A few things you must appreciate first. One, we can never seem to own one vehicle to go on adventures with. The landrover suits one style of trip but as its approaching winter here, the van is warmer, and the van is cruiser and less expensive on a longer journeys. Two, we are NOT 'chuck it in the back' kinda folk.. we like everything in its place. Three, I am the QUEEN of storage solutions, unchallenged. Please feel free to challenge me - I can think about storage ideas for hours without breaking a sweat.
So I thought I would share with you something that works beautifully for our needs. We call it our cookbox which is quite an obvious name really.
Most of what we do happens organically - we fiddle and tweak to come up with a plan rather than map it out pedantically. However, we did want the box to float from the back of the seats of the van, which the above picture shows. A bolt slides in and holds it into place. This gives me a little more prepping area, as shown. However, if its overly windy or we are just making a quick cuppa on the road, we leave it in place between the two long boxes which form the bed, as shown below:
We also went with a Dometic Origo 3000 alcohol burning stove. Yeah, I know, it’s expensive, but three years on we still think it’s one of the best bits of kit we have ever bought. We don’t have to store a gas bottle or fiddle about with connections and pipes. It burns really nicely without a horrible smell. It’s really easy to clean and of simple design. The fuel is super cheap and lasts for ages - and you can buy it ANYWHERE - supermarkets, corner stores, service stations. People use it in boats so it can handle anything. I seriously think we will have this forever and I wouldn’t buy anything else!
The most suprising thing about this box was its perfect fit for the landrover. It helped us design our set up.
I think it’s really important to be able to pull over and make a coffee or lunch without hunting for the equipment, and I can do this easily with this set up. Here is me making a halloumi and grilled capsicum turkish pide on the side of the road in the Snowy Mountains, and a coffee with our aeropress (if you haven’t used one of these, you should – they make fabulous coffees and are super lightweight to travel with. Sorry about the dark picture, but you get the idea. I can reach the fridge, the food and everything else I need to cook in the back, and love my little 'cave' out of the weather whilst I cook.
The other fabulous thing about it is that this box is small enough to lift out and store in the shed, or to put under a camp shelter on a table - you aren't limited to just cooking in your vehicle. In Australia we are lucky enough to have camp kitchens or gazebos everywhere for this kind of thing, but to be honest, we rarely take it out of the landie or the van as it's a good set up as it is, with plenty of air flow, space and shelter. It also fit two frying pans, a saucepan, a colander, two mugs, the aeropress, a coffee jar – essentials for our camp cooking. Below is an ever so simple 'eggy bread' which we enjoy post surf. It's a good one as you don't need to cook toast!
I’d love to hear about your cooking set ups in your vehicles. Are they easy to use? What is your go-to meal, your absolute favourite to cook on the camp stove? Are there tips you would recommend?
My favourite breakfast is Morroccan Eggs. We used to eat them in Morroco and I'm pretty sure there are other names for them, but this is our version.
Morroccan Eggs
1 can tomatoes
1 onion or a handful of spring onions
4 - 6 eggs
Cummin
Parsley and/or coriander
Smoked paprika
Fetta and/or goats cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Sourdough, pide or other bread of choice to serve
Fry the onion in some olive oil, then add the tomatoes and spices. Simmer, covered with a lid, for 10 minutes. Crack the eggs on top and steam, covered, until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Break goats cheese on top and sprinkle with fresh herbs and salt and pepper. Use the bread to mop up the sauce. Enjoy!
