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For those of you who use a Cambro or similar food pan carrier for comps, what size do you use? A make and model would be nice.
Thanks... The Cambro 300MPC looks a little small in pictures. Would it hold a couple of butts in a pan, a couple of briskets in a pan and a pan of ice?
Yes! Ice
Ron, I have had the best value using Carlisle 203000 from eqippers.com. Now priced near $167.00 plus s&h. Have used two in the last 75 contests, no leaks, problems at all. Holds five full pans each. ups bent a handle on initial delivery,had replacement from factory less than 24 hours later! Handles are plastic,Cambro used to be metal, I think that has changed. Great product, good luck, Steve.
We use a Carlisle as well -- cold for prepped meats, hot for holding the next day. Makes life SO much easier.
thats the one I have Ron..I cooked up 3 15 pound packers and two 8 pound butts this past fri/sat and kept all the cooked meat warm in this for a good 5-8 hrs ..That;s what i want to do with it as well. Are you using this one...
That's the one that ssbbqguy mentioned.
the carlisles are said to be "self venting"
Very true. I loaded one of mine up for a catering gig around 11:00 am, removed 80% of the food to serve (finally) around 5:00 pm. Checked the last tray after 11:30 pm (a total of 12 1/2 hours) and she was still holding at 150*!One word of advice about Cambros:
If you put hot wrapped butts or briskets in them and close them up they will continue to cook for a while. Ours are so well insulated the meat temp only drops a couple degrees and hour so the carryover effect is substantial.
Never owned a Carlisle so I can't say, but the Cambros are nearly bulletproof. Don't depend on foil pans to handle heavy loads in them though. You need steel hotel pans or plastic containers to take all the weight hanging on the lip of the pans. It only takes one horrible baked bean incident to ruin your whole day!
I put half sheet pans under my disposable just to be on the safe side.Also, I agree that you should get at least two or three hotel pans. I only use foil pans if the pan will be sitting on the bottom of the box (with no load on the edges) or if we have something light in the pan. Otherwise, we use the steel pans. They are great and you can prep and hold meat in them.
I've been using a full pan of ice on the top rack and it works fine. I'll have to look into the cooling tray!Chris also bought the cooling tray that will keep the interior of the box at 41 or under for 8+ hours, which could be helpful for you when using it to hold prepped (uncooked) meats.