. I carry a few packets when I travel just in case the hotel staff has forgotten to leave coffee in the room (or has left just decaf!). I will especially do it from now on because with the new virus rules I won’t know if coffee will be left in the room or not.
While it is not likely to impress foodies, you could heat up a packet of microwave rice with hot water from a travel kettle. I boiled eggs in a kettle in India, but I would rather just buy some fruit, nuts, cookies, etc before boarding the Amtrak train...
There are small electric "saucepans", no idea of the power requirements, that would open self cooked train cuisine to the Cordon Blu crowd... maybe!
Just noticed a rice cooker from Walmart, only 300watts, so less juice needed than for my electric travel kettle. Go for it!
Since about 2016, I've made coffee every morning in my room using a portable bonmac pourover kit and an electric kettle. It's fun because I can buy a bag of beans from wherever I'm travelling. Good, fresh coffee!
I've never tried making food, but that's actually a good idea if the flex dining continues. Maybe I should get a mini-rice cooker.
2020 has sure been a weird year for travel. I wonder how demand will change with the 3x week service change? Fewer rooms available each week, but also a less flexible schedule. I could see it going either way, regardless of room fares.
There's a new generation of better-quality instant ramen products out there. Nissin Raoh comes in three flavors--miso, tonkatsu, and soy sauce--and all three are very good. The ramen noodles are not fried, and the seasoning comes in two packets, one dry and one of infused oil. Of course, you won't get the yummy ramen fixings of jammy egg, sliced scallions, and pork belly on your ramen if you eat it on a train, just plain ramen. Momosan is another brand, sponsored by Iron Chef Morimoto--likewise unfried noodles and the two packet approach to seasoning. Both of these brands cost about 2 dollars a packet at my local supermarket, and a bit less at the Asian grocery store. Not that I'm recommending bringing an electric kettle on a train, of course. No sirree, no matter how gross the flex dining is, I say no. Though if I smelled you cooking decent ramen in the adjacent sleeper, I'd be hard-pressed to maintain social distancing.
)
There's a new generation of better-quality instant ramen products out there. Nissin Raoh comes in three flavors--miso, tonkatsu, and soy sauce--and all three are very good. The ramen noodles are not fried, and the seasoning comes in two packets, one dry and one of infused oil. Of course, you won't get the yummy ramen fixings of jammy egg, sliced scallions, and pork belly on your ramen if you eat it on a train, just plain ramen. Momosan is another brand, sponsored by Iron Chef Morimoto--likewise unfried noodles and the two packet approach to seasoning. Both of these brands cost about 2 dollars a packet at my local supermarket, and a bit less at the Asian grocery store. Not that I'm recommending bringing an electric kettle on a train, of course. No sirree, no matter how gross the flex dining is, I say no. Though if I smelled you cooking decent ramen in the adjacent sleeper, I'd be hard-pressed to maintain social distancing.
Well, those things can't be any worse than a 1000W hair dryer. For as long as we have been traveling on Amtrak, she (who must be obeyed) has insisted we drag along a hair dryer for the train even though it might be the only place we use it because all hotels and cruise ships these days have them. It has never tripped the circuit breaker on board Amtrak.
Must be that Phyllis Diller syndrome ! LOL !
I have one of those small 110v immersion heat coils you can set in a cup to heat water. It says 300 watts. That's not too bad but if you plug it in out of water for even a brief moment it will burn out.
I always bring one when I'm in places where water must be boiled to be safe. I have burned out a few of them out of pure forgetfulness; as noted by tgstubbs1, they *must* be immersed at all times while plugged in. I'm good about remembering to put the heater in the cup first, then plugging in. I sometimes pull it out once the water is boiling and forget to unplug first. Yup, I've done this more than once...good thing they're so cheap!
Cheap, but not easy to find. Where do you buy them?
