Our goal here is to share what we have learned about RV cooking in our 35+ years of RVing all over the country...or close to it. You can read about our current travels (now full-time, since November 19th, 2015) at one of our other blogs, at http://incargonito.blogspot.com where we are documenting our full-timing.
Although we have owned many RV's over the years, from a towable pop-up to a 40-foot motorhome with washer/dryer, icemaker, and a full kitchen, we are again returning to the smaller lifestyle in preparation for full-timing. A large RV is OK if you're going to park for weeks at a time, but we plan on being on the move a lot more often, seeing as much of this great country as possible, and gas mileage is more critical than space at this point.
And speaking of space, the biggest drawback in any small RV is space. The kitchen is smaller, as is the storage for things normally used in the kitchen, such as a refrigerator. The stove is often downsized from a four burner to a three burner, two burner, or in some cases, even a one burner. If an oven is available at all, it is often smaller. Many times it is reduced to the size of a convection microwave or a toaster oven. Often, the sink is also smaller, in many cases reduced to a single bowl bar sink.
Storage for food is also reduced, so many of the extra things we would have in a full kitchen has to be eliminated, or replaced by more versatile staple foods from which many things can be made. In some cases alternative foods that travel better need to replace more perishable foods. Restocking must be done more often, although that goes hand-in-hand with the small RV lifestyle. Being on the go more often than sitting in a park for weeks at a time makes that a lot easier to do, unless you are doing some extreme, long-term boondocking in remote areas.
Food and its stocking and preparation in a small RV are where this blog is going to focus its efforts, although many of the concepts here can work in any RV, or even for backpacking. But everyone uses their RV differently. For short trips and part-time travelers it isn't so much of a problem. Vacationers often choose to eat out, so only emergency and snack food may be needed in an RV. But when full-timing, or even being gone for months, learning how to best use the space to prepare decent meals is a necessity. Although we love to try local delicacies, we can't afford to eat out for every meal. It has nothing to do with fear of restaurants or what's in the food.
We also want to keep any recipes and suggestions "flexible". For instance, canned or dehydrated products are often suggested because they travel well, but if you have fresh products available, then by all means, use them! We prefer fresh ourselves, and will have plenty of opportunity to take advantage of road-side stands and farmers markets in our travels, but as I said, there's very limited space in a small RV. When fresh items are used they normally will be used within a couple of days.
A small bottle of dehydrated, chopped onion and another of onion powder will provide the flavor of the real stuff without the worry of spoilage, and it takes up a WHOLE lot less space. But you use whatever you are comfortable with using. We're not here to tell you how or what to eat...only to offer suggestions for dealing with a small kitchen.
Some small RV's have microwaves, and some don't. Some people prefer not to use them for whatever their reasoning may be, no matter how large their RV. We will probably have one, if we have the space for it, but if we are out boondocking, I don't want to have to depend on a generator for power. If we are out traveling with a small van, we simply won't have high wattage appliances with us, other than a small heater for times when we have a campsite with electricity available. So most of our tips will be on how to cook recipes on a propane stove or BBQ grill, as we will be doing both ourselves, depending on where we stop for the night. We want to be able to adjust for our location and what our stomachs are calling for.
We will likely be boondocking, or using state or national parks and forests, COE parks, or other people's homes and businesses through BoondockersWelcome. We would also use Harvest Hosts(dot com), but their rules say you have to have built-in holding tanks, and we aren't likely to have those if we're traveling by van. On rare occasion, we may use a Good Sam park or Campgrounds of America discounted fee park, or even an occasional KOA.
We want to avoid fees as much as possible, and will spend a lot of time boondocking. That could be in paved parking lot, a rest park, or even a pull-off along a highway. Some places may have power available, others won't. Even if they have power, if we arrive on a busy weekend, we may have to park in an overflow area with no hookups. We plan to be prepared for any type of campsite, as should any well-seasoned camper or RV'er.
Many people have issues with allergies to certain foods, are on restricted diets, or just plain don't like some foods (i.e., picky eaters). We are not on any diets, will eat almost anything, and therefore will not be writing for those kinds of people, so I don't want to hear anyone writing in to say "Eew, too much salt!", as one person did on another site when discussing Ramen noodles and their accompanying seasoning packet, which is mostly salty bouillon. You can easily substitute spaghetti, and season it however you want to.
We both grew up on small farms, and learned to eat what was put in front of us or do without. There are few things we won't eat, and that ability adds to our enjoyment of traveling and being willing to sample local specialties. It's all part of the joy of traveling and enjoying life.
If you have a problem with any of the ingredients in our suggestions, then it's up to you to reduce the quantity, substitute others or leave them out of your recipes entirely. If certain products don't suit you because of something they contain, then don't buy them! Substitute something else for that product. If there's one thing we like, it's being able to have choices, and it's up to the reader to do the same when considering anything we suggest.
As stated, we will be mostly concentrating on things that travel well. In our eyes, that means it must be able to last for at least a week without refrigeration. Most root vegetables are good candidates, as are things like apples and citrus fruits, and most squashes...but things like strawberries (and most other berries) are not, (although blueberries might qualify). But if you can buy fresh or from road side stands and be able to use the item within the next 24-48 hours, then by all means, go for it. We will. But we will not be concentrating on recipes for items that spoil quickly.
For meats, we will be talking about a lot of canned and dried meats, although nothing beats fresh meats if you are going to use them right away. A small refrigerator of typically less than 4 cubic feet does not allow for a lot of cold, and possibly no frozen storage at all. We will likely be throwing in some ideas for meat substitutes, such as bulgar wheat, and how to make it a good replacement for ground beef or even chicken.
Even "after meal" cleanup can be tricky in a small kitchen. Small campers tend to have limited fresh water tanks, and if out boondocking, it is necessary to use as little water as possible. With that in mind, we will present ideas on how to keep clean up simple.
As posts are added, and the blog grows, we may go back and edit certain posts. Nothing is ever written in stone, and blogs should never be. Maybe the words originally presented were our thoughts at that time and on that day, at that minute, but circumstances change, and blogs should always remain flexible enough to meet those changes, the same as any other site. After all, they only "publish" once. After that, any editing is simply an "update". Anyone can always go back and edit a blog post, but too many people don't bother, and force the rest of us to deal with all their mis-spellings and typos. We always correct our typos as soon as we notice them, even it happens to be weeks down the road!
Our blog will also have links on it to products that we recommend, and we will likely do some product reviews. We thank you and appreciate your using those links to locate and purchase those products, as we do make some some commissions, which helps to keep this blog going. In some cases (because we can't sell products directly from an affiliate site), we may send you to another site where there will be payment buttons to buy the products directly.
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