Quavers! 
wood73:
Up to now when i’ve self catered it just been pot noodles or sandwiches, but i’ve just bought a cooker so may start getting adventurous pretty soon.
problem is all the utensils and pans needed and then to be washed and stored as space is at a premium in a cf.
fragrant free wet wipes or kitchen towel at least, do the job
I get the collapsable 15l water containers from poundland, they fold down tiny enough to fit in the bottom of my overnight bag, if i’m going to be out overnight then I get it out, fill it up somewhere on the way and either strap it to the truck somewhere or put it in the trailer.
15l of water is more than enough for washing up and brushing your teeth, as well as for any cooking or drinks needs. Then when I’m back near base I’ll empty it out and put it back in the bottom of the bag.
Simples!
my in cab favourite meal is easy to do a tin of stewed steak, a tin of boiled spuds, a small tin of mixed veg and that fills me up till brekkie the next day, have been known to have bbq on the back of my motor with a few other of our drivers although the gaffers a bit upset at the bbq shaped burn on the wooden floor on my motor
think the only time ive actually cooked inside my cab was when we had the snow earlier in the year, as i wasnt going to cook my bacon in a blizzard 
all of my cooking gear lives in one of the side lockers on the side of my motor, makes a great wind break for the cooker so my gas doesnt get blown out bit annoying when it rains but the hot meal works wonders afterwards
as for washing up ive got a bowl and do it after finishiny my meal, the waters carried in the 5 litre container that i buy it in from morrisons, well the first one is then it gets refilled as and when till the end of the week when it goes in the recycling at work
I certainly don’t think cooking in the cab is exclusive to UK drivers. I do it for several reasons, I don’t have the same trailer all the time, none of our trailers or trucks have boxes anyhow and I don’t like cooking and eating outside. If I lived in a house I wouldn’t cook in the garden. Smell isn’t an issue if you know what your doing.
My tips -
Don’t use oil, have good non stick pans, with a lid. I cook everything from bacon to steaks without oil
Wash up with antibacterial kitchen wipes and kitchen roll
Good ventilation obviously
Buy something to place hot pans on, I use a couple of folded up oven gloves, saves melting the interior!
Buy a microwave!
I’ve recently toyed with the idea of cooking in the cab, to be honest I’m getting a bit bored of T Bone Steak every night 
that’s only half a joke too, especially if Nianiamh’s picking up the tab 
I’ve got a microwave & fridge so I can do soup & stuff, not that I have, but I could, I think I’ll give the full on Galloping Gourmet thing a miss, There are mini George Foreman Grills that I can run off my inverter & little ovens & slow cookers specifically designed for trucks, I’ve gone so far as getting a recipe book & there’s some mouth watering stuff in it, I quite enjoy cooking & enjoy eating it a whole lot more, but I don’t want to stink my cab out or have a repeat of a previous disaster I had many years ago.
I arrived in a little Italian village very late at night, everywhere was closed, but I was starving so out came the stove, I had one of those Tilly double ring jobbies so I could be a bit more extravagant than just heating up a tin of beans with sausages, this night I had mashed potatoes with my Camion Stew, the cooking process went reasonably well, the weather was pretty good so the diesel tank was my kitchen (no smelly cab) I’m not a big fan of washing up & I can’t stand paper plates so thought I’d make a Camion Shepherds Pie & eat it all out of one saucepan, this was where it all went horribly wrong, the saucepan was red hot so I balanced it on the steering wheel on a magazine so as not to melt the wheel, the magazine slipped, the pan went airborne & landed upside down on the engine cover of my F12, the contents of the pan went straight between the side of the engine hump & the driver’s seat, after throwing a major tantrum & launching every piece of cooking equipment & food I had left in the nearest skip, I ended up having to unbolt the seat (not an easy thing to do at all) so that I could get the mess cleaned up 
haven’t had so much as a pot noodle inside a cab since
I had sweet and sour chicken with pineapple waterchestnuts peppers and rice yesterday…
ok it was out of a tin from M&S and the rice was boil in the bag but i like to pretend that I eat nice food
Those throwaway portable bbq sets you see in the garages are handy if your 24’ed somewhere out in the sticks.
Reasonably cheap too.
