Cooking Meals in a Caravan Kitchen
I’ve been asked by friends what it’s like cooking meals in the caravan. I thought it was time to show what it’s really like.
I don’t think myself much of a cook. Some people love it – I just get bored and would prefer to do something else, like edit a video!
The positive parts with RV cooking
- Can keep an eye on the cooking while sitting in ‘lounge’
- It’s like cooking in a very small apartment with a very small kitchen
- Everything is right in front of you, all within easy reach
- Good sized oven with grill and 3 gas burners and 1 electric element
- A working fridge – although very small in size and temperamental in summer
- When travelling you can pack away the supermarket items straight away
- No rush to compete for cooking time with flatmates
The limitations with cooking meals in a caravan
Lack of kitchen & storage space
Mobile homes are really tiny spaces. It’s a minimalist lifestyle.
The kitchen beach space is very small and took me a while to get use to. There is a clever drop down bench over the bed for extending the space but I rarely use it now.
There is hardly any place to store pots and food. I’ve ended up taking out the microwave just to have more room for food! I’m also in the process of adding another draw under my cutlery draw.
The fridge is tiny and can’t hold much. It’s not possible to have many leftovers or much frozen.
Limited water & small waste pipes
Using lots of water to clean dishes means filling up the fresh water tank that much sooner. This chore makes you very cautious in your water use.
Washing pans with leftover fat is problematic in a caravan. Fat gets on everything, clogs up the tiny pipes, ends up sitting in the grey water tank and basically stinks out the whole place.
My solution is using disposable cooking trays. Less mess and it makes cooking that much easier. It might feel wasteful, but I’ve found this lifestyle encourages you to have less stuff and less rubbish in general.
Smell in caravan
The RV is basically one room. I’m sitting on the sofa and can see my bed which is 3 steps away. Anything smelly cooked in the caravan will stink the whole place. How much do you want your sheets smelling of onion?
Sensitive firealarm
I’ve learnt that if anything I fry becomes a little bit smokey, the firealarm will go off. If I open the oven door to cooking food for too long, the fire alarm will go off.
It’s a small space with low ceilings and it’s not that far from the fire alarm installed by the door.
Even with the extractor fan on and open windows, it doesn’t prevent the fire alarm from going off.
Easy meals in the RV
After living in the caravan for over a year, I’ve ended up with a few favourite lazy meals to cook in the tiny kitchen.
Couscous, vegetables and egg or left-over meat
A great easy meal. This is my dinner when I don’t have much in the fridge.
Cover couscous with boiling water in the bowl you’ll eat from. Place small plate ontop. Lightly boil whatever vegetables are on hand. If there’s leftover meat, use that. Otherwise cook an omelette, slice and add.
Fresh supermarket soup
This is my lazy dinner.
There are some great fresh soups in the cool section of the supermarket. They seem healthy-ish and keep for a long time in the fridge. A great meal if you’ve driven the mobile home all day and can’t be bothered visiting the supermarket.
Chicken thigh with vegetables
Rip off the plastic seal and put in disposable cooking tray. Best if trays are the same size as the plastic meat packets. Put in oven for 30min. Cook whatever vegetables you have on hand. Add hummus on the vegetables.
Overall I’m very happy with my tiny caravan kitchen. It really does everything I need a kitchen to do.
Do you have a favourite easy meal? I’d love to hear in the comments below.
