theboondork's RV blog

these aren't excuses, their reasons.

12/11/2018

Desert Sunrise

If this reads a little weird it's because this is a response to Tim's comment this morning and not actually a blog post. But with some sleight-of-hand on my part spurred on by extreme laziness I've attempted to turn it into a blog post.

My problem with every diet I've ever tried is the first few months are fine, I'm motivated and gung ho, but sooner or later, for one reason or another I start backslideing into my old ways.

I see two things that would cause me problems with the diet called the Keto diet. A big one is I either can't, won't, or I'm too lazy to cook. That may sound strange coming from a guy who owned two restaurants. But somewhere along the line I never developed the skills, the desire, or the knowledge to cook a meal for myself. I guess I've always had people around me that were great cooks so there was no reason for me to learn.

Another reason would be, in a way I live two lives. A winter life on the road traveling around and feeding myself mostly preprepared food. And in the summer boondocking at my daughter's house where I eat 90% of my meals with my family, and have little or no control over what is prepared, but whatever it is if it's put in front of me I eat it. [Refer back to the previous reference to The children in China].

Now it's not like I've never tried to cook. When I first moved into the Arctic Fox I had every intention of cooking some of my meals. I bought a Mini Crockpot, a food saver thingy that you use to seal up plastic bags of food, Tupperware to store leftovers, and even a food chopper that I could throw a handful of vegetables or fruit in and make a really disgusting drink.

I cooked a couple of meals early on in my full timing life and discovered things that made me not want to go through that again. It messed up an amazing amount of pots, pans, and cooking utensils that needed to be washed. Washing and rinsing all the stuff that it took to make that meal for one person used up a lot of water, especially the rinsing. Water is precious to a boondocker living in the desert, and even though I caught that soapy water in a dishpan and used it to flush the toilet it's still a lot of drinking water going to waste.

The other problem is, and this is a serious one ....... I'm lazy. Cooking meals takes time, preparation, a cabinet full of various spices, sauces, and cooking doodads that have to be acquired and used before they go bad, which is hard to do when you're cooking for one. So when I'm sitting in my easy chair thinking about making something for lunch, the thought of doing anything that takes more time than opening a can of soup has little chance of ever getting done.

When you're staying in RV parks cooking a meal its a lot easier. You've got an unlimited water supply, your plugged into shore power so your Crockpot, and your toaster oven work. You can wash greasy pots and pans all day if you want to knowing the dishwater's going straight out into the RV Park's sewer line and not into your holding tanks. And there's probably a grocery store right down the street if you need another ingredient.

But boondocking in the desert areas is different from most other places. For one thing It's hard to find free water. Water is expensive in the desert, not always readily available, and often not very tasty. So if you want to enjoy boondocking without having to run into town every week or so to buy water and pay to dump the tanks where all that water goes when you're done with it, you learn to conserve. And two of the best ways to conserve the most water is don't take long showers, and don't wash many dishes.

So anyway like I said before I'll dive a little deeper into the Keto diet and see if I can find a way to make it work for me because I know I need to eat healthier but eating healthier is a lot of work, and work is not something I get involved in if at all possible.

theboondork

my camera set up behind the Arctic Fox taking some video of the sunset. believe it or not, I call this fun.

21 Comments

Barney Ward

12/11/2018 04:11:21 pm

You put it exactly right about cooking when boondocking. The cleanup cost me more water in a day than all the rest of the activities. Even just heating things on the stove top costs too much water in cleanup. I eat more tortilla wraps and sandwich type things and cereal when boondocking in remote areas.

Tom

12/11/2018 07:14:45 pm

You were one of the folks I was thinking about when I was talking about cooking meals in an RV, it seems like you're always cooking up something good, but I just don't have the knack. I would turn your stoup into goop and it would be inedible.

Tom

12/11/2018 07:20:10 pm

Keep in mind I only report the things that turn out decent enough to eat in the blog.

12/11/2018 07:54:12 pm

I guess that could explain why you spend so much time at Whataburger?

12/11/2018 08:36:43 pm

Yep.

Tim

12/12/2018 08:40:37 am

You make some good points and a lot to consider. One thing that I've been experimenting with is making "one dish" meals in aluminum foil wraps. All the clean up is throwing the foil away at the end. Of course, I'm assuming that trash can become an issue as well when boondocking, but that's about all I can come up with right now. The only other thing I'll say about it is that Caravan Carolyn has been Keto for over a year and she lives in a van and seems to do fine while boondocking. I guess where there is a will there is a way.

