Not Cooking with Gas: A Vanlife Cooking Solution
A few things you must appreciate first. One, we can never seem to own one vehicle to go on adventures with. The landrover suits one style of trip but as its approaching winter here, the van is warmer, and the van is cruiser and less expensive on a longer journeys. Two, we are NOT 'chuck it in the back' kinda folk.. we like everything in its place. Three, I am the QUEEN of storage solutions, unchallenged. Please feel free to challenge me - I can think about storage ideas for hours without breaking a sweat.
So I thought I would share with you something that works beautifully for our needs. We call it our cookbox which is quite an obvious name really.
Most of what we do happens organically - we fiddle and tweak to come up with a plan rather than map it out pedantically. However, we did want the box to float from the back of the seats of the van, which the above picture shows. A bolt slides in and holds it into place. This gives me a little more prepping area, as shown. However, if its overly windy or we are just making a quick cuppa on the road, we leave it in place between the two long boxes which form the bed, as shown below:
We also went with a Dometic Origo 3000 alcohol burning stove. Yeah, I know, it’s expensive, but three years on we still think it’s one of the best bits of kit we have ever bought. We don’t have to store a gas bottle or fiddle about with connections and pipes. It burns really nicely without a horrible smell. It’s really easy to clean and of simple design. The fuel is super cheap and lasts for ages - and you can buy it ANYWHERE - supermarkets, corner stores, service stations. People use it in boats so it can handle anything. I seriously think we will have this forever and I wouldn’t buy anything else!
The most suprising thing about this box was its perfect fit for the landrover. It helped us design our set up.
I think it’s really important to be able to pull over and make a coffee or lunch without hunting for the equipment, and I can do this easily with this set up. Here is me making a halloumi and grilled capsicum turkish pide on the side of the road in the Snowy Mountains, and a coffee with our aeropress (if you haven’t used one of these, you should – they make fabulous coffees and are super lightweight to travel with. Sorry about the dark picture, but you get the idea. I can reach the fridge, the food and everything else I need to cook in the back, and love my little 'cave' out of the weather whilst I cook.
The other fabulous thing about it is that this box is small enough to lift out and store in the shed, or to put under a camp shelter on a table - you aren't limited to just cooking in your vehicle. In Australia we are lucky enough to have camp kitchens or gazebos everywhere for this kind of thing, but to be honest, we rarely take it out of the landie or the van as it's a good set up as it is, with plenty of air flow, space and shelter. It also fit two frying pans, a saucepan, a colander, two mugs, the aeropress, a coffee jar – essentials for our camp cooking. Below is an ever so simple 'eggy bread' which we enjoy post surf. It's a good one as you don't need to cook toast!
I’d love to hear about your cooking set ups in your vehicles. Are they easy to use? What is your go-to meal, your absolute favourite to cook on the camp stove? Are there tips you would recommend?
My favourite breakfast is Morroccan Eggs. We used to eat them in Morroco and I'm pretty sure there are other names for them, but this is our version.
Morroccan Eggs
1 can tomatoes
1 onion or a handful of spring onions
4 - 6 eggs
Cummin
Parsley and/or coriander
Smoked paprika
Fetta and/or goats cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Sourdough, pide or other bread of choice to serve
Fry the onion in some olive oil, then add the tomatoes and spices. Simmer, covered with a lid, for 10 minutes. Crack the eggs on top and steam, covered, until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Break goats cheese on top and sprinkle with fresh herbs and salt and pepper. Use the bread to mop up the sauce. Enjoy!
Amazing what you are doing with small spaces. If we ever decide to travel in a van, I know who to contact for some small spaces designs!
I would do it for a job if I could!!! Tis my fave thing to do!!!
Why not give it a try! Tiny homes and traveling in a van are very hip these days so I think there is a market for that!
I love your organization! In that matter I think we are the same, I like everything in its own place.
This past weekend I travelled with my dad and I organized everything in boxes (one for food, one for cooking gear, etc) that way I found it very easy to look for things on our station wagon trunk.
It's the same for my backpack, all divided in bags.
Now I know who I'll call to design my moving home (whisper you) hahahaha
Hahaha sure.. we totally organisation geeks. I could do it as a job. We have been known to get drunk and organise our friends cupboards. Well what were we meant to do.. they had cinnamon from 1973.
Your wkd away with your Dad sounded lovely. I wish my Dad was well enough to come. He would have been stupid enough to jump in fucking icy mountain stream with me.
That's cool! I did a wood stove. Love it and every penny I spent was worth it! Now it's just seeing how well it works out. But I got a saw and some dry wood. Enough to dry out the next batch if emergency came up. But summer is coming !
Keep it amazing! Love seeing van life!
thanks!!! Yeah i saw your awesome stove!!!!! I will post about stoves one day. I have definately lived that life!!! Cant fit one in a landie though sadly!!!!
Yeah I thought about alcohol stoves. But wood is what I like. Nice wood fire just rocks. Need a fan to move air now! After Solar project I will jump in.
Oh totaalllllyyy!!!! Plus keeps you warm!!! Not doing that in summer in Australia though!!!! I love woodstoves, we always had them in the bus and lorry and have one in house now too.
Me too. It's too wet out here otherwise. Need something to dry things out.
oh .. just read this lol
pallets are always dry and easy to find? :P hope its serving you well man Blaze!
Pallets or just plain wood. Got a saw so it's nifty... Can just chop things up easy. And have a pile of extra wood in case I need it.
As long as they arent treated pallets!
World of Photography Beta V1.0
>Learn more here<
You have earned 5.40 XP for sharing your photo!
Daily photos: 1/2
Daily comments: 0/5
Multiplier: 1.08
Server time: 01:54:01
Total XP: 72.50/100.00
Total Photos: 14
Total comments: 0
Total contest wins: 0
Follow: @photocontests
Join the Discord channel: click!
Play and win SBD: @fairlotto
Daily Steem Statistics: @dailysteemreport
Learn how to program Steem-Python applications: @steempytutorials
Developed and sponsored by: @juliank
Hi @riverflows, I've just read a bunch of blogs and I'm quite intrigued by your life. That was a particularly cool story about how you met husband.
I see you're using the teamaustralia tag and we have a pretty strong community going here on steemit to support each other. If you'd like to join, please check out the instructions here: https://steemit.com/teamaustralia/@choogirl/team-australia-new-recruits-28-03-18-and-what-is-mattclarke-up-to-now
Awesome thankyou!!!! ❤❤❤
That ia a great setup you have made love it.
I would agree. I think she's done a really nice job at reviewing this piece of equipment. I'm not a 'vanlife' kind of person but I imagine finding something suitable and practical to go in the back of a landcruiser is not easy. This is good mix of informative and practical information.
Thanks for resteeming her other post or I wouldn't have found her otherwise. I hope she joins Team Aus.
Thanks heaps for the comment. Appreciate it. I will join teamaus for sure... we are camping at mo so will get it together later in week xxx
I get so confused as to who is living in what on here without even really knowing whos who lol.. are you guys full time in a 4x4 ?!!!?!?!!
Happy camping! Still waiting for a warm spring with no ice in Norway!
Its a crazy long story!!!! Maybe I will confuse you some more then steem about it... 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Most likely so! Have good day or night i guess it is lol
Cheers!!! We really like it too!!
You got a 0.65% upvote from @emperorofnaps courtesy of @riverflows!
Want to promote your posts too? Send 0.05+ SBD or STEEM to @emperorofnaps to receive a share of a full upvote every 2.4 hours...Then go relax and take a nap!