Who we are and how did we grow this Van Life cooking and recipe community?
We are Mark & Sophie and we own Florence the ambulance. When we met Mark had his beloved T4 Betsy and amazing as she was, we soon realised that she wouldn’t be big enough for the family adventures we were planning. This led to a phone call one sunny day on May 19 with Mark driving back from Oxford to tell Sophie that he had purchased an ex ambulance!
We had great fun transforming her from an ambulance to a home on wheels but it didn’t come without its problems, as shown on our page! There was a time when we thought we may have to give up on it all, but luckily we got through it. We have since decided to renovate Flo to create the Vanlife Eats van, follow our journey on YouTube – vanlifeeats
Currently living separately, Mark is living full-time van life while Sophie still lives the houselife! After the setbacks with getting Flo back on the road, 2020 was going to be the big year for travel and lots of UK family adventures, sadly that was not meant to be. So during this time of ‘lockdown’ Mark – a trained PT and nutritionist and Sophie a Healthcare Professional (not a paramedic!) came up with the idea you see before you today.
How this all started..
While travelling around has been difficult if not impossible for most, and likely for it to be disrupted for some time to come, what do we all have in common? – we all need to eat. Whether that’s parked up on a beautiful beach gazing across the azure seas, refuelling yourself for a day hiking or climbing, or if it’s just a date night on the drive in the van, food can be such an amazing part of those experiences.
With a real passion for food and cooking, the idea to create a social platform all about food for vanlifers seemed ideal. Rather than just sharing recipes made in Flo we wanted to know what everyone else is eating in their vans? What are your favourite meals?
So if you have a passion for van life and a passion for food then you are in the right place.
Please feel free to share the food you love to make and eat in your van, try other people’s recipes and let us know how you get on – remember to share the love and be kind.
Love
Mark & Sophie
Our kitchen set-up
We currently have a dual burner stove top, mini electric oven and a Dometic 3 way cool box. Plus lots of gadgets!
Our favourite van kitchen gadget
We can’t pick just one! We love our Omnia stove top oven and our Zyliss Easy Pull blender. We couldn’t be without them now
Our favourite meal to make in our van
Our favourite thing to make and eat in our van is Mark’s vegetable curry with homemade naan bread.
If there’s anything else you want to know then just ask us – hello@vanlifeeats.com