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

[YelloDraw]

If you buy a cool bag and freeze in a block day 1 and day 2 dinner (something like bolagnaise, chicken stew etc) then those will stay fresh for day 1 and 2 even if you have a long drive. Maybe you could make 2x amounts of a normal family meal and freeze so no extra work?

this is amazing at keeping things cool.

[YelloDraw]

It is possible to cook up gourmet meals, but much harder when you are cooking for 5 and no one is helping you.

I woudl go super simple and not worry about veg and stuff too much -= buy a load of apples, bananas and carrots to snack on as they keep well.

Fresh tortellini with pesto - the packs keep for ages in the fridge, cooks in 3 mins, drain and return to the pan with pesto for give it a quick heat up.

Gallo risotto heat up water, add the risotto mix and heat for 12 mins giving it a stir. Easy peasy. NIce with a tomato salad and some parmesan cheese (take the 'dried hard Italian cheese' for camping ease).

Sausages on in the oven/BBQ with smash and baked beans and/or tinned peas.

Chicken in the oven with crusty bread and salad.

Chicken super noodles with tinned sweetcorn added. Also a soft boiled egg added is nice.

Tinned Stag chilli with rice, nachos and grated cheese.

'Spanish' stew - Fry an onion and some chorizo and a green pepper, add in 2x tin of toms, 1x tin of chickpeas or white beans and some spices if the kids will take them. Boil water and pour over 2 or 3 of the couscous packets (more expensive than buying a whole bag but much easier to just take with you). Serve the stew with couscous. Chorizo in a ring lasts ages out of the fridge.

Tinned minced beef with onions, add in drained tinned carrots when heating it up. Serve with smash and gravy if you like.

[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.

[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.

[Poocatcherchampion]

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

Fajitas are a great idea!

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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]

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

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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

[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.

[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!

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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

[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

[Poocatcherchampion]

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

[Rainbowqueeen]

Tacos
Hamburgers
Pasta with stir through sauce
Chicken scewers