3qt vacuum insulated pot -Stanley

[Groovy2]

purchased and Im testing this Stanley 3 quart Vacuum Insulated pot -

First impression is that  it looks well made -
Container/ Lid/ Latches / Handle all look to be well made and sturdy
Looks Nice - 

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made from smooth well formed double walled stainless steel and 
nice thick plastic -
no metal seems or welds are visible -Nice 
should be easy to clean - 

The lid is water tight and and is held on by 4 latches -
latches are plastic and nicely made with metal pivot pins -
closing Only 2 latches holds lid on firmly and water tight -

latches are a tiny bit tighter than nessarry -
but not overly hard to open or close -

the lid seals with a large soft white plastic gasket that is removable
so cleaning should be easy - Nice -
Lid has a built in plastic hook that attaches lid to pot when open -Nice

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Lid has a pressure release vent hole  -

handle is attached to the lid and its large and comfortable and
looks plenty strong -

This pot is made for keeping Hot food Hot but
i am using this as a Ice Bucket and Ice has lasted a day and a half so far-
Very little Cold can be felt on outer metal surface or lid -

I got this for Ice bucket because its easy to pour in ice with the wide 
opening at the lid-

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this container should work Good for thermos style cooking 
But can Not be used as a pot for cooking on a stove -

I want to say that again - 
this pot will NOT work as a pan heated on a stove or microwave - 

I found this while looking for a Vacuum Insulated Ice chest-
that are not available yet but hopefully soon -

Stanley is getting into Vacuum insulated containers in a big way
and are now offering a growing number of these vacuum insulated containers-
they are taking on Yetti in this area and one of these companies will be the first
to offer the Vacuum insulated Ice chest I am looking for - Hopefully soon -

I purchased this from walmart ONLINE and picked up at the store-
amazon also has this for the same price - $41
LL Bean is selling for $65 - ouch 

I will use this for a while and report back on how I like it
after a month os so -

 

[crofter]

this container should work Good for thermos style cooking 

What is thermos cooking?     ~crofter

 

[Firtree]

What is thermos cooking?     ~crofter

Google search probably gives best definition, but I’ll try. 
Bring food to a high heat on stove, over fire, remove from heat, then highly insulate pot (like a thermos) and meal continues to cook for hours with no external heat source. Peoples with limited fuel or high cost fuel use this method. It also keeps heat out of living quarters during summer like weather. Preppers are using. Boaters. Great for vehicle cooking.

 

[John61CT]

For soup, stews, chili, gumbo, curries, red sauce etc, stuff that gets yummier every extra hour simmered.

Can get back up to heat quickly, then let it "ripen" the rest of the afternoon.

Some seafoods best added right before serving, but bones / shells / shrimp heads etc should cook long as possible from the beginning.

Those paranoid about micro critters never mind.

 

[wasanah2]

Very nice. I could see this being helpful in many ways. I have an antique fireless cooker in storage. It is an insulated box but it's designed to put heated soapstones in it to keep whatever is in it cooking. The cooking vessels inside have locking lids so they don't come in contact with the heating stones.

Was wondering if you could even get some small soap stones and a small covered pot like these: https://www.msrgear.com/cookware/stainless-steel/alpine-stowaway-pots and wonder if it would do the same thing BUT it would be WAY more portable.

To use a fireless cooker, you heat up the food to boiling, lock the lid and on another eye of your stove, you heat the soapstone on a diffuser. Put the soapstone(s) in the bottom and the hot food on top of that. I bet in your Stanley, the additional heat from the soapstone that it would keep cooking for most of the day.

 

[Dingfelder]

Does the thermos cooking thing ever have any problems due to expansion or contraction of the cooking stuff?

I'm guessing that since it;s as hot as it will ever be, there won't be expansion? but if it cools down a lot, would you have a situation where it creates a vacuum that makes it very hard to take off the lid?

 

[Groovy2]

pot lid has a vent so you can make air enter when you want - pretty nice

 

[Trebor English]

I got a similar stainless steel vacuum cooking container.  I found it disappointing.  It let the heat escape from the food much more than the traditional glass thermos.  

The glass thermos broke with an accidental thump.  The steel won't break.  

For keeping ice it sounds like a winner.  I don't think a glass thermos would withstand that use.  If it insulates well enough to be dry on the outside and last a day it is time to declare victory.

 

[John61CT]

For those with enough space and energy for those cheap countertop icemakers, that would be a good way to collect and store their output, a few handfuls every 20min.

If you don't it just melts and recycles the water for the next batch.

 

[Dingfelder]

I've been really tempted to get one of those. So far I've resisted, because I've long since run out of room, and weight, I can productively use. Sure seems like a wonderful thing to have handy on these blazing hot summer days though!

 

[Groovy2]

I have been using countertop Ice maker for several months -
works pretty good -
will make about 20 pounds of ice a day -

I put ice maker outside van in shade and let it do its thing-
and then put the ice in ice chest -

it is a good way to keep the heat outside your van-
unlike a fridge that puts heat inside van -

uses 100 watts but it does take large inverter to start
I tried my 300 watt inverter but it wont start on inverter that small-
1000 watt inverter starts it easily

I put ice in plastic container inside ice chest and let it melt
then run melt water threw ice maker again - no waste -
works out pretty good if you have enough solar and battery - Jay