This super simple recipe of guacamole loaded sweet potatoes is a great recipe for campervans everywhere. There is no requirement of an oven, and can all be cooked on a single stove. We all know this is ideal for vanlife. This meal is a great vegan main that can be served with a side salad, or reduce the portions and use it as a side.
Avocado’s are one of those things that seems to take forever to ripen and then suddenly it’s ready and then goes overripe! If you are looking for a recipe to use up ripe avocado then this is great as it uses a lot of ingredients you may already have in your van.
This recipe is a favourite of featured @happy_vagabonds you can read their feature right here. They took inspiration for this recipe from Food with feeling and made it vanlife friendly. We love this! You can still eat what you want when cooking in a campervan or any tiny home for that matter. Sometimes you may just need a little creativity and a few tweaks. That is one of the many exciting aspects of vanlife!
If you try this recipe be sure to rate it below and leave a comment.
I never would have thought of combining sweet potatoes and guacamole until I saw the idea on Pinterest! The flavors pair together really well, and we love this meal! It’s quick and easy to make on a week night after work. And it’s quite filling, especially with a salad. But, I will sometimes serve it with a side of quinoa, as well.
5 from 1 vote
10 Ingredients or less – 30 minute meal – One-pan – Stove top meal
Wash and chop up the sweet potatoes into 1 inch chunks, or so.
Place the sweet potatoes in a medium pan, cover them with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer for around 15 minutes
While the potatoes cook, make your guacamole. Chop up the onion and tomato, and mince the garlic.
In a medium bowl, mash up the avocados. Mix in the onion, tomato, garlic, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
When the sweet potatoes are fully cooked, spoon them onto plates, adding salt and pepper if you’d like. Then, top the sweet potatoes with the guacamole and black beans.
Garnish with cilantro, and voila! You’re ready to dig in!
Add chicken broth, potatoes, and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to medium low and cook until potatoes are tender.
While the soup is cooking, fry up the bacon, and set aside.
Once the potatoes are tender, add in the chicken, corn and heavy whipping cream. Simmer for 15 minutes or so, letting the flavors meld.
Serve soup topped with crumbled bacon, freshly squeezed lime, and cheddar cheese. Yum!
Adapted with some changes from Cooking Classy
This is our absolute favorite cookie recipe! I made it all the time in the early years of our marriage, before we left for Vanlife. And I was delighted to learn that I could make cookies on a propane stove top with a covered pan!
If you are like us, and don’t have an oven in your van, you will need a lidded pan to make these cookies. It creates an oven effect on your stove top. If you don’t have a pan lid, perhaps you could try a dinner plate!
If you have an electric mixer, you would be fine just using softened butter. I melt my butter to make mixing easier. I didn’t bring my hand mixer, since we boondock most of the time, and rely completely on our solar panels and battery bank. Fellow boondockers, I know you understand!
Melt the butter in the pan you will be using to bake the cookies on. Yay for less dishes! Once the butter is melted, use a scraping spatula to get all of the butter into a mixing bowl. Stir the peanut butter into the butter until well blended.
Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract until combined
Add flour and mix until well combined.
Finally, stir in your chocolate chips. The dough should be thick, and the chocolate chips might fall off a bit to the bottom of the bowl. That’s okay! Fold in the chip stragglers as you roll your dough into 1 ½ inch balls and place those balls in your pan, spaced at least an inch apart.
Cover the pan, and cook on the lowest flame possible without your propane stove going out (see picture for reference). The lower the flame, the more evenly they will cook. We don’t want burnt-bottom cookies!
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until they firm up, and are no longer doughy. The time could be shorter or longer for you, depending on your stove. Keep an eye on them.
I have been using this pizza dough recipe for years! I’ve tried new dough recipes since, but I always come back to this one. It is so simple and always turns out great! Imagine my delight when I realized I could make homemade pizza on our propane stove top in the van! When I photographed this recipe, it was during the COVID-19 quarantine, so the grocery store was out of organic all-purpose flour. I tried making it with organic quinoa flour, instead. I didn’t realize quinoa flour is like a whole wheat flour. That’s why the crust has a darker color. I do NOT recommend using a non-white flour with this recipe! The quinoa flour made the dough difficult to work with, and the crust too crumbly. Plus, the flavor was blah at best. This recipe works best with white flour, and turns out ah-mazing every time with it!