Everyone is different and each have our own dietary needs. For me, there is a history of type 2 diabetes in my family with some several consequences. My Dad's father lost both his legs because of complications with Type 2 diabetes and my mother's father had several heart attacks and developed dementia, which were attributed to diabetes as well. My father controls his with diet and exercise.

For me, my blood sugar was rising every doctor's visit and I knew it was time for a change. I had been "low carb" for about a year (but was cheating on occasions) and it was helping, but I wasn't were I wanted to be, so I switched over to Keto, which I would classify as "extreme low carb" and now I have awesome blood sugar readings (even my doctor is amazed). So, if I want to live a full, healthy life (and stay ahead of that Grim Reaper), it's imperative that I stay on a diet of this nature. The weight loss is secondary to the blood sugar stabilization.

But, I'm not trying to convince anyone of this lifestyle, I'm just sharing my results and motivations. We each have different ways of approaching issues like this.

12/12/2018 01:41:51 pm

It's good to share things like this, because all of us geezers are basically in the same boat, but some of our boats are more leaky than others, So it's always helpful to get some swimming instructions.

You obviously have some very good reasons for losing weight and keeping it off. I think if I were in your position I would be a lot more diligent about watching what, and how much I eat. But for me the way I tell when I'm gaining too much weight is my blue jeans won't button up, and I absolutely refuse to buy bigger jeans just because I'm fat. That only leaves me with one rational alternative which is to lose weight, and that's what I've always done in the past. It's just a lot more difficult now than it used to be, and I attribute that to all the good cooks I'm around.

I'm not really familiar with the aluminum foil cooking method, but if it involves the use of a propane fired oven like RVs have it would probably use way too much propane to reasonably cook a meal.

I turned my oven into a filing cabinet many years ago because of the amount of propane it took to cook a frozen pizza. I bought an AC powered toaster oven when I started full timing because I thought I was going to be staying in more RV parks and be plugged in but since I'm primarily a boondocker now it gets so little use I'm thinking of getting rid of it. And come to think of it, that's a good example of why folks shouldn't buy too many RV things until they figure out what kind of life there going to live, and it takes some time on the road to actually be able to tell. I'll look into the "foil wrap meals" and see if they will work for me.

I hope I didn't give the impression that you can't cook meals in an RV because you most certainly can, people do it every day, it just depends on your situation. People that enjoy cooking will find a way. People that have very large holding tanks in their RV have it easier. Folks that absolutely have to have a real meal, on a real plate, while sitting at a real dining room table are able to do it. And they've all found ways of dealing with the downsides of a bunch of greasy pots and pans.

My full timing RVing suggestions, ideas, and stories, are all based on my personal experience of living in a fifth wheel trailer and boondocking 95% of the time mostly in warm desert areas, which is a pretty narrow range of expertise. So anything outside of that you should probably pay no attention to me whatsoever.

Tom

Linda Sand

12/12/2018 12:33:23 pm

The deli is your friend. Precooked chicken, deli meats, cheese, veggie trays, fruit trays and jars of olives were my mainstays when boondocking. Carrots dipped in mayonnaise turned out to be surprisingly tasty.

12/12/2018 03:07:08 pm

I actually buy those Walmart roasted chickens pretty regular, I can get two or three meals out of them. There reasonably priced, and not much cleanup when you're done.

I like most anything dipped in mayonnaise or ranch dressing. I'm not sure about the veggie or fruit trays. I think they've had some health problems in the past with the people that prepare them.

But I love the olives especially the ones that are pitted but don't have a pimento or anything else in them, they're not as vinegary as regular olives

Tom

12/12/2018 01:45:35 pm

I forgot to say that wearing surgical-type gloves will allow you to process that precooked chicken without having to use tons of water to wash your hands after doing so. I then eat it as meat on a stick by sticking a fork into a piece then biting pieces off of that piece--no knife needed.

12/12/2018 03:33:45 pm

Having been in the restaurant business, and having to deal with the health department on a regular basis, [I always got A's] I'm extra careful about such things, especially raw chicken, and pork.

I love ideas for saving water, and if it saves work at the same time I'm all for it. When I'm really serious about saving water I have a bag of the cheapest bottom-line plastic spoons and forks they make, and I use them once and throw them away, yes that may cost a few cents but not as much as driving into town and getting water.

Tom

12/13/2018 02:13:15 pm

For the aluminum foil cooking method, I've used it over grills, in the oven, a toaster oven, and my NuWave oven. I've also seen (and plan to experiment with) people using this method in slow cookers. I haven't seen anyone try it, but I don't see why it also couldn't be done in a dutch oven on the stove top.

