Aluminum Foil

[Rajendora1]

After weeks of trying to clean pots and pans in the park sinks, I gave up and tried something my dad used to do.  Just line the pan with HD aluminum foil and cook in that.  It works, if you buy the wide, heavey duty good stuff.  Then when you're done, after using it as a plate, just bundle it up and put it in the trash.  Occassionally when something is messy or a hole occurs, I do clean up with some damp paper towels.  Lay them in the pan while it's still hot and it will soak out the spill by the time you are ready to tidy up.  But I'm noticing all this stuff about cooking every day with aluminum foil and alzheimers.  My brain got a little broke when my hubby had his stroke, so I don't know if it's the foil or just me.  Is it worth losing my mind not to scrub pots and pans?  After all, we are 'camping'.  Anyone else thinking the foil thing is okay?

 

[travelaround]

Here's an article about cooking with aluminum foil.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/2017/02/myth-or-fact-cooking-with-aluminum-foil-is-dangerous

I don't do much cooking with foil.

 

[MrNoodly]

When I have hard to clean pots, I boil water in them until whatever is stuck comes off easily. I might add a hint of soap.

 

[maki2]

Have you ever met even one single person who you know who has been poisoned by using aluminum foil or aluminum cookware?

I have not yet lost my mind or suffered brain damage from all the aluminum I have been around which is vastly more than the average person as I built aluminum airplanes for a living for quite a number of years. That meant, drilling it, filing it, sanding it, dust from it all over the place every day, all day long.

 

[RoamerRV428]

rarely use it but that is me cause I rarely need to 'cook', I grill and sautee/pan fry kinda thing so lining a pan to bake, roast etc. ain't what I do mostly.....but I do use it when needed

but for sautee pans etc WHEN HOT you put in water then set back on hot stove, hot grill fire etc and let it boil. does the work for ya. Agree with Mr Noodly on this one, works well.

use all the foil you want to use when cooking, do it your way!!

 

[highdesertranger]

the only aluminum foil I use is for my hat. LOL sorry I couldn't resist. carry on. highdesertranger

 

[RoamerRV428]

you go for beanie type or pointed to the sky santa hat type HR? makes a diff. I hear about how the reception and protection comes at ya and each hat has perks needed to survive.

 

[Rajendora1]

the only aluminum foil I use is for my hat.  LOL sorry I couldn't resist.  carry on.  highdesertranger

LOL, and you can boil water in it when needed!

 

[Rajendora1]

you go for beanie type or pointed to the sky santa hat type HR?  makes a diff. I hear about how the reception and protection comes at ya and each hat has perks needed to survive.

Pyramid, sharpens the wits!  ^_^

 

[maki2]

Of course if I was a guy I would actually really be worried more about using cast iron cookware than I was for using aluminum. Too much iron can cause hardening of the arteries and heart attacks. It is recommended that men donate blood once a year to reduce the risk of hardened arteries by lowering the level of iron in their blood. I suppose it could also be a problem for some older women but obviously not for younger women as they loose blood once a month.

Of course non-stick coatings on pans are an issue for many.

Copper of course has to be lined with tin or it is not safe to cook in.

Or heat tempered glass which can work with some types of cooktops but is not all that friendly on the road.

I guess that leaves stainless steel or enameled steel both of which are nice to cook with.

It is good to have options

Do what works for you and don't worry about what your neighbors think about what you choose to cook in.

 

[travelaround]

My strategy is to cook as little as possible and always to only cook meals that will be easy to clean up. I've decided to have an art studio in my van rather than a kitchen. Food doesn't have to be the center of my world.

 

[Dingfelder]

It's a beautiful and really pretty inexpensive reward, though. I don't center my life around food, but like to cook in batches so I can still have great food without too much time per meal. Time per meal is easily one of my primary criteria. The bigger batch the less time per meal.

Of course, throwing some hyper-processed supermarket garbage in a microwave or something also minimizes time, but ... then the food is not so great. And it's not even all that cheap even though you're eating crap.

Which is fine, but ... it can be so much better with just so very little more effort. Cutting very cheap, easy, and extremely rewarding pleasures (is there anyone who truly doesn't appreciate a good home-cooked meal?) might be cutting off one's own nose to spite one's face.

 

[RoamerRV428]

I don't do batches. I like my food fresh each time. Very few things I will use as a re-heat meal also. Like ribs are fine to me reheated but I would never reheat a burger or meatloaf I eat, it seems so dry. Any fatty meats like smoked brisket is a great re-heat meal.

I am like you Travelaround in that I don't center life around food either. I find it annoying! I am a foodie tho on the meal I do eat I won't eat cheap food to save time on cooking tho. I can flash fry a pork chop or chicken breast in the same time it takes my kid to get a nasty bowl of cereal ready, lol.

but everyone has their own way to want to spend time in the kitchen. I like my time to be a short time tho

 

[Rajendora1]

Of course if I was a guy I would actually really be worried more about using cast iron cookware than I was for using aluminum.  

We use a butane stove and the first thing I read about it in the reviews was that butane melts cast iron if you have it on the heat too long.  I was planning on the whole dutch oven thing and boo-hoo, my brand new camping set had to back.  The thing will melt a colman folding oven, too, as will a propane stove, but the oven does work really nice. Sad.  It's also just an inch too big for safety on the butane stove.  
I'm experimenting with baking in the foil.  So far, the chicken pot pies are about it. Spray the foil, wrap up the almost thawed pie, put it in the frying pan with a lid on, 15 minutes on very low, rotate and then after 15 mins, flip, then 15 rotate, and 15 mins, it's brown, if not too crispy.  Sometimes you have to have a chicken pot pie without paying 15$ at Corky's Kitchen.
I'm about to break down and buy a trucker's microwave.  >.<;;

 

[lenny flank]

 butane melts cast iron 

I very much doubt that. I've never even seen a cast iron pan get red-hot, much less melt.

 

[B and C]

On high and empty, maybe. A liquid in it, no.

 

[highdesertranger]

hahahaqhaha,

" the first thing I read about it in the reviews was that butane melts cast iron"

that's one of the biggest crocks of BS I have ever heard. where on earth did you read that? PM me the link.

highdesertranger

 

[Rajendora1]

where on earth did you read that?  PM me the link.
highdesertranger

Lots and lots of youtubes 3 years ago, re butane stoves and camping search.  If it's not true, maybe I should get a used dutch oven and give it a shot!  But at that time, I did not want to waste money testing the theory.  Just like aluminum foil causing alzheimers.

 

[lenny flank]

^^^ I learned a long time ago that 99.9% of everything one sees on YouTube is crap. And the comments are even worse.

Any buffoon can put up a vid making any idiotic claim he likes--and reach more people with it than a best-selling author was able to reach just a few years ago. Indeed, the entire Internet is infested with conspiracy kookers, science-denying cranks and tinfoil-hat crackpots.

Sadly, most people lack the critical thinking skills to separate the real world from the horseshit.

 

[highdesertranger]

lots and lots of youtubers are idiots. notice I didn't say all.

cast iron melts at 2,100°+F.

what are you going to cook at that temperature? nothing you are going to eat. without an oxidizer(oxygen under pressure) I doubt a butane stove could transfer enough heat to ever melt cast iron. by that I mean you couldn't melt it even if you tried, even if you left it on for hours.

I use my cast iron on propane all the time.

highdesertranger