Modern Haybox ( Insulated container ) Cooking

[TeeDee]

I've been thinking about the various benefits of one pot cooking ( Ease , Maximum nutritional retention , able to use cheaper ingredients , Economy of cooking , ) of late and how best to make it as well as a super cheap ingredient meal , to maximise the cost/energy expenditure and make the cooking as efficient as possible.

My thinking is taking me back to the Haybox or Insulated container method. IE Bring foodstuff to cooking heat , quickly transfer to a heavily insulated container packed with insulation and then let the pot and insulation do its work over the next 4-6 hours as necessary until the meal is ideal cooked with its own original heat input.

Atomic shrimp tried a few ideas using a Thermos flask with moderate success.

With the latest available high insulation materials available ( Building PIR sheets , Multi-quilt foil , Expanding foam hand canisters ) it should be quite possible to make a super efficient 'haybox' to provide a solid cooking platform for a 'low and slow' meal preparation. Minimise air gaps , maximise high quality insulation.

I'm thinking I may choose to volunteer a electric rice cooker to this idea - in essence a very small crock pot. I can combine it with a WiFi to phone enabled plug so that if I feel a need too ( need to see how well the whole thing works without additional input of heat ) I can either manually and remotely switch it on when required to bring the meal back up to heat ( If i suspect it has cooled but cooked through ) or set the WiFi plug app to intermittently come on during the course of the day at set time periods for 5/10mins just to keep a constant heat input then cut off.


Any thought ideas comments?

 

[Stew]

I have a PIR set-up for a cast iron pan and it works well.

Taking your idea, have a look into homemade sous vide - I don’t know if your rice cooker is just an on-off but the homemade sous vide uses that style of slow cooker combined witha thermocouple switch to turn the cooker on or off. Insulating it up would be a good step up from that.

 

[TeeDee]

I have a PIR set-up for a cast iron pan and it works well.

Taking your idea, have a look into homemade sous vide - I don’t know if your rice cooker is just an on-off but the homemade sous vide uses that style of slow cooker combined witha thermocouple switch to turn the cooker on or off. Insulating it up would be a good step up from that.

It has a off - low heat - high heat ( relative ) option so if I leave it plugged in to a PID an on the High setting it should come on when the PID gets a signal.

I use the PID with a dehumidifier in the shed set on regular pre-set timed alarm points , works well.

 

[Stew]

Yep, that’s the idea. Some cookers need more input when first turned back on but in this case simpler is better.

You could trial it just by covering the cooker in loads of cloth, tea towels, etc (like the wonderbag).

Every time I cook rice or pasta I just bring the pan to the boil, take it off the heat and wrap round it then leave it to cook through. It insulates well enough for that with no extra heat.

 

[Woody girl]

I use a slow cooker a lot in the winter, and have even made a cake in it.
I've made a sort of hay box out of an old cool box. Lined it with a wooden base, so the pot doesn't melt the plastic inner, and some cardboard, filled it with hay, and a thick folded towel on top before replacing the lid. It works well. You do need to heat the pot well, and preheat the food up first before you transfer it to the haybox. I stove cook untill boiling, then transfer to the haybox.
I like to keep things low tech. Nothing to go wrong, and you'd be surprised how well it works.
It's slower than the crock pot/slow cooker, but nothing will burn, which has happened on occasion with the slow cooker on high.
Works with the Dutch oven, and I'll use the ceramic slow cooker pot aswell, as both hold heat longer than a normal pan which is essential for successful use.

 

[Pattree]

I thought of doing something like that with a cool box and waste polystyrene foam but never got round to doing it.
Now styrene foam is becoming a rarity I might think of something else.

If I think that I might arrive late on a first night in camp I will put a party cooked stew into a thermos type pot and it finishes cooking as I travel. It’s not unusual for my first night to be stew and a bivi sack and to pitch after breakfast.

 

[Woody girl]

I thought of doing something like that with a cool box and waste polystyrene foam but never got round to doing it.
Now styrene foam is becoming a rarity I might think of something else.

If I think that I might arrive late on a first night in camp I will put a party cooked stew into a thermos type pot and it finishes cooking as I travel. It’s not unusual for my first night to be stew and a bivi sack and to pitch after breakfast.

Styrene foam can melt, and also trying to keep plastics to a minimum. Just cut a few layers of cardboard for the bottom so the hot pot won't come into contact with the plastic sides of the coolbox. I happened to have a wooden cutting board that fitted perfectly in the bottom, adding extra insulation too. Cardboard around the sides, fill with hay.. bingo, sorted, and using a cool box, you have a handy carrying handle too.

 

[Jared]

One of the reasons got a stasher silicone bowl is to try and sous vide with it. Put the dry ingredients in, add hot water, seal it up and then submerge it in the rest of the hot water.

The silicone is good upto 220ºC, and the seal is airtight so shouldn't be a problem

 

[C_Claycomb]

I have several large polystyrene boxes from Donald Russell, a meat delivery business, (not my deliveries, but I snagged the boxes). I bring a large pot of stew to the boil, wrap in some old t-shirts, and close it in the box for 8 hours or over night.

 

[Falstaff]

I've just recently destroyed a new slowcooker and nearly set fire to the house due to my own stupid mistake - wrapped it with the oven glove and a tea towl on top, as it didn't boil /get hot easily. Set it on high and went out for much longer than expected.
Came back to lots of smoke, gloves and tea towel ruined, all the plastic melted - it had boiled dry and there is no thermal cutout on slowcookers. So I would be very iffy about putting any live power crock into an insulated box.
Lots of forever chemicals in the silicon things, not keen on Celotex, plastics etc either, so I'm back to a trad pot or crock and a strawbox!! KISS works best for me.

 

[TeeDee]

I've just recently destroyed a new slowcooker and nearly set fire to the house due to my own stupid mistake - wrapped it with the oven glove and a tea towl on top, as it didn't boil /get hot easily. Set it on high and went out for much longer than expected.
Came back to lots of smoke, gloves and tea towel ruined, all the plastic melted - it had boiled dry and there is no thermal cutout on slowcookers. So I would be very iffy about putting any live power crock into an insulated box.
Lots of forever chemicals in the silicon things, not keen on Celotex, plastics etc either, so I'm back to a trad pot or crock and a strawbox!! KISS works best for me.

Good Point - I have made one now with a rice cooker as the unit and need to run it so will try it outside for a few trial runs. Thanks for feeding back.