kitchen ware for our novice trip in caravan

roddam · Veteran Member

kitchen ware for our novice trip in caravan

Gerty Dancer · Guru

We are still in the setting up phase for a caravan too, but have travelled quite a lot with a camper-trailer.

With bedding, remember you will be moving through areas of different temperatures, its better to have several light blankets/ doonas that can be added/removed as needed. We always took our comfy pillows from our bed at home... why be uncomfortable?

For crockery, we have found "Corelle" to be excellent. Its lightweight, and virtually unbreakable. Plastic is lighter and even less breakable but it gets stained and is easily damaged when you cut your food. Melamine also stains and cant be used in the microwave. Always take your favourite knives etc, its so frustrating using tools that arent as good as you'd like. And we used to use whatever was cheap and light for cookware but that could be improved on.

I've seen people with caravans cooking outside... presumably to keep cooking smells out of the enclosed space of their van... and wondered what type of outdoor cooking appliances would be good? We will have both 240v and a gas outlet, to cover c'parks and bush "camping"

Happy vanning too!!

Cheers, Gert

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Microwave? Camping? Mutually exclusive terms.......

Good quality Melamine does not stain (like some cheap stuff), or Indian style stainless steel is the go.

Cheers,
Peter

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Yes you are right, Peter and Margaret, however after "roughing it" with the camper trailer, we are looking forward to staying in Caravan parks some of the time with our new van, and will make use of the electricity when available.
We've even ordered a TV! Now thats really decadent! biggrin

Dunmowin · Guru

Hi Roddham, we are in the process of progressing from camping to caravanning, and have contact with several Grey Nomads. We have all progressed from melamine to corelle for kitchen ware, and agree that proper kitchen cutlery is important. especially when living full time in van.l no point in roughing it too much.

We have in our "home" kitchen Avanti coffee cups, which will travel with us, and I am fortunately to have a wood turner for a partner, so have wooden goblets and whiskey woods for drinking vessels.

Happywanderer · The Master

Thats interesting. Just bought a melamine set of plates. Had no idea you can't use them in a microwave, thanks for that advice.
I always thought a set of enamel plates & cups would be a good thing but can't go in the microwave either.
I have a one burner stove that the cans of gas go in to which I thought would be good for outside cooking, to keep the smells out of the van. Have had it for years and never opened it. Do you think they will still be okay or do you think I should ditch it????

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Is there a use-by date on the gas cans?
Have never used them but was considering buying something like that.

Sandra K · Senior Member

Agree with all of the above. We are making use of the pewter goblets, tankards that were pushed to the back of the cupboards at home, unbreakable. I also like the idea of the dreampot (or similar). What do others think?
The best part of cooking while staying in a park is the conversations around the communal bbq, we dont take the portable bbq anymore but we do take a small rotissirie.

Sheba · Guru

Might be an idea to remind people of the KKK again. I have the small one-burner camp stove that takes a Butane Canister. When I go full-time I will be taking the Dream-pot. I've also got a version of the KKK which I am going to take. Have been telling people about this ever since I first came across it on another site.

Just Google Kelly Kampa Kooka [as spelled] and you'll find a cheap alternative for the Cobb Cooker, only far less expensive. Some-one on another site where I posted about them has got one together, and used it, and says it works really well. They've put their Cobb in the shed. Another advantage of the KKK is the fact that it is lighter.

You'll be surprised, it's so simple.

Cheers,
Sheba.

-- Edited by Sheba on Tuesday 20th of July 2010 11:27:18 PM

Paul-NSW · Veteran Member

Happywanderer wrote:
I have a one burner stove that the cans of gas go in to which I thought would be good for outside cooking, to keep the smells out of the van. Have had it for years and never opened it. Do you think they will still be okay or do you think I should ditch it????

The butane canisters dont work well in mild to cold weather. Rub the gas can or pour bit of hot water over canister.

