cooking in the truck

Not me.!! I have a mini Big Green Egg that will end up in my truck when I get to get one. Even at 30 below I'll be able to cook up some fine food quickly. At 30 below it will need to be quick LoL

FYI: You were grilling. BBQ is a low heat, slow time process. In case you care..

 

#1. Time is money. If you keep the left door shut, you make more of it. That's why many drivers have a cooler up front with bologna, ham, cheese, mayo and bread along with drinks.

#2 Not all rest areas allow any cooking or open flame.

#3 By the time you boil water, cook pasta, drain the water off somewhere without them accusing you of dumping or whatever, let the stove cool enough to put back in the truck, you've burned up about an hour. If you want to do that on your 36 hour restart that may work, but on your 10, you want a shower, a change of clothes and sleep.

#4 If I'm not mistaken, propane grills, stoves or whatever are illegal on commercial trucks, but maybe only for haz-mat cargo. Just sayin'.

 

It is a 34 hr restart and no they are not illegal. It's all about time management.

 

For spaghetti, get yourself a $10 crockpot from wally world. you can run it on low with a 400 watt inverter as long as the motor is running. Brown 1 pound of hamburger in the crockpot, it usually takes about a hundred miles or so, then pull over and drain all the grease out in the grass. Dump a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce in with the hamburger, let it simmer in the crockpot for the rest of the day. When you pull over for the night, take a small box of dry spaghetti noodles, break them up so they fit in the crockpot real nice, and drop the dry noodles right in the sauce. Put the cover back on, and in about ten minutes, open it up and give it a good stir. You'll see the noodles starting to soften up, absorbing the moisture in the sauce. Do this 3-4 more times until the noodles are the way you want them. This usually makes enough for 2-4 meals, depending on how much you like to eat spaghetti. I like to put some garlic salt in mine, and top it off with parmesan cheese.

I've tried pasta a hundred different ways in the truck. This method is the best I've found by far. I figured this out after reading a crockpot recipe for lasagna, where they put the lasagna noodles in dry, so I thought I'd give it a try with spaghetti, and sure enough it turned out great. Plus, it doesn't really interrupt your driving schedule. Tying to boil water is a waste of time, and pretty much all of the 12 volt appliances that are capable of boiling water usually burn themselves out after a month or two. The $10 crockpot will last you years. The 12 volt crockpot in truckstops for $30 is a waste of money, and will not last more than a few months.

I've done this with different kinds of pasta noodles, it even works with alfredo sauce. (I use canned chunk chicken instead of hamburger with that.)

 

Geez some of these trucks must smell

 

It's already too cold (for me) to cook outside. And the hassle of taking everything out and then back in the truck.... Illegal or not, I use a propane gas burner inside the truck. After trying everything I could, this is the ONLY thing that works everytime. However, in the winter or when it's raining, it's hard to keep windows open while cooking, moisture builds up and everything gets damp inside the truck... I cook only during my 10 hr break or my 34 hr reset. Cook only enough for two meals so it doesn't spoil. Always wipe everything clean, even the floor after I am done, spray truck with air spray and throw the trash away to avoid bad smell and bugs and flies coming in.

 

To me, the lunchbox cooker was the easiest solution to a hot meal. Especially since KLLM only allowed invertors that plugged into the 12V plug. I keep plenty of extra foil bread pans that fit the cooker, so there's no clean up. Get them at Wally-World or Dollar General cheap. Put some water and boullion crystals / cubes, or just boullion or chicken stock from the can, in the cooker and put rice in with that along with a pat of butter. You'll have chicken flavored rice. Put in a chicken breast and maybe some raw veggies or whatever you like and plug it in. Couple of hours later, you won't be able to stand it. It smells great and you're ready to eat. You can also dump a little Cream of Mushroom soup over it after it's just about cooked, and let the soup heat up and simmer with the rest of the stuff.
It's also great to heat up canned stuff like soup, stew or chili. That and a pack of crackers will be a real treat after you've been eating truck stop hot dogs or cold sandwiches for a few days.
One last thing. Glad Corp. has these little cheap plastic storage containers in all sizes. I used several smaller sized ones to store left overs or what was left in a can or opened package, for the next meal. These containers stack well in your cooler or fridge and don't take up alot of room. The foil pans for the Lunchbox Cooker, can be covered with regular foil to store left overs in the cooler. Just re-heat in the cooker.
It was a regular situation for me when I was OTR, to get there and make the miles and try to get there early and unload early. Then get another run. I'd have my morning coffee and a banana or muffin, but I'd really like a hot meal for later. About 30 minutes before I wanted to eat, I'd pull over at an exit, dump some chili, a can of tamales or stew in the cooker. It would be hot and steaming within 20 or 30 minutes. Find a rest area or lot, make a quick sandwich with the chili or soup, or a pack of crackers. It's meal time. On cold days or nights, I'd pour some milk on the foil pan, along with Hershey's Syrup or Nestle's Quick and real hot chocolate was ready in 20 minutes. Great to sip on while catching up on your email before bedtime.
One last tip. If you day cabbers, like me, want to save a few bucks on the daily meal, the lunch box cooker does a great job. I carry and one of those Igloo Playmate type coolers everyday, with my drinks or Gatorade, and one of those freezer packs to keep them cold. Lately, I'll take one of the foil pans and fill it with whatever I'm going to eat that day and cover it with foil. When ready, I take the foil container and just drop it in the cooker and close the top. 20 minutes later, I'm taking a break and eating a hot meal, or having hot soup or chili with my sandwich. Works for me.

 

Check out the scents of the wipes and the powder before you buy. You might not want to smell like a baby's butt.

There are number of different kinds of wipes, different sizes and different scents. If you're lucky, you might find some that are unscented.

As for baby powder, some is mainly talc and some is pure corn starch. Check the ingredient list. I'd choose corn starch in a heartbeat. It keeps you dry and comfortable without the baby butt smell. It's cheap, too. Compare prices with the corn starch in the grocery aisle. Corn starch is corn starch, so buy the cheapest you can find.

Baking soda is good for shoe stink, too, but it feels a little different.

 

Not just the BABY BUTT smell , some of the perfumes on the handi wipes can cause reactions to certain parts of your body and you breakout in a rash or hives.

 

Safer, too. If there's an accident, do you really want a quart of gasoline to be splashed inside the cab? If it ignites, your goose won't be the only thing that gets cooked!