How often do you cook inside?

[redbarron55]

I took the stove out of my Scamp and when I had it out on the driveway my wife asked, "What is that?"

[honda03842]

We have bought 4 used RVs. Three of them had never had their kitchen stove used. We use our stove virtually every day, primarily for breakfast. Our typical breakfast is one egg and one strip of bacon each.

Two of RV's came with built in microwaves. We typically use them for reheating leftovers or making oatmeal. The two smaller rigs, 16 foot trailers, came with small counter microwaves. We got rid of both microwaves finding them not space worthy since anything we could do in a microwave we could do on the stove top.

As to meals beyond breakfast we're typically out exploring during the day. We either carry a lunch for the trail or eat out. WE go to Newfoundland every other year for two months. Their when scouting around it can be difficult to find any where to eat when off the beaten track.

Suppers are usually eaten at home however we always seek interesting local places to eat. This can happen at lunch or supper. If we have a big lunch, we eat lightly in the evening.

Needless to say this eating life style was a change for us and between us over our 20 years on the road we've lost over 120 lbs between us and still counting.

[ZachO]

I still do all my cooking in the trailer. But in this heat, lunch and often dinner don’t require any cooking.


I very, very rarely fry anything. I don’t want splatter, and it’s not healthy anyway. When I do use a frying pan, it’s on low heat.

[Natalie21]

I really like cooking and I often cook right inside my rv. I'm using oven and stove. You can refer in here: https://vogeltalksrving.com/best-rv-ovens-and-stoves/. I also buy a new one in that. This simple appliance will open up a lot of different eating options, thus making your RV trip all the more enjoyable.

[stevebaz]

all most never we mostly boil water inside to do dishes or a sponge bath we have a new wave oven we used a couple of times inside when we have AC power to use. everything else we BBQ or eat out.

[RogerDat]

Originally Posted by redbarron55

I took the stove out of my Scamp and when I had it out on the driveway my wife asked, "What is that?"

Apparently she has never seen you use the stove or she would have known

I have made coffee on the stove. Cooked if you count a toaster. Anything I can cook on the stove in the camper I can make outside on the Coleman stove. If we have AC power there is the hot plate, or small electric skillet.

More room outside. Less smelling up the camper, and in the summer who needs to make the inside all hot? Or cook in the heat?

Those with AC and power can disregard that heat factor, in fact inside might be more comfortable but I don't have AC and often camp where there isn't power so that is another factor that drives me outside.

Two burner Coleman + one burner butane/propane stove. Covers everything I could think of to do that isn't done over a fire.

[Borden]

Originally Posted by ae6black

I've camped out of tents, Popups, Travel trailers and a Teardrop. I typically cook outside with a coleman stove, over the fire pit or with dutch ovens. I've never done much cooking inside. I am getting a Casita and am wondering how often people actually cook inside? I can see rainy day cooking and using the microwave to warm up food that's already been cooked, but how many actually cook inside and do most of their food preparation inside their camper? Seems like I see more people putting cutting boards over the stove and over the sink to add more counter space. In bear country, is cooking inside a camper even a good idea since the smells will linger for a long time? I am sure this has been hashed over many times, but I am new to the forum and haven't seen the posts.

Art

Depends on weather. Even if it has snowed will cook outside but the 4 burner stove and little oven are still welcome when the weather is at odds with our plans. Our vintage unit has no microwave, no air, just what was available when it was built. We are luck as it was built with a roll out awning we even have the option list that shows how much it cost at the time. fast and easy weather help

[Alf S.]

Originally Posted by ae6black

I've camped out of tents, Popups, Travel trailers and a Teardrop. I typically cook outside with a coleman stove, over the fire pit or with dutch ovens. I've never done much cooking inside. I am getting a Casita and am wondering how often people actually cook inside? I can see rainy day cooking and using the microwave to warm up food that's already been cooked, but how many actually cook inside and do most of their food preparation inside their camper? Seems like I see more people putting cutting boards over the stove and over the sink to add more counter space. In bear country, is cooking inside a camper even a good idea since the smells will linger for a long time? I am sure this has been hashed over many times, but I am new to the forum and haven't seen the posts.


Art

Hi: ae6black... If you want proper "Blackened" food it's best to char outside. Those scents linger!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Alf S.]

Originally Posted by honda03842

We have bought 4 used RVs. Three of them had never had their kitchen stove used. We use our stove virtually every day, primarily for breakfast. Our typical breakfast is one egg and one strip of bacon each.

Two of RV's came with built in microwaves. We typically use them for reheating leftovers or making oatmeal. The two smaller rigs, 16 foot trailers, came with small counter microwaves. We got rid of both microwaves finding them not space worthy since anything we could do in a microwave we could do on the stove top.

As to meals beyond breakfast we're typically out exploring during the day. We either carry a lunch for the trail or eat out. WE go to Newfoundland every other year for two months. Their when scouting around it can be difficult to find any where to eat when off the beaten track.

Suppers are usually eaten at home however we always seek interesting local places to eat. This can happen at lunch or supper. If we have a big lunch, we eat lightly in the evening.

Needless to say this eating life style was a change for us and between us over our 20 years on the road we've lost over 120 lbs between us and still counting.

