12 Volt Mini-Oven for the Stealth Van Dweller

Living in a van might seem like your diet is limited to Burritos at the drive through. Beyond heating coffee or soup a small microwave isn’t all that great for cooking. When the weather’s bad are you confined to junk food from the corner store because you can’t set up the Coleman stove outside? I don’t think so. Even the lowly Van Dweller can make themselves a flavorful, nutritious home cooked meal within the confines of their small living space.

A 12v mini-oven is what you need. About the size of an old fashioned lunch box, you place your meal inside, snap the cover closed and plug it into your cigarette lighter. These things work great. You want pot roast for one, just line the oven with aluminum foil to make cleaning a snap. Then place your chunk of roast inside, with some seasoning. Cut up a potato and add it along with some carrots or what ever else you might want. Add 1/4″ of water to the bottom of the pan. Then close the lid, plug it in, and head off down the highway. Just like back home you’ll be smelling your delightful meal as it cooks to perfection. After a couple hours when your hunger is at its peak, just pull over and bring out the plates and silver ware.

Your meat will be browned, juicy, and as good as any home cooked meal would be. Next time try a chicken thigh and leg or maybe a piece of pork roast.

Slow cookers make some of the best meals you can find. You can even use them to bake desert. Believe in or not, you can buy 12v Slow Cookers too.

There are a whole slew of different 12 volt appliances that can make The Stealth Van Dweller lifestyle a lot more comfortable. From Blenders to Pizza Ovens can be had in 12v form.

Why should you go to the trouble to find 12v appliances you ask? Yes, you could buy an inverter and change your 12v to 110vac allowing you to use standard household kitchen appliances. The issue will be power consumption. Inverters themselves draw pretty heavy on your 12v system. Plus many 110v items like TV’s, Computers and the like don’t like the quality of the power that most inverters create.

To get the maximum usable power it’s far better to use 12v appliances. Do remember, anything that has a heating element will draw pretty heavy on your power source. Plan on having your engine running while your cooking or your likely to have a dead battery when it comes time to leave.

Many of these different 12v items can be found at larger truck stops. After all, truckers get tired of McDonalds too. When you pull into the next Pilot, Petro, or Flying J truck stop, be sure to wander through their truck accessory aisle and see what they have.