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Old 06-09-2018, 04:40 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Bennett View Post
I am not fully understanding the merits of this type of cooking. It seems that all the prep time and cooking time that go into it are far from instant, and in fact more troublesome and take longer than most meals we cook camping. Most of our meals take 15 minutes or less to prep and cook, are very nutritious and very tasty. Not that any meals prepared with these pots would not be good, I just don't see the advantage of having yet another appliance. I do understand we all have preferences, not a single one being wrong, so maybe I just need some educating.

I know we ended up with an oven after many years of saying we just don't need one, and we don't, but my wife just loves using it, especially on bad weather days. Many other's likely think this is excessive, and for them it certainly could be.
First of all, prep is prep. Whatever you cut, dice, or brown for a particular recipe can be used in the Pressure Cooker or your frying pan. It all takes the same amount of time.

Cooking appliances in my trailer include a propane, coffee maker, a microwave oven & refrigerator. I have a 4 burner stovetop & oven I have never used. But I do like my Instant Pot, and have been thinking about various ways to incorporate a pressure cooker into the trailer.

Now the truth about the instant pot & other pressure cookers: they’re not all that speedy. In addition to the time it takes to cook the dish “at pressure”, you have to factor in the time it takes to reach pressure & the time required to depressurize the pc. If you can cook a recipe in the same amount or less time than a pc, it’s better to cook it yourself. PC cooking time exceeds “traditional methods” with tough cuts of meats that take several hours to braise in the oven, stock pot or BBQ. Beans, stocks, and stews cook up comparatively faster in pressure cookers. Chilli takes about the same amount of time to cook using traditional methods, but somehow tastes better with pressure cookers. Things like risotto & polenta take about the same amount of time using a pot on the stove, but using a PC frees you from constantly stirring the dish. For me, making risotto in the PC is worth the price of admission.

IMO, the value of using my Instant Pot takes place in the months & weeks prior to camping. I prepare a variety of soup, stews & chilli that can be frozen in quart containers. On my last camping trip I took along a 3.4 Qt stovetop pressure cooker I bought to supplement my Instant Pot at home. I switched it with an old beat up pot that came with the trailer. It fit perfectly in a cupboard with the other pots & pans.

We used it as a regular pot to defrost our dinners. I also used it as a pressure cooker to make a delicious chicken dish and lemon risotto & a wonderful mushroom risotto. I was able to cook all these dishes within a half hour or so (for me, getting dinner on the table within 15 minutes is pushing it). We were able to use the pressure cooker in lieu of the oven. I think the stovetop pc is more fuel efficient than the oven. Plus, it didn’t heat up the cabin and I didn’t have to fire up the generator for the microwave. So, all in all, the 3 Qt stovetop PC proved a valuable addition to the trailer.

Because I usually camp off the grid, my electric Instant Pot, which is big & heavy, is impractical. Plus, I cannot identify an appropriate place to store it. Also, as there is only two of us, a 6 Qt anything is overkill. I considered getting a 3 Qt Instant Pot, but I usually boondock. The 3 Qt stovetop pc is just right.

So, I actually added a new cooking appliance that can enhanced our camping experience.
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Old 06-09-2018, 07:08 AM   #22
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Great, precise, and informative response
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Old 06-09-2018, 07:57 AM   #23
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The point of my original post was simply to demonstrate that it is possible to use an electric instant pot while dry camping without taking too big a hit on the batteries. Yesterday we baked a small cake in our IP. The initial heatup drew the batteries down by 6 Ah. Our 260 watts of solar panels under a clear sky were able to recoup much of the power between on/off cycles and after 30 minutes we ended up at -6.4 Ah. So the panels are able to keep up with the demand after the initial draw down.
15 minutes after the cooking ended the batteries were back at 100%.
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Old 06-09-2018, 09:31 AM   #24
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Thanks for the explaining, all.

I guess we all just need to pick and choose a cooking style that works for ourselves. There are so many great ways to prepare foods that in our relatively small trailers we just could not incorporate all of them. Heck, one could use nothing but a stove to cook way more tasty meals than one could ever eat in a lifetime.

For the most part we always try not to have leftovers when camping, and opposite approach from our busy lives at home. My preference is to buy two to three days of food at a time, buying fresh and local, as long as good shopping is available. Freshly caught is nice too, but we never rely on that.

We too eat healthy while camping, probably even more so that at home. We do indulge in a nice dessert from time to time. Calorie wise, it is the alcohol consumption that gets us when camping, after all we ARE camping.

On the topic of inverter cooking, our last 15 day trip saw us bring along a small light 2 slice toaster. It is SO nice to have toast that is not dried out like the stovetop toasters produce.
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Old 06-09-2018, 07:32 PM   #25
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Interesting thread and learned a lot about the IP and PC’s.
One lesson we learned a few years back was whe we got to the campsite and had forgotten our Weber q. We had bake potatoes and chicken breasts for dinner to put on the grill sitting at home. Resorted to the ol Boy Scout campfire cooking and put the potatoes in the coals and chicken wrapped and laid on top of the coals. Best meal any of us had camping in years. Sometimes progress and innovation makes one wonder if we really made things better.
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Old 06-09-2018, 08:48 PM   #26
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Sometimes progress and innovation makes one wonder if we really made things better.
Agree! We still often cook on a campfire. Sausages, steaks, chicken, corn on the cob, veggie packs, whole potatoes. Always tastes great.