3cupAll-purpose white flour (set aside 1/2 cup for kneading)
Instructions
Add the warm water to a mixing bowl. Next, add the baking soda, olive oil, and honey (in that exact order, if you want the ingredients to roll right off the measuring spoon well). Then, add the salt, and mix until well combined. Finally, add 2 ½ flour, and stir until it begins to form a ball of dough.
I usually knead the dough for a few minutes by hand, adding flour until it stops sticking to my fingers. This is when you will start adding in the ½ cup of flour that you set aside. You may not need the full ½ cup. Just add flour and keep kneading until the dough doesn’t stick to your fingers any more.
At this point, I usually split the dough in two, and save half of it for a second night of personal pizzas, since there are only two of us. ¼ of the dough will make one personal pan pizza.
Now is the time to add your sauce, cheese, and toppings. Let cook until the cheese melts, and the crust firms up on the bottom. If you like a crispier crust, you may want to turn up the flame a bit on the stove to crisp it.The pizza should slide right out of the pan and onto your plate. Slice it up and enjoy!Adapted from Life in the Lofthouse
This delicious vegan shepherds pie recipe is cooked in the Omnia! A great recipe from Brown bird and company. Shepherds pie doesn’t need to be off the menu just because you’re cooking in a van with no oven. The Omnia stove top oven means recipes like this shepherds pie can be cooking away in your home on wheels.
If you are thinking of buying an Omnia oven, this article may be of use to you.
Peel and chop all potatoes into roughly 2cm chunks. Place the white potatoes in a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes
Add the sweet potatoes in after 5 minutes
Drain and then add the margarine in with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Mash until smooth and set aside
Peel and finely slice the onion and the carrots. Fry with a splash of oil for 10 minutes until softened on a medium heat
Meanwhile roughly chop the mushrooms and then add to the pan with the garlic paste, soy sauce and tomato paste. Cook for a further 10 minutes
Add into the vegetable stock (50 ml), lentils and chickpeas (with the juice) and allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes
Stir in the rosemary and thyme and then add into the Omnia
Spread the mash over the top and sprinkle the panko breadcrumbs on top
Pancakes are a definite favourite in any van kitchen. These protein pancakes give you the fuel you need for your adventures! Just add whichever toppings you choose
Since we are two huge pizza fanatics, this was the ultimate criteria for our vanlife. If we can’t make a pizza without an oven or Omnia, then we would be forced to let our dream of vanlife die. But we wanted to travel so badly! So we sat down, tinkered and finally developed a really cool recipe, which we would like to share with you. And we can now rightly say, especially since we now have an Omnia, that we stick to the pan-pizza method. It is the best pizza you can make in a van!If you want, you can watch our pan pizza tutorial on YouTube in advance (german, English subs are following):
Pan-pizza recipe, without an oven and OMNIA. Only one pan is required, but then with a lid. If you don’t have a proper lid for your pan your can consider taking aluminium foil or a big plate that fits the pan.
Dough prep
The dough can be prepared in two different ways: the quick or short version. The long variant would be preferable so that the dough can rise properly and the digestibility after eating is better.
Long version: Put the flour and salt in a bowl and mix well. Make a hole in the middle with a spoon, add a large sip of warm water and stir sugar and dry yeast in it. Wait 10min so that the yeast can react with the sugar, then add the olive oil and begin to stir the dough. Add water in sips until there is still more flour than water. Now start kneading the dough by hand until all ingredients have been mixed well and the dough has achieved a homogeneous appearance. It should then no longer stick to the hand. Then covered for two hours with a damp towel so that the dough doesn’t get a thick skin and put it in a warm place. In summertime it works very well behind the car windows.
