There are many great ways to take time off for an extended vacation or setting several months aside for some great travel adventure, but few can match the experience of taking advantage of an inexpensive campervan rental and traveling across country or continent from campsite to campsite, with a lot of flexibility on what you can do and where you can stay. However, there’s no denying that there are both pros and cons to campervan travel with one of the big ones being figuring out how to handle cooking.
“Motorhome cooking” BY studio tdes via flickr.com under a Creative Commons License CC BY 2.0
While campervans do come with a small cooking area, it is a bit limited in size (which it has to be). This doesn’t mean that you can’t eat well. Quite the contrary: if you treat the campervan in the same way you would plan some good meals around a propane camping stove, you will be prepared to have the ingredients that are easy to prepare into delicious meals around your limited area.
Plan Favorite Meals
You have a cooking area and even refrigeration in most places, but perhaps a limited amount. Make the most of dry foods that can be stored outside of the fridge or cooler space (pasta, rice, etc.), plan your favorite meals you always enjoy, and make sure to pack accordingly. When you have limited space and are on the road you save time, money, and effort by planning out some favorite meals and making sure to stay within your means so you’re not left with a hodge-podge of ingredients, a lack of space, and a disjointed meal plan!
Think Creatively
Necessity is said to be the mother of innovation, and although there are plenty of resources at your disposal with a quality campervan you also have limited space compared to a regular kitchen which means needing to plan and unless you want to eat the same meals over and over again, you will need to think of innovate ways to create a new meal with limited ingredient space, or how to change up major ingredients to create a different taste or flavor.
Hopefully it also goes without saying to have a Ziploc bag full of your favorite spices. These can make all the difference when it comes to mixing up those flavors in a way that you will absolutely love.
Take Advantage of Campsites
Don’t let having a campervan limit your thinking. You can use the cooking space with your van along with a large fire pit at a campsite to really throw together something special. Sometimes a good change up means a big grill over the fire. At the right campsite this can multiply your options and thinking big picture with your meals and with all your resources can lead to big, better, and more delicious meals.
Don’t be afraid to use a fire pit to give yourself that extra bit of space!
Overall Cooking Pros
- Plenty of cooking options above and beyond a campsite
- Good planning can lead to amazing meals
- Cooking and cooling spaces
- Better tools/storage option compared to traditional tent camping
Overall Cooking Cons
- Limited space for cooking large meals
- Limited cooling space can restrict ingredients
- Meals require more planning because of limited space