We just ran out of fuel on our main stove in the camper. Do we have to go full raw food now? Well we might but until we can find a way to fill up our gas bottle again we have started using the power of the sun to make due with what we have...
We never expected to run out of gas permanently because in Germany these gas bottles used for camping stoves are pretty uniform. The same is true for the rest of Europe, so even if your gas bottle is empty you can always swap it for a filled one just paying for the filling. In many countries gas stations will be able to help you fill your empty gas bottles for you - at any petrol station - even if German laws forbid such "outrageously dangerous" acts, hehe.
But here in Montenegro we have found it difficult because other size of gas bottles are common and we currently cannot travel far enough to check if other options exist to refill the one we have.
So we were forced to go back to our emergency camping-cooker, the small thing with a cute fuel bottle inside that is available anywhere in supermarkets. Problem is it takes forever to heat up water with that thing, especially when the water has been sitting under your bed in the coldest place of your van.
Well, we ARE in Montenegro and the sun is hitting hard already. What a blessing! Might as well use it.
We got the idea to simply adjust a little more to our circumstances and to prepare our cooking for the night - in the morning.
We take a cooking pot and fill it up with the desired amount of water for the night's meal. We then simply put the lid on the pot and set it down in the front window of our van - in glaring sunlight. And let it sit there for the entire day.
You wouldn't believe how much the energy of the sun can do to heat up the pot and the water during the course of a day. I mean it's just incredible! Not only will you be able to get the water boiling much faster in the evening (and thereby drastically reduce your cooking time, especially on a small flame) but you will also save a mighty amount of fuel!
We have cut the need for gas to about a third just finding ways to let the sun preheat our cooking water for the day.
Try to set the pot somewhere where sun can hit the metal of the pot but where little to no wind can get to. If parked the right way your front window is the best option as heat tends to build up and stay there. Especially when you have good thick curtains separating your living space from the passenger space up front.
Voilà! You have ultra cost-effective water heating by wasting no resources and can cook meals in about 1/4 of the time it would have taken just to get the damn pot up to temperature. It will be a glorious experience once we use this hack after we have been able to refill our main gas bottle in our large stove again. Cooking on the road has never been so much fun <3
unsplash.com