THE KITCHEN

BUTANE STOVE

Grill Boss 90057 Dual Fuel Camp Stove Combination Pack - $88.50

(Includes 4 x 8 oz. Tins of Butane Fuel)

         Blue Maxx’s “kitchen” consists of (a) a 600-watt microwave crammed into an upper cabinet, (b) a fabric bin with some canned goods, a dish, a bowl, a few forks and knives and spoons, paper towels, also crammed into an upper cabinet, and (c) nothing else.  I suppose you could count the reefer and freezer, but they are waaaaay over by the slider door, almost two steps away, in the foyer.

        It was decided that my kitchen must have no heating elements – those guzzle too much electricity, even with a powerful inverter like Delta Max has – so no toasters or grill plates. 

        Previous vans of mine have carried those propane grills where the silver legs fold up to clamp the black lid to the black lower body – yeah, every roadtripper had one of those at some point -- but those are not small, and there is no place to store one in BM the PM.

            But I wanted something.  A life without the occasional home-cooked cheeseburger is a life that is, quite frankly, less worth living.  [It’s not not worth living, certainly: just a little less.]

            So, when I spied this compact one-burner butane stove, I measured it in my mind, decided that I had just the box and just the space to fit it in, and thought, “this dog will hunt.”  The skinny butane cans take up a lot less space than those squat propane one-pounders, so that’s a bonus. 

            I’ve only used it a few times on the road, actually:  once on Port Aransas Beach (TX) and once at Mazama Campground at Crater Lake NP (OR), and once in the campground at Zion NP (UT).  Part of my hesitancy was that clean-up factor.  The small fry pan needs serious cleaning even after just one burger, and when EC > SUT + JTF, then you begin to question why you’re doing it.

            [That equation, in layman’s terms is:  Effort to Clean > Set-Up Time + Joy of The Food.]

        Subsequent to my landing back in Key West, and my short-term return to WorkLife – while still maintaining VanLife – I discovered that, if I cover the inside of the pan with aluminum foil, then I eliminate 90% of the EC factor.  I wait till it cools, wrap it inward on itself to contain the grease, and dispose of it.  Pan never gets unclean.  [I bet most people reading this were screaming that at me a couple of paragraphs ago, but, hey, chill, I’m proud that I thought of it by myself, even if it was a bit late.]  

            This I figured out when I used the stove indoors, in the workshop at work.  At the end of a workday, I craved (crove?) a yumburg.  I laid newspaper on the table to catch the spatters, lined the pan with foil, ignited, cooked, and ate with true joy.  The only clean-up needed was a degreasing of the spatula (thank you, Dawn For Dishes) and a paper towel wiping off the edges of the stove. 

            Originally, I thought that I’d have to use the stove ONLY outside, but the workshop experience showed me that, with proper ventilation – i.e., open the screened windows and turn on the MaxAir MaxxFan in the ceiling – I should be fine setting this up on the sometime shelf and cooking in my kitchen area.  It’s only one burger and only a few minutes.

(Hey, what are y’all screaming about now??)

The 600-watt microwave, by the way, is just about the smallest you can get, and there is a reason for having it.  Two reasons, actually.

First, the cabinet itself can't really hold anything larger.  If I went with a 900-watter or anything bigger, I'd have to keep it somewhere else, probably either permanently secured to the countertop or stashed in the front-center compartent under the bed.  And that is where I currently keep the box for the butane stove, so that would need a new home.

The second, and more impactful reason, is that it takes more than 600 watts to run a 600-watt microwave.  I found that out when I did (temporarily) upgrade to the 900 and the Maxoak Bluetti (MaxBlue) kept flipping off whenever I tried to run it.  MaxBlue has a 1000W inverter and a 1200W surge allowance, so 900 watts did not seem like it would be a problem.  So, WTF, MWO??

Turns out that you need to add about another 50% to get the actual "operating power" of the oven.  A 900W micro requires 1350W to run its motors plus the heaters, so i returned the 900 and resigned myself to the tiny 600W version.

I got DeltaMax, with the 1800W inverter, partly for that purpose, but then never bothered re-upping again to 900 or more.  I like having the MWO in the upper deck, and 600W cooks my Hot Pockets and Stouffer's gourmet dinners just fine.