This guide will take you through everything you need to know about cooking in a campervan. As you explore the wonders of life in your campervan, there’s one element that can truly turn your journey into a sensory masterpiece: food. Part of the joys of being on the road is trying all the local cuisine and learning about a place through the food and drink you consume.
For most people on holidays, that means heading out to the local restaurants and bars and, whilst you can and will do that on a van trip, there is not many things better than picking up fresh produce, transporting it to a vacant beach on a distant horizon and cooking up your own storm.
[You’ll also likely get the chance to stay (usually for free) at the winery buying by the bottle, overlooking the vines and listening to stories from the owners and producers, rather than drinking wine by the glass in a town you won’t remember the name of.]
To cook properly, you‘re going to need heat in your kitchen. This article is all about the different kitchen set ups, centred around cooking on heat. We’ll look at the key decision markers, your main options, your left field options and as always we’ll cover our exact set up and what we’ve learned on the road so far at the end.
Choosing your perfect cooking set up
The main thing to cook in a campervan is a thoughtfully chosen stove. To ensure you create a captivating and efficient cooking space, here are some essential factors before making your decision:
The Art of Campervan Layout: Envision your van’s layout, taking into account the kitchen worktop space at your disposal and the ideal location for your cooking device(s).
Additionally, you’ll need to think about how your stove will connect to the fuel supply (the closer the better, usually) and what around your setup is going to be splashed with bacon fat, pasta sauces and everything else in your pan. (We wouldn’t advise putting a hob next to your bed, or any soft furnishings to be honest.)
The Great Indoors vs. The Wild Outdoors: Determine if your gastro escapades will predominantly take place inside, beneath the open sky, or a mix of both. Your choice will impact the type of stove you select and the extra equipment you may need.
Fueling your culinary flame: Decide which fuel type aligns with your preferences and practical needs, be it electricity, gas, or alternative sources such as alcohol or, wildcard, the sun. Cooking is energy intensive and whatever fuel and system you have powering the heat is going to, probably, be expensive.
Satisfying your epicurean tastes: Contemplate the variety of dishes you wish to create and the desired speed at which you want to conjure up your delectable meals. One pots require little hardware but if you have a penchant for baking and adore using an oven, you might need significant upgrades on the stovetop.
Feeding your hungry horde: Keep in mind the number of mouths you’ll be feeding on a regular basis, as this will influence the size and capacity of your cooking set up.
By thoughtfully mulling over these factors you’ll have a good idea of your own parameters as we go into the next part of the article.
The Electric Revolution: Harnessing electricity for campervan cooking
Electricity is an option worth considering. Your Electricity Options: Hot Plates and Induction Hobs.
When it comes to electric cooking, two main options stand out: electric hot plates and induction hobs. Electric hot plates generate heat by passing an electric current through a heating element. They’re generally more affordable, robust, and can accommodate a wide range of cookware.
Induction hobs create heat through magnetic induction. They offer enhanced safety, speed, energy efficiency, and responsiveness compared to electric hot plates. However, they require specific pots and pans to function and may have a delicate glass surface that necessitates careful handling.
Pros of cooking with electricity:
- Safety: Electric cooking eliminates the risk of open flames, making it a safer option in your campervan.
- Consistent Power Supply: With electric cooking, you won’t have to worry about running out of gas midway through preparing a meal. (editor note: this happens more than it should)
- Reduced Moisture: Electric cooking does not produce wet heat or cause condensation, because we don’t want condensation (click here to read all about condensation).
- Easy Calibration: Electric appliances often have digital settings that allow for precise temperature control.
- Simple Installation: Most electric cooking appliances are easy to install; just plug them in, and you’re ready to cook.
Cons of cooking with electricity:
- Energy Consumption: Electric cooking can be extremely energy-intensive, requiring a substantial electrical system for off-grid use or access to grid electricity (read: campsites.. boo).
- Compatibility: Induction hobs require specific induction-compatible cookware, limiting the range of pots and pans you can use. I think they are more expensive, although pots and pans are outside my circle of competence.
- Delicate Surfaces: Some induction hobs have a glass surface that may be susceptible to damage.
- Noise: Electric appliances, particularly induction hobs, may emit a slight hum at high settings.
