Quick meals for cooking in a caravan

[Boobyroof]

I wondered if anyone could help me with some ideas for meals please?
I am going away for a week with 2 other adults who won't cook (but that's a different story) and my children aged nearly 2 and 4. We are on a budget and every other time I've promised to cook to save costs we inevitably end up going to restaurants due to overrunning of time. So I need to be more organised, but wondered if anyone could inspire me with quick and easy meals with fairly limited resources in a caravan? My children also have fish, egg and nut allergies to complicate matters. My usual attempts are spaghetti bolognese using sauce from a jar and a bag of salad.
Any ideas gratefully received

[BugPlaster]

Some of my solutions in a similar organised frame of mind:

Couscous with mozzarella, tomatoes (sundried jar if limited fresh produce).

Cook a chicken and use for sandwiches/ rolls/ risotto/ to go with salad.

Stir fry with packet straight to wok noodles. Own or packet sauce.

[imip]

Can you take some frozen meals. I usually take frozen spag bog for the first night. Could you take frozen taco meat for the second night. Can you buy a rotisserie chicken and coleslaw another night (with rolls? Cherry toms and carrot sticks for

Taking 3 already made meals and getting a chicken and pre made salads should help a lot. Deli meats and salad?

And a ready meal from the supermarket?

[Rainbowqueeen]

Tacos
Hamburgers
Pasta with stir through sauce
Chicken scewers

[Poocatcherchampion]

Stir fry is a good first night one.
Ottheriwse we need ideas too!

[Orchidflower1]

What about a throw away bbq? You could do veggie kebabs, get burgers from local butcher or take frozen ( nice) sausages. Kids could " help" make salad

[Wait4nothing]

We used to have just a hob and toaster in our caravan.
Remember they are on holiday so don't worry about being super healthy (fresh fruit that doesn't need to be in the fridge is ideal for snacks/desert).
Sausages, potato waffles and beans
Scrambled egg on toast
Dippy egg and soldiers
Pancakes (with sweet or savoury fillings)
Pasta with pesto, sweet corn, onion, feta cheese

[Ifailed]

could you borrow a slow cooker? Lots of easy-to-prepare meals that you chuck in and leave (switched on!), ready to eat in the evening. Only one pot to clean as well.

[DoItTooJulia]

Hot dogs
Pre made frozen chilli and boil in the bag rice
Salad with cold meat and crusty bread
Bacon sandwiches
Risotto
Pesto pasta

[imwithspud]

Ready made pizzas always go down well with some garlic bread and salad.

Also for the dc we bought them some of those kids ready meal type things to have one night. I hate ready meals and never use them at home but for one night on holiday it was fine. Some weren't as unhealthy as you'd first think at least. I think last time they had fish pie with butternut squash and chicken pie with various veg in the filling - so it could have been worse.

We usually do a BBQ for one night with one of those disposable bbq's. Nothing fancy just burgers, sausages and maybe some chicken done in the oven - serve with salad etc.

[cexuwaleozbu]

Keep it simple. No shame in using jars of sauce. No more than 3 ingredients ideally.

Sausage and mash
Pasta and sauce
Curry (jar. Meat/quorn. Done) with pre-cooked rice.

[Frankiebop]

Fajitas - just needs one pan then they can assemble themselves
Pasta with Boursin, ham and mushrooms - Just fry up some onion, garlic and mushrooms, add chopped ham and some Boursin and milk to thin it down a bit if necessary.
Pasta with hidden vegetable sauce, I cook up a load of vegetables; onion, mushroom, courgette, aubergine, sweet potato, garlic, peppers, chopped tomatoes and mixed herbs, cook for a while then blend and freeze. you can pre-make and then all you need to do is defrost and cook some pasta.
Have a great time!

[Limer]

Don’t take everything with you, take the opportunity to explore and do some shopping at the local butcher/baker/greengrocer/deli etc. for inspiration.

Steak & kidney pie/Cornish pasties with sweetcorn/peas.

Local sausages/bacon/black pudding and do a Full English Breakfast as a tea, with baked beans, mushrooms, eggs, toast etc.

Pork pie/quiche/cold chicken with coleslaw/salad.

Fresh burgers with good bread/bread rolls (use disposable bbq as a PP mentioned).

