Cooking in room.

[World Traveller]

Not quite fitting in the dining out section, but not sure where to place...

Bachelor health-food nut necessaries in photo.

Rice cooker (0.30 L, basically meal for 1.5 persons) sold at Big-C for THB570. Many wholesome types of rice and other grains now sold in supermarkets. You do *not* have to rely on white rice. Huge change in Thailand from even a decade ago.

Just make sure you stay in a hotel room with a patio. Extend cord to ourdoors and cook away! Add some fish precooked somewhere else and you have Asian meals if not cheap then at least affordable and with no mystery ingredients.

Couple or family-size rice cookers might actually be cheaper (due to solo diner travelling kitchen equipment being niche market).

Now to find something equally portable for cooking dal and lentils (add a few greens and pre-soaked fungus and voila - the perfectly nutritious vegetarian meal). Lightweight slow-cookers and electric pots in bachelor-size are more of a challenge to find in my experience.  Apparently most students and Cheap Charlie's use the ubiquitous noodle pots.

Edited November 19, 2021 by World Traveller
note capacity

[ChiFlyer]

A thread, also in this forum, that you may want to take a look at.

This thread addresses the overall topic of cooking at home a little more broadly than you describe, but It may have some value to you.

[mmaaarrrkkk]

On 19/11/2021 at 15:18, World Traveller said:

Apparently most students and Cheap Charlie's use the ubiquitous noodle pots.

 

a little unfair to describe them as such .... these usually china made pot are useful cheap and easy to wash and store.

Just to add to the topic , there are broth sold online for you to make hotpots in them ; with the most famous being HaiDiLao. If you are into chinese hotpots , give them a try ... imagine MK.

ps unless you are one of the dummies who insist 'i dont cook my own food when i go out to eat' and are missing out on great meals 😉

[philkrenshaw]

If you stay in a condo you probably get a kitchen. I think some of the Canterbury Tales rooms also have kitchens. I wouldn't be surprised if other places do also.

[World Traveller]

Great news (for me anyway)...

Almost bought Masur dal (red lentils, split for quicker cooking) today at CENTRAL FESTIVAL FOOD HALL. But I balked at TH 159 for 0.5 kg.

Instead I went to the small Indian grocers by the Gurudwara (Sikh Temple). Price? THB40. Both RAVI'S & SHEIK have similar prices.

The dal at all three places was marked as 'organic'. I couldn't care less - for me it's just vegetarian protein without the fiction of TVP and other silly East Asian meat substitutes.

Convinced me that wholesale price has almost nothing to do with retail price. What are the biggest factors are location and what customers are willing to pay. Thailand is just like everywhere.

Spices especially are crazy-high priced at supermarkets catering to upper-middle class Thais and Farang tourists and expats. 

[World Traveller]

Mark (not trying to be impolite,but spelling your way reminds me too much of trying to remember gender pronouns of the females under 25 at my housing co-op in Canada)...

" a little unfair to describe them as such .... these usually china made pot are useful cheap and easy to wash and store. "

Perhaps, but the three I looked at at MAKRO were either light and had only three setting on the knob (off, medium and high) *or* five settings (off, warm, low, medium, high) but we're heavy. 'Imarflex' had two models at different prices. 

Only the higher end one had removable metal insert, so I disagree about washability. It was bulk and weight, not price that prevented me from buying the higher end one (800 W instead of 600W). In addition Thai big box stores sell low-cost (or not, see second photo) kitchen cookers that to me look like toys, even when they are 1300W. This one reminded me of my sister's baking oven for six year-olds.

Where do serious but itinerant hobby-cooks buy their gear in Pattaya? My challenge is of course, not quality or even value, but portability and no flames (hotel rooms).

So far, the closest thing I could find to those ubiquitous and cheap small kitchen knives in sheaths that are common in China and Cambodia is a a close to useless folding one sold at LOTUS'S. Is there a rash of stabbings by teenage chefs in Thailand that has taken them off the market? A condo gym attendant today had one of these very practical safe veggie knives and he said they are not hard to find. Clearly I am shopping in the wrong stores. Even three of the twenty baht 'dollar stores' I visited don't carry them. And *no way* am I going to buy la-de-dah ceramic paring knives from CENTRAL FESTIVAL FOOD HALL for more than I spend nightly on a modest room in Soi Bukhao.

[mmaaarrrkkk]

Just some random thoughts

I see the (the folding knife and the oven) pics seem to be convinience products instead of like what you said proper equipment.Its seems to be difficult to find proper good lasting stuff in Pattaya. When i first came , i was surprised to find so many minitures for sale ... shampoos , mouth wash etc ...... most prob due to the nature of a tourist town , they seem to sell well .... and good margins for the manufactoring company as well. Sure there is marko and other bulk places but the closer to beach road the more the tourist stuff. 

I still think its unfair calling them cheapo stuff ..... most prob coz i have 2 or 3 of them! 😆 I find them easy to wash and usually they are parts , the actually cooking and the heating element/pot. Usually they have only one or 2 specific function. The cooking parts usually lifted out and washed while the main part is wiped cleaned. Both are easy to handle due to its size. I have one for soups ,, one for rice (like you) , a steamer and one for roasting/toasting. Best part is its so cheap , after it has served you well for a few years , you can get a new one.

 

Im not a serious cook but like to experiment and play around with my food so the cheap stuff fits me perfectly.

The 499 orange one seems pretty large ... and at 499 , ITS REALLY CHEAP! Most prob Made in Thailand. I go for the smaller ones , 1-2 person type. I have a simliar one thats slightly bigger someone game me and i agree , its difficult to wash.

 

 

 

 

[World Traveller]

I see the good sense in all your points. Low-priced so if they don't work out well and are too big or heavy to travel between countries with you can give them away. 499 one with removable trays is indeed Made in Thailand but the photo does not show scale. It is actually small enough to pack. I bought similar units in Malaysia and Cambodia. They do the job, although heat is a bit underwhelming.

[World Traveller]

Yikes, it was unnecessary!

Both cooked brown and red rice available cheap at BIG-C EXTRA on Pattaya Central Road.

Edited November 22, 2021 by World Traveller
typo