High Altitude Instant Pot Tips and the BEST Way To Use Your Instant Pot While Camping

FoodRV

Apr 2

Written By Mandy

I LOVE bringing my Instant Pot camping! It is my absolute favorite tool to make a great meal for my family without heating up our RV on a hot day. If you tent camp there is no reason to rule out this wonderful device either! I used to bring a Crockpot during our tent camping days. It’s completely versatile and can make breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a short amount of time.

When I first got my Instant Pot a few years ago I noticed some of the recipes were not turning out as I expected. Some of my food was undercooked. The problem got even worse when we would go camping. And then it hit me, sadly it took a little too long, our high altitude here in Colorado was the issue!

At home, we are nearly 6,000 feet in elevation and when we go camping we can be almost as high as 10,000 feet. There is a HUGE difference when traveling that far up with your Instant Pot.

Here are a few of my tips to make sure your Instant Pot is doing its thing when traveling at high altitudes:

Double-check your seal ring - I’m not sure if it has to do with the altitude and pressure, but my ring is always slipping out of place.
Getting to pressure will take longer the higher you go - account for this time when preparing meals.
Add time to your recipes!! This was my number one problem. For every 1,000 feet higher in altitude add about 5% more cooking time. At home I’m always adding 20% to each recipe, when we’re at about 10,000 feet like in Breckenridge, I add 40% more time.
Increase your liquids - because of chemistry that I won’t pretend to understand, your recipes probably need more liquid to pressurize and cook properly. About half a cup should be enough.
Don’t try to cook too much at one time - this one still gets me, I’ll toss in a bunch of russet potatoes or a few pounds of frozen chicken and it just doesn’t turn out right even when I do account for the previously mentioned tips. So I just make sure the potatoes are smaller in size and the chicken needs to be thawed.

Best way to use an Instant Pot while tent or RV camping

Now when you want to be the real master at camping meal prep I’ll let you in on my secret. Actually, it’s totally not a secret at all. I rely on frozen dump-and-go meals for most dinners when I bring my Instant Pot along. My favorite thing to do is watch the Six Sisters YouTube channel where they make 15 meals in 15 minutes or something amazing like that.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about the sisters will do a big grocery haul and then compile family-friendly meals into Ziplocks and stick them in the freezer. They’re all Instant Pot and Crockpot friendly. When you’re ready to eat you just dump it all in your Instant Pot. This means I don’t have to worry about bringing ingredients in my RV, just the actual meals! It saves so much time - from meal planning to grocery shopping, to loading up the RV, to dinner time. It’s amazing.

So I do the bulk preparation well ahead of time, like on a rockin’ Saturday night (yep, the picture below, I’m sure you can appreciate that yes, it was 10:23 PM) and then just transfer the Ziplocks I want from my home freezer to the RV freezer when it’s time to camp. (Side note - these will also TOTALLY hold up in an ice chest and help keep everything cold.)

RV instant pot meal ideas and how to use an Instant Pot in high altitude

I like to allow the meal to thaw for about 24 hours so I’ll move tomorrow’s dinner from the freezer to the fridge while preparing dinner tonight. Isn’t simple amazing? And then my family eats a yummy meal and I didn’t spend all day preparing it.

And because I always love new ideas, tell me your favorite meal to prepare in your Instant Pot or Crockpot!