Do you remember trying to snowmobile and find a place to eat during the COVID-19 pandemic? Many, many restaurants were closed. Some, unfortunately, never reopened.
I fondly remember my snowmobiling in the winters of 2021 and 2022 because it was so very therapeutic in a chaotic world. The actual COVID-19, I do not want to remember so much.
During this “dark” time for many of my closest riding friends—one specifically—he found an inconspicuous accessory we all now have. It was an Auto Trends—Food Warmer. There are two versions we are aware of. They are both available in much of Canada, but not at your typical snowmobile retailer.
The portable food warmers—we all call them “cookers’ are available at Canadian Tire. A very similar cooker is also sold at Princess Auto. This makes them close to many places in Canada. When on sale and with tax included, you can bring it home for approximately $50.00. They both operate under the same concept; they reheat their contents, providing you with a very hot meal when you wish.
What Is a Snowmobile Food Warmer?
First, these food warmers are not actually cookers, but that is what we call them. They are designed to be portable. They reheat your precooked food when and where you want. They do not cook the contents. All our snowmobile meals are prepared and then precooked ahead of time.
The cooker I use states that it will hold up to 3 L. The food warmer also states the internal heating temperature will reach 300 ºF (≈149 ºC). I can assure you that you can pick up the outside shell of the food warmer with your bare hands even after heating for hours.
Prepare your Snowmobile: Installing a 12 V Food Warmer on Your Snowmobile
To set yourself up to enjoy the benefits of a snowmobile food warmer, there are essential steps.
First, you need to have a 12-volt power supply on your snowmobile. Effectively, a 12 V outlet provides a convenient way to power your food warmer. However, you could also charge devices like phones, GPS units, and small electronics while riding.
Once you have your 12 V accessory outlet on your snowmobile, you’re ready for your food warmer. The cookers come with a male 12 V connector that fits into what we historically knew as cigarette lighters. We also carry a spare 15 A fuse, in the event that one of those on our cookers was to falter.
Newer snowmobiles generally come with 12 V power that is also compatible with USB outlets. On older snowmobiles, however, look for those old cigarette lighter outlets. As long as you have access to 12 V of Direct Current (DC) power, you will be able to power your food warmer.
Pro Tip: Strategic Outlet Placement
I’ve been using snowmobile food warmers for a while, so let me share something I have learned with time. Having our outlets somewhere behind our snowmobile’s seats is most convenient. The cookers are secured in our storage bags mounted on our rear tunnels when riding. The cord on our cookers is approximately 72 in. (180 cm) long. This is more than adequate length to reach the 12 V power source.
Note that snowmobiles originally designed as 2-up vehicles already have a 12 V source at the rear. It was useful for the passenger’s heated shield on their helmet. You can definitely use that to power your food warmer!
Preparing Snowmobile Meals for a Food Warmer
Now, you need to prepare your meals specifically for your snowmobile food warmer… ahead of time. The cookers will accept a tinfoil loaf pan. These pans are available for purchase in many locations, but they can be very inexpensive per unit. Nevertheless, in my experience, you can find some of the better-fitting pans at Dollorama, Walmart, and Canadian Tire. Again, these are all retail locations available near many places in Canada.
The pans are approximately 8 × 2.5 in. (20.5 × 6.5 cm) with a 4 in. (10 cm) depth. They are designed to withstand the heat generated by the cooker. You can also freeze them. So, you could easily store your prepared and precooked meals in your freezer.
Personally, I recommend freezing every meal before your actual rides. Using a freezer gives you an opportunity to build up an inventory of both quality, variety and a quantity of choices for meals throughout the winter.
Pro Tips to Prepare Your Meals
Wrap Your Meals With Extra Tinfoil
After filling a pan with your choice of food, simply wrap it with additional tinfoil to create a tight cover over the food. We have learned that we can overfill the pans slightly. The food will be prevented from moving with the extra wrapping of tinfoil over the open pan tops.
Add Water to Your Pans
You may also add a thin layer of water (1 to 2 cm) to the bottom of the pans just before filling them with your meal. This ensures that the food has moisture as it reheats in the cookers.
