Want to keep your packed food as warm as possible while you wait for lunch time to come along? Just get one of those small cooler bags whose insulation can retain both cold and heat. Sure, the food will likely lose a lot of warmth by that time, but it should still better than room temperature. If you want actual hot food for lunch, though, you’re out of luck, unless you have easy access to a nearby microwave. At least, that used to be the case before the Willtex Willcook came along.
Styled to look like a laptop sleeve, this “microwave bag” vows to actively heat food while it sits inside the main container, allowing you to enjoy a proper warm meal that you packed four hours earlier. You can slip it inside a backpack or even carry it on its own (it has a shoulder strap), making it easy to enjoy a proper warm meal even without access to proper kitchen appliances.
The Willtex Willcook doesn’t integrate traditional heating elements like most anything that can actively warm food. Instead, the bag uses an innovative fiber that can generate heat one thread at a time, all while being able to be cut, sewn, and stretched much like more traditional fibers. Not only can it produce heat, the heat level can even controlled anywhere from 40 degrees to 250 degrees Celsius, with a fast-enough heating action that it can reach 80 degrees Celsius in just five minutes.
This unique fiber is used for the bag’s interior lining, so heat is directly applied to whatever food you keep inside the main compartment, all while being mixed with other materials that allow the lining to also resist water, oil, and stains. A layer of insulation sits around this inner layer, so the exterior of the bag doesn’t feel as hot (otherwise, carrying it will be uncomfortable). The bag’s exterior shell, on the other hand, is made with twill, so it looks just like any ordinary sleeve-style bag.
The Willtex Willcook is powered using a rechargeable battery stored in an exterior pocket of the bag (just make sure to snap it to the connectors in there), making it easy to recharge or even swap for a fresh module when it drains out. According to the outfit, a full charge of the battery is enough to power the heating fibers for up to eight hours. A companion app allows you t check the battery levels and even adjust the temperature on the fly.
Because of its integrated insulation, the bag can also be used as a soft cooler for those times you want to bring cold food or drinks instead. Will it keep ice for as long as the best soft coolers out there? Probably not, but the outfit claims, it can keep beer at a chilled 48 degrees Celsius for up to three hours without any extra ice in the mix, making it impressively useful in more ways than one.
The Willtex Willcook will make an appearance at the CES 2024 show this January. No pricing or release dates have been announced yet.