Cooking In The Caravan
My mind has been working overtime trying to come up with meal ideas we can have while we’re away. To keep costs down, we need to do the bulk of our cooking in the caravan (rather than resorting to take away) so I thought it would be helpful if I could come up with a list of meal ideas and prepare laminated cards which detail what I need for each meal. Hopefully this will make grocery shopping and food preparation that little bit easier.
I’m thinking I would like at least 10 lunch ideas (for variety) and 20 or so meal ideas for the evening meal.
To cook with I have a small microwave, grill and stove-top as well as the dreampot (which is basically similar to cooking on the stovetop only I can have it cooking while we’re on the move or away).
Here’s what I have so far:
* Those in italics have been added after this post was published.
Lunches:
- Sandwiches
- Grilled Cheese on Toast
- Cold Meat & Salad
- Chopped Salad in a Bowl
- Meat Pies
- Cheese and Bacon Rolls (a favourite)
- Salad Rolls
- Salad Wraps
- Cheese & Fruit Platter
- Toasted Sandwiches
Evening Meal:
- Corned Beef (Dreampot)
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- Baked Potatoes (Microwaved)
- Hamburgers
- Chicken Burgers
- Chicken Wraps (Southern Fried Chicken Strips or Chicken Tenders)
- BBQ’s - sausages, steak, chicken, burgers etc
- Frozen Fish Fillets (Microwaved then Lightly Fried or Toasted to crisp up)
- Cooked Chicken (bought cooked from Supermarket)
- Steak Sandwiches
- Diced Steak with Mushroom Sauce (Dreampot)
- Coke or Apricot Chicken Legs (Dreampot)
- Roast Beef or Chicken (Dreampot) - yet to try this out.
- Tuna Mornay
- Tuna Patties
- Tacos
- Quesadillas
- Honey Soy Chicken Wings (Dreampot or Microwave)
- Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup (Dreampot)
- Pasta Dishes
- Fried Rice
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Quick and simple with few ingredients is ideal. I also need to work out some frugal snack ideas as I don’t have an oven for baking.
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SOunds fun!
Maybe you can practice some microwave cake recipes….. or muffin recipes that you can make from a basic recipe and just add easy but different flavours…. even if the muffins are just fresh on the day… maybe the kids can take turns…
!I made brownies in the microwave once and the kids loved them….
Do your kids like pappadums as i microwave mine (watch carefully) and they are cheap and yummy like chips…. you can get diff flavours too.
I also recently read about making little microwave choc puddings in a mug… have yet to try but apparently great for snacks!
Hotdogs!
We do a lot of wraps, chicken wraps, salad wraps etc when we get sick of sandwiches.
It’s getting close now isn’t it?
Hehe… ok, fair enough preparing a “menu” before hand, but then to go that extra step and even laminate them? That made me laugh… an*l-retentive much?
I am eating lunch right now.
QUESADILLAS!
YUM!
Basically a tortilla filled with cheese, baby spinach and salsa (or whatever you like really) folded in half and either done in the George Foreman or cooked like an omelette in a pan.
Easy, quick, uses up leftover anything and delicious.
A few we did while we were away:
Tacos / burritos
Stir fry on the stove top, rice in the dreampot
Toasted sandwiches (cooked in the frypan or a camp jaffle maker)
HTH!
A lot of your lunch and dinner ideas are interchangeable, just adjust the quantities if your family eats less at lunch and more at dinner, or the other way around. Fresh fruit and cheesestick platter is also quick and easy, with no cooking involved.
Everyone in my house LOVES the chicken and sweetcorn soup made in the dreampot and we are a family that usually loathes soup. This is more of a chunky stew than a soup and is just divine.
https://www.dreampot.com.au/1999/07/dream-pot-chicken-sweet-corn-and-vegetable-soup-%C2%A9/
Did I offer you our dreampot? We rarely use it anymore and I’m happy to hand it over if you pass through Melbourne at any stage.
edited to add - this freezes really well and keeps in the fridge for 3 days and just gets tastier each day.
You know what you could get? This would save you bucketloads of money because if you have one of these you’ll probably never need to get take away.
Easycook Oven
Once you get to the eastern states, you can stop in at an Aldi and get a frozen chook for $5.49, a few potatoes, maybe a pumpkin, chuck it all in and you’ve got a meal for the entire family for less than $10. The easycook not only does roasts but it does everything you can do in an oven, cakes, chips, etc.
To clean it, you throw in some water - it does all the work for you.
My Mum has one of these at her workplace, and she cooks dinner for a shop full of staff - in just one oven. She’ll throw in a roast beef, a roast pork, potatoes, etc, and bring bread rolls - everyone makes hot roast sammiches.
I know a lot of people who have caravans and cannot live without their Easycook.. Depending on where you go, you can get it for $199 or less, which if you think about it, if you’re going to cook cakes and stuff in there which can be had as snacks.. it will be the most economical option..
Another option to consider - but less healthy than the other one I just mentioned - a deep fryer.
A few more thoughts: tacos, burritos, popcorn, yoghurt, crisped pita breads under grill, mmmm makes me want a holiday real bad now!
Have fun and cant wait to see.
Maybe you could post your little recipe cards for us all to share!
