New to caravan cooking - ideas please!

[Lynnybobs]

Hi all,
as my hubby and I are new to caravanning but keen cooks, I was just wondering what kind of things you cook in your vans?
Bit concerned about cooking smells permeating the van upholstery and bedding so I guess curries and garlicky things are off the menu
Do many of you cook up wonderful feasts or is it more a case of eating out and just snacking in the van?
Look forward to your replies !

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

I was just wondering what kind of things you cook in your vans?

I don't cook. We have an understanding - I do everything outside the van and the OH does everything inside.

 

[Martin24]

Most of our cooking is done outside on the cadac or on a gas ring. Bad weather we just carry on as we would at home.

 

[JamesH]

We cook meals in the van using the oven and microwave but found it difficult to control the temperature of the oven, as cooking instructions give the oven temperature as a gas mark or degrees centigrade and the oven in the van does not have gas mark settings.
We bought an oven thermometer from Tesco for £6.50. We then set the oven temperature in the house oven at the various gas marks and made a note of the temperature.
Now when the cooking instructions give a gas mark we can set the van oven temperature accordingly by reading the corresponding temperature on the oven thermometer.

 

[Craigyoung]

Hi , we cook outside if the weather is decent with a Cadak or a barbecue but also have Currys, fish and chips , pizza in the caravan as long as nothing is spilt by the kids it's fine but what you want to invest in is a slow cooker well worth the money as a few people on the forum have them. We also use the cooker to .

 

[Lynnybobs]

Craigyoung I do quite a lot of stuff in the slowcooker at home so thats a good idea - I have a spare small one that can go in the van !

 

[Lynnybobs]

Great tip JamesH thanks

 

[Hutch]

Well where do you want to start, Curries, Spicey food yes, all inside but to get your neibhours mouth watering, breakfast on the BBQ bacon and Sausages, or for me Grilled fish. , ( still have a Cadac) after 5 years, just changed our slow cooker for a new Electric Pressure cooker / slow cooker, worked well last weekend, can do every thing in it, and we cook Slimming World meals as we really enjoy great food, and are still trying to lose weight. Dont get pressured into buying at rhe Show , wait a bit and see what you really need.
Hutch

 

[Craigyoung]

Sometimes you may not need to take much away with you like us for instance when we go down to Barnard Castle for the weekend on the Friday afternoon after work when we get there on the Night-Time there is normally a fish and chip van that comes then the second night on the Saturday a pizza van comes or vice versa so really there's only a little bit of breakfast to do not much cooking on the Night time , just a little bit of washing up.

 

[Hutch]

We always take enough food for a couple of days, Baked beans, tomatoe sause, and mince, chicken breasts, frozen or fresh. Ended up in France, once only burgers and Bacon, at Basstille day nothing open apart from , the Bakers. Winter inside / Summer both. Also a whistle kettle as an emergency. Dont buy a low power one , not worth it.
Hutch.

 

[Hutch]

It al depend on how long you are away for, as Craig says, we have a great Fish and chip van at Bo Peep site , Addersbury, good local pubs , dog and children friendly. Check out , Uk campsites. Co.uk.

 

[Pursuitpaul]

We cook exactly the same as we would at home! Oven gets fully utilised. Electric griddle/hot plate is used in the awning. We no longer carry a Cadac.
Could not afford to eat out every night as we are away for six months of the year

 

[Parksy]

I often rustle up a cooked English breakfast in the caravan, we often eat out if there's anywhere decent in the area or we prepare food that is easy and quick, like tinned Irish Stew or Tesco Tikka Masala which ir ready in minutes using the microwave.
We disperse any residual cooking smells by having windows on the night latch or using our Omnivent (a factory fitted fan in a rooflight near the cooker).
Herself uses scented candles to mask the smell of curry if we've eaten in the caravan.
I've been known to knock up a full Sunday dinner on cold rainy days, and a quick tasty and filling cold weather meal is tuna / cheese / potato bake.
Layer the bottom of a casserole dish with tinned tuna, at least 2 tins or more if you wish.
Add a layer of grated Cheddar cheese, about 2" deep.
Cover with mashed potato (instant mash is fine) and place in the oven at 180 celsius for 30 minutes.
Brown the potato using the grill if desired.
Enjoy!
Our caravan breaks are spent mainly away from the caravan which is why we use convenience food more often than not.

