Advice for cooking and what-not

12v coolers AREN'T that cold. mine didn't work worth a darn untill the a/c cooled the cab down.

i have a one burner propane stove. and canned stews i heat up and eat right out of the can.

then you have side dishes like those little plastic fruit containers.

i have cereal. in the morning i buy a bottle of milk.

you can buy gallons of water. buy a pan for $4. i have top ramen. and oatmeal.

paper plates if need be, paper bowls, plastic forks and spoons.

use your imagination. i don't cook so it took me some time and the tiredness of spending money for meals to put my imagination to work.

 

We have 12v cooler fridge we got it at loves, it will keep half gallon milk COLD. If you can keep milk COLD it's a good one. The price of ice went up at truck stops. But we have our can goods that we like but we also go to super wallys and get fresh fruit, rotisseirre chicken to heat up or cut up in salads, cold cuts, slice cheese for sandwiches, trail mix, peanut butter and jelly, tuna. You can use mayo from truck stops no need to refrigerate. Then every once in a while we might stop at church's chicken, golden corral or MacDonalds. Sure does save on food bill. We will spend, we are a husband and wife team truck, $50 - $60 at a wal-marts and that will last us about 10 days. Oh and we get a case of bottled water and two gallons of lemon tea. About the only thing we spend money on is coffee but we do keep a jar of instant coffee in truck to.

 

I'm not at Schneider, but when I was at Crete I had the same issue. I ended up buying a fridge from truckfridge.com... plugs right into the cigarette lighter plug (the back side after you unplug it.. not the socket). Pricy right off the bat but well worth it in the long run. Then I bought a coleman dual purpose camp stove from Walmart.. one side has the burner the other a grill. Worked great... I didn't eat out but maybe once a week to break up the monotany.

Another option is to just stock up on lean cuisine/smart ones type of meals and when you stop for the night head in and use the microwaves at truckstops. I can squeeze 3 of those into my little freezer compartment and I keep another 1 or 2 in the actual fridge. I have an inverter now and can cook... but I still buy those because I tend to have long days and when I don't feel like actually cooking something I can just pop one of those into the microwave and it's ready in 4:30. Great on helping maintain portion size as well... which is one of the leading causes of gaining weight if you take out genetic predisposition.

On a side note, I was running with solely a coleman for a while until I figured out a way to wire the fridge into this Pete (was bought for a Cascada so the plug was designed differently). Once I found a way I opted to keep my coleman on the truck. now I store bottles of water and my veggies in it... when stuffed too full the fridge tends to freeze things so the cooler is a great suppliment to allow the cooling of more food at once.

 

Wife and I eat one or two meals a day and snack the rest of the time.

For us snacks are raw veggies, oatmeal, low fat crackers, low fat yoghurt, and if I'm lucky I will have some jelly beans.

We will crock pot chicken or ground beef twice a week for meals. Depending on the mood depends on what gets tossed in.
I will pull out a few chicken breast, shred, and make chicken salad for sandwiches.
Baked beans go great with a can of spicy tomatoes chicken or beef.
Taco soup chicken or beef.

Getting a small turkey breast or whole chicken is great in the crock pot.

I can not stand a lot of the pre-sliced meats for sandwiches so we get the stuff from the deli lunch meat.

We will bake fish or potatoes on the engine from time to time. If you cook fish make sure you set a timer; planning to take it out at what ever mile marker dose not work for us.

The crock pot we have has locks on the lid so it dose not spill. We also us a bag so there is very little mess to clean up. We put left overs in solo cups and saran wrap the top with a rubber band.

We do not have a microwave because of space and use a 12 volt lunch box stove to reheat stuff.

Most dorm refrigerator dose not have a true thermostats, but do work. There temp will change depending on the air temp around them.
My brother put an external fan (computer) on his 12 volt cooler and he says it works much better. I know he upgraded the power cord also.
If you buy a cooler get a “5-day” and should only need 2 bags of ice a week if that much, but the price of ice went up at the truck stops.