Short version: Put ALL ingredients in a bowl, stir, let the dough stand for 10 minutes, then process further. Here the fresh yeast as well as the sugar and warm water are not essential, as they would not have time to rise anyway. The (dry) yeast and olive oil could certainly be left out if necessary.
The golden craft: It is best to have the dough and topping ingredients ready together when the pan is placed on the stove. Allow it to heat up on a high setting with the lid on the pan. Now shred a handful of the prepared dough and shape the pizza out of it. Have the floured plate ready for temporary storage. When the pan is hot, turn down the heat to the medium setting, add the pizza –dough WITHOUT oil to the pan and bake for about 3-4 minutes, with the lid on. After that, turn the pizza to the other side, put one big tablespoon of the spread on it and add the ingredients you want. Add the cheese last, put the lid back on and bake for another 3-4 minutes.
If you use fresh tomatoes, first boil them for a few moments in salted boiling water, drain and cool them under running water. After peeling them, remove the seeds and cut them into strips.
In a pan (preferably iron) heat the oil and add the bacon cut into strips about a couple of centimetres long. When it has started to melt add the chilli. Cook the bacon until it has browned, then add the white wine. Let it evaporate, drain the bacon and keep aside in the heat.
In the same pan put the crushed peeled tomatoes (or the fresh ones previously prepared), season with salt and cook for the cooking time of the pasta, which in the meantime you will have thrown into a saucepan with boiling salted water.
When it is almost cooked, add the bacon to the seasoning and remove the chilli pepper. Drain the pasta al dente and transfer it to the pan with the sauce. Off the heat, add the grated pecorino and season with pepper to taste.
Mix well and serve immediately, completing your amatriciana pasta with more pecorino
This recipe is great if you want a quick meal, you could even use left-over pasta sauce to make it even quicker.
However if you feel like being a little more extravagant – why not make your own flatbread for the base. Only 2 ingredients required, recipe right here!
Simple Flat Bread Pizza
Vegan, Vegetarian
This is one of my favourite quick lunches to have in the van. Personally I love the simple margarita but you have endless options to add for additional toppings
The sauce is the boss! My favorite way to make sauces and dressings is to shake it in a mason jar to combine the ingredients thoroughly and easily store the leftovers.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine tahini, coconut oil, honey and a pinch of sea salt. Taste and add more honey if you prefer a sweeter treat.
In the mean time, line a tupperware or baking pan with parchment paper or foil.
Fill the bottom with a layer of chocolate chips – add more if necessary to fill bottom of pan.
Once tahini mixture is warm, pour over chocolate chips.
A burger-less burger. That’s my idea of heaven. I’m a vegetarian and I don’t eat bread so I am just used to avoiding burgers altogether. These little micro burgers are so useful for bite sized sustenance you can grab and eat when you are busy. They can be made ahead of time and store well in the fridge. Likewise you can freeze the ‘dough’ to make them quickly at will, handy for spontaneous camping trips or BBQs. The addition of quinoa makes them hearty and filling, and their size makes them versatile for snack boards or picnics or sliders.
They make a great lunch spread with Handmade Hummus, Summer Tomato Salad and Golden Flatbreads.
Mix linseeds in a small bowl with 2-3 tablespoons of water, and set aside. Over a low heat cook lentils, tomatoes, water, spices and a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan until fragrant, the liquid is absorbed and lentils are soft, about 20 minutes (add more water as you cook if necessary, little by little). Add linseed mixture and stir well.
Add all ingredients (except sesame seeds) while still hot to a large bowl and mash with a fork or a potato masher. Mix well until thoroughly combined and a thick dough is formed. Allow to cool before you make into burgers. If the mixture is too wet, add a little more flour, if too dry, add a drizzle of olive oil.
Add all ingredients (except sesame seeds) while still hot to a large bowl and mash with a fork or a potato masher. Mix well until thoroughly combined and a thick dough is formed. Allow to cool before you make into burgers. If the mixture is too wet, add a little more flour, if too dry, add a drizzle of olive oil.
