Road Food Boogie!

louixo

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
We usually keep some emergency rations in the cab, and because I like to eat, i'm always looking for creative road food ideas. We avoid truck stop chow, as much as possible. My food stash is usually a couple of cans of beef stew, beans, and some good trail mix, or mixed nuts, for hiway munching. I don't have a microwave or a refridge in my d unit, but i do cook. I have two metal jars, that i picked up in some camp store years ago. I also carry a shallow metal pan, and a ready supply of tinfoil. I made a bracket out of wire to secure these containers in my engine compartment so that they sit on the motor, or very near to it. Then we either put a can of something in the bracket, and down the road we go. In about 30-40 minutes..HOT FOOD! Another method is, we go to some supermarket deli, get something, wrap it in tinfoil, sometimes add spices to it, put it in the pan,(you can put 3 or 4 things wrapped seperately in the pan) and VOILA!. A casserole, or hot meal. On cold nights, i put water and instant coffee in one of the jars, then in the morning..HOT COFFEE!! For cold drinks, (only in summer), i made two wire brackets, that allow a can of soda to hang down in front of the airconditioning vents, on the
dash. In about 20-30 minutes, drinks are plenty cool. when i drink one i insert another, to have it cool when i'm ready. We also go to restaurants, and truckstops, but the aementioned is a great diversion. So, you got any food tips?
 

mikecop

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
It seems that you go through a lot of work to avoid having a microwave in your D unit; they aren't very expensive. I take left-over meals and cassarole type food in "Tupperware" kind of containers and heat them in the microwave. I also have a few cans of beef stew and cans of Spam in case I am on the road longer than planned. I also buy packs of 5 cans of chicken breast chunks which can be used in many ways (purchased at Sam's Club). I hardly ever eat in a truckstop any more.
 

Christyrose

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Great idea, cooking off your engine. Michigan Outdoors ran an article on this long time ago, and I have been looking for information on this as well. They made a roast off the engine and bread was baked off the muffler pipe. They had build a small box off the (stack) muffler pipe to do this.

Considering what you pay for dinner at a truck stop the savings here are considerable.
 

louixo

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
As mikecop mentioned, it's not as convenient as a microwave, but the micro is not as much fun. Also i don't like a crowded cab, so the more space i can save the better i like it. If any of you ever try it, you'll see what i mean You can get really creative.
 

DooWop

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Did the same in Uncle Sam's Travelling Circus several decades ago. We would punch hols in our c-rats cans and leave them on the exhaust manifolds of our deuce and a halfs/five tons/five tons w/low bed trailers etc. Made lousy tasting "entres" at least edible, but sometimes you would eat nearly anything, including cold, greasy c-rats.

Regards

DooWop
 
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