Thermal cooker and camping, mmm mmm good!

So, the test run of the thermal cooker went very well. I've blogged about my beloved thermal cooker before, and am very pleased to have finally been able to test it in the wild, so to speak.

We packed on Friday morning, and I got beef stew ready to go in the inner cooking pot. Bring to boil, continue heating for 10 more minutes to heat all the way through. I didn't measure the water this time, just filled the pot 2/3 full. That would prove to be a minor error.

After 10 minutes (OK, 12 actually), the inner pot goes into the outer thermal sleeve. I was done with that by lunchtime.

We packed the car, and headed south to our campsite. We were providing dinner for ourselves and another family, so the beef stew cooking away in the car as we drove was working nicely. We got stuck in some bad traffic, and arrived at dinner time, instead of an hour early so we could set up camp as I had hoped.
Fortunately, the thermal pot allowed us to pull it out of the car, set it on the table, and notify our friends that "dinner is ready" pretty much as soon as we had parked. Not needing electricity for the bulk of the cooking time was a great advantage! The beef stew came out a bit soupy, but it tasted great--we all had seconds!

After washing out the pot, I used it again the next day to make jambalaya (Zatarain's boxed) for the group potluck. It kept the food nice and warm, and I only had to babysit it for 15 minutes. Crockpot cooking unplugged. How conveeeenient!