Once you have a tray full of little burgers, sprinkle with sesame seeds and press them on a little bit.
You can either bake or fry these guys:
Bake in the oven at 200ºC/Gas mark 6/ 395ºF for 15 minutes, turning burgers over half way.
If frying, using a skillet or fry pan, fry in a little olive oil, over medium heat, 2-3 minutes each side, until crispy and golden brown and firm to touch. (Frying method tip: Fry sesame side down and sprinkle more on the other side while you cook)
Cook in small batches so you have room in the pan to move them around and flip over.
Serve with a spicy, sweet chutney, sriracha mayo or your favourite hummus and some salad leaves or put in a burger bun, lightly toasted and top with some salad, sliced tomato and chutney for a very flavourful, moorish veggie burger situation.
Our featured vanlifer Vanessa has been travelling in her van Van-essa for over 2 years. Vanessa loves the outdoors and is a keen trail runner and has climbed a fair few mountains! Check out her Instagram at @vanessa_chav to see incredible photos of her outdoor adventures.
Originally from Columbia and now living in the USA Vanessa has witnessed the inequality in accessing outdoor trails and the like for BIPOC individuals and is working to improve this, search #DiversifyOutdoors on social media for more information.
Vanessa is a keen forager, and uses foraged food when cooking in her van. Read on to find out what our featured vanlifer likes to eat when travelling in self-built van, Van-essa.
What is your favourite feature of your van?
All of the cozy nooks and places to sit.
What has been your favourite experience in your van so far?
I really enjoy the simplicity and freedom I’m granted through van life. My favorite experiences include being able to sleep at trailheads and waking up before dawn for big mountain climbs. Afterwards I feel like I float all the way down to my van and everything I need is there waiting for me! Another favorite experience is being able to forage for mushrooms in the spring and early summer. This year I had great luck finding golden river morels along the Yellowstone river. I was able to forage, clean, and cook them all from my van! I really enjoy being on the road and being independent — especially when I can cook better foods than I would find at restaurants!
What has been your worst experience in your van?
I have faced my fair share of build-out and maintenance nightmares! My van does this terrifying thing where the check engine light comes on and a start countdown commences. Basically the van starts counting down from 10, and once it gets to 0 it will no longer start. Car maintenance issues are always stressful, but even more-so when the car also happens to be your home! It’s helpful to have a plan or a friend that will let you crash at their house in case the van is having issues.Â
Describe your van kitchen setup
Unfortunately my dream van kitchen has not been built yet! We have been building our van in segments for the sake of cost/time. Right now I have a Dometic fridge/freezer, a toaster, an Ikea kitchen island cart as a counter and storage, and a NEMO Helio pressure shower as a sink. I use an MSR camp stove for cooking, which I have to assemble every time I want to cook. It is all functional but I am definitely hoping to improve the situation by getting a Dometic stove and a foot pump sink!
What is your favourite van kitchen accessory and why?
Definitely the toaster. I love making toasts and it is such an easy and convenient way to heat things up! Especially considering my stove situation. I use the toaster for bread, croissants, tortillas, and more. I recently discovered I can make grilled cheese sandwiches by flipping the toaster on its side and sliding in some bread with slices of cheese on top. It’s genius!
What is your favourite thing to cook in your van?
My favorite things to cook in the van are mushrooms that I forage myself. It’s so exciting to incorporate them into decadent pastas, stir-frys, omelets, and toasts. Because I mainly live in my van during summers I also like to eat lots of fresh foods and non-cook meals. I inhale salads with veggies from my friend’s garden, avocado and lox toasts, and smoothies! It feels so good to take advantage of our short growing season and eat as locally as I can!
Have you had any cooking disasters in your van?
I’ve had a few particularly messy experiences with beets…the problem is they stain EVERYTHING. When your bed is two feet from your kitchen, things get messy real fast! I’m also working on storage solutions for fruits and veggies that don’t go in the fridge. Right now I keep those items on my bed but it’s not always the most stable. Last summer one of my avocados rolled away and went missing for a few days…luckily I found it before it went bad!
