Food on holiday is not only fuel but a pleasure, and at the same time a source of a good deal of everyday hassle. At a campground meals need thinking through: how to store food without a full fridge, what to cook on, where to get water, what to snack on the road and how not to turn the holiday into endless cooking and washing up. Well-organised meals make the holiday well-fed, tasty and unburdensome; left to chance, they turn into spoiled food, monotony and weariness at the stove. Let us go through how to set up meals at a campground from planning the menu to snacks on the road.
Planning the menu
It all starts with a plan. Think through a menu for the days of the trip, based on the conditions: what can be stored, what spoils fast, what is simple to cook. A good camp menu is simple, filling dishes from available products, not requiring complex cooking and a lot of crockery. Plan what you cook on the first day (perishables) and what later (grains, tinned food, root vegetables). A shopping list drawn up in advance saves you from extra purchases and a shortage of what is needed. At the same time leave room for improvisation and local products — that is part of the pleasure of travel.
Storing food
Storage is the main difficulty of camp cooking. If the motorhome has a fridge, keep perishables (dairy, meat, ready dishes) in it, monitoring the operating mode (gas, 12 V, mains). Without a fridge a cool bag with ice packs, cool shaded compartments and the "eat perishables first" principle help out. Dry products (grains, pasta, tinned food, crispbread) are kept in airtight containers away from moisture and insects. Food is kept closed and inaccessible to animals. Proper storage determines what and how long you can eat, so it gets special attention.
What to cook on
The main cooking tool in a motorhome is the gas stove, which does not load the electrical network and works autonomously. It needs a gas supply, checked before the trip. Alternatives and supplements: a portable gas burner, a grill or barbecue (where open fire is allowed), an electric hotplate when connected to electricity. You can also cook in the campground's shared kitchen, unloading your own gas and not heating the cabin in the heat. The choice of cooking method depends on the dish, the weather and the connections available, and experienced travellers combine them by situation.
Water for cooking and drinking
Cooking and drinking need clean water, and its supply is planned separately. For drinking and cooking use only checked water — from a drinking water point, bottled or treated (boiling, a filter). Keep drinking water separate from technical. Calculate the consumption with a margin: cooking, drinking, washing up add up to a noticeable volume. Save water when washing up (two basins, a pre-wipe), but never on drinking, especially in the heat. Clean water is the basis of both tasty food and health on the trip.
Washing up without hassle
Washing up is what can poison the pleasure of cooking if not organised sensibly. Remove food residue and grease with a napkin before washing, wash in two basins (soapy and for rinsing), do not run the tap. Use a minimum of crockery: "one-pan" dishes reduce both cooking and washing up. Do not pour grease and scraps into the sink and grey tank — that means blockages and smell. Quick-drying towels and a compact drying rack finish the process. Well-organised washing up saves water, time and nerves, especially in a large group.
Simple dishes for a campground
The best camp food is simple, filling and quick. Good options: porridge and grains with stew or vegetables, pasta with simple sauces, one-pot stews and soups, fried eggs and omelettes, grilled dishes (meat, vegetables, fish), sandwiches and salads. Prepared items from home (chopped, marinated, partly cooked) save time on site. Tinned food and grains are a reliable "safety margin" in case the fresh food runs out. The main principle is minimum complexity and crockery with maximum nourishment, because on holiday you want to eat well but not spend half the day at the stove.
Snacks and food on the road
On the way between pitches snacks that need no cooking help out: nuts, dried fruit, bars, fruit, sandwiches, biscuits, a thermos of tea or coffee. Keep them to hand in the cabin so as not to stop at every pang of hunger, especially if travelling with children. On long stretches plan stops at a café or rest areas for a proper meal. Thought-out road snacks relieve fatigue and tantrums, make the legs of the journey easier and remove the temptation to eat whatever at petrol stations.
Shops and replenishing food
Counting on a full supply for the whole trip is not always convenient — fresh food runs out. Find out whether there is a shop on the campground territory and where the nearest large shops along the route are, to replenish products. When buying, avoid excess packaging (it is both rubbish and space) and take only as much fresh food as you will manage to eat. Local markets and shops are also a chance to try regional products, which adds colour to the trip. The balance between a supply from home and purchases on site is chosen to suit the length and route of the trip.
The fridge: types and modes
The fridge is the heart of the camp kitchen, and what you can store depends on it. An absorption fridge runs on gas, 12 V and the mains: in autonomy it is kept on gas, in motion on 12 V, on a pitch with a connection on 230 V. It is silent but sensitive to heat and tilt, so it is important to level the motorhome. A compressor fridge is more efficient and not afraid of heat, but consumes electricity and on a single battery in the heat can drain it within a day. Without a built-in fridge a cool bag with ice packs helps out. Understanding your fridge's operating modes and cooling it in advance before loading food is the basis of food not spoiling in the heat.
Barbecue and cooking on fire
Cooking on a grill and barbecue is one of the main gastronomic pleasures of a campground. Meat, vegetables, fish over coals turn an ordinary dinner into an event. But first find out whether open fire is allowed: in the fire-risk season and at many campgrounds it is restricted, and you may only cook on designated barbecue areas or a gas grill. Observe fire safety: do not light fire by tents and dry grass, do not leave it unattended, fully extinguish the coals. Cook with a time margin — coals do not catch at once. A barbecue is both food and the atmosphere many love a campground for, so a grill or barbecue is often brought along specially.
Supplies and an emergency set
Besides the current menu, it is sensible to keep a small "non-perishable reserve" of long-storage products — grains, pasta, tinned food, stew, crackers, sugar, salt. It bails you out if the fresh food runs out, the shop is far or you are delayed on the road. Such a reserve does not spoil and takes almost no space, yet guarantees you will not go hungry under any circumstances. To this belong a supply of drinking water and gas. Experienced travellers always carry such a minimal emergency set, especially heading into autonomous trips far from shops, where there is nowhere to replenish food.
Coffee, tea and drinks
A small thing that strongly affects the pleasure is hot drinks. Morning coffee or tea under the awning in the fresh air is one of those simple rituals a campground is loved for. Take your usual tea and coffee, a way of making them (a pot, a moka pot, a French press, instant as a backup), a thermos to keep boiling water and not heat it every time. In the heat cold drinks chilled in the fridge or cool bag come in handy. These details seem insignificant, but it is exactly such small pleasures that build the sense of cosiness and homeliness even far from home.
Meals with children and special diets
If there are children or people with special dietary needs on the trip, this is accounted for in advance. Children need familiar products, snacks, enough to drink, a meal regime. For those with allergies and on a diet, take checked products with a margin, not counting on finding what is needed in a roadside shop. Meals planned in advance for all members of the group save you from problems on the road, where the choice of products is limited. This is especially important for small children, whose tantrums from hunger or unfamiliar food can spoil the day for the whole family.
A short set of rules
- Plan the menu in advance: simple, filling, to suit storage.
- Eat perishables first, keep dry products in airtight containers.
- Cook on gas, a grill or the shared kitchen by situation.
- Take only checked drinking water, keep it separate.
- Wash up economically, minimise the amount of crockery.
- Keep snacks to hand, replenish food at shops along the way.
Well-organised meals are half the pleasure of a trip: tasty, filling food in the fresh air is perceived quite differently from at home, and a simple set-up saves you from weariness at the stove and leaves more time for the rest itself. And campgrounds with a shop, café and kitchen are easy to find through the catalogue and on the map.