Though, like many things with our trailers, innovative stuff can be fun, but the basics will always get us by.
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Old 06-10-2018, 07:20 AM   #27
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Sometimes we have a "all male" weekend camping trip, normally at a local state park. Maybe 3-4 of us in 2 campers, adjacent sites. One of attendees handles the fire, one the libations, another the cooking and so on. We normally will have a fire going friday night nonstop til sunday morning. All of our meals are prepared on cast iron cookware, over the fire. Stay up late, sitting around the fire telling tall tales and having coffee in the morning cooked over the fire. Good times, good friends, good memories.
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Old 06-10-2018, 08:01 AM   #28
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Originally Posted by stephen99 View Post
The point of my original post was simply to demonstrate that it is possible to use an electric instant pot while dry camping without taking too big a hit on the batteries. Yesterday we baked a small cake in our IP. The initial heatup drew the batteries down by 6 Ah. Our 260 watts of solar panels under a clear sky were able to recoup much of the power between on/off cycles and after 30 minutes we ended up at -6.4 Ah. So the panels are able to keep up with the demand after the initial draw down.
15 minutes after the cooking ended the batteries were back at 100%.



Excellent information, that we can put to practical use ! Thanks for posting ! We will try to bake a cake too!



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Old 06-10-2018, 09:07 AM   #29
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Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
Sometimes we have a "all male" weekend camping trip, normally at a local state park. Maybe 3-4 of us in 2 campers, adjacent sites. One of attendees handles the fire, one the libations, another the cooking and so on. We normally will have a fire going friday night nonstop til sunday morning. All of our meals are prepared on cast iron cookware, over the fire. Stay up late, sitting around the fire telling tall tales and having coffee in the morning cooked over the fire. Good times, good friends, good memories.
Hi: cpaharley2008... Here's a pic of bacon cooking on last nights leftover coals!!! Only thing missing is the "Cast iron". Yummm Alf
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Old 06-10-2018, 09:12 AM   #30
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Thumbs up

looks yummy there, Alf
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Old 06-10-2018, 09:22 AM   #31
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looks yummy there, Alf
Hi: cpaharley2008... My daughter's comment about no toast lead to "Fried" bread too!!! Real artery clogging stuff. Yummm.
Who needs an Instant pot... when you have a slow cooker Eh? Alf
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Old 06-10-2018, 11:59 AM   #32
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Back in the 80's, I attended a big (over 200 people) steak cook-out at Texas A&M. There was about an 8' diameter circle of stones containing a glowing bed of mesquite embers and a long table with various cuts and thicknesses of steaks. The cooks had us point out which steak we wanted and tell them how we wanted it cooked. Then the cook would just toss the steak directly out onto the wood embers - no rack, no grill, no foil, no nothing - and used long-handled tongs to turn it. When it was done to our liking, they grabbed it off the embers with the tongs, whisked the ashes off of it with a little brush, and laid it on our plate. Then we proceeded down another table with baked beans, sliced onions and thick buttered toast. No steak sauces (sacrilegious!). The only seasoning was salt. Great cook-out, "cowboy" style!!
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Old 06-10-2018, 12:05 PM   #33
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Back in the 80's, I attended a big (over 200 people) steak cook-out at Texas A&M. There was about an 8' diameter circle of stones containing a glowing bed of mesquite embers and a long table with various cuts and thicknesses of steaks. The cooks had us point out which steak we wanted and tell them how we wanted it cooked. Then the cook would just toss the steak directly out onto the wood embers - no rack, no grill, no foil, no nothing - and used long-handled tongs to turn it. When it was done to our liking, they grabbed it off the embers with the tongs, whisked the ashes off of it with a little brush, and laid it on our plate. Then we proceeded down another table with baked beans, sliced onions and thick buttered toast. No steak sauces (sacrilegious!). The only seasoning was salt. Great cook-out, "cowboy" style!!
A great way to cook them.

We have done similar when out fishing and hankering for a snack. We start up a small fire with sticks that quickly burns down to a small layer of coals, and lay the fish on top. Once flipped with a stick, then within a few minutes fresh caught trout munchies.
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Old 06-10-2018, 12:18 PM   #34
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Reminds me of this variation...
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Old 06-10-2018, 04:19 PM   #35
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If you want to go low tech for cooking, check out the food videos by John Townsend of Jas Townsend and Sons over on Youtube. He's got some great 18th century recipes and techniques that are perfect for outdoor cooking. The rest of the videos are fascinating too.
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Old 06-13-2018, 10:34 AM   #36
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Takes time to heat water to boiling, then to build up steam pressure. It is the steam which provides the heat and pressure to cook fast. Once it is up to temp and pressure, the containment vessel holds it pretty well.
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Old 06-13-2018, 10:44 AM   #37
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Takes time to heat water to boiling, then to build up steam pressure. It is the steam which provides the heat and pressure to cook fast. Once it is up to temp and pressure, the containment vessel holds it pretty well.
And by then my salmon, steaks, Italian sausage, or chicken breasts are already grilled, and I am sitting down to eat.

Though there are those times that we do bake in the oven or on the BBQ that do take more time.
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Old 06-13-2018, 11:03 AM   #38
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Perfect timing on this. We pick up our 21 on July 10th and my wife absolutely insists on bringing the Insta pot as she loves using it at home. They definitely save some time at meal time. I did not know about making cakes in them, need to try that. Thanks for the info.
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Old 06-13-2018, 11:41 AM   #39
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So what does the Victron 700 do for you that the monitor that comes with the inverter doesn't already?

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Old 06-13-2018, 12:23 PM   #40
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The Victron or TriMetric battery monitors place a shunt in series with the battery(ies) that monitors all the current going into & out. It uses this & time to calculate the amp hours used or returned to the batteries, providing an accurate indication of the state of charge of your system. Not all that necessary if you do most of your camping hooked up to pedestals, but very useful if you spend extended times dry camping.
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