Do you cook in your egg or outside?

[Rene]

Originally Posted by Mouse

I cook inside a 13 ft uhaul.

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Lots of room and all my food is right there for me to choose from.

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This what it looks like right now. I'm making corn bread with pineapple and pecans in my frying pan on my stove top for diner tonight at the Lake San Antonio Rally.

Pretty impressive kitchen Mouse! I am still getting our kitchen the way I want it in the 17' boler. Cook inside a lot. If weather is nice and its supper time I will consider using the a fire for part of the meal. Not for boiling though because I don't like cleaning sooty pots. Don't care for microwaves or a lot of processed food. Prefer to cook from scratch. Eat a vegetarian diet and so other than a little vegetable oil, it is pretty clean. If we have a picnic table and it is nice outside I will cook inside and eat outside.
Also there is just the two of us, so no kids to complicate things.

[rgrugg]

My wife cooks outside weather permitting. Otherwise, inside. We now have an Easy-Up so can now cook outside in less than favorable weather. Food is stored in the Egg Camper. It has enough storage space that we won't use it all. Has more closet space than our 31 ft Kodiak.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Tina in AZ

Is it possible to do your cooking in a 13'?

16' owners, do you cook inside your trailer?

Our 1st trailer was a 13' Compact Jr. that I rebuilt from a gutted out shell. Prior to that we either tented with groups that did communal cooking, or we traveled cross-country using motels and restaurants. I envisioned the CJ as a portable motel room, so the "Kitchen" was just a base cabinet with a 12 volt thermoelectric cooler and an electric coffeemaker. Opposite was a "potty room" where the ice-box and closet storage had been. We only camped in KOA's that had electric power available, and we only made our morning coffee, or sandwiches in the trailer.

The 16' Fiber Stream has a double bowl sink, a 3-burner range with gas oven, a 4 cu-ft fridge, and a convection/microwave that occupies 1/2 of the pantry cabinet. Robert is one of the best cooks I know, and he cooks in the Fiber Stream no differently than he does at home. When he's cooking there's no room for me in there so I stay outside out of his way. He does do prep work on the bed using "Breakfast-in-bed" type trays for counter space.

[Joy A]

In 12 years of camping with my 13 footer I've only cooked outdoors just a couple of times. I prefer to cook inside. I do carry a Coleman stove but rarely use it.

Now of course any BBQ'ing is done outside.

Hum, I'm recalling a few years back where I took my little rotisserie and my generator and promptly rotissed a chicken outside for my Thanksgiving dinner while at Joshua Trees NP.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Food storage... In my 13' Scamp the area under the couch, in the middle. A plastic tub holds cans and packaged food. And of course, some in the fridge.
We learned camp cooking during our backpacking days. We never used freeze dried meals, but managed to make good meals with what we could carry. However, we could only carry enough for about 8 or 9 days. With the trailer it was easy to expand that and add a few more items.
I made a rule that is seldom broken, when we got the trailer. What is used in the trailer goes into the trailer, which includes all food. What is used outside goes in the back of the tow vehicle. So far this has worked pretty good for.
As I often say, this style is not for everybody, but knowing your options are a good thing.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Mouse

I cook inside a 13 ft uhaul.

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How did the spices hold up to your road trips - did any fall off?
I love the idea but worry about spices all over the floor on arrival.

[Per Walthinsen]

Cooking is done inside only for us. My wife treats the kitchen as she would at home, but inside also give her protection from wasps (she is very allergic to the stings).

She has not complained about storage space or frig space but then again she manages those things with efficiency.

What I see is that our trailer is almost unique in the amount of counter space available. My wife has wondered if the designers of most brands have ever asked their wives about what is needed for efficient cooking.

[Mary F]

I cook inside most of the time, especially if it's just the two of us camping. I probably wouldn't fry fish indoors, but mostly we've not had a problem with odors lingering inside the Casita, even though it has the carpeted walls (and floor). I do store most food in the Casita (under the sink/stove, or in the fridge) but big boxes of cereal, etc. may sometimes be stored in the car. I usually keep produce in a soft-side cooler, with or without a "blue ice" pack - I find the refrigerator freezes produce, no matter what I do.

[Reid Larsen]

Always make morning coffee in the trailer. Do alot of our cooking on a gas grill ( great way to make toast). Soup and sauces inside-meat out side-seems to be a trend here. Even in inclement weather (in the great north wet ?) tent to do most cooking on a roll up table under the awning. Camping for us means being outside as much as possible. My wife does like coffee in bed in the morning while I take Lucy (the Boxer) for her morning constitutional.

[BCDave]

Cook???
On Vacation???
Gee - sounds like just SO much fun!
Almost like staying home (except that you have a lot more conveniences and comforts at home!)

Seriously, if either wife or I had to cook while we away "enjoying ourselves", we just wouldn't go!

