What wattage of a microwave should I use in a truck?

You don’t trust scientific studies because you don’t know what it entails. I bet you if I told you what a scientific study entails without calling it a “scientific study,” you would surely agree that it is a very good way to go about understanding the world. If there were another way of better understanding the world, we would have known by now.

 

DO NOT EVER pretend to know what I know or don't know! EVER!
For your information I know a bit more about science then you might expect! I have a natural distrust of anything around a study, or a statistic until I see who paid for it. Until I see what sample was used, and they have ALL of the underlying data available and cataloged, and if any of this is missing I toss that study in the round file. For the sake of keeping this thread civil and becoming a flame war, I will refrain from listing at least 3 such studies I know for a fact that is biased and wrong!

 

Back up your claims with scientific studies you trust, then. Obviously not all studies are legit. There are scientific studies that contradict one another. Nothing new here. However, there are certain findings that keep coming back as legit, and a lot of that is eventually brought to the masses by educators.

 

I only read the first few pages and stopped when the discussion turned to microwave food quality, so don't know if the initial question has been covered. Overall, it's kind of a big question that you are asking.

For microwaves, it really comes down to the inverter in the truck. Find out if their trucks have one or if you're allowed to put one in if they don't come with inverters and how large an inverter you can use. Smallest microwave you will easily find is 700 watts. 700 watts is the cooking power, not the overall power usage. Initial start up always consumes more power and inverter output isn't always 100% (depends on input ability) and it's not good to push an inverter to it's limit. You'll want at least a 1500 watt inverter for a 700 watt microwave and inverters this size need to be hardwired to the battery.

If that isn't an option, there are various cigarette style appliances you can use. Coffee makers, soup warmers, etc. My first slow cooker plugged into a cig outlet and I got a lot of use out of it until I found a hole worn into the cord where it attached to the cooker.



For food storage you have electric coolers, portable fridges/freezers, and small custom truck fridges. See if your companys trucks come with fridges. Might have a small one built in.

Electric coolers often plug into cig outlets and are cheap (compared to portable fridges) but aren't good for quality storage. Generally smaller and lightweight, only cool x degrees below ambient temp (so may not get cold enough to keep some foods good), and you may not be able to set the temp. My first thing was a coleman electric cooler, it was ok.

Portable fridges can usually be set to either refrigerate or freeze and are much more expensive, really the only thing that makes them portable is that they can operate off a standard household outlet from an inverter OR a cigarette outlet. They are heavy, larger, have a settable temperature, and are compressor driven like a household fridge/freezer. More expensive then a small household refrigerator but are designed for handling conditions in a vehicle (bumps/vibration). I have an 84qt unit that I use as a freezer for long term food storage. It cost over $600 but I love it. High end models can cost double that for the same size.

Custom truck fridges are just as expensive and much smaller. High price comes from the luxury of having a refrigerator designed to fit into a cabinet spot. Generally powered via cigarette outlet or get wired directly to a 12 volt source that could connect to a cigarette outlet.