What are the essentials?

Since I hate paying $1 + for a cup of nasty truck stop coffee, I bring a Coleman cooler jug of water and some instant capachino mix. I heat the water in a jet boil camping stove.

http://www.jetboil.com/

This stove was designed more for backpackers and hunters to heat water for dehydrated food. Basicaly a weight saver. I bought mine for that very purpose. About $80 or so at Cabelas/Gander mountain.

One of the handiest things I can think of to have in a truck. Can brew up a big cup of your favorite instant coffee/capachino for like .25 cents per cup, if you dont factor in the initial cost of the stove.

 

I know there is a company out there that sells truck mini fridges. I'll post it if I can find it again. You might want to try google until then.

 

Assuming you are just starting out: get yourself some kind of cooker. Least expensive is the one that looks like a lunch box and plugs right into your 12v outlet. My husband and I eat all our meals on the truck, except for twice a week-got to get out of the truck sometime! I can make in that cooker everything ranging from chili to pot roast to chicken with coconut-plum sauce. Oh boy, what you can cook and it is such a money saver.

Until you can afford a fridge, assuming you work at a company that will allow you to have one, get an electric cooler. Can get one at Wal-Mart or any camping store. Will cost about $70-90 bucks. Depends on which brand and size you purchase. Again, it will plug right into the 12v outlet in the bunk.

Bring your favorite form of entertainment, be it tv, a game console, books, crafty things, whatever. You will get bored and an idle mind causes trouble.

My favorite comfort on the truck, other than my husband who is always number one, is Skippy our dog. Endless hours of entertainment, and when I get mad at the man, I can talk to the dog! Saves me from stupid arguments which I normally try to start when I get bored (see, idle mind=trouble).

 

Get used to drinking cold instant coffee and eating food cold straight out of the can! Seriously!

I figure a decent laptop is important for movies, games, internet, although you might want to invest in a cheaper laptop strictly for internet use--that way when you can just re-do the hard drive if you start getting too much spyware or virus problems.

 

The cooler, preferably electric or battery.
Packaged foods that can be heated on their own like MRE's.
A Burton 12volt stove or 2.
Snacks for munching on the road to help stay awake.
A decent stereo, cb, tv, computer w/aircard.
An apporpriate number of discs to play.
A couple gals of water for eme cleaning or drinking.
A few cans of spray window cleaner.
Hand cleaner w/pumice &/or de-greaser.
Baby wipes.
Several rolls of towels & toilet paper.
Bag of throw away work rags.
A stow away porta potty.
Water to fill the porta potty.
Some air freshener or Fabreeze.
Interior cleaner like Simple Green etc.
A couple weeks worth of bedsheets, pillow cases etc.
A good blanket or sleeping bag, maybe both.
Extra toiletries, shampoo, toothpaste etc.
A shaving kit for cleaning up w/o a shower.
Extra clothing (naturally).
A good coat or jacket for the winter.
A ski mask type hat.
Good anti-slip shoes/soles.
Work gloves.
Nice gloves for making the trek to the T/S.
Outside work boots/shoes.
A pair of "inside" slippers or shoes.
Some throw rugs all around the inside.
The best driving/sunglasses you can afford.
A second pair for when you loose/break the above.
Some reading materials.
Maybe a "driving pillow" for a little extra back support.
Your "not too old" mapbooks.
A decent flashlight & extra batteries.
A plug in spot light w/hi intensity lamp.
A few basic handtools.
Spare nuts/bolts/screws/hose clamps.
Tape & bailing wire.
Light bulbs.
Wire nuts or crimp connectors w/crimper.
Some extra wire, red & black.
Extra fuel filters w/a small container of fuel.
Apropriate tools for removing/installing filters.
Extra belts, hoses & clamps.
Toolkit for above.
An extra trailer cord.
Extra bunjee cords.
A fifth wheel puller.
A tire gauge.
Some extra glad hand grommets.
An air fitting on your tanks or glad hand to fill tires from.
The apropriate length hose w/air chuck.
Some extra wheel bearing oil & covers.
A gallon of bug juice.
A gallon of engine oil.
A gallon or 2 of antifreeze.
Anti-gel juice.
Jumper cables, long & heavy wires.
Small wisk broom or 12v vacuum.
A sixth sense for seeing stoopidity before it gets to you.
A good attitude that keeps you from running over stoopidity.
A little fear thrown in for good measure.
That's most of it.
Add your own lil extras as needed.

 

That was a good list... my wife and I cook on the truck a lot. We have an inverter, so we carry the 12v lunchbox style cooker, a crockpot, coffee pot, electric frying pan, toaster and microwave. I also have a small portable gas grill bungi'ed to the back deck. We can cook just about anything on the truck or in a rest area.

 

If you don't want to try cooking in the truck you can buy MRE's from here

http://www.mrestar.com/

I've been in the military for 10 years and I don't mind them. That's what I plan on doing. My dad has a propane stove in his truck even though most companies don't allow it, but it is easy to hide.

 

baby wipes, baby wipes, baby wipes

i got an mp3 player that hooks up to the cd player, its a musthave unless u wanna hear country all day