Paul-NSW · Veteran Member

Corelle is the go. Good size range of plates and bowls

Tefal Ingenio a must have
http://www.tefal.com.au/All+Products/Cookware/Stackable+Cookware/Products/Ingenio+Stainless+Steel/Ingenio+Stainless+Steel.htm
have the 11pc set and 4pc frypan and wok set

roddam · Veteran Member

Thanks for the ongoing replys, very informative. Yes I have Corelle here now at home and it works well in oven, microwave and everywhere. I know this may sound silly to ask as there will only be the 2 of us travelling but how many setting do people usually pack knowing that caravanners gather and talk and eat together at times. Another query that I am looking at is we will have single beds and now starting to look at sheets etc. but also wondering what people use to ventilate and keep beds dry from buildup moisture in warm climates, e.g. mattress protectors. cheers

P.S. I also use a Tefal Electric Pressure Cooker which cooks my leg of lamb in 25 minutes. Would be without it and far better and safer than cooktop style pressure cookers which freak me out waiting for the pressure to build up and then 'jigggle'.

-- Edited by roddam on Wednesday 21st of July 2010 06:56:34 AM

Gerty Dancer · Guru

Are your caravan bed-bases solid or slats? We found with the solid bed base under the camper bed, that we needed to drag the mattress out to air it when possible as it got quite wet underneath... even in a dry area. We tried an under-mattress product that is advertised to help ventilate and prevent mould etc but found, while it helped a bit, the mattress still needed airing. We made sure with the new van it will have a slat bed-base!
As for mattress protectors/ sheets etc, whatever you are comfortable with at home should be fine as long as its easily laundered.... Your van is your home, you need home-comforts!

Cupie · Guru

G'day all...

What you carry depends largely on how much weight you can handle on your rig & what sort of vanning you are going to do.

When we faced this decision we decided -

We prefered to eat off 'china' like plates & drink out of glass 'glasses' etc. so we equipped our van with 4 sets of ..

Corell ....... Dinner, Side plates, Noodle bowls & some small bowls that are OK for cereal/desert/nibbles.

Reject shop wine glasses. the sort that are usually used for wine tasting .. OK for red, white or even sparkling.

We have a set of knives - both steak & chefs from Aldi .. cheap & light & sharp, plus four settings of normal cutlery.

Our coffee cups are porcelain from DJs .. light, not expensive but good to drink out of. This includes two 'short black' sets for me & maybe a drop in.

Of course I have a couple of plastic tea mugs hidden away somewhere.

A Coffee plunger is a must, as is a tray of some sort to carry your stuff to the BBQ or happy hour gathering.

BUT .. you MUST have secure places to store them whilst traveling. I adapted some small frames, like dish drainers that I picked up from a hardware shop; Like the ones that they use in shops to display plates. I adjusted them to hold items securely & fixed them to the cupboard shelves. The glasses & cups are held in those W shaped racks that you get from all caravan shops. A few rarely used melamite mugs hang from hooks in the kitchen area.

ps. ALL shelves are lined with that anti slip stuff that allows me to securely carry inverted bowls & everything else that might slide off (even the toaster & electric jug sit on this stuff & have never fallen of ... of course I don't do off road).

I could go on & on ... but maybe that's enough for now.

hope this is of some interest.

-- Edited by Cupie on Wednesday 21st of July 2010 09:07:54 PM

-- Edited by Cupie on Wednesday 21st of July 2010 09:11:27 PM

roddam · Veteran Member

thank you again for the valuable information, there is just so much to think about!!!!!!!!!

lilly · Senior Member

and that why i want to do few short trips before i take off on long perment one ..so i can iron out any wrinkles ..try to work out what i realy need to take and what will be waste of space and weight ...... but i must say i have learnt so much for all the people on here who have been out there doing the trips ..all your experience help us newbie so much problely more the you ever know ... i personaly was worry about going solo but now i see some many solo ladies are out there doing what they love .... so i will be too ..cheers

ozjohn · Guru

Over 40 years of vanning we've had them all.
We've now settled on Melamine.
ozjohn

Beth54 · Guru

Re: Those little one burner butane stoves...they don't like the very cold weather.

I know of 2 that wouldn't work in western Qld last month.

Even my gas 2 burner didn't want to work properly.

Someone suggested to me to wrap it in one of those windscreen shades, to keep it warmer.