Other considerations when cooking with electricity
Appliance wattage: When choosing an electric cooking appliance, consider its input wattage to ensure compatibility with the campsite’s electric hook-up. Exceeding the maximum wattage can trip your electrical system and (at best) interrupt your cooking.
Powering from leisure battery: Using your vehicle’s leisure battery for electric cooking is impractical due to the high current draw. For example, a 2000-watt electric hob connected to an inverter would deplete an 85 amp-hour leisure battery in less than 30 minutes.
Induction cookware: To test if a pot or pan is compatible with an induction hob, use a magnet. If it sticks to the bottom of the cookware, it will work. Additionally, the cookware should have a flat bottom for efficient contact with the hob.
Total power consumption: When calculating the total power consumption for your kitchen set up, remember to include other connected devices such as phone chargers, laptops, TVs, and fridges, that might be on at the same time, they all contribute.
Cooking with gas
Gas cooking, a popular choice among campervan owners, offers a range of options, from the humble single-ring burner to the more luxurious 2-4 burner built-in hob. Propane and butane are the fuel types of choice, they both have similar cooking capacities. Gas makes it much more easy to go portable and if you don’t want to install a full on built-in hob, you can buy some pretty affordable, straightforward and versatile stoves that run on aerosol-sized gas canisters.
Pros of cooking with gas:
- Affordability: Gas stoves come in a variety of price ranges, from budget-friendly single burners to high-end induction hobs.
- Space Efficiency: A gas cooking setup generally requires less space than an electric one.
- Power: Gas cylinders can provide weeks of cooking, even in the most remote locations, plus as gas cooking doesn’t rely on electrical power, allowing you to cook without worrying about draining your leisure battery.
- Compatibility: If your campervan already has a gas system for other appliances, a gas stove is a logical addition.
- Oven Integration: Planning to install an oven? Gas cooking is a perfect match.
- Portability: Portable cartridge cookers are inexpensive and perfect for cooking anywhere, even outdoors.
Cons of cooking with gas:
- Limited Cooking Capacity: With fewer burners, you may face some limitations in cooking multiple dishes simultaneously.
- Fuel Availability: Refilling gas cylinders can be challenging when you are abroad. You won’t find Calor Gas ‘nowhere else folks.
- Safety Concerns: Improper setup or maintenance may lead to dangerous gas leaks, and just having gas cylinders or tanks on board can increase the risk of explosion in the event of an accident.
- Certification: In some regions, gas systems must be certified by a professional.
- Open Flame: Free flames inside the van can produce more moisture and pose additional risks.
Campervan Oven Options
1. Gas Oven
Surprisingly, living the van life doesn’t necessarily mean giving up the luxury of an oven. Some vanlifers have successfully installed ovens in their van builds and use them daily. If you’re willing to allocate some space and invest in an oven, you can enjoy baked treats like nachos, pizza, and cookies on the road. An oven, paired with a hob, allows you to cook everything you would at home, even a roast dinner! Let me tell you from experience, roasted vegetables are top of the craving list after being in a van for a while.
Pros of using a gas oven:
- Unlimited cooking options;
- Ideal for cooking enthusiasts who consider it an essential part of their travel experience;
- Perfect for longer trips or full-time van living.
Cons of using a gas oven:
- Expensive, with standalone ovens starting at around £250 and oven/grill combos upwards of £400;
- Occupies space and adds weight, and are you going to use it all that often? Hm.
2. The Omnia oven
The Omnia Oven is a relatively new and portable cooking device on the market, designed to provide oven-like cooking using heat from a stove. Comprising three parts, it creates top and bottom heat, with the heat spreading along the base and rising over the top due to its specially designed lid with ventilation holes. This ingenious device allows you to cook bread, cakes, lasagne, and pies without the expense or space requirements of a traditional oven.
Pros of the Omnia oven:
- Affordable, with prices starting from around £55;
- Various accessories available to expand cooking potential.
Cons of the Omnia oven:
- Learning the gas flame to oven temperature relationship can be challenging.
- It takes way longer to cook than you’d normally expect.
Some further and farr out ideas for cooking
BBQs
There’s something undeniably appealing about gathering around a fire with friends and a bottle of wine, enjoying a meal cooked outdoors. BBQ options range from large, luxurious gas BBQs to compact, foldable charcoal versions suitable for even the smallest campervans. Cooking with fire harks back to days of old, but it may not be the most practical full-time solution, considering factors like the unpredictability of the weather.
