cooking in the truck

What we do for a 5 week run is fill our small fridge with 9 pkgs of chicken sausages from Sams Club. There are 3 sealed packs of 5 sausages per pkg which means 3 for my husband and 2 for me for dinner. We also load up on blocks of cheese and 3 dozen eggs. I have 2 nets that hand from hooks off the side of the lower bunk that hold a few onions, peppers, apples, cucumbers and tomatoes. The rest is canned goods.

We use a hot water pot to boil water for coffee, which I make in a french press. Husband and I have cheese on heavy ryw bread from Germany which keeps really well in the morning with the coffee. For lunch, I bake a couple of potatoes, putting a couple of eggs on top in the lunchbox oven for one and a half hours. I put those on a tray for him and add fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and a cut up apple. For dinner, I do the same with potatoes but put the sausages on top.

We eat the same foods most of the time because it is simple, tasty and easy to store for the amount of time that we need. About 2 times on a run we will stop at a Walmart and restock some of the fresh foods and spurge on a rottisserie chicken or some fresh meat that I cook in a small electric skillet. By this time the fridge has more room and I may add a container of yogurt or something else for a change of pace. Sometimes we get breakfast links and I make a good old fashioned hot breakfast with eggs, obrien potatoes and the links.

Over time we found that the foods I listed last the longest. I cook with a microwave oven, lunch box oven and s small electric skillet. When I am not on the truck to care for my husband, he uses a large crockpot that has a snap closure across the top. In the morning he puts in his potatoes, eggs and sausages, and has dinner the first night, and lunch for the next day which he adds the fresh veggies to in a tupperware container he keeps within reach.

Eating this way has saved us a tremendous amount of money compared to eating in restaurants, and I have to say tastes so much better. I lost 85 pounds in one year and my husband lost 50 since we eat no snacks inbetween meals except a few nuts when the timing gets long before dinner.

I recommend getting a Table Mate folding table, it fits in the passager side and provides a table for the driver when parked and a work table for a laptop or other things when there are two on a truck. The top folds down when not is use. I have a lot of photo's of cooking on the truck here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/elisaannheinisch/LivingInTheTruck#

Feel free to ask me any questions!

 

Thank you so much!! We don't have 'our' (company) truck yet - so not sure of space/plug ins yet - it will be a work in progress, but I love the idea of a net or two I was thinking the grill was going to be our friend - but a crock pot is a great idea too! Not sure if we will be able to do a fridge though... 'company' truck vs APU/inverter - yeah - not sure what we will get...

 

Dang it now I am hungry again lol

 

dukkelisa, you darn good!! I mean, the organizing, the planning, the cooking.... I wish I had someone like you just to cook for me.... just kidding... I don't like to cook but no other way. I'm vegetarian... lost 20 lbs since I started trucking but not good in my case, I was 120 lbs, now I am 98 and not able to gain any back...

 

Have you tried any of the 'protein' drinks? They are Whey based (most of them) but that would increase your caloric intake while adding protein. I use them due to RNY. Just a thought.

 

I am a newbie getting into this career/life.... those were awesome pictures! Thank you for sharing!
Skeet

 

How do you clean up? I'm used to a sailboat life, where space is small...but water is plentiful...?

 

Get a small vinyl or plastic tub, a gallon of water (you can refill in truckstops at the sink near the coffee area,) some dish soap and paper towels. Doesn't take much water and a little dab of dish soap, scrub and dry with paper towels. I usually just find a convenient but discrete spot near the truck to dispose of my dish water.

 

After reading these posts, I'm compelled to share a recipe given to me by my old friend "The Railsplitter"---his original recipe called for filet mignon, but you drivers on a budget or with more discriminating tastes can substitute chicken, burgers, sausage, pot roast, jumbo shrimp and lobster, etc., etc. Here's the recipe, as given directly by that crazy truck driving fool:

Slap fifth wheel grease on filets and duct tape to aerodynamic cab (or hood, if you like your meat well done). Check ambient temp thermometer... should read at least 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Drive across Mojave Desert in August or September. Once across, wipe road grime and dust away with broad-bladed ice scraper before testing meat for tenderness with utility knife or slot driver... if done to your satisfaction, dig in and enjoy!!! Hint: Leave bugs as garnish and source of additional protein. Who needs salad anyway, the sidewalk sissies!!!

Alright, drivers!!! There it is, straight from the jack... I mean the horse's mouth!!! Enjoy your meal, and be sure to thank "The Railsplitter" for his ingenious method of cooking while driving!!! Nobody does it like that crazy fool... that's why I love him like a brother, 10-4?!?!? Now, if I could only find that sneaky bast... oops, I keep forgetting we're in a family forum. Anyway, that hero owes me fifty bucks that I mistakenly loaned him up in Sin City... if you see him, be sure to say: "YO, RAILSPLITTER!!!!! PHONE HOME!!!!! AND PAY YOUR OUTSTANDING DEBTS!!!!!"

 

I'am a new drive and i'am not big on eating out all the time. Is it easy to cook in your truck ? Please let me know .
Thanks Tim