Lynette
What about a curry from half meat and half vegetables? You could cook it in the microwave while you cook the rice.
Fried rice, with ham or leftover chicken.
Omelettes/frittata.
Bacon, eggs, fried tomato, mushrooms and toast.
Pesto pasta (pasta with sundried tomato or basil pesto in it). You could add microwaved pumpkin/peas or avocado/mushrooms to it.
Hi Lightening
Tacos are popular with my family. Either use mince beef or chicken thighs chopped up with taco spice mix. Chop up lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cucumber and grated cheese. Put it all in the middle of the table and let everyone build their own - either use tortilla wraps or the crunchy corn taco shells. Yum!
I have a recipe for Busy Day Chicken which can be done in the crockpot - I’ll get back to you on that one. It is a full chook with a sauce that you pour over then cook all day.
Zuccini slice and salad is another one - cook the night before and serve either hot or cold for lunch the next day with salad.
Hope these help.
Cheers - Joolz
Lynette - that brownie recipe sounds good. I’d love to get that from you if you still have the recipe. I did buy some small silicone cupcake moulds which I’ve experimented with a packet muffin mix with reasonable results.
Sharon - the kids would love hot dogs (although I can’t stand them!). Wraps are a good idea. Yes, the count down is now on. July will be here before we know it.
Aussie - yeah, thanks for that!
Been a while since anyone called me anal-retentive. LOL. I’m not actually planning on preparing the menu before we go, just ideas. And the idea of the laminated cards is so that I can take them with me and make use of them during the 3 months without them getting ruined. I want to be able to slip them into my handbag so I know what ingredients I need etc for each dish because I won’t have a fully stocked pantry like I have here at home.
Kelley - I have to admit that I’ve never had Quesadilla’s before - they sound great.
Kez - toasted sandwiches is a good one. I’d love to do Tacos but we’re used to having the crunchy shells and I haven’t worked out a way to crisp them up yet. I wonder if the grill on low would do it without burning them?
River - good point. And I love the fruit and cheese platter idea - the kids would love something like that for a change.
Marita - I’ll have to try that idea. Yes, you did offer me the dreampot but I don’t think we’ll be your way before we go - pity I didn’t know about it before I bought mine as even with postage, it would have been way cheaper.
Why don’t you use it anymore?
Snoskred - thanks for that suggestion. I’ve not seen those before. They look really good. Will keep my eyes open. Wonder if there’ll be any at the caravan and camping show?
Lynette - you’re full of great ideas when you get going aren’t you?
Thanks. I will attempt to post the recipe cards when they’re done although it’ll probably be on
I am impressed with the range you already have. Almost like a little cafe.
You could easily do mini pizza snacks under the grill using muffins with a little ham and cheese for topping
We also use mini pita breads to make our own pizza’s for meals and they are quite easily made with whatever we have on hand (we’ve been known to throw on carrots, beans, leftover meat) and grilled.
And you never know what you’ll find in the camp kitchens at the caravan parks you go to if you need more room to make something a little bigger/more complicated here and there.
Heya chickadee.
It’s been a while since Ive visited, due to many personal reasons. Boy have I missed reading your blogs!!!!
Here is a website I have been a member of for some time now..
http://bestrecipes.com.au/
I was wondering, is a Dreampot like a slow cooker or “crock pot”? If so McKenzies make slow cooker meal bases you can buy at Coles & Woolies (possibly other grocery stores too) which are inexpensive to make & are great to eat! The best thing is you put it all in a pot then let it cook on its own. Perfect when you don’t have time to stand around cooking. You can make changes to the meals by changing the meats used etc or adding/removing items. If you jump on McCormicks website here http://www.mccormickslowcookers.com.au/ you can download a free recipe booklet. I was lucky enough to get a copy sent to me when this range was still new. McCormick & Maggi etc offer good recipes on all their sites. Same with Kellogs etc if that helps?
Good luck to you & I hope this comes in handy if not for the trip, then maybe back at home sometime
You can crisp the taco shells in the microwave - just give them a few seconds at a time so they don’t burn!
I cook roasts in my slow cooker. When I buy the roasts (raw), I place them straight into an oven bag and into the deep freeze. When we want to eat them, I just pop them into the slow cooker (frozen) and let it cook on high for 7-8 hours. About a half hour before removing from the slow cooker I put some vegies in the oven bag with the meat and turn the power onto low. When done, lift the oven bag out of the slow cooker, hold over the sink, cut the corner off the bag to drain all the juices/fat off. If you like …….. I arrange food on oven tray and place under griller for 10 mins to brown/crisp up the meal. Saves a lot of electricity and heat in the kitchen during the summer months. I also cook roasts like this in my caravan - minus under the griller (because it’s too small). By the way…… when the slow cooker has cooled down, you only need to wipe it out with a damp cloth.
The best thing I have used while camping is the George Foreman roaster that I picked up a few years ago. Everytime I use it I attract fellow campers from the smell of a home cooked roast. I ended up buying two, one for the caravan and one for the house, so easy to clean.
I have a Cobb Cooker, use it for Baked Dinners, everything cooked together, no mess, also Quiches (no Pastry) Cakes. Pizzas.
When we go camping we go bush, so no power
Lynette