My wife tells me she will not cook in our new Oliver that we will be picking up in late September, so that chore will fall to me. I am not opposed to learning to cook and have done some cooking at home and in an RV. She does not like to cook, at home or camping.

I would appreciate recommendations on one or two cookbooks that I could use to help me plan meals, shop, and cook. I would prefer simple recipes with not too many ingredients. I like to use fresh ingredients, and some spices, like onions, garlic, pepper, salt, and sugar. I don't want to have to keep a lot of other spices for cooking. Our refrigerator is only a 5 cubic foot Norcold, so there will not be a lot of room for cold stuff. We will probably have to buy groceries at least two or three times per week while camping. We like healthy food but aren't health food nuts.

I like cooking on the gas burner, either in a saute pan or a pot. We will have a microwave/convection oven but will not always be hooked up to shore power. I don't want to spend more than about a half hour preparing and cooking our meals, unless it is only an occasional thing. I probably won't carry an outdoor grill because we will have to keep our weight down and I don't like having to clean up a messy grill. We like Chinese food and I have wok that I enjoy using.

What cookbooks could some of you recommend for me, based on the above situations? If you recommend an electronic cookbook, I have a Mac, not a PC.

Thanks,

Doug

You can't go wrong with the three-ring binder "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book". It's written for the "new cook". With many of the recipes, they also provide alternate cooking methods like crackpot and microwave.

Pat

Crockpot...not crackpot.

I just noticed that.

Convection also.

Pat

Hi Doug,

I would recommend looking for book topics such as "One Pot Cooking" or "One Pot Recipes". That style of cooking fits well with trailering as you will generate complete meals with very few dishes. Here's a few to consider:
One Pot Wonders
The One-Pan Galley Gourmet
50 Chowders: One Pot Meals - Clam, Corn, & Beyond
(note, I don't own these books myself, so I can't really say how good they are)

This site gives you the basics for technique and some more recipes.

What I'd do (and have done), is create menus and then precook and freeze and much as possible. Take the "work" out of fixing meals while camping.