Hi: honda03842... Here's a pic of lunch at Nanny's Root cellar and Kitchen in Elliston NL. Sorry the digital camera wasn't fast enough!!!
The Puffins were there to but prefered the fresh sea food on the coast.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[John in Santa Cruz]

we use our propane oven quite a lot for lunch, dinners. or a kettle of hot water with a frozen bag of home made stews, chilis, pastas, curries, etc.

breakfast coffee often gets made by jetboil on the picnic table outside, instead of a kettle on the stove inside.

we have a propane travel grill for outside.

[Gerry]

I full time in my Casita for the summer working at a campground and I cook inside about 99% of the time.
Once in a while I will cook on the outdoors, table top grill, or sometimes I will cook my morning sausage outside while I cook my egg inside.
But as said I will cook inside, yes even the sausage.
Gerry
Host of the Spring Fling in New England Rally

[Rzrbrn]

We are on our 6th or 7th camping season this year, having missed all of 2020. We camp for a solid block of 3 to 5 months at a time when we do camp/RV. So not all that much experience. We never once cooked inside the Casita, and we have not cooked inside our Big Foot 25RQ. I do the cooking and the wife cleans. We do reheat items in the microwave, and she has used the percolator to make coffee when not connected to shore power, but once I connected a generator permanently to the Casita we just used to start that and made drip coffee, which she prefers.

We have a permanent generator on the BF as well as solar. So we use the microwave to reheat and the drip coffee maker, but naught else on the stove unless absolutely necessary, which has yet to be the case.

I have used a number of outdoor stoves and grills over the years. I currently use a Camp Chef Blind II stove and carbon steel pans, and an electric griddle, electric hot plate and Instant Pot for camp sites with electricity. I also take a Weber Go Anywhere charcoal grill and I really enjoy my Coleman dual gas double burner camp stove, to use at the higher elevations. Oh yes, I also take a Svea 124R, for enjoyment. We have never had a campfire, preferring clean air instead.

As you can see, we do things a bit differently that most folks. For instance, we never used the toilet or the shower in either unit, preferring to use the camp facilities, or a portable toilet. Years ago, when our sons were young, we flew to Alaska and rented a class C motorhome. For 10 days we endured smells that were unbelievably nasty. Consequently we try very hard to not generate smells inside the units we own.

[Lynn Eberhardt]

We've had our Scamp 16 since 2006. Always cook inside on the stove, including extended trips with another couple. They set up a tent for sleeping but our meals were together, cooked inside. Open the window near the stove and turn on the ceiling fan. No lingering odor.

[Darwin Maring]

Popcorn only. It is a vacation for both of us so we eat out.

[Mike_L]

We have used our trailer for the past 15 camping seasons except 2020. We boondock in the back country with the bears who can enter any trailer any time they want to. Trailers that have been cooked in often have residual cooking odors that can attract bears. We have boiled the kettle inside for morning coffee but nothing else has ever been cooked inside. We have both gas and microwave ovens. Neither has ever been used for cooking although several years ago, while the trailer was home my wife did heat a cup of water in the microwave to see if it worked.
Even when bears aren't an issue, cooking, especially frying, inside a trailer doesn't always work well. Smoke, grease and many other substances released during cooking are often trapped inside where they condense on the inner surfaces. Grease, in particular, remains on these surfaces where it will oxidize and produce the rancid odors often found in older trailers. If you ever visit a trailer lot, walk through some of the used units and you will know which ones have been cooked in.
.

[Old Macdonalds]

Stove in our trailer was nasty when we got it and the propane lines were sketchy so we pulled it out. Have a tiny microwave just for morning coffee when we have shore power, otherwise everything is done on the the butane stove or table top BBQ. We even got rid of our stove at home and just have a convection hotplate and the microwave. Any roasting or baking gets done in a countertop roaster or our convection toaster oven. Freed up lots of room in our kitchen as I downsized the utensils, baking tins etc., as well. Just the two of us and we don't entertain much.

[thrifty bill]

With the Escape 19, cook inside always. It’s where we keep the food, where the cookware is located, where the sink is located, no bugs, climate controlled, and where the stove is located. In the Trillium, it’s almost never. Not enough room inside, a lot of the food is in the truck, I haven’t got the cooktop working yet (I am working on it right now).

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

I like to cook outside. If the weathers bad will cook inside.

[Jane P.]

When soling, I cook coffee, oatmeal & eggs inside the trailer, pack lunch & snacks for the day, and either go out for dinner or microwave healthy choice. My husband is a chemist & loves to cook (I try to encourage him). So, whenever he joins me, he cooks inside the trailer. He has even used the oven! During the summer, I have tried to get him to BBQ, but he doesn’t like propane grills.

Personally, I do not like cooking recipes with strong odors. That is why I am careful about meals I prepare. But you do get use to the smells inside the cabin. When people come inside the cabin to visit my husband & me, I have no idea what they can smell & if it is bothersome.

[JenPB]

Having moved up into the tiny FGRV from a lifetime of tent camping, I find it comforting and traditional to cook over the open firepit outside whenever we can, which is most of the time. I cook inside when: there's no available fire pit; I've forgotten to pack the grill for said pit; I can't find rock "legs" for said grill; or on the rare occasion it's too cold to sit by the fire to tend to food. That said, I'm heading for MN next week. I've got my Little Buddy heater, extra blankets, gloves, knit hat and woolies packed and suspect I'll be doing most of my cooking inside just to keep the place a bit warmer before bedtime.