1. Planning
You don’t want to spoil your holiday stressing about what to cook each day, so plan ahead. Think about the meals you will have while away, and pack just the ingredients for those meals, don’t forget things like oil, Oxo cubes, butter, salt and pepper – the stuff that you have on the side at home but might not think of as an ingredient.
2. Equipment
As well as bringing ingredients, you also need to make sure you have all the kitchen essentials to prepare them. For example, pans and a colander or strainer for pasta and rice, saucepans for cooking up sauces and frying pans or a wok if you want to do a stir fry. Ensure you have any utensils you will need – chopping boards, knives, a peeler, grater, a slotted spoon – you may either want to take scales and measuring jugs or you could measure everything out before if you are tight on space - and don’t forget can openers and bottle openers.
3. Storage
Obviously, you need to make sure you have enough room to store everything, so if you’re short on fridge space, maybe think about meals that don’t require too many fresh ingredients, eg pasta with pesto , and stick to meals that don’t require too many pots and pans. It could be worth bringing a slow cooker and thinking of a few different meals you could do in that, which could save time, effort and space, or bringing your microwave from home if you don’t have one in your caravan.
You may also want to bring a few plastic tubs, or some clingfilm or kitchen foil in case you have any leftovers, or cook up a large batch that can be used again
4. Keep it simple
Don’t try anything too complicated. No one wants to be slaving away in a little caravan kitchen so, the quicker and simpler the recipe, the better – and if you can prepare anything before you go, you’ll be grateful you did.
5. Barbecues
Having a nice, easy barbecue meal when staying at a caravan park is one of the easiest ways to cook and, given you can cook on a barbecue for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it is an essential for most caravanners. There are lots of barbecue options - gas, electric, disposable or good old-fashioned charcoal – whichever you use, don’t forget the fuel! Many caravan sites have permanent barbecues set up already, or gas hook-ups you can use – so check before you go, and of course, make sure you are allowed to barbecue before you light up.
What to cook
So, we’ve looked at some tips on how to cook in a caravan, now let’s take a look at what to cook with five easy caravan meals:
1. Salad
The easiest meal to ‘cook’ in a caravan is salad. You can bring all the ingredients you need, and ‘beef’ it up a bit with some cheese or cold meat and bread so it is more like a ploughman’s, or maybe whip up an omelette or frittata on the hob to have with it.
2. Pesto pasta
One of the easiest meals in the world - and tasty to boot – is pesto pasta. Just bring dried pasta and a jar of pesto. Cook up the pasta, stir in the pesto, done! You can always add chicken or prawns or spring veg into the pasta if you want to pad it out a bit.
3. Slow cooker chilli
If you bring your slow cooker, a chilli is a very simple thing to prepare: beef or Quorn mince, kidney beans, tinned tomatoes, chilli powder and paprika. If you’re doing the meat version, fry off the meat first, then chuck in all the other ingredients and leave it for a few hours. If you’re vegetarian, put the tomatoes, beans, chilli and paprika in, leave it for a few hours, then stir in the frozen Quorn about half an hour before you need to eat. Cook up some rice and you’re all done.
4. Hotdogs and burgers
Bring sausages and burgers from home, or buy some when you are out and about, and either fry on the hob, do them in the oven or cook them on the barbecue. Then, all you need to complete your meal are some bread rolls and a bit of salad - don’t forget the ketchup, mustard or brown sauce.
5. Jacket potatoes
If you have a microwave for your caravan, jacket potatoes can be a quick, easy, no fuss meal with very little preparation and hardly any washing up. Just serve with your favourite topping – cheese and baked beans is probably the easiest, but you could always keep a bit of the chilli you had earlier in the week and make two meals out of one.
These are just a few ideas. There are loads of things you can do, especially if you bring a slow cooker, which gives you lots of options, from curries and stews to casseroles and ratatouille to name just a few. It’s also a good idea to bring some back-ups like tins of soup, beans on toast etc. Don’t forget classic staples like bread, cheese, cereal etc, which can be used to whip up a quick meal any time of day.
