Travel Buddy 12 Volt Portable Oven Install

[Nomad164]

After two years of procrastinating I finally bit the bullet and purchased myself a Travel Buddy 12 Volt Portable Oven - I am not sure if you guys get them in the USA but these are very popular here in Australia and the Travel Buddy is Australian made (there are cheap Chinese knock offs but you get what you pay for!).

They are fantastic to cook with and you can cook while you are driving around and you can cook anything from cakes to roasts.

The only downside is they do draw a bit of power (about 10 amps) so you need to either connect it to a secondary AGM battery or if connected to the starter battery it is advised to only use it when the motor is running.

I will be giving it its first run this weekend as we have a long weekend and I will be using it to cook my lunches while we are out exploring.

One of the main issues I had with it was where to mount it - most guys here, mount them in the back / rear of their vehicles as the smell of your food cooking is very distracting ; however, I am unable to do that as I don't have the available room in the rear canopy of my Nissan Navara D40 (see image below), so I made up a bracket and have mounted it in the back of the cabin (I guess will have to put up with the smells ).

Sorry for the dodgy photos but I used my phone.

Karl

My Navara (or Frontier in the USA)



Travel Buddy 12 Volt Oven

 

[M Rose]

That’s pretty neat. Bake a pizza while traveling through the “Bush”.

 

[Nomad164]

That’s pretty neat. Bake a pizza while traveling through the “Bush”.

Certainly will be doing that - along with pies and other healthy foods

Karl

 

[mep1811]

Nice. I bought a 12 volt crock pot and tested it out. Like the over it does draw a lot of amps. I found it to be too small to be practical and took over eight hours to cook some home made chili. I think the crock pot would be better for heating prepared food than actual cooking.

You oven looks like a good size. I look forward to seeing what you make with it.

 

[Nomad164]

Nice. I bought a 12 volt crock pot and tested it out. Like the over it does draw a lot of amps. I found it to be too small to be practical and took over eight hours to cook some home made chili. I think the crock pot would be better for heating prepared food than actual cooking.

You oven looks like a good size. I look forward to seeing what you make with it.

I am planning on trying to cook a damper (a traditional Aussie bread) in it this weekend

Karl

 

[scott17818]

I would imagine something like say a store bought frozen dinner like lasagna, or a pasta bake would work well... int he aluminum trays, or even a home-made baked item wrapped in foil, or using small foil trays to make some baked items such as cornbread, or biscuits would be great... say biscuits and gravy, or Jalapeno honey cornbread, and reheated chilli... YUM!

 

[FishinCrzy]

I remember way back in the 80's as a poor lad out checking cotton in the hot sun all day and wrapping chicken breasts in foil and throwing it on the engine block by the manifold to cook. Don't have the exact timing but my recollection is that they were ready by lunch time. Those farmers never even missed those chickens

 

[Nomad164]

Update on my 12 volt oven.

Well I managed to use it extensively last weekend on a four day trip to the Karara Rangelands in the Mid-west Region of Western Australia and I can say that I am absolutely happy with it.

I cooked up meat pies for lunches and they turned out brilliant - forgot to take photos because I was busy devouring them.

Overall, I can highly recommend the Travel Buddy Oven (keep away from the Chinese made crap - Road Chef and Kickass as they are just poor copies / stolen design) .

Karl

 

[gino]

Hey folks, for what it’s worth, I’m about to put a Travel Buddy w/all the extra trays, grates, and the Anderson Plug adapter up for sale in the Classifieds. Feel free to DM me if you want it. It’s only been used twice, so basically brand new condition. Maybe $200, since all this kit was well over $400?