it, not against it.
- Take the pie out of the plastic box and put it on a plate on a sheet of kitchen paper.
- Use medium power in short bursts, around 30-60 seconds at a time, turning the plate between bursts if it does not rotate.
- Rest for a minute, then cut into the centre and check it is steaming hot. Microwaves heat unevenly: the edge can be scalding while the middle is cold.
- Finish in the toaster oven if there is one. A few minutes in a preheated toaster oven dries the pastry and brings back some crunch. Watch the lid, because toaster oven elements sit close to the food.
If your office has a toaster oven and you have the time, skip the microwave and go straight to the toaster oven at a moderate heat. It takes longer but the crust is far better. Our reheat calculator gives times by appliance. Feeding the whole team rather than packing one lunch? That is a catering job, and donpieshop.com has a guide to feeding a whole office with pies, with quantities and delivery to office towers.
How should you pack chicken pie for kids?
A few extra checks for small eaters:
- Cut it in half. A personal pie is a lot for small hands. Halves are easier to hold and easier to finish. For toddlers, cut the chicken and potato into smaller pieces.
- Check the heat. The filling stays much hotter than the crust. Break the pie open and let steam out before handing it over, or pack it cold.
- Mind the egg. The Don chicken pie has half a hard-boiled egg inside, and the maker lists eggs, nuts, dairy and gluten among its allergens. Do not send it to school for a child with any of those allergies, and check the school’s food policy.
- Pick the flavour. Original is the gentle one. Black Pepper is noticeably peppery and Curry brings its own spice. Our Don chicken pie family comparison describes each.
How do you keep the base crisp for a picnic?
Picnics are the toughest test because there is no reheating at the other end. Pack pies fully chilled, unwrapped from cling film, in a rigid box lined with kitchen paper, with an ice pack in the cooler. Eat them cold, or bring them home. Our crisp-base picnic pie experiment walks through the tricks, and cooling the pies fully before boxing is the one step we would never skip.
Watch the clock in the sun. Once the pies are out of the cool bag, the 2-hour limit starts, and on a hot Singapore afternoon we aim to finish well within it.
What should you pack alongside a chicken pie?
Chicken pie is rich and beige. Balance the box with something fresh and something crunchy:
- Cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes (halved for toddlers) or carrot batons
- Fruit: apple slices, grapes (halved for little kids), orange segments
- A small sachet of chilli sauce for the adults
- Kitchen paper or a napkin, because flakes will happen
- A drink. Our guide on what to drink with chicken pie has opinions.
Filed in the chicken pie blog, where every post answers one question. New here? The Don chicken pie guide is the place to start.
Quick questions
Can kids eat chicken pie cold in a lunchbox?
Yes, if the pie was chilled properly and kept cold with an ice pack until lunch. A cooked pie eaten cold is safe when it stays below 5C, though the crust is softer. What is not safe is a pie packed warm and left to sit in a bag all morning.
How long does a hot chicken pie stay hot in a thermos?
That depends on the jar, so check the maker's guidance for your food jar. A properly preheated jar filled with a piping hot pie stays hot for a typical morning. If the pie is only lukewarm at lunch, do not eat it.
Is the Black Pepper Don chicken pie too spicy for children?
The Black Pepper flavour has an extra peppery kick, which some children love and others find too strong. The Original is the milder choice for younger kids. Curry brings curry spices, so try a bite at home before it goes to school.
