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March 14, 2025
00:06
Pork Tenderloin & Pizza? Frugal Friday Meals
16:54

Pork Tenderloin & Pizza? Frugal Friday Meals

Savor the flavor as we cook up pork tenderloins on our ICECO grill. If you saw our grill review last year, you'll know that we searched for the perfect grill for our van life style and we still love this grill. What's nice is the lid can be inverted and allows this to be used as an oven. In an effort to control our food cost we found these pork tenderloins for under $5 each. I marinated these in "Ray's Rub" for 24hrs but feel free to use your favorite spice or marinade. I picked up a bag of charcoal at Food City in Safford, AZ for $2/bag. We have really enjoyed the New Hidden Valley Flavored Instant Potatoes and split the 4oz bag into two meals. Each bag retails for around $1.50 to $2.00. Once the tenderloins were finished, I wrapped them in foil and kept them resting for about an hour in our microwave. During the cook I prepped the Great Value brand Pizza Crust mix. Each bag can make one 12-14" pizza. Cost was 78 cents. For the sauce, I used about a cup of Victoria's Marinara which was probably $1 worth of the jars content. Cheese was Great Value Mozzarella and was approximately $1 for the amount used. Pepperoni was from Winco Grocery and was $2 for the bag which would contain enough for three pizzas. This was the first baking attempt in the ICECO Grill and will use more charcoal next time around to improve the cook time. Thanks for watching and keep checking back for more Frugal Friday Meal ideas. #porktenderloin #grillingsecrects #grillingpizza #frugalmeals Follow us on social media Facebook- https://facebook.com/corndogcaravan Website- https://www.corndogcaravan.net Instagram- https://instagram.com/corndogcaravan/
LiTime 1000W Inverter Testing with Dummy Load
10:32

LiTime 1000W Inverter Testing with Dummy Load

This is a follow up to the video we released last Spring 2024 when we installed the LiTime 1000W inverter that began to smoke. I contacted LiTime about the issue and they quickly responded and sent me a replacement. After installing the replacement we didn't use the inverter much as our roof top solar was keeping up with our demands and was keeping our Lithium batteries charged. As we entered Fall 2024, solar power started to reduce and we then started using the LiTIme 1000W inverter again. While driving to our next destination I would turn on the inverter and watch our Victron Battery Monitor App during the trip. Once the SOC% (State of Charge) reached 99% we would turn off the inverter and let our solar finish off charging our system which stops at 28.8V dc. This procedure repeated itself over the next few months and the inverter worked perfectly. I wanted to continue my testing because after many discussions with electrical experts far smarter than me, I still didn't have 100% certainty. The nagging theory I had was that when the LiTime 1000W inverter when into "idle mode"- zero demand, it somehow was allowing power to rush back to it in reverse from my battery bank being charged. I also wanted to test the inverter to see how many watts it would produce before going into overload protection. I tested a waffle maker that placed a demand of 896W and it performed flawlessly. I also wanted to find a device that placed a small load between 10-50W and after trying an Oral-B toothbrush recharger base I quickly found that the draw was almost immeasurable. I then remembered that my Honda Motocompacto Charger used a small amount of power, max of 218W. This would be a perfect device to test my dummy load or what I used to keep the LiTIme 1000W inverter to constantly produce power and not go into "idle mode". I want to repeat this test a few times before I try reproducing the issue we had at the beginning of this whole story. Do you think I'm right or on to something? What other test could I do? #litime #litimeinverter #electricaltesting Follow us on social media Facebook- https://facebook.com/corndogcaravan Website- https://www.corndogcaravan.net Instagram- https://instagram.com/corndogcaravan/
Quartzite Bargains We Needed! HepvO Replacement DIY
12:00

Quartzite Bargains We Needed! HepvO Replacement DIY

Watch as I discuss the bargains we found at the Big Tent in Quartzite 2025. I love to find a deal and scored big time when I found 2 items I was specifically looking for. After 4+ years of full time van life it was getting time to replace our HepvO sink drain waterless waste valve. Many RV's use these as they take less valuable space underneath the sink area. They work great when the diaphragm inside closes tightly to seal the pungent odors out but after just a few months of use ours begins to build up some nasty slime and chunks. I've cleaned ours out using a small brush and some bleach and other cleaning chemicals a dozen times. After this last clean out I can see daylight through the diaphragm so I knew it was time to replace it. Prices online have ranged from $30-$60 with the best price being from HepvO directly. We aren't an affiliate and are not sponsored by HepvO. I was able to snag this section of the entire assembly for only $14.75!!! My other bargain find was the Camco Water Tank Filler. We'll use this to help fill our gravity water fill inlet going forward. We recently changed our water fill hose from a Camco that began to crack in a few spots after 4+ years and switched over to a collapsible hose. This new hose fitting on the end doesn't fit down inside our Perko water inlet so this cheap and simple tank filler will do great. I snagged this for only $5 and was cheaper than Wal-Mart or Amazon. #hepvo #camco #frugalfinds #frugalliving #frugal Follow us on social media Facebook- https://facebook.com/corndogcaravan Website- https://www.corndogcaravan.net Instagram- https://instagram.com/corndogcaravan/

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