Hotel Cooking (or How to NOT Empty Your Wallet Eating Out)

I went to a hotel for a conference. Spurred by the fact that we had just eaten out and had no way to reheat the food (no microwave, stove, etc) I had this idea: how CAN you cook at a hotel room?

So in an effort to prove it could be done, and to avoid eating out, I tried to cook for my self in my room.

The goal of this instructable is to use ONLY things readily available in your everyday hotel, and provide a method to eat some sort of meal that costs less, and may actually resemble something healthy.

So let's get started shall we? I'll be cooking rice in this instructable, but remember, eggs, pancakes, and soups should be fairly easy as well!

*as a side note, please forgive the pictures, I wish I had brought my real camera, but all I had was a smart phone camera.  I tried to Photoshop the pictures a bit to make them presentable.

Step 1: Prepping

You may DIE. Hot water is hot! Rice may cause choking hazards! Electricity is shocking! Something could explode! I'm not really sure how, but the sign is cool, and deserved inserting.

Now that we're passed that, be responsible, this is not a very stable setup. you should ALWAYS be watching the cooking process!

What we need:
-Clothes Iron
-pot/cooking implement
-source of water
-rice (or other ingredients depending on what you're cooking)
-A fork or stirring implement (more on this later)
-a stand or prop, I used the coffee pot

by the way, while you're reading, go ahead and get the hot water running, and your iron on the highest setting it has. That way it will be hot when you need it!

*well upon further review, it was brought to my attention that the Hot water may be a dirtier source than the cold water (rusty pipes/old equipment, etc). So use the cold water if you can. The hot will save some time, but you'll have to decide whether it's worth it or not.

Step 2: Heat Water

Now that your water out of the tap is hot, fill up your pot with as much as you feel like you'll require. Usually with rice it's about 2 cups water to 1 cup rice, or something like that. I know you don't have measuring cups, so just eyeball it.

Turn your iron upside down, heating element facing up. place your pot on top of the iron and find whatever will work best to prop the setup up. If you can't prop it up, just hold it. Or go order some $12 eggs from your room service catalog.

*as a side note, you can also use your coffee maker (rather than letting it sit there all by it's lonesome) to help with the hot water process.

Step 3: Add Rice

Now that we've got boiling water, go add some rice to the mix. It should now be something like 2 parts water and 1 part rice. Cover and let boil for a while. Coffee can be such a crutch sometimes...

Step 4: Stir Occasionally

Stir occasionally, this can be accomplished by just picking up the pot and swirling it around. However an implement is nice, if you have a local coffee shop, go borrow a spoon, fork, coffee stir (preferably the wooden ones) or, if worst comes to worst, makeshift one out of your coffee cups in the room.

Step 5: EAT

Now that it's done, or probably done, or you just couldn't wait any longer, serve! Once again those coffee cups come in handy!

Oh, and that stir you got? you'll want to use that for eating as well. Turns out trying to shake rice into your mouth isn't very productive.


Oh, and go clean your pot. don't leave it dirty. You can use your sink and those little washcloths to do the job.


*As a side note, let me anticipate a few comments:
-yes this is not the most stable setup and could be dangerous, perform at your own discretion. I did this to prove a theory to myself.
-yes you could just as easily bring a crock pot or rice cooker.
- Yes you'll need a pot. But if you're thinking ahead, you'd bring one now wouldn't you?

Step 6: Other Ideas

Now, If rice isn't your kind of food, here's some other ideas to look at!

1- quesadilla- It's a grilled tortilla shell filled with cheese. Yes, your pants ironing skills may come in handy! *note please do not use the bare iron on food. It's unsanitary, and you should at least return the iron in the shape you found it!
2- Grilled Cheese/sandwiches
3- Toast

What about food that's left over?

-use the fridge
-borrow a trash bag/bin (clean of course!) and fill it with ice. Store your food in a zip lock back and cover with ice.
- If it's winter, and it's cold outside (below 40 degrees! >40 degrees is NOT food safe!) store it in your car. Maybe in a bag so your car doesn't smell like... well like whatever you had