How well do these contraptions work? I see them at Pilot for around $29.00. My particular use would be more towards keeping some meat and vegetable servings nice and warm/hot while driving local and no microwave available. I was tempted to purchase one while I was OTR, but never did and am looking for a convenient way to keep things warm.
Is the temperature adjustable? Do they work as advertised? Any hints/tips/tricks out there?

 

Well I got one for $20 brand new in the box (broke truck driver discount ) and I use 8" cake pans to cook stuff in. You can warm up a metal can of soup in it, just puncture the top and sit it upright.

The temp is not adjutable on the model I got. It's just 300 degrees. It's great for when I first leave the house because I can take leftovers and reheat them, works very well, pays for itself in about a month.

Maybe someone will post a link to some lunchbox oven recipes. :?:

 

Thanks TripleC. I saw another post regarding cooking on the road and thought that this would be a great way to try to find out some info for myself along with maybe getting some info out to some other Newbies out there. As resourceful as truckers are, I bet that there are drivers that cook complete gourmet meals out there on I-5, or I-80.........
No chicken fried steak of course

 

I used to use a heating "pouch" that they used to sell at the TA Truckstops and at the Werner company store. This this was AWESOME and did a lot of things great! It was VERY heavy vinyl and looked like a big envelope with a velcro closure on it. I normally had no idea what I wanted to eat later on when I got up in the morning. I could place three of the larger cans of chunky soups in the pouch, plug it in and by the time lunch rolled around, the soups were very hot (not scalding, but not lukewarm either) I could choose one and eat what I wanted. I would use them to heat up some ham and cheese bagels or burritos. I would place a bottle of water and some wet wash rags or even the wet wipes in it during the day (or after shutting down) and have nice hot water to use for a "bath" if I was out away from civilization or at a truckstop where a "whore bath" in the truck was just more sanitary and preferable. I cannot find the darn things anymore and I gave mine to a friend when he was OTR. I'd like to find them again, but have lost all my links and such. I like it because nothing would spill and it would not get so hot as to be dangerous to the truck or myself.

 

I have one... have had that little sucker for years, and it was the best $30 I spent.

They actually have a cookbook for it... I got mine in the TA in Cheyenne, WY, but I've seen them all over



I only ate in truckstops about once every two weeks and either cooked all out, or reheated soups and had sandwiches in my truck the rest of the time. Driving dry van, it definitely helped me avoid getting the driver gut :wink:

 

Fozzy, I also remember seeing these pouches at the CRST company store in Cedar Rapids. But like you, I can't remember seeing them since then. Maybe somebody else out there knows where they are available?