Diverse Meal Ideas for Snowmobile Food Warmers
Everybody Loves Sausages
After four seasons of riding with our snowmobile food warmers, we have developed a large menu. We started with just precooked hamburgers and hot dogs. But then, we began to realize the potential of this amazing tool. We soon moved to many types, sizes and choices of sausages at first. To this day, sausages are still a favourite meal for us. Just ensure your riding companion likes his/her sausage as hot or mild as you do.
Mac & Cheese on Snow
Another favourite meal for many of us became multiple homemade mac & cheese dishes. Of course any great mac & cheese can have more cheese added, some ground meat too, or just about any flavour combination your palette desires. Believe me, serving it hot and eating it outside in the snow make it taste extra special.
The next few winters brought out a lot of creativity from under the tinfoil pans. So, get creative and find what meals you and your companions enjoy.
Various Meal Recommendations
Now, we often begin to prepare our meals at the first signs of autumn. This gives us the opportunity to think about preparing just a little extra food specifically for the pans… transferred to the cookers… to be stored in the freezer. The variety is mouth-watering.
Here are some recommendations based on our favoured meals for our snowmobile food warmers. Meal choices are in no particular order, but all are better than a cold sub, sandwich, or cheese and crackers.
- Ribs
- Meatballs
- Ham & potato scallop
- Lasagna
- Chicken pot pie
- Shepherd’s pie
- Chicken wings or strips
- Beef or chicken stew
And Then There Were Cookies: Adding Desserts to Your Snowmobile Cooker
After placing your frozen pan of prepared food into your 3-litre cooker, you should actually have a small amount of space in the top. We used to fill this space with handmade tinfoil balls to prevent our food from bouncing up and down. Kepp in mind that if the food moves, it may break the tinfoil cover. But then we had an idea. Why not fill this empty space with more food? And that’s when we thought of cookies!
Instead of empty tinfoil balls, we wrap two cookies (again, premade) in tinfoil and place them in this empty space. Each cooker will hold about six cookies, or a maximum of three wrapped bundles. Effectively, the cookies prevent the meal from moving, but, most importantly, provide a delicious, warm desert. It’s a win-win, as they like to say in business or politics.
So now you can only begin to imagine the variety of cookie choices. One of our favourites is oatmeal-raisin cookies.
The Hidden Beauty of the Snowmobile Food Warmer
After years of using them, we have discovered the true hidden beauty of these “cookers”. With these, we can stop wherever and whenever we want for a hot meal!
- At our favourite trail shelter;
- At a spot tucked in the woods out of the cold winter winds;
- In the back of a gravel pit beside the trail where the sun shines all afternoon;
- Or at a scenic lookout that just deserves more of our time than a quick photograph.
This level of autonomy can also be very valuable for off-trail riding. We have vast amounts of public lands in New Brunswick, almost 50% of our land mass. It is perfectly legal to snowmobile in these off-trail areas and on those forest roads if you are registered and insured. The snowmobile food warmers and the hot meals they provide just add to the beauty of riding in our vast regions.
New Food Warmer Ideas for Future Rides
We are hopeful that we may be able to carry some sauces with us. The challenge, however, will be to prevent them from freezing.
Everyone will have their favourite dipping sauce. The sauces we plan to experiment with include a hot Buffalo sauce, a sweet & sour (an old favourite), some sweet chili, and, for our sweet-toothed friends, a sweet & tangy bourbon.
Keep Supporting Snowmobile Trail Restaurants and Lodges
Some of you might remember the many obstacles to snowmobiling in the winters of 2021 and 2022. Businesses were closed or had shortened hours, and for multiple days some businesses just were no longer open. It was understandable and it was necessary for our safety—but it made enjoying our favourite activity difficult. It was truly different.
The unavailability of stopping at our favourite relays and restaurants created a new solution. Our cookers. Creativity came with the necessity to eat.
I do want to express that we are still patronizing restaurants in our trail systems. This winter we will enjoy meals at the lodges, restaurants and hotels, as we did before. We believe that we must support them if we expect them to support us and stay open. We trust you feel the same.