Do an “afternoon tea” as a meal using a decent loaf, ham, cheese, tomatoes, olives, pickles etc. for sandwiches, then a selection of cakes for afterwards.

And if the other adults won’t cook, they can clear away and wash up. And send them to the chippy/takeaway a couple of times!

[SandpitDreams]

Chinese chicken and noodles:

Boil kettle of water. Pour into pan with (aldi microwavable noodles) put lid on and leave.

Stir fry chicken. Add tins of water chestnuts/ beansprouts if wanted. Add jar aldi black bean sauce. Strain noodles and add those as well. Heat through. Serve.

Can all be done in 15 mins on 1 small camping stove.

[Boobyroof]

Thanks for the ideas...ill start writing them down to inspire me. I do find our caravan holidays tiring, I'm going to encourage the other adults to assist in the clearing up.
Can't get my children to eat chilli which is a shame. I'm afraid the egg ones are out due to the allergy. I like the bbq idea for variety.
Thanks

[dreamingofsun]

camp sites often have take-aways. The local supermarket may do roast meat and then you could just add a salad and french bread for example. its amazing what you can cook on a BBQ - maybe get a book from the library?

[Limer]

Another tip - buy a disposable bbq (or two) from somewhere like Wilkos and take it with you. They're about three times the price in holiday resort towns!

Chilli - not necessarily for the caravan trip, but try serving it as nachos - tortilla chips with a spoonful of chilli, topped with grated cheese melted under the grill. Or inside soft tortilla wraps. My youngest DS would never eat chilli either, but he would wolf down both these dishes.

[busyboysmum]

Have you got a microwave?

I always pre make tubs of mash and roast chicken breasts with spices that I then heat up and we have with packet gravy.

Or I'll pre make a pasta bake and again heat that up.

[champagneplanet]

I love a bit of caravan cooking, it's simple and no fuss. I assume you will have an oven? Will you have a freezer?

Pasta with sauce with added cooked chicken
Hot dogs / Burgers with chips
Jacket potatoes with various fillings
Chicken wraps with salad/wedges
Cool a chicken for salad/sandwiches

[Zhx3]

We went camping on quite a remote site for 2 nights. I cooked the first meal (lamb casserole) from home and put it in a cool bag, heated it up on the first night and had it with that microwaveable rice that you can heat on the hob. If you cook a second meal in advance and freeze it in a large block, that will defrost over a day in a cool box. We also did sausages on one if those rubbish disposable barbecues with beans in a pan.

Definitely get the other adults to clear if they won't cook, that should be a given!

[champagneplanet]

You could also make and freeze a spag bol for first night, take some garlic bread.

A good old fry up goes down well with our lot too.

Like the bbq idea, might do that myself this weekend!

[mishmash1979]

We have exactly the same allergies as you and my meal plan for our week in Cornwall is : pasta, sauce (hm and frozen to take with us)and garlic bread, pizza, sausages and mash (pre bought) BBQ X 2 (we take our camping one or throwaway ones) fish and chips (cooked for allergy boy and takeaway for everyone else and a huge lasagne (again home made and frozen) . I find that the pasta sauce is defrosted the first night and the lasagne by the second meal. Stir fry and shop bought safe ready cirrus are great standbys too.

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Assuming you have an oven, roll of ready rolled puff, unroll score a boarder and put in the oven for 8 mins. Remove from the oven and flatten the puffed up inner leaving just the boarder puffed. Scatter over a tray of ready prepared Mediterranean veggies and some mozzarella. Brush the boarder of the tart with milk and bake for a further 10 mins. Serve with salad.
A Ploughmans is another really easy one to pull out after a long day.

[Poocatcherchampion]

I love this thread - ovens and freezers mean you can just cook your normal meal doesn't it??

Fajitas are a great idea!

[imwithspud]

ovens and freezers mean you can just cook your normal meal doesn't it??

To an extent but in my experience the fridge in a caravan is minuscule. The freezer is often just a small compartment inside the fridge itself.

[Boobyroof]

Thanks again for ideas. Yes there is an oven, but utensils are limited and pans are small. So is the fridge with just the small freezer compartment at the top. I honestly am finding cooking meals everyone likes a challenge anyway. Not looking forward to the extra challenges.
I like the idea of taking some frozen stuff though can't take too much due to journey time and lack of spare.