Eating out

We take more food when we are away from resorts and restaurants. We plan on eating out the days we are travelling. We try to keep it simple. I like to bbq so plan on that more. If we are going to a place where the weather may be questionable (ocean), we definitely will plan for some inside cooking.

EAting out is a treat. WE may do it once during a week stay. But eating at the RV is required. Sort of defeats the point of having an RV with a kitchen if you are going to eat like your staying in a hotel.

"what is the best way to plan meals and cook while on the road?"

You may not like my answer... it varies completely with each family!

I am a big planner. I like times for each meal, so I can plan my hikes / fishing / tether ball games / etc. I find it easier to know what and when I will be eating.

Good friends of our who we camp with us on a regular basis - seem to not plan anything. They just bring plenty of everything and cook when ever it seems to be needed.

But it all works, and we have great times.

You will get more responses in this thread, but also look through the forums. The camp cooking section has GREAT meal ideas for camping!

As to eating out while camping... we rarely do. We have our meals planned in advance, so we return to the camper for meals. It also can save a small fortune during the camping trip. Leftovers? Eat them at home when you get back! We also usually keep a couple cans of Hormel chili / Campbell soups / whichever in the camper cupboards as "emergency backup" - also, at the end of the season, those cans are simply put in the home kitchen and eaten eventually over the winter.

We finally figured out how to make baked potatoes wrapping full potatoes in saran wrap and microwave for about five minutes... perfect baked potatoes

Got to have Steaks on the grill and baked potatoes meal when we can...

Momabear likes to make up stews in her electric skillet. It has high sides and will simmer things all day long cooking...

Momabear has also figured out how to dice up onions in the fried potatoes for breakfast...

I was pulling my popup trailer on a work trip one time and had stopped at a WALMART and picked up some hamburger patties. After getting setup for the night I started cooking them and then mixed in some good ole pork-n-beans and was really smelling up the camp site good. Turned around and had two different camp sites dogs behind me smacking their chops haha... Had to feed them too when the neighbors came to get their dogs...

We used to pick up pre-made meals from Albertsons that was wrapped in a cold wrap.. Those were kinda neat...

Roy Ken

You say you have a full kitchen together with a grille, so do we. We cook and eat while camping the same as we do at home, that is the advantage of a full kitchen in an RV.

It depends on the trip. We are at the beach right now and one of the things that makes it a beach trip to us is eating all the local foods. Couple of great pizza places, a really good Italian place, good sub shops, seafood for the wife, etc. When we were planning for this trip, we brought breakfast stuff and snacks for the kids. We ate out every lunch and dinner on this trip.

When we go to the lake, we bring food for every meal. Chicken breasts, stuff for tacos, hot dogs/hamburgers/sausages, deli meats, etc.

Going to Florida for a couple weeks in the winter we usually don't bring much, but we buy from the Publix supermarkets down there and cook most meals... but we also have local spots we try to frequent when we are there.

I will look for the cooking forum on here, that is a new one for me.

Breakfast is a no brainer, we have come to like the crock pot and put meatballs on all and pick at all day. I will try the baked potatoes in saran wrap, that sounds great as well.

Thanks for the ideas, keep them coming!

I only eat out on travel days as well

As for food stocks. I always make sure there are 2 meals(breakfast and dinner) per day, and junk/snacky foods for lunch or whenever. I never get too serious about meals. as long as there is food to eat

For us, it really depends on the destination, and your situation. Some trips we only eat at the camper, others we may eat out half the time or more.

If you are retired, and stay in the camper for long trips, you probably treat it more like at home and eat out sparingly.

We are both working, and have kids, so out trips are a week at a time vacation, and weekends. When we go to the beach we think about all the money we save staying at a campground versus $2-3000 for a condo for the week, we look at that as savings to do other things, eating out, go-karts, charter fishing etc. If we had to pay for a condo, we'd be eating baloney sandwiches :)

sac89 wrote:
So we just went on our first week long camping trip with the family to a new camping "resort" in the area. Loved it, the place was magnificent!

We packed our travel trailer full of food and snacks, yet we ended up buying food at either the grill at the resort, or at the pool, or at a local establishment. We ended up bringing back home a ton of food that we simply did not use. I cooked breakfast every morning, which we all sat down to eat, but after that, it was literally like eat when and where you want!

Best practices question: what is the best way to plan meals and cook while on the road? Pre cook meals at home and take along? Go to the store every day and purchase groceries to cook as you go along? Cook all the meals at the campground when you are ready? Give in to the fact that eating out while on vacation is a normal human response?

What are easy to make meals while on the road? I have a 29' travel trailer with a full kitchen, RV size fridge, and an external gas grill. Thoughts?

We do the same thing camping as at home. for Breakfast my wife has coffee. If we are camping I might splurge and have some donuts with my coffee or just toast. Lunch is usually sandwiches brought with us in a soft sided cooler with sodas while we are fishing, sightseeing or whatever. before we leave the campground for the days activities we put together dinner in a slow cooker crockpot that is ready whenever we get back.