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Tips For Road Trip Meal Planning in a Campervan
Campervan Cooking, Non categorizzato, How-To's & Resources
By Kim Merryman
Camp cooking is one of my favorite parts of camping. I love preparing and enjoying a comforting meal after a big day of hiking. But one of the few annoying things about fall and winter camping is trying to get dinner cooked and dishes are done before the sunsets.
Even though Escape Camper Vans’ kitchen makes camp cooking a breeze, it’s never fun to do dishes in the dark. That’s why I’ve honed my road trip meal planning to minimize dinner prep and clean up so that I can get back late from a big hike and still spend the evening cooking s’mores by the campfire and cozying up in the van with a good book before bedtime.
Check out my tips for road trip meal planning and saving time in the campervan kitchen.
Things To Consider When It Comes To Road Trip Meal Planning
- Chop and prep ahead of time: I chop the veggies for my recipes at home and bring them along in labeled, plastic, or silicone bags ready to get thrown into the skillet. I measure out liquids and sauces and bring them in small jars or squeeze bottles. Sometimes, I’ll hard boil some eggs for lunch. For dish-free breakfasts, you can bring muffins you made at home.
- Use ingredients you don’t have to prep: Instead of chopping up an apple for your morning oatmeal, bring berries you can toss in whole. Buy pre-chopped veggies for stir-frys or baby carrots to pack in your lunch. You don’t have to make your breakfast muffins–buy some at the store.
- Use ingredients for multiple meals: If you’re not planning on eating 8 hot dogs in a night, use the leftover hot dogs in your mac and cheese the next day and make PB&Js with your extra buns. Fewer ingredients mean fewer things to prep and fewer bags of stuff floating around the camp kitchen.
- Cook on the grill. Most developed campgrounds have a fire ring with a metal grate that goes over the fire for grilling. Some even have a charcoal grill. Bring some grillable proteins and veggies and let the campfire do the clean-up.
- Don’t cook. If you don’t want to do any dishes at all and spend very little time preparing your meal, you can get away with it. Set up a charcuterie board with cured meats, cheeses, crackers, pre-chopped veggies with hummus, chips, and salsa, and have fancy snacks for dinner. Baked goods for breakfast, PB&Js for lunch. No dishes and almost no prep!
- Lower your cleanliness standards. When I’m camping, my typically high standards for dish cleanliness go out the campervan window. While I’m not going to do anything unsafe like eat off a plate that had raw meat on it the day before, if I’m the only one using it, I am okay with simply scrubbing my oatmeal bowl with my fingers and a little water, then using it again the next meal.
- Delegate. Maybe you didn’t have time to chop all those veggies or measure out your olive oil. Set up prep stations around the campsite and let everyone pitch in. You can get the water boiling for the macaroni while the others chop the broccoli at the picnic table and cook the hot dogs on the fire.
Get Your Road Trip Meal Planning In Order and Book Your Adventure!
Now that you have your road trip meals planned, go ahead and find your next adventure! Book an Escape Campervan today!