Hombre:
One of my favourites : Magro con tomate (pork in tomatoes)1 medium onion chopped
garlic cloves crushed and chopped [I use 5 of them]
3 bay leaves
tin plum tomatoes
half kilo pork not too lean
olive oilPut about a tablespoon of oil in the pan and heat, add the onion and soften then add thegarlic and pork. Brown the pork off then add the tomatoes and bayleaves, bring to the boil then allow to simmer slowly until the liquid reduces down to a thick sauce. Add salt to taste.
Serve with crusty bread, any left over is great cold in a sandwich next day.
Made this Thurs night after reading on here and stopping at Sainsbury to get the missing ingredients, perfect, thanks Hombre
I see comments about ‘all the pots and pans’ above but I have fry pan with lid to stop grease etc in cab, plastic measuring jug and plastic mixing bowl, china plate and mug, knife fork and spoon, frying spatula thing and single burner plus wipes to clean it all with.
Usually it’s cous cous in mixing bowl and meat in pan with garlic etc or chicken bits fried with Thai fish sauce and garlic then bag of straight to wok rice on top (saves time on boil in bag and keeps it to one pan), muller greek yog corner for pudding.
Not much to clean or get out /put away.
Thetaff:
Those throwaway portable bbq sets you see in the garages are handy if your 24’ed somewhere out in the sticks.Reasonably cheap too.
It wasn’t you who took the disposable BBQ back to the shop & complained the meat for the BBQ was missing, as it’s pictured on the front of the packaging.
Only to be told by the shop assistant it doesn’t come with any meat in the pack. Bugger said the driver, I’d best take the other 2 packs I bought out of the freezer at home then
Some great answers there, thanks… oh and some amusing ones…
woodlands:
Hombre:
One of my favourites : Magro con tomate (pork in tomatoes)1 medium onion chopped
garlic cloves crushed and chopped [I use 5 of them]
3 bay leaves
tin plum tomatoes
half kilo pork not too lean
olive oilPut about a tablespoon of oil in the pan and heat, add the onion and soften then add thegarlic and pork. Brown the pork off then add the tomatoes and bayleaves, bring to the boil then allow to simmer slowly until the liquid reduces down to a thick sauce. Add salt to taste.
Serve with crusty bread, any left over is great cold in a sandwich next day.
Bon proveche!
Made this Thurs night after reading on here and stopping at Sainsbury to get the missing ingredients, perfect, thanks Hombre
I see comments about ‘all the pots and pans’ above but I have fry pan with lid to stop grease etc in cab, plastic measuring jug and plastic mixing bowl, china plate and mug, knife fork and spoon, frying spatula thing and single burner plus wipes to clean it all with.
Usually it’s cous cous in mixing bowl and meat in pan with garlic etc or chicken bits fried with Thai fish sauce and garlic then bag of straight to wok rice on top (saves time on boil in bag and keeps it to one pan), muller greek yog corner for pudding.
Not much to clean or get out /put away.
Come to think of it, I’ve never done anything very posh.
The usual for me is to get a tin of curry and a handful of pasta, boil the pasta until it’s most of the way done - strain the water and tip the curry in, by the time the curry’s heated enough the pasta’s done. I eat it out of the saucepan so all I’ve got to clean is a pan and a fork 
I usually cook outside or in the back (cant say trailer as I’ve not had a night out in an artic yet) Apart from anything, using a petrol stove in the cab doesn’t sound the best of ideas.
By far though, the most enjoyable meal I’ve ever had on a night out was;
1 tin of baby potatoes
1 small (half-size) tin baked beans
8 rashers of bacon
Took two pans but was well worth it; I was cold, hungry and tired - that meal and a couple of cans of lager left me staring at the stars with the night heater going thinking how much I enjoy this job (sometimes).
I love to cook though, especially like this. I’m gonna try to work out a special “trucker curry” that can be done in one pan, possibly involving tinned corned beef (it keeps well and I like it warm) - I’ll keep you posted
Friday night up in the Spanish mountains, 2 hrs from Madrid.
One tin of Morrisons sausage casserole.
One tin of Morrisons meatballs in tomato sauce.
One huge tin of new potatoes.
Heated the whole lot together slowly in a large pan.
Sat on the sleeper pod of my Sprinter, and watched the sun go down.
Great night out that one!