Monday, March 23, 2015

Meals for travelling workers

My hubby is a truck driver. In a twelve hour day, he could be travelling at least 600 kms delivering wood chip to the Portland wharf.

He could take sandwiches every day, which would get boring. He could buy his lunch from one of many takeaway outlets along the way, which he does on occasion, but all the time can get expensive not to mention, unhealthy.

Some days, he takes a foil container of leftovers, to warm up in his 12 volt oven. That's right, he has an oven in his truck. 

It's no bigger than a small esky, and it plugs into the lighter socket(12 volt plug) in his truck. It fits a foil container in it quite nicely, and warms up in no time.

This way, and I guess it what a lot of travellers miss when they work on the road a lot, he gets the equivalent of a home cooked meal, when he is not at home.

Any leftovers we have, I put into a foil container, label it and chuck it in the freezer. All is has to do is choose his frozen meal for lunch, out of our own freezer, and chuck it in his work esky. It goes in the oven and come lunch time is ready to eat.


Meals that are easy to make more of and freeze, that I pack for the freezer include:
  • spaghetti bolognaise
  • bangers and mash, with gravy
  • casseroles, with mash
  • curries, with rice
  • leftover chicken with mash, gravy and veggies(meat and 3 veg) 
  • soup
  • pizza
  • lasagne
  • pies/sausage rolls
The 12 volt oven is very handy to if you're travelling, to go camping for example, and you want a warm meal when you get there.

We drove a couple hours to meet friends who were camping in the middle of nowhere, this trip in fact. I put sausage rolls in a foil container, and warmed it up on the way, so our lunch was ready when we got there. Handy when the kids start whining they are hungry.

Brett has also wrapped cheese sandwiches in alfoil and they've come out just like a toasted sanga.

We bought our 12 volt oven from Ebay. We also have a 12 volt kettle, it lives in the boot of my car. It boils two cups of water. In my case, all I need to do is take a tea bag, some water and a cup and this black tea drinking mumma is set.


26 comments:

  1. What a fantastic idea! I have thought about buying one of these for a while now but always forget. Meals on the road cost my family a fortune!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could warm enough sausage rolls or hot dog franks for the lot of you in one of them!

      Delete
  2. What a great idea! The cost of buying lunch adds up quickly, but as you say, sandwiches get soooooo boring.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Saving leftovers, reheating on the road, eating healthy... all so worthwhile. We used to have a 12volt kettle for our camping trips... was great as I love my cups of tea♥

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mince shepherds pie topped with mash and cheese would be nice too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Brett has had shepherds pie in one of these before. The cheese is a good idea. When I freeze spag bol, I have to make sure I put parmesan on it, because apparently it's not the same without it ;)

      Delete
  5. That's so handy and I have to say what a sweet wifey you are - to have yummy home cooked meals when on the road but be a nice feeling x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it gives Brett a nice feeling too, because he loves the reaction of his workmates when they are envious of his lunch!

      Delete
  6. That is a fantastic idea. I normally make a little more with each meal so my husband has leftovers for lunch but I'm sadly not that organised to enable him to have his pick from meals from the freezer. I think I need to lift my game Alicia!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha, freezing leftovers is easy for me. I refuse to make his sandwiches, if he takes them! He's big and ugly enough to do that for himself haha

      Delete
  7. Great idea. And beats the boredom men (in particular) seem to suffer with the packed lunch/dinner.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! What a great idea for our next road trip. Beats cold sandwiches anyday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I usually take sandwiches and cake if we are travelling. It is nice to have the option of having something warm though.

      Delete
  9. A portable oven sounds perfect, especially on road trips. So you just plug it into the car and when the engine is running to operate it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, the power from the battery runs the oven. You just plug it into the 12 volt socket. We have an adapter in our car, it plugs into the 12 volt socket, and has four 12 volt sockets and a couple of USB ports on it as well for charging haha. I'll have to take a photo of it and put it on IG! It is great when travelling for phones, DVD players and other 12 volt gadgets.

      Delete
  10. What a great idea for family driving holidays. I would never have thought to have an oven on the car!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Such a great idea. You sound like the best wife. My hubby gets leftovers if he's lucky, otherwise makes his own lunch :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This makes my job easier by freezing leftovers! I refuse to make his lunch if he takes sandwiches. I have enough to do and he's a big boy :)

      Delete
  12. I love this idea. I used to always freeze leftovers to take to work, but Trent wont ever take them to work (its so frustrating). I swear he buys a lot more takeaway than I know about.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Idea to eat delicious homemade and healthy food at work!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I can imagine how being on the road all day could result in eating unhealthy stuff. I can do that if I have professional development days and am not at work! It's fantastic what you do to ensure you guys continue to eat healthy. :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a great idea that oven is!
    Happy Day to YOU! Thanks for hosting :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. After reading that your hubby is a truck driver every time I hear of one rolling or tipping over I am going to wonder if it is him driving, especially after reading of the fatality this morning

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He did ring me this morning, to say if I heard about it, it wasn't him. I feel sorry for what that drivers family is going through right now.

      Delete
  17. Great idea Alicia. You are a good wife. I must make more lunches for my hubby. He's on the road all the time too. Not sure he'd be allowed an oven in the car though:(

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for so much visiting, and even more so for leaving a friendly comment!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...