Do you have any first hand funny van life stories to tell?
I spent most of the spring down by the Yellowstone river — such a nice place to sleep. It was my first spring in the area and I was shocked by how much the river was rising from all of the snowmelt. One night my partner and I slept at a familiar fishing access site. At about 5am we heard a knock on our van and the sheriff announcing himself. I was prepared for the regular “you can’t sleep here, please park somewhere else” conversation. Much to our surprise, when we opened the van door we found that the van was IN the water. The river had risen so much overnight that our parking area had turned into a steady stream, and was continuing to rise! Needless to say we were very thankful that the sheriff woke us up. If not, we would have probably kept sleeping and maybe even washed away!
To apply for a featured post on vanlifeeats.com simply follow this link and fill out the application form. We promote all featured van lifers across all our social media networks, we send out a “featured Van Lifer” sticker for your van as well as awarding you a prestigious badge for your profile on our website.
Looking for the best vanlife cooking pan? Shallow fry, deep fry, boil, bake and even steam all from one lightweight, non-stick heavy-duty pan. Everything that makes the perfect vanlife cooking pan.
One pan to rule them all
We had been talking about replacing our rusty old cast iron skillet pan for a while. Then one crazy early morning whilst up with the kids (pre-kids TV early), flicking through channels I found myself pausing on a shopping channel.
Not to the kids best amusement, I managed to watch the demonstrations on how this pan could do just about everything you could ever need on a stove-top. I was totally impressed!
I could see this pan not only replacing our skillet pan but also replacing at least one saucepan.
With tired eyes (probably not the best time to be on a shopping channel) I found myself visiting the website and placing an order for £84.99.
After a morning cup of tea I was starting to regret what I had done. I am a terror with spontaneous internet purchase when I am tired or have had a tipple or two.
Had I made a mistake or had I found the best vanlife cooking pan?
It had been a long night and the little ones had had restless night so I had left Sophie to have a lie in. I had a feeling I knew what her reaction would be when I told her I had bought our pan on a shopping channel.
I’ve found the best vanlife cooking pan, I’ve bought it from the shopping channel… there was the eye rolls!
When I explained what it was and why I thought it would be so good she agreed it sounded ideal and we both looked forward to testing it out.
What’s in the Box
When the pan arrived we unwrapped each component.
One deep pan
One glass lid with vent
One detachable handle
One frying basket
One silicone steaming tray
We were very impressed at how every element of the set stacks within itself and forms a nice little compact set that is easy to store.
The pan itself feels sturdy and has a good solid base. The finish is a stone effect non-stick smooth finish.
The removable handle attaches with a grip mechinsism and feels solid and has a good grip.
Every element feels of a good quality and give the impression of a solid long lasting pan.
Steaming
Stemaing is one of the best methods of cooking vegetables. Water can soak out many of the nutrients in your vegetables and since teaming avoids any contact with water it is excellent for preserving these nutrients.
Steaming was one of the most appealing aspects of the Flavorstone and is one of the reasons why we are putting up as possibly the best vanlife cooking pan.
How many of you have a stackable steaming set in your van? They are bulky and hard to store. I’m sure many of you just boil your vegetables for convenience. Right?
We added some water in the bottom of the Flavorstone pan and placed the silicone steaming tray within the pan. Once the water started to boil we placed our cut vegetables upon the tray and placed the lid on the pan.
Within 10 minutes we lifted the lid off the pan and sure enough we had perfectly steamed broccoli!
Boiling
As the Flavorstone has high 24cm it means you can easily use the pan for boiling.
We use it to boil pasta, eggs, stocks , soups, stews etc. It has completley replaced the need for a saucepan.
Oven Bake
When removing the detachable handle the pan works perfectly as an oven dish. It even fits inside our small Kampa Ignis 10 litre oven.
This has made it possible for us to bake meals such as lasagne, pasta bakes and sheperds pie.
Deep Fry
The Flavorstone comes complete with a frying basket so that you can deep fry.
