Meatballs and BBQ outside on the Cadac
Do you cook in your campervan?
- Thread starter Rustic12
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I cook in the van all the time. In terms of the smelliest foods that spring to mind, we don't eat fish/bacon and have never done a curry, but lots of onions and garlic. I always open the slide window behind the hob when cooking, regardless of weather. I've never noticed a problem with smells. And van toasties from the ridge monkey are the best! It's one of my favourite things, making dinner in the van on a trip somewhere and I even wash up in the van sink as well! (There was a thread about that too I seem to recall). I love the whole experience!
No and I've even gone as far as taking the gas bottle and gas locker out to give us more storage space (the hob is still there but obviously not connected! TBH, we tend not to do a lot of cooking but when we do it's done on a combination of Cadac Safari Chef 30 and a gas stove - the ubiquitous square model that can be bought in any camping store! Both of them take the 'long' 227gm (I think!) gas cylinders that can be bought almost anywhere. We do however boil an electric kettle when on EHU or a collapsible one on gas when not.
No cooking on flame inside our camper is the rule. We sometimes use a microwave to heat food inside but always have the windows or door open when we do. When we feel the need to cook on flame we use a two burner Cadac outside in the drive-away awning.
Use the hob for simple meals (pasta dishes, the odd bacon sarnie) and plenty of boiling up water for drinks or things like Firepot meals.
Never once used the microwave.
I clean the van after every use and have never had a problem with smells lingering. The hard surfaces won’t absorb any (but get a wipe with multi surface cleaner anyway) and the rug gets a spray of febreeze type stuff and a good hoover.
It’s there for using.
Never once used the microwave.
I clean the van after every use and have never had a problem with smells lingering. The hard surfaces won’t absorb any (but get a wipe with multi surface cleaner anyway) and the rug gets a spray of febreeze type stuff and a good hoover.
It’s there for using.
We mostly eat out at pubs as the wife wants a break from cooking and tbh I want to go to the pub but regularly do bacon on the hob in the mornings and toasties for lunch/tea both done in the ridgemonkey to keep the spitting fat to a minimum. Have done all sorts in the ridgemonkey even a cake once. Pasta and sauce is a regular too, 2 jobs, 2 pans a good quick meal. We do have a cadac too so if the weather is good and we take it (often don’t bother on short trips or if it’s wet) then we will cook outside
We never fry in the van, only boil. All meat cooking is done outside on the BBQ.
Stir fry, cous-cous and roasted veg with salmon, reheating stew etc., chops, roast spuds, sausage bacon egg & beans, basically almost anything you would heat / fry / bake / roast. Sometimes a trivet is used.
It is a different approach. Worth experimenting at home before trying it in the van.
Mrs CAB likes it because it is less pressured - there is no constant stirring or adjusting of heat, she can sit and leave it for 5 minutes before going back.
You do need worktop space, especially important to have somewhere to place the lid when you takje it off (the electric element is in the lid).
Hob is used for rice / pasta / noodles if you are not putting it in the Remoska.
We have the larger Remoska (Grand) and cook almost everything in it (even at home). It consumes 1Ah per minute from our battery, if not on electric hook up.
We use a silicone cake mould, which we’ve found lines the bottom of it well and makes it easier to clean.
Bought some rectangular metal cake tins which we use to heat up curry and rice, or make individual shepherds pies, crumbles etc..
Sometimes we decant ready meals into the tins to heat them up.
Can do roast potatoes and veg, heat pies, “roast” chicken etc..
As @CAB says you need to have somewhere for the lid; one of us tends to hold it whilst dishing up and then just put it back on.
The only thing we use a hob for is a fry up and for that we use a two ring electric hob outside. Bad weather, no fry up
!
Our gas hob is completely redundant, much like our gas grill (which is used for food storage).
If I could spec the van again, I wouldn’t have gas at all.
We use a silicone cake mould, which we’ve found lines the bottom of it well and makes it easier to clean.
Bought some rectangular metal cake tins which we use to heat up curry and rice, or make individual shepherds pies, crumbles etc..
Sometimes we decant ready meals into the tins to heat them up.
Can do roast potatoes and veg, heat pies, “roast” chicken etc..
As @CAB says you need to have somewhere for the lid; one of us tends to hold it whilst dishing up and then just put it back on.
The only thing we use a hob for is a fry up and for that we use a two ring electric hob outside. Bad weather, no fry up
!Our gas hob is completely redundant, much like our gas grill (which is used for food storage).
If I could spec the van again, I wouldn’t have gas at all.
As might be gathered from my post above (#43), I'd probably do the same. As an aside, as I've said on here before, we never use the sink as a sink either but it does make a great place to store a small washing up bowl along with tea towels, rubber gloves, scourers and a small bottle of washing up liquid. I've even pulled the fuse on the water pump so that it doesnt inadvertently get switched on without being noticed and burns out. All the changes that I've made are easily reversible should we ever come to sell the van.
Our sink is the bread bin, I leave the water on to fill the kettle. Fortunately it appears that (our) bread grows naturally in plastic bags which are proving to be quite waterproof should one of us 'dribble'!
Could I ask what make / model is the microwave please? Is it a low wattage model specifically for camper vans or motor homes?
Cheers,
Rick.
I will need to check but it only works on EHU so think it’s a standard 240v microwave. I’d imagine a 700w.
Ok thanks.
We sometimes use a Sharp YC-MS02U-S 800W microwave cooker in our van when on longer trips. When travelling, we store it underneath the RIB bed in a sturdy ABS box with lid, and packed with high density foam,. It’s secured to the RIB bed frame with a couple of 200kg straps to keep it from moving around. It’s rated at 1250W at 240V so is fine when we’re connected to EHU.
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Likewise my answer is "no, because I can't!"
I tend to stick to boiling the kettle as my pod is the basic essentials so no sink. I do have a RidgeMonkey for simply frying toasties and folding pan for warming up tinned stuff. I do have a folding washing up bowl that works great as a tray to pour the drinks on and hold food while prepping.
