Chicken and Vegetable Skewers
Hiring A Campervan?
These Are Some of The Best Food Choices To Complement Your Trip
Hiring a campervan, particularly for the first time is exciting. It inspires that feeling of adventure, but as with most things in life, a little bit of planning and preparation can go a long way to enhancing the holiday. Whilst most people focus on where they plan on going, which parks they plan at stopping, and the various activities and experiences they hope to enjoy, the often overlooked part of the trip is what to eat during the holiday.
Although you are staying in a campervan and may not have the tools to create a traditional Sunday roast, the majority of the camper vans listed through Campervan hire in conjunction with Outdoorsy are well equipped with cooking facilities allowing you plenty of opportunities to cook up delicious food night after night.
Spaghetti Bolognaise
The traditional favourite, Spaghetti Bolognaise is quick and easy to make, relatively inexpensive, and normally appreciated by all members of the family. All you need is some minced meat, onions and a sauce along with a portion of spaghetti. Most if not all of these items can be purchased at any local shop or indeed in the campsite store. This means even after a long day of travelling and sightseeing, even when everyone is tired you can quickly purchase the ingredients and cook up a hearty feast in a matter of minutes.
Paella
Nobody volunteers to do the washing up in our house at any time, much less when you are on holiday, and that is why Paella is an excellent choice because essentially it minimises the washing up that is required. That is because the Spanish favourite is cooked in just the one pot so consider it a win-win dish. If there are leftovers, the Food Standards Agency advises chilling cooked rice quickly, ideally within an hour, keeping it in the fridge, eating it within 24 hours and reheating it only once, until steaming hot.
Chicken and Vegetable Skewers
Skewers are a healthy, quick, delicious and nutritious meal that is easy to make in the comfort of your campervan.
The options are virtually endless, but with a choice of peppers, pineapple, courgette, red onion, button mushrooms, not only can you create a healthy meal at the end of a fun day, you can also get the kids involved.
Kids love creating their own food masterpieces, and with chicken and vegetable skewers the main thing to watch is that the chicken is cooked all the way through. Skewering can push bacteria into the middle of the meat, so the Food Standards Agency advises cutting into the thickest piece to check it is steaming hot, with no pink meat and clear juices. Wash everyone’s hands after handling raw chicken. This particular dish is highly likely to become a family favourite even when you get back home, and indeed it may even involve memories of your campervan trip for years to come.
Campfire Baked Sweet Potatoes
Not entirely sure whether or not this one should count because technically it is not a recipe that you should be cooking inside your campervan. However part of the magic of any camping trip has to be the campfire and it makes perfect sense to utilise that campfire in your cooking process.
The first and obviously most important thing you need is a campfire, where the campsite allows open fires. Then you can either choose sweet potatoes or ordinary potatoes depending on your taste preferences and of course availability of the ingredients. Other than a little bit of olive oil and some salt the potatoes themselves are all you really need.
Optional additions are of course baked beans, chilli, coleslaw or grated cheese. Start by rubbing olive oil and salt over your potato skins before wrapping them up in tin foil. Then carefully put the potatoes into the embers of the fire and allow them to cook for between 45 minutes to an hour turning them regularly to ensure the potatoes are cooked throughout.
Once you are confident that the potatoes are cooked properly all that remains is to take them out of the fire, slice them open and then add the filling of your choice. Of course, another benefit of this particular meal is that there is minimal cleaning up to be done but the experience is truly hard to beat.
No Cook Overnight Oats
Although many people focus on their evening meal if you are planning activity days or long walks as part of your holiday, then breakfast is just as if not more important, which is why this next meal is awesome.
Super healthy you will need ½ a cup of oats, ½ a cup of liquid be that milk, oat milk, almond milk or even a fruit juice, and two teaspoons of chia seeds. Then you get the fun and variety to choose additional toppings. Our personal favourites, although you may have other ideas include honey, peanut butter, cocoa powder, cinnamon, yoghurt, any type of berry, a sliced banana and other nuts and seeds. This meal is so easy to prepare that the kids can take part again, which is another huge bonus. The only preparation required is to ensure that you put the oats, liquid and chia seeds into a jar overnight, storing them in the fridge (the Food Standards Agency advises keeping it at 5°C or below). In the morning, simply add your toppings of choice and eat your breakfast whilst hopefully enjoying a stunning view.
Preparing your meals during a campervan trip need not be an arduous task, and by using some of the ideas above it provides many bonding experiences for all the family.
When you’re ready, compare campervans for hire on campervanhire.com, listed by private owners and local hire businesses and booked through our partner Outdoorsy.