review: hot food while mobile..

[ugly_90]

I recently bought a new 12V 'lunchbox stove', or 'food warmer' from Canadian Tire.

It wasn't on sale, it never seems to go on sale, it was $42, and I've seen that price elsewhere too.

I wasn't sure how well it would work, and bought some small aluminum foil pans, like the type take-out Chinese food comes in, from Dollarama.

A half hour before lunch, I plugged the stove into the cigarette lighter in my truck, and at lunch, I had piping hot food, with plenty of steam, it warmed it through well, and I was quite impressed. I had heard from one person that it didn't work well, or took several hours to heat food, and that may be the case when reheating food from frozen in the winter.

I think this would be a useful addition to many in the club considering offroading and food on the go. It's cheap, portable,  and doesn't take the space of a permanant install in a truck, like the army heaters did.

The electrical portion was quite heavily built, and was safely and independently fused. On the downside, the plastic construction was quite flimsy. Depending on the vehicle, you would have to be careful to plug it into an ignition switched outlet if you're not running the vehicle, to save being stranded with a drained battery.

Also, the smell of the cooked food really permeates the cab of the truck. This would probably be more of a problem in a new range rover than an old series or defender.



Link:

http://reviews.canadiantire.ca/9045/0374497P/type-s-type-s-12v-portable-food-warmer-2-64-qt-reviews/reviews.htm

[ugly_90]

The lunchbox warmer will make thawed food quite hot and ready to eat. It fails at reheating frozen food, it would almost cook one side of it and still have it frozen in the middle.

I have to start defrosting a frozen dinner on the dash of the truck at about 10am in order to have it in the heated lunchbox for 11, and lunch just after noon.

It could be worthwhile to have premade frozen dinners packed tight in an expedition cooler, taking out each and defrosting in the cab beforehand. If the dinners had high moisture, they would freeze solid and stay cold in the cooler longer. Could be handy on the trail and save time.

[Trevor]

Friend of mine has the same unit. We used it down in Moab in the fall, worked great for heating up ribs and wings.