Techniques: vehicle dash heating

Kaylee's not-a-blog » Food » Techniques » vehicle dash heating

In summer, a vehicle's dash is a very effective and easy way to heat food & water, and perform other tasks.

No special equipment or modifications are required. :)

I regularly use my dash to heat:

canned food, including: pasta (SpaghettiOs, ChefBoyardee, generics), stew (beef), "chunky" soup (i.e. substantial enough for a meal)
retort pouch food, including: Hormel Compleats, MRE entrees, precooked pasta, precooked rice
water for hygiene
water for soup or drinks
condensed soup
cookies :) (separate article, coming soon-ish)

On a daily basis, I use it to:

recharge my solar "stake" light

Main advantages:

frugality (zero fuel used)
ideal for areas with burn bans
kewlness :)

Below are some Real World pictures, then some tips...

Pictures:

Left-to-right: two bottles of water, two cans of condensed chicken noodle soup, 5 cookies (from a mix package) on parchment paper, MRE entree, solar light:

Left-to-right: two bottles of water, one can of condensed chicken noodle soup, bowl with precooked pasta (from a retort pouch) with shredded cheese on top (covered with plastic wrap to keep bugs out):

Left-to-right: solar stake light, can of SpaghettiOs, bottle of water, can of soup, precooked pasta retort pouch, yet :) another can of SpaghettiOs:

Tips:

When I relocate, usually I immediately put at least one bottle of hygiene water and my solar light on my dash.

For water heating, I usually use tall & narrow 500 mL "flavored" water bottles, that are robust (same as soda bottles), and their shape means they have a higher surface area to volume ratio (theoretically this should improve heating, however I'm never in a rush so it hasn't been a factor for me).
I've also reused 2L soda bottles, which worked very well. The main issue is the large soda bottles stand out more (so might be "unsightly" in an urban setting), and hold far more water than I'd normally use (I'm clumsy and prefer to minimize issues with handling such large quantities of hot water).

How long does it take?

Depending on the time of year and your location, it should take about 2 to 3 hours to heat canned food to piping hot. :)
After about one hour, it's usually warm enough to be palateable, if you're in a hurry.

Summer Soup:

Condensed chicken noodle soup is an ideal heatwave meal.
Each can contains about a day's worth of sodium, which is the electrolyte you're most likely to "miss" while sweating in a steel tube.

Soup Pro Tip:
The small cans get very hot, and can be stressful to open, due to the much greater risk of spilling (i.e. pressure buildup and difficulty holding).
I carefully crack the can open (to release pressure), gently pry it open to about a quarter to a half (whatever is easy), then pour out as much as is easy.
Next, I open the top the rest of the way, without having to worry about spilling. :)

Example Meals:

During the same week that I did the water shortage experiment with instant white rice and curry sauce pouch, I first tried a dash heated MRE Beef Brisket (which has a lot of sauce) with instant white rice, which worked very well. :)