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Meal Prep in an RV Kitchen

Today was my first attempt at doing a long meal prep for both of us for the week. Today is the first time I tried to do this on this stove and tiny oven. I had grand illusions that I could do this, but it would just be an adjustment of total time. I knew I would only be able to use 2 stove burners and 1 9×13 pan at a time. I usually have 2-3 large sheet pans at the same time along with all 4 burners in my last kitchen…that I loved…and miss a lot.

I had all my ingredients, my menu, my camera charged and ready, my phone ready, washed storage containers, a Netflix binge in progress,  and a fresh headband to keep the hair out of my face. I was prepared.

What could go wrong??

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Obviously, long-time readers know my gift of snark and suspense. What went wrong is I almost killed Frankie (meow) and myself from a build-up of carbon monoxide. Some need-to-know information was not shared with me. I have to VENT a small space if I’m using a gas stove/oven. I grew up using my grandmother’s gas stove. She never opened a window. Now that I think about it, she DID have the air conditioner going full blast and the ceiling fan in the living room…..

After about 3 hours of cooking, Frankie started acting weird. He was very lethargic and making some low yowls but he wasn’t acting scared or sick. Just..lazy. When he laid out in the middle of the floor and barely moved his tail, I took notice of him and noticed my head was hurting and I was really dizzy. I called Stephen and he had a mild heart attack and ordered me to open every ceiling vent, windows, door, and turn on the circulation fan. Cooking with gas over a long period of time results in carbon monoxide build-up, especially in small spaces. We do have a monoxide detector and it does work. The furface and I must be sensitive CM because it didn’t trigger the alarms. Lesson learned.

Here are the results of all that risk. Garlic ground beef, taco beef, pork carnitas, roasted vegetables and sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, salad greens, stir fried Brussels Sprouts. I will use these to quick-start dinners and have a week of prepared lunches.

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