Some Helpful Cooking Tips To Get You Started
Of course if you remember or if you have the time it is always good to pre-heat the oven so pop it on for a half hour before placing food in. However most of us are not that organised and the following hints for a cold oven (pre-heating the oven will change the heating time by approximately 15-30 minutes depending on what is cooking)
Another hint is the fuller the oven the longer it will take. That is, if you have 8 pies (4 on the top and 4 on the bottom) you won’t have as much room for the hot air to move around. It may take slightly longer and you will need to rotate the pies from top to bottom at least once. With the element at the bottom of the oven it is hotter on the bottom tray.
Pies
Frozen Pie – a frozen pie placed into a cold oven will take approximately 90min.
Thawed Pie – a thawed pie placed into a cold oven will take approximately 45min.
6 Frozen Party Pies – will take approximately 45min.
Left-overs or Casseroles
One of the most common reasons people use a Travel Buddy is to heat left-overs casseroles that have been pre made. We suggest you place left-overs or casseroles into a foil baking tray (easy to get from the supermarket) and cover. The length of heating time will vary depending on what you are heating but below is an approximate guide to go by.
Thawed Left-overs – placed into a cold oven will take approximately 60min.
Frozen Left-overs – placed into a cold oven will take approximately 90min.
A Roast for 2
Yes you can cook a small roast in the Travel Buddy. Something to go by is this following –
700g rolled pork roast – ours came from the supermarket already in a foil baking dish.
2 med potatoes cut into 6-8 pieces (and we put slits into the top of each one)
Place the potatoes on and around the roast and sprinkle your favourite seasoning. Cover with foil. We put this into a cold oven and cooked for approximately 3 hours checking it once mid-way and turning the roast over. We remember to turn the oven on again when the 2 hour timer clicked off. When we got to camp we boiled some peas and dished the potatoes and extremely tender pork up. Great start to the holiday.
TIP – When cooking a roast or anything that has or will make juices, place it into an oven bag to prevent spillage.
The main thing to remember is to experiment with your cooking times, checking as you go. If you have any great recipe ideas please email them to info@travelbuddy.net.au tell us a bit about your travels too. Happy travelling and enjoy your TRAVEL BUDDY!