Those Of You Who Cook In The Truck--how Do You Find The Time?

My truck has an inverter so I brought along an electric skillet, but I can never seem to find the time to cook. Actually, cooking isn't so much the problem--it's cleaning up afterwards. So what's your secret? Do you sleep for only 6 hours? Cook every few days and make leftovers?

This week I'm gonna try cooking a bunch of food at home and just eating leftovers and sandwiches all week. Might be a good solution for me but I'm still curious as to how you all manage your personal time on the road.

I only sleep 4-6 hrs anyways, lol. I cook stuff that is fairly quick. I also don't cook with my skillet every day. I have a crockpot as well. I can heat/cook a base all day, cook anything that needs to be done in a skillet real quick, then add it to the base. Or the reverse is true, cook anything that needs cooked first thing in the morning, throw it all in a crockpot and let is slow cook all day. I love crockpot cook books. Everything in it uses a crockpot and has very little cook times in a skillet or sauce pan.

Btw, instead of an electric skillet I have a hot plate. Also I use crockpot liners so the crockpot cleanup is minimal. I have non stick pot & skillet (thinking about buying me the copper ware) I just wipe them out with a paper towel. Anything that has a sauce, the sauce is done in the crockpot. The only thing cooked in the skillet is mainly meat. The small pot is for boiling water for pasta or vegetables. If something does get dirty I have the little scrubber that dish soap goes in the handle. Wet it scrub what needs scrubbed, than rinse with a bottle of water. Wipe down with paper towel.

Ok cool, thanks Patrick. I don't have a crockpot right now so I might want to get one soon. Yeah my skillet is non-stick too. I took it outside and sprayed it with water mixed with dish soap, then wiped it down with paper towels. I keep a couple gallons of water from Walmart under the bunk too to rinse. Goes pretty quick. Maybe the problem is the extra 2-4 hours a night I sleep that you don't hahaha. I literally can't function with 4-6 hours for more than a few days before I start sounding and looking like a complete imbecile (even more so than usual!).

I would grab a crockpot and cookbook, lol. Most of the cooking, in a skillet, is 15 mins or less. I can do that while my coffee is brewing. Also get a plastic cutting board, they cleanup much quicker than wood. I also have a lot of utensils. I have a container for dirty ones. I wipe them off then put them in the dirty container. I thoroughly wash my cooking utensils on a 34. I guess I am lazy that way. Also for leftovers I just pull the crockpot bag out, tie it off, and put it in a Tupperware container. When it is time to reheat, put the bag back in the crockpot and let it heat up there.

Ok for sure, I appreciate the tips. I'm lazier than you--I use plastic utensils haha. I like the crockpot lining idea, especially for leftovers--very nifty.

Most of my cooking is done in the crockpot. It cooks while I drive. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

I used a George Forman grill a lot when I was otr. Not to bad for clean up.

I carry a personal size dometic portable freezer which can be used as a fridge OR a freezer but not both at same time.

I have a portable propane grill for outside cooking on nice days, an Aroma 3 in 1 cooker which can be used as a steamer, crock pot, or pressure cooker, and last but not least I have a red copper 5 minute chef.

I use crock pot liners in the Aroma cooker, paper plates, plastic eating utensils, a little soap and bottled water or wipes for cleaning.

Many cook with a lunchbox stove or a crock pot while driving. I tend to cook my meals from scratch most often using pressure cooker mode in the Aroma, which is very very fast. My 5 minute chef is awesome for homemade pizza, eggs, omelets.. heck the other day I made eggs Benedict even.

If you are on Facebook, join a group i belong to.. called Big Truck Cooking for great ideas, tips, and advice. We also have a Pinterest board full of over 10,000 recipes and also on Twitter. I hope to see you there. We're over 10k members strong.

If you are on Facebook, join a group i belong to.. called Big Truck Cooking for great ideas, tips, and advice. We also have a Pinterest board full of over 10,000 recipes and also on Twitter. I hope to see you there. We're over 10k members strong.

Gee I don't know...give up my identity, which I've carefully guarded for almost two years on here? Lol.

I'll look that group up on FB. And thanks for the ideas about the aroma cooker and the fridge. One of the perks of my new job is that all our trucks have built in fridges, and they're nice. This one has a little freezer section where I keep my raw meat and it keeps stuff frozen solid, even when I leave the truck sitting for a couple days.

There is no way Susan could know who are you. You don't have a pic of you or have your name posted. You would be just another person in a very large group. Yet another face in the crowd. Unless of course your FB profile has pianoman on it and you started posting.