Thinking of tramping and would like to find out about the job a little more
Do you guys all have fridges in your lorries and if not how do you keep your food in good condition while away all week?
Do you do your shopping every day if your lorry doesn’t have a fridge? I guess it is not easy to always be close to shops.
When your company isn’t paying for parking at services , truck stops, how do you manage to keep clean, where do you take showers and how often?
Interested to learn how tramper’s life looks like.
You can get by without a fridge,there are enough products out there
that dont require cooling…powdered milk…margarine (axle grease)
tinned stuff and so on.
But a fridge/cooler and microwave really improve your range.
(if you can cook)
For me cooking my own food is the way to go cheaper/healthier
and if you want you can enjoy a brought meal out anytime.
A decent 2 ring gas cooker with a grill is a great addition to your kit
unless your company dont allow them.
(hide it in your motor and dont talk about cooker club )
Most company’s will buy or lease units with fridge units in them if they’re expecting the driver to be out all week or even longer. These fridges aren’t always big enough for all your stuff so maybe buying a cheap cool box from Halfords to keep your bottles of water, pop and milk in so you can keep your foodstuffs in the truck fridge.
Of course it depends on how often you are away and if you eat in the truck every night instead of finding a pub for a pub meal. If the company doesn’t pay for parking or only when you’re carrying a high value load then you can still have a shower in the services or a truckstop during the day. The services say you have to pay to use the showers but 9 times out of 10 you will find the shower door unlocked
I very rarely park in services or truckstops unless carrying a high value load as I like to find ind estates near towns or villages where you can go and have a wonder around see new places and people and also sample the local pubs and takeaways finding a good pub off the beaten track that does good grub is very rewarding I find and is 10 times better than eating warmed up crap in a service station full of kids and coach parties, also the prices service stations charge to park up are nothing short of scandalous £17-£28 bring the norm
I love tramping you get to see all of the country or even Europe if you fancy it see some fantastic scenery, meet new people whilst getting paid for it, you will either love it or hate it and a lot of it will depend on your home life I.e have you got a wife and kids? Would it affect your relationship being away from them a week or even upto 8 week even more at a time?
If not or if you’re single then give it a go you’ve got nothing to lose. Oh and on the shopping side do your main shop for stuff on a weekend and if you need to stock up through the week find s ■■■■■■■■■■■■ near town centred or even on some ind est you’ll find a shop/supermarket near by maybe even on the ind est sushi as at Bromsgrove, Bar Hill, Wombourne etc.
Finally I find tramping better than day work because after a 13-15 hour shift you can jump stright into bed, have something to eat stright after your shift has finished instead of an hour drive home and having to do the same in the morning to get to work you only have to roll out of your bunk and you’re at work!
I keep an eye out for Pound shops etc and buy drinks and snacks on the cheap and store them until needed. When refueling I have a look to see if anything’s reduced in price like sandwiches etc.
never used powdered milk in my life and not looking forward to use it in the future.
I like to eat as fresh as possible, that’s why the question about a fridge in tramper’s lorry.
I know some companies provide them for trampers (seen on YT), and I thought that a standard in tramping, but can see now it’s not the case everywhere.
The fridge I saw on YT was in a Daf XF, right under the bed, not a large thing , but sufficient to keep your food chilled, fresh.
Also prefer to prepare my own food, saves, time, money and is healthier option than eating in cafes, or buying ready meals from takeaway shops.
Trampers, as far as I know max their hours almost every day, so going out to eat, finding a pub, a takeaway or a restaurant is time consuming, I’m not sure whether a tramper has time for it, I would actually prefer to have my food with me, spend as little time on buying it, or eating out, and use my time, after my shift ends to sleep.
I could be wrong here, but that’s how I imagine tramper’s work.
Yes, I fully agree , parking at services is very expensive, but is it easy to find parking spaces at industrial estates?
What about about if you urgently need to visit a toilet and not just to have a ■■■■…?
@FH Hammy
That’s what I would want to do, be as self sufficient as possible, fill my lorry’s fridge before my tramping week starts, with some meat, eags, fruits and vegetables, and not have to worry about finding a shop to buy all these essentials for a few days.
I do enjoy tramping buy most of my food at weekends you just have to think & plan well I dont have a fridge in my lorry but do have a cool box which serves me ( although I dont take milk ) I have a gas cooker with 1 ring but do eat quite healthy a few places do allow us drivers to use the staff canteen at staff prices which can be cheap sometimes do that but do prefer to self cater
If desperate can re stock from 1 of the many M&S they now have in service areas not idea but as back up dont like parking in services ( tend to use lay by or ind est where I can ) do find time to park up & have a shower most days sometimes on my 45 min break there are some places we collect / deliver do have showers otherwise it is baby wipes or similar ( boots No.7 are nice for that )
If you get parked up early enough say between 17:00-18:00 you will be ok most times. Regarding maxing your hours tramping I might max my hours maybe once or twice a week if I’m doing 15hours, normally it’s 12 hours average.
Sometimes you may get to your drop just after they shut or your collection the evening before so you may end up with 15+ hours to play with before you get tipped/loaded the next day. This gives you plenty of time to venture out and sample the local town/village
When I was tramping I used a Waeco fridge freezer. In the winter it just kept my ready meals and cold drinks cool like any electric cool box, but in the summer I would use it to keep ice lollies and freeze packs frozen.
That way in summer you have a cool box to keep cool drinks and ready meals cool using the freeze packs (just change them over a couple of times a day), and when your sat in a traffic jam your the only person sucking on an ice lolly.
)
