Food for Thought

Buy a Cadac to cook outdoors. Buy a cheap induction hob from Maplins which you can stand on the table and even a slow cooker to ring the changes.

Kitchens don't come much smaller than in our Eriba- 3 gas rings, no oven, no grill, and no microwave - so we bought a £30 mini electric oven that lives under the bed and comes out for heating up ready meals, but we never barbecue. We have toured mainland Europe that way for ten years, but only rarely in the UK. 

Breakfast is continental + fruit and juice + cereal and yogurt +  an old Italian espresso pot boiling on one gas ring. 

Lunch in France is either whatever we have bought in the morning market  - paella, roast chicken or something else from the rotisserie van, or very, very often is main course + coffee from whichever local restaurant menu catches our eye. In UK we would go to a pub.

Supper is cold meats, ready made salads, cheese, fruit , extravagant patisseries, and wine. 

Frankly we never actually cook anything. 

Mrs Hitch, several takes on this....

if in europe (or anywhere) in warm weather, you will be eating different food to a cold winter day in the UK.

we've just had 6 weeks in warm weather and (apart from our time on aires) cooked (usually chops/steaks/chicken/fish) on an electric hotplate powered from a socket in the garage....and often had this with salad (and wine...).....so, just a chopping space needed for salad prep, which also could easily have been done outside.

flip this on its head and think about (say) a cooked dinner on a wet UK Sunday......

we have 3 gas rings, with a split glass cover (1 & 2) but often manage with one ring, sometimes two...

our gas Thetford Duplex oven (same as in many a UK van which we had put in to replace one of the six drawers in the kitchen) can easily cook most UK 'main course' meats...and potatoes, as we have two shelves.

on the hob, its perfectly possible to (say) boil one pan and have one (or two) steaming above it, saving space and gas.....though its perfectly possible to make use of all three if required.

most non-UK vans have large(ish) lounge tables that are easily accessed from the kitchen to aid prep or prep storage....

the other thing to consider is 'how do i wash up'in a small kitchen...

this is where a bit of 'process/organisation' comes in....

in our van the hob is to the left of the sink, with the right hand portion of the glasscover closed, there is just room for a (ebay special) plastic draining board to fit between dirty dishes on the left and the sink on the right....this then allows most washing up,to be done without issue.

the other thing is that there is often a flip up extension piece on the end of the work top.

yes, the kitchens are often small, but (apart from a microwave which we rarely used in the past) all the rest is there, including large fridge/freezer, oven, 3 rings, but significantly, stacks of safe storage low down.

Re: the smaller lounge, its usual to spin the cab chairs (i notice you said you didn't do this in a previous post) and feet can be placed on the adjacent side seats......cab seats can be reclined as required, giving proper supportive seating for tv watching or reading, as well as sitting up to the table for dining on the lovely meal youve just made
good luck with your deliberations.

Washing up in an Eriba with a small sink,  no draining board and no hot water supply?  Joke ?

Dirty plates, cups and glasses go into a bucket outside and when it's full or when we have run out of clean ones, then once a day one of us (guess who) wanders over to the toilet block. to use the big sinks there. In France there is always company there, but in the UK I am always alone for that task. 

 

the OP is taklking about the facilities in a smaller type Hymer MH (Hymer Van, perhaps?) and this will certainly have hot water (and cold, both from tanks) which will enable washing up 'should this be desired'.

my notes abover were to illustrate that this task is perfectly possible (for two people's dirty dishes) again 'should this be desired'.

we wash up in the van.

when in Spain on our January tour, i did a spate of 'going to the block' to wash up.....my OH thought i was bonkers wandering around the site at night with a bowl full of crocks...

i did it for about three days and realised it was far less effort to just turn the hot tap on in the van.

whilst more than happy to socialise at any part of a site, i dont need to go looking for company near the toilets at 9pm in the dark.....

the OP asked about managing with a small(er) kitchen area, i have responded with some practical thoughts.

yes, washing up elsewhere is an option but they also want to be able to cook there, too.

We have a Knaus with 3 burners and a TEC Tower oven, never use a microwave so when we looked if the van had one it was crossed off our list lol.  The key is to prepare everything first (can stand prepared food on the massive table or shelf between lounge seats and kitchen) , put everything away as you use it, then get on with the cooking part, we rarely use more than 2 rings, cook roasts type things in the oven or use the same to heat up frozen meals from home or ready meals, one pot meals are also helpful such as stew etc. If doing chops, steak etc. we ahve a small cadac safari chef BBQ we use.

Washing up we use the sink and have one of those JML drying cloth/stand things to stand it on whilst it drains (hangs in shower when not in use) and by this time the hob is cool so we put the lid down to stand it on.  We have a large area in front of out hob to use as well as the hob is at the back of the worktop under window.

As for lounging as BB says swivel front seats round, beer/wine open, feet up and bobs your mums brother.

It is really about thinking like a MHer and adjusting to suit your environment, we really only sit out abroad as we mostly tour out of season in the UK (4 trips planned to new year) so its not normally warm or dry enough to sit out seriously and we manage well, eat like we do at home with some adjustments.

Michael, good post, well summed up.

there is a mindset 'thing' to get over for those who come from a caravan.

we had a thread on this very subject recently but i think the OP got scared off, with the compromises.

the additional storage capacity (and easy driveability) the tow car gives is suddenly not there, and this forces compromises not found previously.

compromise on space, due to the towcar engine being now inside the 'caravan' (MH), compromise on space to store all those large items that went in the towcar, too....hence some designs make use of a garage or across the rear full locker.

squeezing these things into a van thats not too unweildy to drive or park is a designers nightmare/challenge, but skillful design has spawned some interesting innovations and layouts....

just looking at the Broadway EB, if this van had a dropdown bed , ot would be very close to the wonderful Hymer 544, large lounge, large washroom/kitchen and huge A class dropdown bed...

so, inspired design can overcome some of the 'perceived issues'.

of course, its usually the compromises that caravanners see 'writ large' whereas those who have been MHing for a while (especially abroad) only see the advantages of easier stopping, use of aires, collecting shopping en route, faster travel (if necessary), access to town/city centres in the touring vehicle, no going back to site for the caravan once  a newly visited town appeals....just stay there...etc, etc...

yes, a mindset change, for sure, but looks like Qashqai has the vision to see that touring life 'can' be made far simpler with a small MH.

Some excellent advice from both B.B. and MichaelT. We have already made the adjustment from Caravan to small Motorhome and got rid of many things. Space is difficult in the Broadway and we just have the two picnic chairs for outside use as we use the supplied table outside and in. As we have the bench seats there is no need to swivel the front seats so have found it convenient to strap the picnic chairs behind - the shower compartment is already used as a bottle store.

So, the small Hymer T, Exsis or Van do the job because we can use the garage for picnic chairs, BBQ etc. (need to watch payload though). A bit reluctant to go too much over my current 6.3m length so that is a further restriction. Went down that route with the Caravan and ended up selling it as it was too big to lug around Europe.

The real compromise is the kitchen (for OH) so the advice is welcome, particularly concerning washing up. The AS is only 18 months old and we love it but OH is always willing to consider more ways of spending money!

We have one of these, Multicooker.

Can use inside or out to cook /slow cook, bake, fry, steam rice veg etc. So versatile and portable.

makes excellent curries, stews, cooks joints of meat or half a chicken whilst out all day. Leaves the gas ring free for other things. 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User