We spent the money and bought an EcoPot at one of our many outings to caravan shows. Marty was sceptical at first but is a convert. The fact that it came with a duel induction cooktop helped A LOT.

The EcoPot is a thermal cooker, plenty of them on the market including Dream Pots and the Aldi brand – read the reviews and buy what suits your budget.

Our EcoPot comes with 12 volt so that if we want to heat it up in the car we can (we have never used this feature). Cooking with a thermal cooker is easy. Start the process off and cook what you want for say 20 mins, then lock it into the thermal cases and bags and come back at dinner time. Its all done and still warm enough to eat.

One of my favourite fall backs is Corned beef, and I do make a delicious one if I say so myself.

Brown the meat in the thermal pot for about 5 mins then add sufficient water to cover it, don’t forget to add at least a cup of vinegar to it as well as cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Let this boil for another 15 mins topping up the water if you need to. Once you have reached this time frame pop it with the lid on into the thermal holder and lock it away.

Just before you are ready to serve get your veggies ready, we cheat at this and have tinned baby carrots, tinned corn kernels with a dollop of butter and lightly minted potatoes from a tin also (yes tins aren’t as good as fresh, but we have also learnt that they don’t confiscate the tins at border crossings). The tins are a staple back up that we always carry, we do take fresh and try to shop locally when we are out also to help the communities where we can.

We don’t do white sauce as Marty can’t stand it, so a good helping of seeded mustard is our preference as the condiment.

After serving it, I’ve found that if you store the remaining corned beef in an airtight container with left over ‘juice’ from cooking, it will remain moist and not look like dad’s old leather boots (or taste like them either).

You can then use the left overs for lunch the next day, for sandwiches or on vita wheats. Simple but it will help stretch the budget a little bit more.

If you plan to travel the day that you are using the EcoPot remember to leave it somewhere where it can sit upright in a safe position, you don’t want to run the risk of it spilling in the van or car , or breaking! I find either the footwell behind the front seats of the car or the kitchen sink in the van. These seem to work well for us.

Plenty of other things you can do in the thermal cookers – its really only limited to your imagination and ability.

Safe travels and eat well