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a different slant on saving fuel when cooking
It happens I have been researching pressure cookers, mainly with the idea of preserving meat products and ready meals. It occurred to me, many here look to save money searching for the cheapest way to cook their food. I have come to the conclusion that a small pressure cooker would save more than half the fuel needed irrespective of type of cooking stove. Put another way, you cooking fuel would last twice as long.
What do people think about carrying a little pressure cooker, as some now are no bigger than saucepans? |
For saving time when cooking dried beans, rice and similar....maybe. For saving fuel? I don't particularly worry about saving cooking fuel when traveling by bike. What's the worry? I can cook all week on a liter or two of fuel. During that same week I might burn 150 or more liters in my bike.
When carrying a stove and fuel on my back (i.e., when trekking), I'm unlikely to carry the extra weight and bulk of a pressure cooker. |
Presssure cookers are made of THICK metal.. Well, the ones I have are.
They weigh a bloody ton :funmeterno: |
Not sure I'd be bothered about the possible fuel saving but it might broaden ones recipe range. You might even be able to get that lump of fresh goat, mutton, dog, cat or donkey meat you bought at the market to soften up enough to actually eat.
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Pressure cookers are great, I have used them a lot when car camping and sailing, they do come in all shapes and sizes and are best found in charity shops, with a little luck you will find a small/ish one.
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And no more anger and biscuits after kicking unintendedly the saucepan...:D |
I can see someone wondering around catering equipment shops with a coleman stove trying out pressure cookers for the best fit.
I'm not a great fan of camping specific cookware; camping fryng pans are especially useless. My pans are "proper" household items with the handles removed. I have two deep non-stick milk-pans that "nest" with my little coleman feather stove inside and an omelette pan. Oh, mustn't forget the kettle (small trangia item) can't function without a cuppa. |
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God dam the touratech culture.... doh |
pressure cookers
I traveled thru Colombia to Peru with a 4qt in my tail bag as I was eating beans A LOT.....I loved it. Beans done in 25 minutes, no farting. I filled the cooker with cooking stuff and food to take up space, it was aluminum and only added 1/2 lb or so to load on Honda 250 Tornado.
Recommended Zig |
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No farting?!?!? How does that work?!? I wish! (well the wife does anyhow :)) We've had a pressure cooker in our camper for several years and wouldn't be without it. We started out with a Tefal job from the UK that was about £50 or £60. One hard braking incident and the plastic on the lid broke :( We then splashed out on a WMF cooker, mainly cos the handle is removable, and the pot is steel so more travel friendly. Pressure cookers : Cooking : WMF for at Home We then discovered how rubbish the first one was! The new one seals properly and fully. The old one you had to put in a lot more fluid than you needed, as it hissed a lot out of the valve on top. This one gets up to pressure and you turn it off, the pressure stays in with no fluid loss, no more fuel used, no dried out stews! You also save fuel because you just chuck everything in, meat, veg, spices, sauce, pulses whatever. Broccoli and similar veg tends to disappear into the gravy, but you could add it at the end if you wanted to be able to see it! One pan means less washing up. One down side is chewyness. Stews are really tasty, meat falling off the bone is all well and good, but you don't end up with anything to sink your teeth into. The occasional steak and chips is still required! If you have a fridge you can cook maybe 6 meals at once for the next few days travelling with a big enough cooker. It makes the food safer, so if the meat you've bought wasn't quite the right colour since the butcher hasn't got a fridge, and its been hanging up outside in the heat for a few hours, or his ancient bit of tree/chopping board is covered in flies and he wouldn't know where to actually buy soap from, then you can within reason have more confidence in eating it. You can purify water at altitude, as the boiling point at the cookers pressure will compensate for the lower atmospheric pressure. (I read that on the HUBB so it must be true! ;)) In France they are usually twice the price, but maybe more choice. In Morocco they are really cheap since everyone has one. Tajines are often started off in one. A decent one of maybe 4l was 25 Euros in a Marjane a little while ago. We have also cleaned clothes in it every now and again, when hand washing just won't budge some old bit of dirt. Sterilising my socks for instance. :) |
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I assume you are not going to bring a pressure cooker in a solo trip, unless you don't have a fridge in one of your paniers! But if you like cooking and are several, pressure cookers are great, as grizzly explained. I have a WMF at home, horribly expensive (and heavy!), but so good, would love to have something similar apart from a cheapy Decathlon-Quechua set of dishes and pot (the current case for the coleman is two black trash bags), so not that touratechie yet.:D Quote:
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Well, of course it is all total individual taste how you priorities your luggage. I travel very 'Tools and spares' biast which is heavy but that's what I like..Some people travel very cooking heavy, some techno heavy etc.
It works great when you find yourself in a group with kit to share around though. Everyone loves it when someone pulls out a secret stash of local spirit :thumbup1: |
Instead of buying a small pressure cooker and squeezing it into bulging panniers, why not get a huge one and use it as a top box? :)
Or a small one perched on an aircooled Beemer cylinder to cook en route? :D |
We have been using the Hawkins Futura pressure cooker [bought in India] with great succes for the last 7 years on the road now. What I like about our 3 liter model:
http://www.hawkinscookers.com/pc_pix/F40.jpg - sturdy build - no back handle [packs small] - no big thing on the top [integrated] Adventurous greetings, Coen |
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