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Over-the-road truck drivers, eat healthier with recipes like this big rig slow cooker pot roast meal.

Truckers, Save Money. Eat Healthy.

Use a Slow Cooker.

 

Haven’t made a slow cooker pot roast before? Cooking it in your big rig is certainly not like you’re at home with the stove, able to cook on four burners at the same time. But you can plug in a slow cooker and have a meal as good as you can make it at home.

Cooking big rig slow cooker meals may take some ingenuity at first. After a few times of making dinner in your new appliance, it should become easier. The best thing is that you’ll start eating healthier.

What type of slow cooker is best?

There are two kinds of slow cookers to use in a truck – one with a regular plug that requires an inverter or the 12-volt type.

Research both to see which you prefer. My trucker husband and I have a 2-1/2 quart Crock-Pot brand. The lid has latches that snap on to the handles. It is the typical slow cooker with a normal plug, not the 12-volt kind.

We purchased a 12-volt slow cooker first but decided it was not the safest to use because of the possibility of the plug and/or outlet melting. Then he was given a new truck to drive with an inverter. Nice! That meant we could now cook our own big rig meals like pot roast, ribeye steaks, and more favorites.

It’s best to buy a slow cooker with a lid that latches onto the handles. You can use one without the latches, but be sure to secure it with heat-resistant pads and/or towels so that bumpy rides won’t slosh your food everywhere or melt anything near the appliance.

Watch for sales. I bought a 2-1/2 quart slow cooker with the latches from Target for my husband. He tried it out for the first time with a pot roast and vegetables. The veggies were pre-packaged with seasoning included.

All that had to be done was open the bags, apply the seasoning on the meat and vegetables, and place it all in the slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Liners Make Big Rig Meals Easier

First, he placed a slow cooker liner inside.

Next, he added the vegetables, then the meat on top.

He only used part of the seasoning to minimize the amount of sodium.

When my husband placed the roast on top of the vegetables and put the lid on, the meat was touching the lid. Though the slow cooker should be filled to 1/2 or 2/3’s full, the pot roast turned out great.

Either you can use smaller portions of meat, or use a larger slow cooker.

Our pot roast cooked for eight hours, and the meat was falling-apart tender.

Three Other Slow Cooker Meals

Check out these three other slow cooker meals. Click on the links below to see the recipes.

1. Ribeye
2. Slow Cooker Queso Chicken Spaghetti
3. Pork riblets

Adapt the meals to fit your tastes and slow cooker. Plan the meals ahead of time. Perhaps, experiment with these slow cooker meals by making one or two per week to begin with.

You’ll need a mini fridge or cooler in the big rig. If you use a cooler, it helps  to double wrap each of the meats in sealable plastic bags. That will help keep the water from seeping into a single bag.

Vegetables and desserts can be cooked in slow cookers also. Take a moment to search for these categories on Kitchen Southern Hospitality.

Truck stops now offer a better variety of nutritious foods such as:

• Fruit
• Boiled eggs
• Cheese
• Beef hot dogs
• Mini low-carb packages with cheese cubes, ham or turkey, and cashews/almonds
• Eggs, bacon, sausage (skip the bread)
• Pork rinds (good Keto snack)

Keep eating healthy. And thank you for the work that you do so that consumers can have food, produce, and all the other necessities!