Also for a different method, you could use those slow cooker liners to cook regular meals in a crock pot. I haven't used them, but I plan to try some soon.

My goal is that by the time I go full-time, to have worked out some simple, easy recipes that don't require a lot of fuel or clean-up.

12/13/2018 05:42:43 pm

I used the Crockpot liners the couple of times that I used my Mini Crockpot. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to clean that thing without using bunches of water and a lot of effort. The problem was I couldn't find any small crockpot liners and the regular ones looked like I was trying to put a Walmart grocery bag in the Crockpot.

It will be enlightening to see how much electricity the Nuwave oven uses. I know the advertising say it uses a lot less than ordinary cooking, so I'll be interested to see what your meter says when you use it on an inverter. If it cooks quick, and with less electricity that would appeal to me. But I would like to hear about how many amps it draws first.

Tom

12/14/2018 11:33:58 am

I checked my Nuwave with a Killiwatt meter and it pulls 12 amps AC.

So, to figure out how much energy it will take to cook something, here is an example: One of my staples right now are frozen 1/3 lb sirloin burger patties from Costco (without the bun, etc.) and I cook them in the Nuwave, one at a time. It takes 12 minutes to cook them to my taste (which is cooked all the way through). I just throw the patty on frozen and in 12 minutes it's cooked. If multiple burgers are cooked at the same time, it will take a few minutes longer for each additional burger.

To cook my one burger, the numbers are close to this (if I'm doing my maths right): 12 amps AC equals 120 amps DC. 12 minutes is 1/5th of an hour. 120 Amps X 1/5 = 24 Amp/hours DC. If we assume that the inverter, wiring, etc. is only 90% efficient, then the number would be ~ 26 amp/hours DC to cook a burger.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the Nuwave when I live in the RV. The thing is really big, but I think it could live on top of the stove. Right now, I use it for almost every meal, so if I do decide to ditch it, I'm going to have to figure out other alternatives.

12/14/2018 12:59:20 pm

I'm glad you figured that out for me because that's way too much math for me to deal with considering the limited amount of plankton I have left in my brain.

To put that 26 amp hours in context I'm using about 30 amps to run the whole trailer for a day.

Since the Nuwave will sit on the stove, like everything else that sits on something it will need a storage space to be put in when you're traveling so it doesn't fall off the stove. And even though your Arctic Fox looks like it has lots of empty space at the moment, when you start loading up all the things you absolutely cannot live without everyday, big empty spaces get hard to come by.

I would guess that 99% of the cooking I do is done on the propane stove that came with the Arctic Fox even though I have other ways I can cook. The reason being the efficiency. It uses no electricity, it's instant on and off, the flame is highly adjustable, in an emergency it can be used as a heat source, and something that's important to boondocker's, if I run out of propane I can go get more without moving the trailer.

I love my little toaster oven when I'm plugged in. A personal sized pizza fits right in it, it heats up quickly, it bakes a potato pretty fast, and it's great for warming foods up that a microwave just destroys. But as much as I love it I'm just not plugged in enough anymore to make it worthwhile. So the value of your Nuwave will probably be highly dependent upon the type of full-time lifestyle that you choose after you've lived it for a while.

Tom

12/14/2018 01:37:06 pm

To be honest, I don't think the Nuwave is going to make it into the RV, it's just too big and draws too much current. At one time, I had a mini Nuwave that would fit better, but I don't think they make them anymore. So, that's one of the reasons I'm experimenting with foil wrapped cooking - to see if I can come up with some alternatives to what my typical methods are now. I believe I'm going to be similar to you and use the stove top for most of my cooking, with the addition of the small Instant Pot that I have. But, I haven't come to any conclusions yet and will be taking this time to continue to experiment (just hope I produce something edible while I'm trying).

12/14/2018 04:27:35 pm

The foil wrapping sounds pretty simple, and simple is something you should always strive for when full timing and I definitely speak from experience on that one since it's pretty normal for me to take something simple and make it better, [more complicated] and sometimes, [ every time] it can end up not working out as well as I'd hoped, [ burning off my mustache ].

A lot of these problems you're trying to figure out now will all but solve themselves once you move into the Arctic Fox and hit the road. And, like I mentioned in the past, almost all of the big worries I had about full timing while I was in the planning stages turned out to be inconsequential when I was finally living in the Arctic Fox.

