MUFFPOTS: North Okanagan business has hot idea for convenient comfort food
For people who don’t spend oodles of time snowmobiling or riding an ATV in the backcountry, the word muffpot may be an unfamiliar and weird one. A North Okanagan business has come up with a hot idea for the unique cooking device.
“The pots are common with snowmobilers who pass through here,” Megan McKenzie with Frank’s General Store in Cherryville east of Vernon.
The store is located in the small community in foothills of the Monashee Mountains about 20 kilometres east of Lumby. It's long provided home-cooked comfort foods for outdoor enthusiasts who pick them up frozen on their way to backcountry destinations in the Okanagan and Kootenays.
A muffpot is a stainless steel cooking pot that attaches to the mufflers of motorsports vehicles like snowmobiles and ATVs. The food cooks on the muffler while the operator drives, creating a hot meal to enjoy in the backcountry.
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A few days ago, Frank’s head cook Tiffany Symes came up with an entrepreneurial idea.
“We started making smaller meals to fit into the muffler pots,” McKenzie said. “It was all Tiffany’s idea. We just started a few days ago and we’re getting lots of sales already.”
She said the store, which is attached to a gas station, has a constant flow of snowmobilers passing through.
Food that goes into a muffpot must be precooked, and while many snowmobilers have created their own recipes, the premade muffpot meals at the store are convenient.
“We make a variety of hot comfort foods that will warm people up out there,” McKenzie said. “Some people cook in the pots over a fire or on the wood stove at their cabins.”
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Chicken Fettucini Alfredo, Beef Enchiladas, Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta and Beef Ravioli Bolognese are just a few comfort meals the store offers.
How long it takes to cook something depends on what you’re cooking and how hot your sled runs.
Muffpots are available for purchase through several major online retailers like Amazon and eBay.
Frank’s General Store is located at 1193 on Highway 6.
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