We don’t often deep fry in our van due to smells and its not typically something we eat often. However, we are partial to some fried chips so that is exactly what we cooked for the test.
The pan isn’t that deep but it is deep enough to get 2 portions of chips on the go.
Cleaning the Pan
Most new pans are coated in non-stick and are easy to clean at first but after weeks of use the stick wears away and it becomes harder and harder to keep clean.
We have used the Flavorstone time and time again almost every day and it has still retained its non stick properties as of day one.
Conclusion
Our personal conclusion is that we have found the perfect vanlife pan for our van and our cooking style. Being fulltime in the van we have found the versitility of the Flavorstone to be the best feature of the pan.
Whilst other might still prefer to carry onboard a cast iron skillet, deep saucepan and an oven dish, we have found this pan to perfectly replace them all and without any jeopardy to the quality of our cooking.
We cook ALOT in our van and the Flavorstone is our goto pan for just about everything from casseroles to steamed veggies.
You will see us using the Flavorstone in almost all of our videos and pictures.
Any questions then comment below and we will happily answer.
We are proud to be hosting the vanlife secret Santa of 2020. We will be setting a fun new theme and encouraging global entries. Here is how you can join in the festive fun and make another Vanlifers Christmas by sending them a gift!
Please note that just becasue we are hosting the event, the gifts do not need to be food related at all.
What is Vanlife Secret Santa?
Like a traditional Secret Santa, similar to what you would do within a workplace or amongst friends, Vanlife Secret Santa is a means of anonymously sending gifts to one another within the Vanlife community.
With this year being a difficult year for many of us and the aim of the Secret Santa is to spread a little festive cheer throughout our community.
What is the theme for Vanlife Secret Santa?
The theme for Vanlife Secret Santa 2020 is “Home-Made/Van-Made”. The idea behind this theme is to give a personal touch to your gift preferably by either making something or by sending a home-made gift made by someone else.
The theme is not compulsory and please do not be put off participating in this years Vanlife Secret Santa if you cant follow the theme. If you can follow the theme then great, but if not then you can still send the gift of your choice.
Either put some love into your own creation or share the love by using and supporting local sellers, home crafters and businesses.
How to enter?
To enter this year’s Vanlife Secret Santa you will need to enter using the entry form below, you will then added to the entries. On the 22nd November, your name will be added to the Vanlife Secret Santa organiser management site drawnames.co.uk. You will receive an email to enter all of your details.
Once you have been entered you will have the chance to enter your details including your gift address as well as a wish list option which you should use as an indication to what style and taste you have.
The wishlist should be used as a guide for your secret Santa. Remember the theme is “home-made/van-made” where possible.
What are the rules for Vanlife Secret Santa?
The rules for entering are simple.
It’s a secret! When you know your recipient, don’t go messaging or revealing yourself!
Enter before the closing date of 20th November
You will be notified of who you are gifting to on the 22nd November
Budget = £30 GBP / $40 USD / €33 Euros
Post your gift before the 5th December
Do not forget to send a gift! Everyone is matched and it would be pretty harsh if someone was to miss out!
When you receive your gift take a photo and post on Instagram with the hashtag #vanlifesecretsanta and tag @vanlifesecretsanta and @vanlife_eats
Enter Here
Enter here to participate in this years Vanlife Secret Santa. All information is strictly private and secured with GDPR and SSL security..
Wondering how to do slow cooking in a campervan? The Wonerbag makes slow cooking in your campervan easy and uses the bare minimum of power consumption. Here is our first-hand experience in using the Wonderbag.
The Wonderbag has an incredible ethos behind it, helping in the reduction of carbon (CO2) emissions that are pumped into the environment by the use of cooking over an open fire.
It also helps aid in the prevention of forest/bush fires and deforestation across the globe.
Every day, more than 3.5 billion people cook over an open fire and the Wonderbag helps reduce the impact this has on our environment as well as freeing up the laborious unpaid tasks involved in creating large long-lasting cooking fires typically that of woman and children.
