Thermal Cooking and Roof Top Storage
Greetings sisters in Christ!
Praise God for His gift of another day to serve Him. Some day it will be our last so let's be sure we use each one wisely and for His glory!
Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
1 Chronicles 29:11
Today is a simple keeper of the home post about my thermal cooker.
Thermal cooking is like slow cooking but saves you power, in fact this thing has paid for itself many times over. (I think they run $50-$60 but I got mine on sale for $45. Either way the price is worth it.)
This one holds 3 quarts which is is a lot for us so I usually make just enough for a couple meals. It's super sturdy, stainless steel and should last many years.
You can cook all sorts of food in it but normally I do soup, usually something with potatoes and cabbage and then whatever else I have at the time. I want to perfect my rice to water ratio and then will do a post on that for you. (We really like rice :-)
Anyway, all you do is boil about a cup of water and put it in the thermos to heat it up (with the lid closed) while you get your food ready. Once the food is ready, dump the hot water (make sure you use it for something else and don't waste it down the drain) and put in the food. Do it quickly so as to keep the heat in. Snap the lid in place and wrap in blankets or you can do something like this:
I found this foldable box discounted for $1, lined it with a small fleece blanket ($2.50) and...
..... covered it for the day until dinner time.
(Almost everything you see is from the discount grocery store. In that yellow bag are crunchy chickpea puffs...an unusual treat for us.)
Some people make what they call hot boxes or cozies for them but I wanted something I could fold up because we don't have a lot of room in the van. Also, the blanket and box are useful for other things if need be. I have also done this with cast iron pots...bringing the food to a boil then wrapping blankets around it. If I could sew better and was in one spot to do it, I'd consider making and selling the wraps for them. If you look up wonderbox you will see a version of them.
I just told brother Jim that if we are going to be back at the homestead here more often as we travel through, I might want another solar cooker. We made one in Wisconsin out of an old washtub, a visor reflector and recycled window so we could do something like that again. Here's a picture of it in the garden we had back in Wisconsin.
And an up close shot...
It was pretty rudimentary, it didn't cost much but worked great. I might look and see what's available for a travel / folding solar cooker and see if it's something I want or if we should make another one.
I also did some sewing.
I think I did a post a long time ago about buying super big nursing scrub tops and liking the pockets on them. Now that I'm back by my sewing machine I was able to sew in some necklines to fill in the big gaping necklines. I took some button up shirts, cut out the necks and just sewed them into the scrub shirts...full coverage. I really appreciate the oversized tops with the flowing skirt because it makes life much cooler in the summer and easy to layer in the winter. If you look close at the picture you'll see my thread doesn't really match and it's not very straight. You'll also see frays on the neckline because I cut the collars off. (We like them better that way.) I'm being a realist here and letting you see up close how simple life can be if we let go of our preconceived notions that everything has to be perfect, straight etc. (There's even a small stain on one insert. Yep... Thank you brother Jim for getting me past that part of my life:-) I'm not a good sewer and can do just enough to get by. Those of you who can sew from scratch, wow you are blessed!
Brother Jim has been super busy on the van and has a post about how he made a roof top storage bin, you can see that here if you are interested:
https://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2020/03/roof-top-storage-van-dwelling-tips.html
I think he did a great job and it looks way better than having totes strapped up there!
Today he was working on the generator hut for the back, I'll post the link for you when he's done.
I did get some time to tear apart the inside of the van (wow what a mess I had) and repack it. I also got the blankets up on the walls and will post about that soon.
That's what we've been doing, working hard and getting ready to go back out in the world soon and preach the gospel. Lord willing we shall live to do it...
Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
Proverbs 28:18
Have a joyous evening and blessings to you.
Sister Deb
Praise God for His gift of another day to serve Him. Some day it will be our last so let's be sure we use each one wisely and for His glory!
Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
1 Chronicles 29:11
Today is a simple keeper of the home post about my thermal cooker.
Thermal cooking is like slow cooking but saves you power, in fact this thing has paid for itself many times over. (I think they run $50-$60 but I got mine on sale for $45. Either way the price is worth it.)
This one holds 3 quarts which is is a lot for us so I usually make just enough for a couple meals. It's super sturdy, stainless steel and should last many years.
You can cook all sorts of food in it but normally I do soup, usually something with potatoes and cabbage and then whatever else I have at the time. I want to perfect my rice to water ratio and then will do a post on that for you. (We really like rice :-)
Anyway, all you do is boil about a cup of water and put it in the thermos to heat it up (with the lid closed) while you get your food ready. Once the food is ready, dump the hot water (make sure you use it for something else and don't waste it down the drain) and put in the food. Do it quickly so as to keep the heat in. Snap the lid in place and wrap in blankets or you can do something like this:
I found this foldable box discounted for $1, lined it with a small fleece blanket ($2.50) and...
..... covered it for the day until dinner time.
Some people make what they call hot boxes or cozies for them but I wanted something I could fold up because we don't have a lot of room in the van. Also, the blanket and box are useful for other things if need be. I have also done this with cast iron pots...bringing the food to a boil then wrapping blankets around it. If I could sew better and was in one spot to do it, I'd consider making and selling the wraps for them. If you look up wonderbox you will see a version of them.
I just told brother Jim that if we are going to be back at the homestead here more often as we travel through, I might want another solar cooker. We made one in Wisconsin out of an old washtub, a visor reflector and recycled window so we could do something like that again. Here's a picture of it in the garden we had back in Wisconsin.
And an up close shot...
It was pretty rudimentary, it didn't cost much but worked great. I might look and see what's available for a travel / folding solar cooker and see if it's something I want or if we should make another one.
I also did some sewing.
I think I did a post a long time ago about buying super big nursing scrub tops and liking the pockets on them. Now that I'm back by my sewing machine I was able to sew in some necklines to fill in the big gaping necklines. I took some button up shirts, cut out the necks and just sewed them into the scrub shirts...full coverage. I really appreciate the oversized tops with the flowing skirt because it makes life much cooler in the summer and easy to layer in the winter. If you look close at the picture you'll see my thread doesn't really match and it's not very straight. You'll also see frays on the neckline because I cut the collars off. (We like them better that way.) I'm being a realist here and letting you see up close how simple life can be if we let go of our preconceived notions that everything has to be perfect, straight etc. (There's even a small stain on one insert. Yep... Thank you brother Jim for getting me past that part of my life:-) I'm not a good sewer and can do just enough to get by. Those of you who can sew from scratch, wow you are blessed!
Brother Jim has been super busy on the van and has a post about how he made a roof top storage bin, you can see that here if you are interested:
https://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2020/03/roof-top-storage-van-dwelling-tips.html
I think he did a great job and it looks way better than having totes strapped up there!
Today he was working on the generator hut for the back, I'll post the link for you when he's done.
I did get some time to tear apart the inside of the van (wow what a mess I had) and repack it. I also got the blankets up on the walls and will post about that soon.
Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
Proverbs 28:18
Have a joyous evening and blessings to you.
Sister Deb
The biblical gospel...