Pros of using a bbq:
- Numerous options to suit every budget;
- Provides an authentic camping experience.
Pros of using a bbq:
- Requires planning for setup and heating;
- Weather-dependent.
- You might smell smokey afterwards
JetBoil
For those who venture into the wilderness the JetBoil is a fantastic little tool, enabling cooking in remote locations or atop your favourite mountain. It also serves as an additional hob in the van and a backup emergency cooking device in case of gas shortages or hob malfunctions. The JetBoil is a compact, little one pot cooking system complete with a burner and fuel stabiliser.
Pros of using a jetboil:
- Portable and space-efficient;
- Excellent as a backup or portable option for outdoor adventures.
Cons of using a jetboil:
- A complete setup can be pricier than expected, with the Flash Model costing around £120;
- May not be (/is not a) sufficient as the sole cooking option for most people.
Solar Ovens
Solar ovens harness the power of the sun to cook food, making them an eco-friendly and energy-efficient option. They are especially useful for those who want to avoid using gas or electricity for cooking.
Pros of using solar ovens:
- Environmentally friendly and sustainable;
- No need for fuel or electrical power.
Cons of using solar ovens:
- Dependent on sunlight and weather conditions;
- Cooking times may be longer compared to other cooking methods.
Alcohol Stoves
Alcohol stoves are a lightweight and portable option that uses denatured alcohol as fuel. They are popular among backpackers and minimalists due to their simplicity and compact size.
Pros of using alcohol stoves:
- Lightweight and easy to transport;
- No need for propane or butane.
Cons of using alcohol stoves:
- Limited heat output compared to gas stoves;
- Fuel may not be as readily available as propane or butane.
What we did
We did something really cool with our cooking set up, it’s one of the features that I’m really proud of.
There are a few problems we were trying to solve with our set up:
- Cooking outside is SO much better than inside. We knew we’d want to be cooking outside when we are travelling, because it’s such a pleasure. Plus, when you cook inside you increase condensation and get oil and fat spitting everywhere and all your soft furnishes smell.
- Sometimes you have to cook inside though.
- A hob taking up valuable worktop space is silly, when you only use it for actual cooking time (which is what, like 1 hour a day?)
- We don’t want to spend additional £100’s on batteries, because we already had a battery set up in the van.
- We don’t want switching gas bottles to be really complicated.
Here’s what we came up with:
A portable stovetop, with 3 burners.
A refillable LPG gas tank, which is housed in a special cupboard in the kitchen.
A gas hose comes out of the cabinet through a neatly placed hole and can be pulled out of the van to attach the stove outdoors for outside cooking.
And when we want to cook inside, that same hose comes around the side of the worktop to attach the stove on the kitchen counter.
The gas kit we have is the GASIT refillable LPG kit.
It comes with everything you need to install, and is refillable in many (not all, as we found out) gas stations across Europe.
You do need some extra connectors, depending on what country you are in.
When you run out of gas, you find an LPG station and go and fill it up.
£10 of LPG lasts us 6 weeks or so. It’s super cheap.
The bottle needs to be accessible, so we can turn off the outlet manually after every use.
Don’t forget you need to seal the box your cylinder is in, and drill holes in the bottom of it to let any gas escape (LPG is heavier than air).
You will smell it if you have a leak because they make LPG smell like rotten eggs.
The stovetop is one from Amazon.
The outlet of the gas cylinder has a gas hose coming out of it. It mostly lives coiled up inside the Gas cabinet.
We store the stovetop in a special shelf in the kitchen cabinet and get it out when it is time to cook.
We pull the end of the hose out of a hole in the cabinet side and attach it on.
When we are done cooking, we detach it, poke the hose back into the cabinet and put away the stovetop.
9 times out of 10 we set up a table outside our side door and cook outside, beer in hand, watching the sun go down. If we are trying to be stealthy, we cook inside and when we’re all done we can pack away the stove and have a wonderful big clean worktop back.
It really helps make the van feel less cluttered.
For coffee in the morning, we don’t bother getting it all out. We use a Jetboil. And it’s bloody brilliant. A gas canister bought in decathlon will last about a month, and costs £5. It will boil a litre of water quicker than your electric kettle. Then we have an aeropress and a V60 for the actual coffee making. It’s a hassle free easy set up that we get out and pack away in minutes.