Camper van cooking

The camper van lifestyle is all about simple pleasures, but can be accompanied by some challenges. For example, how do you cook a decent family meal in such a compact kitchen ?

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Actually you’d be surprised what you can come up with from unpromising material. Apart from the standard travel barbecue, the novelty of which can wear off, you can come up with some gloriously low preparation, one pot wonders which require little in the way of washing up.

While your culinary adventures will be largely dependent on how well your van is equipped, for example do you have little hooks you could put around to hang your cutlery, do you have a spare Used Pallet Racking you could put on top of your seating area to create a larger surface area or to put outside the camper van to create a bigger preparation area.  You can source these kind of materials from sites like https://www.rackzone.ie/pre-owned/racking, the recipes below need nothing more than a single ring of a hob and an optional travel barbecue.

Businesses can equip VW camper buses with neat little kitchen facilities including two ring hobs, small fridges and miniature sinks. You simply agree upon a formulation that’s right for your van and your cooking requirements and you can then get creative with mouthwatering recipes such as one pan lamb and couscous, one pot mushroom curry or even chicken pilaf. You can find more easy but delicious recipes here.

Main course

Try some garlic pesto pasta, for example. You’ll need a few cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped. Improvise a pestle and mortar with a mug and a wooden spoon, and muddle the garlic with a little olive oil and half a handful of pine nuts. Add a spoonful of Parmesan shavings and a little more olive oil and keep muddling until you have a fairly rough pesto-y paste. Boil and drain the pasta, then stir in the pesto paste. Serve topped with a bit more Parmesan and, if you like, some barbecued chicken.

Dessert

With just some fruit and kebab sticks you have the makings of something rather delicious. Cut up some fruit of your choice into large chunks and thread it onto kebab sticks – try grape, kiwi, pineapple and strawberry. In a small pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of orange juice with a tablespoon of honey and a good pinch each of cinnamon and ginger. Remove from the heat when it starts to bubble, then dribble or brush over the fruit kebabs and barbecue them for a minute or two on each side until they start to caramelise. Serve with cream, plain yoghurt or chocolate sauce…