hotels & shabbos | Imamother

happy

Wed, Jun 14 2006, 9:01 pm

My husband and I like to get away a lot in the summer. The problem is the only times we can go away is weekends and that means preparing, storing and heating the food in a hotel room.

I hate bringing my hot plate to a hotel room . I find myself consatantly worrying about it to the point where I feel I can't leave the room and stay in to "baybysit" it until shabbos is over. I worry that the food may burn or worse yet it may get too hot and burn the table it is on. where should I put it??

I want to try and avoid bringing a hot plate. Any ideas? (DH insists on hot food though...)

batya_d

Wed, Jun 14 2006, 9:10 pm

I wouldn't put a hotplate on any wooden surface. Maybe a windowsill? Any hard, non-flammable surface. At home we use a granite countertop.

cindy324

Wed, Jun 14 2006, 10:08 pm

OK, we do that every weekend in the summer. We always take a hotplate,or maybe that's not even what it's called. We have this flat piece of metal heating element, that has a hechsher called Tofeat (??) You just plug it in and place it on top of a table or counter. It has small feet so it's not directly on the counter. We only go to hotels that are all suites, they have a full kitchen with fridge so we usually place it over the stove , but it's fine on the counter too. You do NOT have to babysit the hotplate, it does not get sooo hot that it burns. Also it's not hot enough to cook cholent overnight, so you'll have to bring a crockpot anyway.

Also if you go to one of these hotels with the kitchens, if you doublewrap the food, I think you can warm up in the oven. (Not real clear on that so I haven't done it but you can ask the proper procedure from a rav)

happy

Wed, Jun 14 2006, 11:43 pm

We just go to a regular hotel, with no kitchen. There is usualy a little counter top where there is a coffee machine, so I put it there. I hate doing this.

The crock pot idea is a good one. Can you put a crock pot on any surface? Maybe I can heat some food on its lid for friday night and leave the chulent in overnight.

What do you think????? ????

I never used a crock pot for chulent. If I use a cooking bag, or liner, do I still have to add water to the pot ?

imaamy

Thu, Jun 15 2006, 12:58 am

Your husband likes to go away, likes hot food, but surely doesn't want you stuck in the room staring at a hot plate. Too bad those self-heating meals aren't shabbosdika. Sad

technic

Thu, Jun 15 2006, 3:24 am

cant spk 4 everyone but my crockpot heats up the surface underneath a lot....I know it sounds crazy but how abt taking a small slab of marble/granite w u on these trips and puttting it underneath??? Idea

brooklyn

Thu, Jun 15 2006, 7:52 am

On a side note `how do you get into your room? All the hotel/motels that I hve been to in the last ten years have all had those electronic locks that you have to swipe a card into. I have not seen a room that uses a key for ages. What do you do on shabbat?

shoy18

Thu, Jun 15 2006, 8:01 am

brooklyn wrote:

they can deactivate it and give you a key, they all have them still, think about it, no electricity-no door entry!

cindy324

Thu, Jun 15 2006, 11:59 am

Actually , a lot of hotels don't have hard key options anymore. At least the ones I go to don't. What most of the jews do, including us, we take along masking tape and tape the hole up where the doorlock would slide into, so we can close the door, and it looks like it's closed, but does not get locked, since the lock has nowhere to go. And then we hope for the best that we don't get robbed LOL

(Most hotels havce an inroom safe, too , for valuables)

ChavieK

Thu, Jun 15 2006, 12:09 pm

I use a crock pot on a regular counter all the time.It's not a problem.
The "Key" issue- We have made arraingements before Shabbos for someone to take us up to our room.We've gone to hotels where they are completly familiar with this & others that they look at us like we are nuts but do it anyway.
I'm not crazy about shlepping a crock pot, so we usually have hot food Fri. night & have cold for lunch.we make sure we have a fridge.
Have a good time time.