In a whole year a Wonderbag could save:
70% less fuel required fo cook
2 tons of carbon environmental emissions reduced
60% less indoor/in-van air pollution
1,000 litres cooking water spared
1,300 hours of unpaid labour reduced
10x more income for women living in extreme poverty
5 large trees saved from deforestation
The Wondebag campaign ensures that families living in poverty are supplied with a Wondebag so that they can more efficiently cook for their family.
Sarah, the creator of the Wonderbag, grew up in Africa working alongside families and woman living in poverty. She then setout to make a difference and
How are the Wonderbags made available to families in poverty?
There are options for you to make a simple donation that supplies a Wonderbag but also for every one Wonderbag purchased, a second is donated to a family living in poverty.
The Wonderbag is an insulated thermal draw-string bag that acts as a heat-retaining oven. This makes it an ideal solution for slow cooking and keeping food hot for up to 12 hours.
The Wonderbag is not that dissimilar to a classic dutch oven or a hay-box and utilises the cooking method of thermal cooking that has been around for centuries.
The earliest known records of using this cooking method date back to medieval times.
Why does a Wonderbag suit Vanlife?
Wonderbag slow cooking in your campervan means stews, tender meats and generally keeping food warm for long periods of time. You could be travelling in your van over a distance, out hiking in the great outdoors or just out working, and when you finally get to settle in your van you have a delicious cooked meal ready and waiting.
Having hot and nutritious food is an essential part of living or travelling in a van and slow cooking is an incredible means of getting maximum flavour from your meals.
Who else would benefit from using a Wonderbag?
Anyone conscious on power consumption and time would benefit from using a Wonderbag for slow cooking.
Suitable users could be:
Campers
Those living in a Boat
Motorhomes / RV
Hikers
People living in self converted barns, sheds and tiny homes
It could even be a usuful kitchen gadget within a regular home. Warm your meal through and leave it in the Wonderbag to finish cooking until you get home.
Our experience in using the Wonderbag
We originally had a slow cooker on board and we would let the food cook whilst we were on the road during the day. It was great!
The downside was that the cooker was hghly power consuming and unless the engine was running we couldnt really use it.
When we discovered the Wonderbag we were intrigued and purchased one immediately. Could this put delicious slow-cooked meals more regularly on our vanlife menu?
Unpacking
We ordered our Wonderbag on Amazon at the price of £49.99 which we didnt think was an ureasonable price.
When it arrived it was compressed within a vacuum packed bag and so once opened it was incredibly satisfying watching this large puffy bag grow into shape….the simple things huh!
Whilst we waited for 1 hour to pass for the wonderbag to form it’s natural shape we had a good look through all the content.
The Wonderbag comes with some information about the Wonderbag charity and a handful of recipes to try.
Cooking
Our first recipe was pretty adventurous as we went for a chicken stew. Straight in with confidence!
The instructions state that you need to heat everything up to a boil before leaving to slow cook in the Wonderbag so we fried up some onions, added some chicken thighs to seer and then some extra veg and finnaly some stock. After bringing to the boil we removed from the stove, and placed the lidded pan into the Wonderbag.
The pan fitted quite snug and we placed the Wonderbag lid on top and finnaly pulled the drawstring engulfing the pan into the Wonderbag.
3 hours later…
Excitedly we revealed the pan from the Wonderbag and removed the lid.
We found the stew to be at a warm temperature and borderline cooked! What did we do wrong?
We had a suspicion and a few days later we repeated the test. This time we used a much thicker stone pot.
3 hours later…
Steam erupted from the pot as we removed the lid and there was a hot and perfectly tender and hot chicken stew! Woohoo!
Conclusion
We have continued to use the Wonderbag numerous times and we have had real succsess. Typically we would prepare and cook during lunchtime and leave the pan in the Wonderbag until the evening.
Slow cooking in our campervan has always been a treat as we are typically very busy during the afternoons, even when travelling.
I work from our van so when I take a break during lunchtime it is ideal to cook something to slow cook in the Wonderbag and enjoy in the evening.