And when it comes to buying stuff for your new life always keep in mind,[ I didn't listen to myself on this one and it cost me a lot of money], your not outfitting yourself for a safari to Tanzania. Almost everywhere you go in your new life there will be grocery stores, and Walmarts, post offices that take general delivery, and a lot of places where you can get an Amazon package.

But don't stop doing what you're doing. Thinking about things, and coming up with ideas is what you will be doing once you hit the road, you'll just have far more information to go on.

Tom

12/14/2018 04:37:15 pm

Yeah, right now I'm still in the phase of not buying anything new and having to downsize even more than I have. Which is great, because the RV lifestyle is already saving me money just thinking about how small a space I'll have and how little I can take. Before selling the house, I could never get out of Home Depot without a cart full of stuff. I went there the other day (only the second time since moving into the apartment) for some minor little thing and I walked out with just that one little thing - that's quite the miracle.

One thing that I forget that I have in the RV is a convection microwave. The convection part is basically what the Nuwave is, so that might work in place of it when I'm hooked up.

One of the reasons I'm looking for simpler cooking methods is that even now, the cleanup is killing me because I cook almost every meal. I'm hoping to find some simple foil meals that will reduce that work, even now and in the RV.

12/14/2018 06:23:24 pm

I'm the same way with hardware stores I used to not only buy things I needed but things I might need in the future. But now it's different, I no longer have a garage where I can keep extra stuff, nuts and bolts, pieces of wood, now I only buy what I need at that moment but it's a hard habit to break.

I think if you cook every meal in the Arctic Fox you'll spend most of the day cooking, cleaning. And driving into town to dump and get more water. I'm far too lazy for that, I mostly wipe things out with a paper towel and call it done. I can get away with that because living by myself I'm the only one eating here so I'm used to my germs.

Also my mom was from South Georgia and like most southern women she knew how to cook, I swear she could make a flip-flop taste like fried chicken. But the point is, she had a lot of cast-iron cookware and none of it ever got washed, she wiped it out with a towel and put it away. She was using that cookware before I was born and now my sisters still using it.

Your Nuwave might very well work for you. You may find out that you like the camaraderie, and social aspects of RV parks and spent most of your time there and only sometime boondocking, so your Nuwave oven might get enough use to be worth caring around. But you probably won't know that for sure until you've actually lived on the road for while.

I saw an RVer guy on YouTube the other night complaining about the horrors of boondocking, the bad roads, the poisonous creatures, the weird people, it sounded like he was talking about me, the loneliness. He went on and on about what a terrible way it was to live. But every single thing he talked about that bothered him, doesn't bother me in the least. That's the cool thing about full timing, you get to choose the lifestyle that makes YOU happy.

Tom

12/19/2018 07:15:13 am

I'm going to have to amend the numbers for the NuWave. For some reason, I thought it pulled the same number of amps throughout the entire time it was running, but it cycles the heating element on and off because, well, it's an oven even though it doesn't look like an oven (duh - I should have figured that one out). Just happened to notice this because I still had the Killiwat plugged in to the NuWave and saw the numbers change (see, laziness does pay off some times).

I realized the Killiwat has a reading that tells how many killowatts it's pulled for a specific amount of time. This came out to .19 killowatts for the 12 minutes it took to cook a burger. I plugged that into an online calculator and that's ~1.59 amps AC (on average), which would be ~15.9 amps DC. So, I believe it would only pull ~3.2 amp/hours out of the battery (12 minutes is 1/5 of an hour; 15.9/5 = ~3.2 amp/hours) to cook one frozen burger. There would be some lose for the inverter and wires, so let's call it 4 amp/hours.

I hope these numbers are close to being right.

12/19/2018 07:57:31 am

I try not to involve myself with numbers if I can help it, I have enough problems with words.

Four amp hours to cook your meal is not a big deal and should be easily doable with the kind of solar panels and battery bank you mentioned in the past.

Always keep in mind that in the daytime after the solar panels have charged up your battery bank their still putting out bunches of amps that aren't being used which is the reason I can leave my seven amp per hour laptop sitting here running for most of the day without worrying about the amperage use.

These days I'm facing now are some of the worst days for collecting sunshine. The sun isn't up for very long so I don't get much charging time, and its very low on the horizon so it's not quality charging, so some days it's taking me till 3 o'clock in the afternoon to get completely charged up.

But as long as the skies are clear which they usually are in the Southwest, which is why the Buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play here, I can use as many amps as I want in the daytime as long as I'm leaving enough to charge up the battery bank before dark. Needless to say you need to keep up with the weather reports and adjust your power usage accordingly.

Tom

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