I also have melamine, but my sister uses Corelle and only carries a set of 2.

She does have a couple of extra coffee mugs though.

And they have pewter wine goblets.

Ron and Shirley · Senior Member

Gerty Dancer wrote:

We are still in the setting up phase for a caravan too, but have travelled quite a lot with a camper-trailer.

<snip>

I've seen people with caravans cooking outside... presumably to keep cooking smells out of the enclosed space of their van... and wondered what type of outdoor cooking appliances would be good? We will have both 240v and a gas outlet, to cover c'parks and bush "camping"

Happy vanning too!!

Cheers, Gert

We also use "Corelle" crockery and stack them with coaster size pieces of that non-slip material in between. All our shelves and draws are also lined with the non-slip material an things just don't move. Our cutlery, and few pots and pans, are what have been recycled though our home as we have purchased new items/sets.

We don't carry any glassware, though many do in stubby holders for protection. I drink from the stubby (or can) and wine/port from pewter (purchased from op shops). Shirley is a coffee drinker and we have few of those large insulated coffee mugs.

We only carry enough crockery/cutlery etc for our own daily use, except for coffee mugs and stubby holders. We wipe things "clean" with paper towels after use and store until the wash-up which we do once a day.

Gert
We now do all our cooking outside on a Webber Baby Q, when a fire is not available, where previously we used a Cobb. The Baby Q gets connected to the vans gas supply via an external gas point. We don't have an oven or microwave in the van, just a 4 burner stove and a yet to be used grill.

In Caravan Parks we have seen many cook their meals under their awning using either an electric frypan and/or a Turbo Oven.

glassies · Guru

when we had our last jayco dove i bought these baskets that were from woolies they are about half a foot deep i still have them and i actualy put them in the cupboard and put all the plates and stuff in them ,they never moved around in the cupboard so everything was always in the van ready to go ?.

i also used them for napkins and all kinds of things ,you can even get the smaller ones and they can hold other stuff, i use a cutlery rack in the drawer in our jayco owl so all the stuff is in and ready to go if we decide to take off, we use tin plates but no microwave in our van so it doesnt matter about that and tin mugs for coffee they hold the heat long when warmed up first before pouring.

dont forget to pack stuff in van that can stay in permanently mozzie coils , lighter for stove.
can of bug spray for spiders.

one thing we forgot on weekend and needed was a first aid kit so we will be getting that together soon before we go on our next trip

Smokeydk · Guru

Just got a caravan...after years of campertrailering.....we are using everything from the CT in the van ..........all our cooking will be done either with a camp oven or primus 2 burner.using the caravan gas cylinder....near the drawbar....we dont want to cook inside the van....it does have a 3 burner top and microwave and grill.

we use melamine plates bowels etc..and plastic glasses and wine glasses.

cuttery is same as we use at home.........I also put a plastic paper towel roller up too..so handy.

reminder: try.. when storing keep weight front and back even....

bug spray.....and watch out for ants..

also rubbish bags......

Yes a good first aid kit is essential....along with a St Johns first aid book.

dont forget a battery charger.for your camera and mobile phone...

We have made what we call a toilet bag...it holds a toilet roll and a soap in container...we have 2.one on the 4x4 and one in van.....incase you need to use public toilets/or CP ones we all know how good tp is in both

check the internet too for help...sites like:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~badger04/bits/links.htm#Stay

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~badger04/welcome.htm

http://www.australianexplorer.com/camping/caravan_checklist.htm

http://camping.about.com/od/campinggearchecklists/l/blchklist.htm

Pam · Guru

hope everyone has a fire extinguisher too. Son had to use his out camping when a silly idiot put fireworks in a campfire and fire ended up in the back of a ute.

MikeMin · Veteran Member

I have discovered a great range of casserole dishes called MICROSTOVEN made by Maxwell & Williams. You can cook with them on gas, electric and in the microwave. The best thing about them is that they are light weight even though they look like the Le Creuset cookware. I have made curries, shanks, osso bucco and soups in them and they are extremely easy to clean. Have a look at the range, I am very happy. smile