 

[Hutch]

You have me Drulling, I think the worst aspect in our van is the the oven temp control, its either high or low, the most akward thing we cooked was in France, when we bought Ox heart by mistake, it took about 2 1/2 hours in a pressure cooker, We have a good selection of spices and sauces stored in the van, and nothing really is to way out,.
Hutch.

 

[Parksy]

You have me Drulling, I think the worst aspect in our van is the the oven temp control, its either high or low, the most akward thing we cooked was in France, when we bought Ox heart by mistake, it took about 2 1/2 hours in a pressure cooker, We have a good selection of spices and sauces stored in the van, and nothing really is to way out,.
Hutch.

The only way I can think of to work around the lack of oven temperature control would be to cover the food that you want to roast at higher temperatures in baco foil. If you are roasting meat you could 'pot roast' it by adding water (or even cider for pork or wine for chicken, beer or wine for lamb or beef ) to the roasting tin before sealing it round the edges with foil, after flash frying meat first to brown the surface and to seal it.

 

[dan-the-man]

Hi Lynda,

My wife has put a selection of our favourite meals on our blog. We are adding more recipe ideas in the next few days.

http://the-trudgians.com/category/food-drink/
We usually do all our cooking either in the oven (when poor weather) outside on the Cadac - when we don't want much mess in the van, or on a BBQ in the evenings when we are chilling. We have recently started using a halogen oven in the awning and so far the results have been stunning. Our 1st Halogen meal was sticky pork chops with Egg fried rice & Broccoli. Our 2nd meal was Garlic crispy chicken, potatoes wedges and salad.

To be honest, you can cook almost exactly the same in the van as you do in the house - just limited preparation space is the only difference.

I hope that helps.

 

[crazyguider]

I try and keep it to simpler versions of home cooking, as I take my trusty pressure cooker with me: that way I know we all eat healthily. I take some food ready cooked and frozen, like curry or spag bol, or home made soup. We are looking at getting a tabletop freezer to have in the awning alongside our tabletop fridge, in otder to cut down all that extra food shopping. We lso do fryups, microwave puds, and lots of other goodies. But we rarely cook outside!!!

 

[Hutch]

SWMBO, recently bought an electric, pressure cookr / slow cooker. Very good. And we can program it to come on / off or onto warm, keep all informed.
H .

 

[Sproket]

We use one of these for cooking most things from a full breakfast to slow cooking a nice steak, if it will fit in it will cook it just don't try to cook things too fast. We have had it for over six years ..... we also have a small seven ltr halogen cooker, same rules apply hmy: if it will fit in it will cook it just remember as long as you don't have everything on at once you will be ok,

 

[Hutch]

Looks like , King Sproket and Parksy are doing Breakies at the Woosie fest.
I hope.
Hutch.

 

[Parksy]

Looks like , King Sproket and Parksy are doing Breakies at the Woosie fest.
I hope.
Hutch.

I'm sorry to have to break it to you Hutch but I've more or less given up having cooked breakfasts now. I have to watch the old waistline you see, so my normal breakfast these days is tinned fruit salad drained of juice.
I can knock you up a nice healthy melon surprise though :lol:

 

[Martin24]

I'll bung some bangers on the cadac for you Hutch

 

[Hutch]

SIR, Gents , we are the same way, " Slimming World" breakfast" toasts low fat bacon meddalions and poached eggs, with Oranges,, Then a good walk to the pub for a ham salad salad, and back ro rhe van to ruin it all. :
Enjoy. Hutch. evil:

 

[Parksy]

SIR, Gents , we are the same way, " Slimming World" breakfast" toasts low fat bacon meddalions and poached eggs, with Oranges,, Then a good walk to the pub for a ham salad salad, and back ro rhe van to ruin it all. :
Enjoy. Hutch. evil:

Welcome to my world Hutch! I'm a weight watchers kinda guy myself but the harsh Spartan regime is similar. :evil: http://

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[Hutch]

Well done my good chap. , but the breakfasts are important. As we all know, .
. Well done.
Hutch.