cooking in the truck

Don't know if it has already been posted but look up edgestar 43quart fridg/freezer(P/N FP430) it can flash freeze or be a fridg. it's spendy but it is not a thermo-electric, it is a no-#### freezer. 12v lunch box, microwave, coffee pot, crock pot, 350w inverter.

 

The George Foreman Grill is definitely a key piece for me to be eating decent on the road.

One thing I do a lot is buy packaged lunch meat, slice and dice it up, then fry it for a short bit. Throw that on some bread on the grill for a good sandwich, or mix it with eggs and/or veggies. Cheap and surprisingly filling. I've been looking to improve my food arsenal for years, but I get the job done I guess.

 

Ok, so after a few weeks on the road, I'm slowly building my 'kitchen'...

The owner of the truck had a Road Pro crock pot and a 110V George Foreman grill in the truck already. He had a 1200 watt Honda portable generator that he carried around in the trailer and took out when he wanted to use the grill. Too much trouble for me, so I left the generator at the yard.

A couple of days ago, I bought the Coleman 40 quart Power Chill at Wal-Mart for around $89 to store my foods. It's doing ok so far, but I may want to look for something that has a freezer as well.

Yesterday, I bought the Road-Pro RPPI 1500W at a TA for $89.00. The first two had problems - the first one came with a cable that wasn't quite right, and the second one had something loose inside that rattled around when you shook it. The third one had no issues that I could find. Gotta love Chinese built products. Great price though.

After I got that installed and working, I went to Wal-Mart and spent $130 on a microwave and GE convection / toaster oven with rotisserie. The toaster oven was a bit more than I was looking for, but it was $49, vs. $29 for a smaller model. But this one can make pizzas and rotisserie chicken! For only $20 more!

The microwave, toaster oven and george foreman will live on the top bunk. My sleeper is set up with a top bunk that folds up into an L shape. So I basically have a shelf where the front half of it folds upwards and contains whatever is sitting on the back half.

 

windsmith, you may find that the 1500 watt inverter will have a hard time running the microwave or oven for a long period of time, same with the foreman grill. you will have to leave the truck running in any event. best case would be to mount the 1200 watt generator somewhere on the tractor and power the 110 volt appliances with it.

and as far as fridges , i havent had any luck with compressor types( ihave bought ones at wal mart for less than 100 bucks, the compressors shook loose on the inside of 3 of them) i bought the koolatron at a loves and it works well, miss the freezer but this keeps things kool. i had a power chill type cooler by koolatron and it worked well for several years, still have it.

 

Stay away from Walmart refrigerators. The price tag goes on before anyone engineers the quality into them. You're much better off shopping anywhere else for such an item, and it will cost more. There is a reason for that ya know.

They last longer if you do something in the way of a shock-mount in the truck.

 

Well I'm ######. Because I hate microwave food and I HATE cooking. Is it really that necessary to cook all the time?

 

No of course not. You don't have to cook in your truck at all, for that matter. The reason so many truckers cook is to save money and eat better. The choice is yours.

 

Eat those pink slime pilot hot dogs, enjoy! Nothing like chicken lips and turkey and bull ba** pig feet all mixed together.

 

I used the foreman grill this morning without problems; I do expect to only use the high powered appliances with the engine running. 1200 Watts would draw 115 amps at 12V, including the 85% efficiency factor of the inverter. I doubt that the batteries could support that for long. I grilled four flatiron steaks over about 15 minutes, and the inverter never even got warm to the touch. Haven't fired up the microwave or convection oven yet.

We thought about having a bracket fabbed to hold the generator - we'd have to move or remove the catwalk steps to mount it. Then there's the hassle of gasoline... I'm thinking that we'd be better off installing an APU anyway, since I mostly need cost effective climate control for the sleeper. Hasn't been a problem yet, but I'm probably not going to be too happy around July / August. I don't like to idle for long periods.

I was thinking of maybe one of the Norcold dual voltage products designed for RVs - at around $1200.00. That purchase might have to wait for a bit.

 

Oh hell no! I'm gonna find a way to eat a little fancier. At least something like Olive Garden or something. #### hot dogs! Lol