A weeks worth of food, water, and green tea cost us around $50 a week at Kroger. We do our best not to buy stuff at ruck stops or convent stores because of the mark up.

 

I do not know about propane but lots of RV's have 40 + gallons of propane on them. Some times they are on the tong of the trailer, in side a door on the side, and some times behind the side curtain; some times there is a propane disconnect label some times not. If you look at You-Tube lots of trucker cook with propane stoves in there trucks.

For cooking on the engine you start by double wrapping in thick foil. There are books you can buy and there is some stuff on YouTube, but most of it is for cars. It dose take a few tries to get stuff right.

A 5 day cooler is heavy duty a lot of times used by fishers. They are normally white and will require a lot less ice to keep your food cold.


Back to the cooking.
New potatoes cut in half with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Make sure that the potatoes are coated in oil and in a single layer. Toss it on the manifold takes about 45 minutes.

We like our salmon very pink in the middle. Olive oil, salt, pepper, and plenty of sliced lemon. Make sure the salmon and lemon slices are coated in oil. When making the packs you want the lemon on the bottom of the pouch to keep the salmon from cooking so fast. Toss it on the manifold takes about 30 minutes.

We have also done chicken, with tomatoes, olive oil, onions, salt, and pepper. If the breast are supper thick you need to cut into strips. Coat everything in oil, place veggies on the bottom, and the chicken on top (single layer). You want the tomatoes to cook down to help keep the chicken moist. Toss it on the manifold takes about 60 to 80 minutes.

Times will be different depending on the out side air temp and the speed you drive. Stuff like potatoes you want to cut them up and use a single layer. With most meats you want something under them to help them cook slower and to add moisture. You also want to make sure you coat everything in oils so it dose not stick to the foil (it can be a light coating).

If your going to fuel and then park toss them on after you get the fuel pumping. Most of the time you will only need to run the engine about 2/3 of the cooking time. Planning what to cook to where you are going to stop helps.

 

I had the full setup in my old Pete with the last company. Only small inverters allowed at current company. Chuck the cooler and spend the money on a fridge. I gave about $500 for my 64 quart refrigerator. I precook and vacuum seal most of my meats at home. It saves money, time, and they still taste great. I try to eat fresh starting out from the house. I'll make a salad with homemade dressing, steam some broccoli or asparagus, and cook the meat. I've carried fresh beef pork, lamb, salmon, shrimp, lobster, and chicken with me. You're only limited by your imagination. As for a stove I carry a Jetboil with a coffee press. Nothing beats fresh ground coffee from a French Press! I also have a MSR Reactor gas powered camping stove and a MSR Dragonfly liquid fuel stove that can burn Coleman camp fuel or diesel among others. The Dragonfly while noisy is the cheapest stove to operate. I generally buy 1 $6.28 gallon of fuel every 6 months or so.

 

With propane..as long as their in a separate compartment than the driver your ok. I used to have a resource for that in which I came across a few years ago.. but I can't seem to locate it now. I wouldn't carry the large containers of it personaly... but the 2-pack from walmart for 5.99 is enough to last a few weeks and portable enough to store in the side compartment. If your really leary of it then just get a milk crate and strap it to the tractor deck.

 

Schneider policy prohibits propane stoves in the truck no matter where you store the propane containers. I bought a little lunchbox oven with my points from P/FJ and it works super. My wife will save leftovers while i'm on the road in the freezer for me to take with me. I have a Coleman plug in cooler and it works great. The fans weren't working properly when I got it so I replaced them with fans from old pc's and the thing works better than a new one. I keep a gallon of milk and it keeps cold and lasts me for almost a week. I keep cereal, breakfast bars and fruit cups in my cabinet along with some canned soups and chili. I also keep tuna and canned chicken with me as well. I like getting a carton of liquid eggs and the precooked bacon and making breakfast burritos. Just this evening I cooked up a cup of microwave rice with some left over chicken breast and mac-n-cheese for dinner in my lunchbox oven and it was awesome. Just gotta use your brain and think things through. Good Luck