Cooking in a Caravan: Share Your Best Recipes

One of our favourite Winter meals, vegetarian, is a one dish, done in the oven treat. We take all sorts of veg, (shallots, carrots, small new potatoes, sweet potato, cauliflower florets, parsnips, etc….) something like veggie sausages, Quorn pieces or nuggets, or falafels, cut into small/ medium chunks depending on how things roast, drizzle with a bit of oil, optional sprinkle with some herbs or spices, roast veg until nearly done, add in sausages, Quorn, falafels according to cooking time, then last thing mix in a generous dollop of something like Mango Chutney or other flavoured chutney, back in oven until hot all through, serve and eat. Could add warm Ciabatta or breadsticks if needed. All done in a throw away foil roasting tin for ease if needed, or non stick easy clean tin if preferred. Tasty, warming, easy.👍😋 Smaller portion good as a side dish with fish, or meat if preferred. Nice cold as well with salad for lunch.

We cook meals when off site, make full use of our oven/hob all the time. Nothing nicer in Winter than heading out for day, either from home or from a site, pack a lunch, head off with bikes, back for a rest and then a nice meal in a lovely location, before heading either back home or back to site. 

I did see on one of the Facebook Groups the other day that two families had got together to create a full roast dinner for 8/10 people which must have been quite a challenge even using the cooking facilities of two caravans? 

For our own part we rarely cook from fresh these days whilst in the motorhome, preferring the convenience of Ready Meals. The likes of Waitrose and M&S, plus the other supermarkets have such a choice and tend to leave the culinary adventures to home these days. In days gone by we did cook outside on a two burner Camping stove but the rules was always no more than two pans, I seem to recall a lot of Pasta being consumed which is quick and easy to produce a quick and filling meal. 

David 

Pasta is always a good camping option😁 

That sounds a really good recipe.   Might try that at home.  

As for pasta, yes a good standby if your OH will eat it!!  Mine won’t go near it let alone actually eat it, some sort of texture issue apparently.  

I cook a roast vegetables similar to takethedogalong at home, never thought of adding protien to it. Because I do it at home I tend to use all root vegetables plus butternutsquash and it easily fills 2 large roasting pans. Freeze in individual portions. Serve as veg or grate cheese over for quick bite.

Heddlo i have the same issues with OH and any pasta. Texture appears the issue, regardless of the shape..... Sad cos I like it.

That sounds delicious! Will definitely try this. 

Yes, good idea about cooking off site. We often cook a one pot to take with us, like a chilli, on the first night. Something nice and easy after set up! 

Now that’s a coincidence. My Mum would never eat pasta because of the texture. 🤷‍♀️ I shared a pasta meal with her one day, all disguised with a lovely tomato and cheese based sauce, telling her it was Italian noodles. Down it all went without any resistance. (Mum does love stir fry noodles) So a name changed worked for Mum🤷‍♀️

That veggie roast, we don’t add all the protein options, just one at a time, and change the herbs, spices chutney flavours to suit. Really is tasty. 

I sometimes make something like a veggie lasagne to take with us for first night away, or if we have guests coming to MH that night as well. It’s not the cooking while away I don’t enjoy, it’s the washing up🤣

We have a fantastic pasta dish originally thrown together on our last night in Cornwall many years ago from bits and bobs we had left. It’s been refined down the years……….

Pasta, sliced mushrooms (plenty of these), frozen peas or tinned sweetcorn. Cook these together for appropriate times (I boil in large fry pan) when all cooked to how you like, drain thoroughly, add a jar of pasta sauce (you want it slightly sloppy), add in some tomato purée for extra yummy taste, sliced/diced mozzarella, and plenty of grated Parmesan. Sliced black olives optional. Reheat until all the cheese has melted through, serve with extra Parmesan and black pepper. Known as Midgia Modgia in this household🤣 We do a version with prawns known as Splodgia. Trust me, you will need a bib🤣 One pan, utterly delicious. (At home, with a dishwasher, I fry mushrooms and sweetcorn, cook pasta separate and then all into fry pan) Ro, children usually love this, and got 3 veg built in👍 Takes 15 mins as well.

In the very early days of CT there was a couple, Sam and Richie, who started a thread running about recipes for caravanning. Wonder if this thread is still around, I seem to recall quite a few good suggestion on it.

We take our small Lakeland slow/rice cooker everywhere with us. So versatile curries, stews, stroganoff, goulash, bean and lentil soups etc.. We just plan ahead of a trip and take small quantities of spices, herbs, sauces needed so we only have to buy the ordinary/fresh items whilst out on tour. Farm shops can provide some excellent quality meat and other goods. 
Oh, and we have made a lasagne in ours too, it works and I like the very slightly crispy on the edge pasta.

Here’s the lasagne slow cooker recipe

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-lasagne

There are so many meals, some you wouldn’t consider possible, the slow cooker can make and many are well worth exploring.

I think Richie passed away years ago Micky. Before the last update to CT in 2016 I think, so might be hard to find.
There have been some great foodie tips passed on down the years. We don’t BBQ (we don’t eat meat) so most of our cooking is done on our hob or oven. Our outfit doesn’t have a microwave either, but I did used to take a small lightweight tiered electric steamer away in our caravan when we spent weeks at a time away in Cornwall in Summer. When we got MH with oven, we did try a few ready meals just slapped in oven for convenience, but didn’t really enjoy them, and they’re just not for us. I can cook a simple one pan curry as well, couple of Naan breads warmed in oven, that’s an easy do. 

Bit more summery idea…….boiled new potatoes, (hot or cold) tins of tuna, chopped sun dried tomatoes, chopped celery, sliced olives, shred a small lettuce, tin of sweetcorn, then just enough sauce of some kind (lemon mayo, seafood) to bind it together in the bowls, black pepper….yummy😋