It is vital that you have a suitable pan or pot to use with the Wonderbag.
Our first use was not a great success but then after thinking about it our pan was thin and would no way retain enough heat to aid the cooking process.
The other key to slow cooking in your Wonderbag is to ensure you cook the food enough prior to placing the food inside the Wonderbag. It needs to cook through first and the cooking process within the Wonderbag is to finish and soften the food.
Here is the recommended cooking time for common foods:
Whilst not essential, we highly recommend the Wonderbag as an energy efficent means of slow cooking and keeping food warm.
If you love slow cooked meats in particular you will LOVE the Wonderbag!
Meet our featured vanlifers with a difference! Maria & Dominic don’t have a converted van yet! They love vanlife though and often hire a campervan and head out on adventure. The reason we have decided to feature them is because of their passion for outdoor cooking. They have a cookbook dedicated to this which you can purchase here.
Vanlife often allows park-ups in amazing locations, so why not make the most of it and cook outside! Their insta page Biwakkitchen showcases amazing ideas for cooking whilst on hikes, walks, etc.
Do you ever cook in a van?
Yes! We cook almost everywhere: in a van, on a mountain top, on a lonely beach, in the woods, or on a flower meadow.
What is the best thing about outdoor cooking?
That’s quite simple: food tastes better outdoors! Outdoor cooking is where you don’t need a fancy kitchen for great meals and where you don’t need to reserve any table for a sparkling candlelit dinner! That’s the difference and that’s what turns it into a special experience every time anew.
What is your cooking set-up?
Our basic cooking setup when hiking is a little gas stove and a collapsible camping pot. That saves a lot of space, it is not only compact but also lightweight. What we always carry along is a wooden spoon, a few dishes, a tea towel, a DIY biodegradable dish soap, trash bags, and what should never be missing is our set of spices. In order to save weight, we also started cooking with dehydrated vegetables and already pre-packed portions. What we suggest is that you never try to save weight by reducing your water supplies.
Do you have a favourite cooking accessory?
Our favourite cooking accessory is definitely our spice box. The thing is that most often it’s the spices that bring other ingredients to live. So we love to experiment with them and to explore new tastes. However, another accessory we’ve fallen in love with recently is the omnia oven. It opens up a new world to outdoor cooking or better baking possibilities.
What is your favourite meal to make?
Hard to say. It depends on the kind of adventure we’re up to. When we’re on a multi-day backpacking trip we prefer easy and simple one-pot-meals that are also energizing. Like a quinoa salad, an avocado sandwich, oat patties. Whereas in the van we prefer more fancy and creative recipes. Some of our favorites are: bulgur ananas, mushroom balls, or millet balls with coconut veggies… and for breakfast, we love the pink pancakes made with raw beetroot.
Where has been your favourite place to cook a meal?
Our favourite place for outdoor cooking the coast side. We love to hear the smooth sound of the waves while preparing a meal and looking at the endless ocean while eating lets us dive even further into a world of aromas. Seems like the sea gives our dishes an extra pinch of freshness.
Any cooking disasters?
Oh yes more than enough! You don’t want to know how often our cooking pot has already fallen over. You need a good dose of patience and of humor, because things don’t always go as planned when you’re out cooking in the great outdoors.
Cookbook!
Maria & Dominic have released a cookbook full of recipes for cooking outdoors. Their book Experience nature and good food is available on Amazon and was originally a KickStarter project, which shows the support they have had for the book. It is available in English and German and all recipes are vegetarian. We are currently running a competition with them where you could win a copy of their book, head to our Insta page for all the details (closes 1st November 2020)
Instagram: @biwakkitchen
You can catch up with Maria & Dominic through the social media links on their profile. Head to their profile to have a look at their favourite recipes to make in the great outdoors
To apply for a featured post on vanlifeeats.com simply follow this link and fill out the application form. We promote all featured van lifers across all our social media networks, we send out a “featured Van Lifer” sticker for your van as well as awarding you a prestigious badge for your profile on our website.
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