Friday, December 11, 2009

Your Car Really Cooks!

There's nothing like using the waste heat from your vehicle to prepare your food.

There's no real way to gauge exactly what kind of emergency is going to force you to leave your humble abode and take to the road. People who have been forced to flee hurricanes have traveled many miles inland to be greeted with long lines at restaurants, convenience stores, and even the roach coaches that pop up to take advantage of the influx of hungry, displaced people.

Long lines with hungry small children does not make for a pleasant experience.

With a little planning and some forethought you can turn an otherwise excruciating experience into something a wee bit more tolerable. Make sure you have plenty of heavy duty aluminum foil available as this is the most common item used in constructing the cooking vessels used in your engine compartment.

Do not reuse aluminum beverage containers. Often they are coated with a plastic on the inside that will melt into your grub! I know its tempting to grab those huge energy drink cans with the twist off metal lids. I've heard people talk about making soup in them, but for making soup and oatmeal, go with thermos cooking instead. Check out this post on "The Deliberate Agrarian" blog for the basics, or head on over to Kurt Saxon if you dare.

The ultimate book on cooking with your car is called "Manifold Destiny" available at Amazon and other book sellers.

If you're not sure about springing for the book, here are some links that give you a pretty fair idea of what is involved.

Links for cooking with your car:

Instructables: Cooking with your car

WikiHow: How To Cook Food On Your Car's Engine

WiseBread: Cooking Great Meals With Your Car Engine

See The USA By Jeep: Cook Meatloaf On Your Car Engine

One thing you might seriously consider purchasing for your vehicles are kevlar gloves and sleeves. They are heat and cut resistant, and will make getting your food off the engine much easier especially if you have used bailing wire to fix it in place.

The bonus is, if you have a flat tire, gloves often make the job easier.

See here for gloves.

See here for sleeves.

2 comments:

Bullseye said...

That gives a whole new meaning to "Drive Thru" food. Great info brother. I hope I never need it. LOL

HermitJim said...

Now that's an idea I had not thought about! Pretty interesting...!

Thanks for the information, my friend!