Can't find your car? Contact us here
Want to view an example car? View a Sample
Prepare Your Food As You Go With The Best Car Food Warmers
Our content is meticulously curated through independent research, testing, reviews, and AI-driven recommendations, all designed to present you with the finest product choices.
When you make a purchase through our links, it could result in us earning a commission.
Last Updated:
Whether you’re heading to work or are on a road trip that spans the entire day, you’ll need to eat some food at some point. While drive-throughs are fairly convenient, they’re a waste of money if you already have food prepared. There’s just one problem — unless you just cooked the food, your only options are to eat your food lukewarm temperature or cold. That’s just not very appetizing, but fortunately, there’s a solution!
Car food warmers are ingenious devices that heat up your food as you drive. They run on the car’s battery power so you don’t need any extra power source to run them. Plus, they’re relatively easy to carry and transport. With the highest-rated car food warmers of 2023, you can prepare yourself a warm meal that’s ready to eat in a matter of minutes.
Buying Guide for Car Food Warmers
If you want to have a meal ready whenever you want, you’ll definitely need a car food warmer. This guide covers everything you need to know about these handy devices.
What Is a Car Food Warmer?
A car food warmer is a device that warms any items put inside it. Car food warmers are great to have in vehicles, particularly if you take long trips. They’re ideal for warming up foods or drinks that are either cold or lukewarm. With a car food warmer, you can easily heat up your food on the go, making it more delicious and edible than before.
Reasons To Get a Car Food Warmer
It makes food more delicious
While there are some exceptions, the general rule is that the warmer the food, the better it tastes. While there’s obviously such a thing as “too warm,” car food warmers never reach that point due to their automatic temperature controls. Plus, they don’t use much power. This means you can make most meals and foods tastier by simply leaving them to stay warm inside the warmer.
They’re very low-maintenance
Many car food warmers are made with the concept of “set it and forget it.” In other words, once you plug your warmer in with the food inside, you don’t have to do anything else. You can drive, leave the car and come back and your food will still be warm and ready to go. This means you don’t need to worry about monitoring the food while you’re traveling. The food will be perfectly prepared the moment you open up the warmer.
They’re portable
Thanks to the ingenious design of many portable ovens and warmers, car food warmers are surprisingly easy to carry around. They’re made to look like lunch bags and some of them even come with straps. You can carry them by hand or over your shoulder depending on your preference.
What Are the Types of Car Food Warmers?
Portable oven
Portable ovens are devices that act like an oven. They heat up anything that’s placed inside. Portable ovens aren’t as powerful as actual ovens and can’t bake food, but they can cook food in some cases and can warm pretty much any food you put inside. Portable ovens usually have a handle to make carrying them easily and they sometimes come with straps for even easier carrying.
Electric lunch box
Electric lunch boxes are lunch boxes that also warm your food when powered. Unlike portable ovens, which do not act as a direct storage solution for food, electric lunch boxes do. You can store all kinds of food inside them. Electric lunch boxes have the advantage of being very convenient and portable. They also heat the food more directly, which leads to warmer food at a faster rate. Because these food warmers don’t offer a whole lot of space to keep food, they’re only really good for single meals.
Large warmer
A large warmer is a device that has a lot of space for you to warm food with. These devices are not nearly as common as portable ovens and electric lunch boxes but they do exist. Like portable ovens, they don’t heat the food at a rate that’s comparable to actual ovens, but it’s more than enough for heating meals.
Warmer/cooler combo
Some warmers also function as coolers, and this makes the device twice as useful. Not only can you use the device to warm food when you want to eat but you can also cool food when you want to prepare a drink. Warmer and cooler combos are great in theory, but they can be a little difficult to use as you have to add and remove items depending on whether you want to cool or warm them.
Car food warmers only heat up food up to a certain temperature so they’re perfectly safe to use. They don’t overheat or cause the food to burn.
Are car food warmers universal?
Not all car food warmers work with all cars. Certain devices may only support low-voltage outlets. Because of this, you may not be able to use them if your car’s outlet comes at a higher voltage.
When should I use my car food warmer?
You can plug in the car food warmer whenever you like as it’ll stay warm as soon as it reaches the right temperature.