We tend to choose campgrounds that are very nearby a town/city where we can go for lunch & dinner. Morning coffee is about as "cooking oriented" as we get.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Mary F

I cook inside most of the time, especially if it's just the two of us camping. I probably wouldn't fry fish indoors, but mostly we've not had a problem with odors lingering inside the Casita, even though it has the carpeted walls (and floor). I do store most food in the Casita (under the sink/stove, or in the fridge) but big boxes of cereal, etc. may sometimes be stored in the car. I usually keep produce in a soft-side cooler, with or without a "blue ice" pack - I find the refrigerator freezes produce, no matter what I do.

Packaging is an issue. As we learned pre-Scamp a lot packaging and be done away with. Zip Lock type of plastic bags a great invention for the camping folks. When we grocery shop for food to put into the Scamp, the first thing that happens is stuff in excess packaging is repackage into these handy plastic bag. On a recent grocery store trip while near Bull Head City the grocery cart was pretty full. By the time all the excess packaging was done away with it was quite manageable. A pretty large garbage bag was put into the camp dumpster with that excess packaging.

Produce is something we will buy and use within a couple days. If I watch the fridge closely I can keep it from freezing for the short period of time produce is stored. We do keep carrots and an onion around much of the time. Tomatoes, lettuce, and other green and leafy stuff takes up too much room for what value you get, IMHO.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by BCDave

Cook???
On Vacation???
Gee - sounds like just SO much fun!
Almost like staying home (except that you have a lot more conveniences and comforts at home!)

Seriously, if either wife or I had to cook while we away "enjoying ourselves", we just wouldn't go!

We tend to choose campgrounds that are very nearby a town/city where we can go for lunch & dinner. Morning coffee is about as "cooking oriented" as we get.

That might work for short trips, but for 3 months???

[BCDave]

She and I - in a trailer for 3 months? There'd be a divorce lawyer involved before week 2 was over!

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Reid Larsen

Always make morning coffee in the trailer. Do alot of our cooking on a gas grill ( great way to make toast). Soup and sauces inside-meat out side-seems to be a trend here. Even in inclement weather (in the great north wet ?) tent to do most cooking on a roll up table under the awning. Camping for us means being outside as much as possible. My wife does like coffee in bed in the morning while I take Lucy (the Boxer) for her morning constitutional.

I think it evolves with each camping family. When most of our trips were 2 or 3 days and warm summer weather, most of our cooking and eating was done outside. Every year when have spent 30 to 90+ days living in our Scamp and being in places were they want everything put away at night the number of times we cook outside reduces. That's been my experience.

[Jim Hovind]

We have a 16" Casita and I cook outside. I use the second tank on the trailer for cooking fuel and use the tailgate of the truck for a counter along with two small fold up tables. Though if it is raining I move indoors. A Side note my pickup came with cup holders in the tailgate does that make me a redneck?????

[Bob Miller]

Cooking Inside a 13'er
One trick we use is to expand the counter space. We have a collapible dish drainer and a small plastic pan that it exactly fits into. As we dirty or wash dishes they go into the drainer that is set on the table or the dinette seat to the left of the sink. It's like having a double sink....

[Kenny Strong]

we have an extremely cold Igloo cooler that stays in the 4runner. The clothes closet next to the entrance door has been converted to a multi shelf pantry. We carry rice milk and almond milk that require no refrigeration until opened

[Sam and Jess]

Yay for families of 4 in a 13' egg!

We cook outside and removed our Boler's stove entirely, but not so much for space reasons as for wanting to simplify things. We already had the Coleman Dual Fuel camp stove and even with a bigger trailer and a full kitchen, would have kept it around for hot mornings when we didn't want to heat up the camper (I'm a coffee addict year-round).

Everything but the stove is stored in the Boler's kitchen, so there's really not much to "setting up" outdoors. It's actually pretty nice to assemble just what I need on the cutting board and carry it outside to cook. With two cold/rainy trips in row lately, it was an added benefit that we could leave the stir-crazy kids to bop around in the warm camper while we cooked safely outside (under an awning).

And... if nothing else, there's an extra special obnoxious smugness one gets from being the only campers outdoors on the worst mornings!

So, I wouldn't size up to a 16' for kitchen space. But for a bathroom... now that's another issue entirely ; )

[Jim Bennett]

Even with our 19', we prefer to cook outside if at all possible. More room, fresher air, and better view. Same with eating. We do come from a background of hiking, and still to a bunch of canoe tripping, so it is natural for us to have our kitchen in the great outdoors.

But, if it is blowing, cold or raining hard, we will take the cooking indoors. Morning coffee is almost always done outside so I can let the little missus sleep longer.

Depending on when and where we go, we will bring a bug shelter for the picnic table if it looks like they will be really bad, but that is only a couple times a year.

[Adrian W]

We do most cooking inside. But have done some outside, we have a small butane stove in case we want or need to do so. Of course, we often take a small Webber Clone grill & use it only outside. Ha! Often we use the microwave.

2005 16' Scamp Side Dinette