Eating on the road is a challenge when you’re trying not to be cheap, even when you're packing 7 boxes of ingredients and a campstove. Stealth camping means finding unobtrusive spots you can cook…which is easier said than done. Cities are tricky. You can’t just whip out a campstove and propane beside the swings in a school playground. And just because there’s a picnic table in the small courtyard beside the Starbucks doesn’t mean they want you cooking burgers there.
I’ve generally found that the best solution is to Google “parks picnic BBQ” when I enter a new town. Parks with BBQ stands are meant for people to cook in (even if you get strange looks from the dogwalkers at 7am when you're frying eggs). I have also cooked successfully on my back-bumper fold-down table in park parking lots, scenic turn outs, and rest stops, though it is not without its challenges.
One of the tricks to eating cheaply on the road is to BRING INGREDIENTS WITH YOU. I was blessed to have a large amount of leftover dry goods from Malcolm Island (dried beans, rice, noodles, canned goods, spices, etc), garden produce and eggs (thanks Pam, Kai, and Mike!), large amounts of home-canned salmon and chili that I received in a work exchange, and boxes of food from friends who were moving and didn’t want to take it with them (thanks Anissa and Shane!), as well as random food gifts from friends. Thus my purchases on the trip are reduced to things I am now beginning to run out of, like chickpeas, nut butter, almond milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables (and occasionally meat). Having so much in the way of dry and canned goods, condiments, and spices means that cooking all my meals is possible and has kept my costs down considerably.
I confess that I have eaten a McDonald’s value burger, and two McDonald’s fries, as well as numerous muffins, ‘energy’ bars, chocolate bars and coffees. I now understand why poor people eat cheap fast food. Cooking requires a large part of your day when you’re on the road. You need to think ahead 4 hours to your next meal, decide what you have ingredients for, stop at a grocery store if you don’t have something, find a suitable place to set up camp for cooking (which often involves detours), cook (which often takes much longer than usual, considering the circumstances), eat, clean up (or throw all dirty dishes into van) and head out again. Oh, and now it’s time to think of supper.
More often than not I forget about the next meal until I’m hungry, and then end up mowing down on peanut butter, tortilla chips, energy bars, and celery.
I’ve generally found that the best solution is to Google “parks picnic BBQ” when I enter a new town. Parks with BBQ stands are meant for people to cook in (even if you get strange looks from the dogwalkers at 7am when you're frying eggs). I have also cooked successfully on my back-bumper fold-down table in park parking lots, scenic turn outs, and rest stops, though it is not without its challenges.
One of the tricks to eating cheaply on the road is to BRING INGREDIENTS WITH YOU. I was blessed to have a large amount of leftover dry goods from Malcolm Island (dried beans, rice, noodles, canned goods, spices, etc), garden produce and eggs (thanks Pam, Kai, and Mike!), large amounts of home-canned salmon and chili that I received in a work exchange, and boxes of food from friends who were moving and didn’t want to take it with them (thanks Anissa and Shane!), as well as random food gifts from friends. Thus my purchases on the trip are reduced to things I am now beginning to run out of, like chickpeas, nut butter, almond milk, eggs, and fresh vegetables (and occasionally meat). Having so much in the way of dry and canned goods, condiments, and spices means that cooking all my meals is possible and has kept my costs down considerably.
I confess that I have eaten a McDonald’s value burger, and two McDonald’s fries, as well as numerous muffins, ‘energy’ bars, chocolate bars and coffees. I now understand why poor people eat cheap fast food. Cooking requires a large part of your day when you’re on the road. You need to think ahead 4 hours to your next meal, decide what you have ingredients for, stop at a grocery store if you don’t have something, find a suitable place to set up camp for cooking (which often involves detours), cook (which often takes much longer than usual, considering the circumstances), eat, clean up (or throw all dirty dishes into van) and head out again. Oh, and now it’s time to think of supper.
More often than not I forget about the next meal until I’m hungry, and then end up mowing down on peanut butter, tortilla chips, energy bars, and celery.
Here are some of my more memorable gourmet meals-on-the-road, sometimes with very memorable circumstances or settings:
- Gourmet Scrambled Eggs in corn tortillas with salsa, cooked on a one-burner propane mini-stove in the 2 foot square clearing in the middle of my van, on the floor, IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EXTREME WIND AND RAIN STORM in a pull-off area between cliffs and ocean. The van was literally swaying from side to side. I was crouched on the floor with no room to even turn, the burner perched precariously on top of the food boxes, sautéing green onions and garlic. I wish I’d taken a photo.
- Gourmet Scrambled Eggs in corn tortillas with salsa, cooked on a one-burner propane mini-stove in the 2 foot square clearing in the middle of my van, on the floor, IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EXTREME WIND AND RAIN STORM in a pull-off area between cliffs and ocean. The van was literally swaying from side to side. I was crouched on the floor with no room to even turn, the burner perched precariously on top of the food boxes, sautéing green onions and garlic. I wish I’d taken a photo.
Gourmet Scrambled Eggs a la Storm
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On-the-Road Kombucha: That’s right…I am continuously brewing kombucha in a one gallon glass jug. Ian, you will be interested to know that it is working marvelously. Whenever it tastes done, I strain it through cheesecloth into various containers and jars, then make 10 cups of sweetened tea, let it cool overnight in the jug, add the scoby, and off we go! Here's the recipe I use... |