Anyone ever use a rice cooker / steamer for camp out cooking?

[Piney Woods]

I got one for Christmas and just found out it only uses 350 watts. I think that would even work with a solar panel.

Anyone with solar panels ever use one? I'm wondering if it might work in a van camper with solar panels.

[Mike]

Re: Anyone ever use a rice cooker / steamer for camp out cooking?

I got one for Christmas and just found out it only uses 350 watts. I think that would even work with a solar panel.

Anyone with solar panels ever use one? I'm wondering if it might work in a van camper with solar panels.

i think you are goofing up the math. I can't imagine that you could power a rice cooker with a portable solar panel.

Tell you what, though; Learn how to cook rice over an open fire or on a portable stove. If you can cook good rice in the bush, you are WAAAaaaaay ahead of most guys. Calorie for pound, few foods equal rice.

Learn to measure the water to rice ratio with your finger. When I was in Japan, a lady taught me that trick and it has been a blessing ever since. No matter how much rice you cook, the measured water that covers the uncooked rice is always the same - big pot or small pot. What does change is how much water for the TYPE of rice you cook. For example, Indian basmati or long grain rice uses much different water ration than Japanese medium grain rice.

I think you will get better results and you will have less gear to carry if you can cook rice well in a standard pot with traditional fuels than if you are trying to cook rice in an electric pot fueled by solar power.

[Piney Woods]

Re: Anyone ever use a rice cooker / steamer for camp out cooking?

I can cook a seven course meal (including rice) over a camp fire. Sometimes in the pouring down rain cooking in the van is a better idea.

[terasec]

Re: Anyone ever use a rice cooker / steamer for camp out cooking?

would need a heck of an array to power a cooker with solar panels alone,
panels are used to charge the batteries, which provide the power,
350 w, on a 12v battery would draw about 29 amps per hour.
can probably run it with most dedicated deep cycle batteries, of say 600-800 amp batteries.
but not on smaller batteries
been a while since i did AxV=W calculations so my estimates may be off

[Piney Woods]

Re: Anyone ever use a rice cooker / steamer for camp out cooking?

Think I'd better stick to my little butane burner. :o) Since I'll have such a simple, no frills set up, I was thinking maybe a small rice cooker might be helpful for variations. So many ways to cook in it. I would be better off with a small 12volt crock pot, assuming I can find one. I was just so excited to see that it was 350 watts as opposed to other appliances that are 1200-1500 watts. My (highly uneducated) plan is to have two smaller panels, two batteries and an inverter.

[ppine]

Re: Anyone ever use a rice cooker / steamer for camp out cooking?

No, I use a Dutch Oven.

[rjkgr]

Re: Anyone ever use a rice cooker / steamer for camp out cooking?

yes i have brought a rice cooker with me camping but the thing is outlet i had to use my car outlet jack to cook the rice