Do you cook in your egg or outside?

[Tina in AZ]

I am noticing a trend with the 13' owners: you all seem to do you cooking outdoors, not in the trailer. Is it lack of counter space that drives you outdoors? Is it possible to do your cooking in a 13'?

16' owners, do you cook inside your trailer?

As I am looking for a trailer, I want a place for my family of 4 to sleep, and a sense of 'order in the kitchen', if that makes any sense. I don't really want to have to set up another kitchen area outside.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Both.
The past winter we cooked most of the time inside. Choose your foods carefully, avoid greasy hamburgers and the like. We use a lot prepackaged meals. Many work great for easy cooking and carrying. Uncle Ben's rice packages come to mind, but look on the grocery shelves.
Lots of greasy meats will leave you kitchen area a greasy mess IMHO.
I made a cutting board that fits over the sink. This adds greatly to the counter space.
The trouble with kitchen areas outside is many places don't want you to leave stoves, food, etc. outside. To cook outside you often need to put everything away at night.
This is to discourage animals, such Coyotes, Javelianas, racoons, etc. from rummaging through the campground.

[Robin G]

A 13/ 16 /17/even a 35 ft Class A, If camping I prefer to cook outside.


With the Casita 17fter, personally I don't care for have food smells inside. Prep area doesn't exsist so for me, I prefer outside.

Remember, there is only so much room inside an egg. Honestly, 4 people inside a 13fter and trying to cook, not something I would want to do!

4 people in my Casita and trying to cook wouldn't work either!

I have warmed up soup or something like it, but down right cooking, nope! Have taken a crockpot along but even that goes out on a table.


I prefer to grill camping food over a open fire.

[Evan Friesen]

We cook inside. We lived in our 13' for a few months. You can't really expect to cook the same way in a 13' trailer as you would at home. It takes some thinking through, but you can plan healthy/tasty meals that are simple and don't require a lot of room. We tried to not to do all the cooking at once...meaning, we'd prep a little for the next day the night before.

And don't let the dishes pile up! They pile up fast in there! I think that was the biggest factor leading us to ask each other..."wanna go OUT to eat tonite?"

[Robin G]

LOL, Evan, I love to go out when traveling in the Casita. Get to try the local fair, check out what's around. Always fun!

[RogerDat]

Even when we had a large Motorhome most of our cooking was outside. With some food prep done inside. It's actually kind of nice to sit around the picnic table as a family or now as a couple and prepare dinner. Do plan on having a few items in the pantry for stuck inside weather. I vote for Bridge Mix and cashews but doubt that will be the final word.

Wife has already addressed the "lets head to Denny's" as a prefered rainy morning option.

[jack maloney]

Veggies inside, meat outside on the grill. Especially when camping in bear country!

[Kenny Strong]

We find we cook often inside if the temperature is down. we were in bear country for a couple of months; cooked some outside, but brought Coleman stove in at night, or when we left camp. Heating up coffee water, mush water, can heat up the interior, and may be what you want, in cooler seasons.

[Tina in AZ]

Thanks for all the input. Now how do you all store your food? In the trailer, or your car? There does not seem to be many places to store food in the trailer.

[RogerDat]

Keep most food in car. Easier to get out of tailgate and side doors since we cook outside. We have hung food in a bag from a high tree branch when tenting from a canoe. Raccons and skunks are more of a worry than bears or coyotes. When we have been in bear areas it's been in the US and we have bear protection ranging from non-lethal pepper spray to at least one firearm able to stop a bear.

Not really worried about having food in camper just less convenient than car.

[HappyFamily]

We do both; although what I do inside falls more under the heading of "heating" rather than "cooking". I'll boil water, reheat precooked meals, sauté veggies, etc. inside. Meat and eggs get cooked outside.

Even in a 19 foot trailer the kitchen space is small and I find myself setting things on the bed to be close at hand. We bought used and I would love to have a 3 burner stove instead of the 2 burners that I do have.

We have plenty of room for food in our trailer; the refrigerator is large and we have the space above it for a pantry (some eggs may have a microwave in such a space).

[jen b]

We do all our cooking inside - the Burro is mainly the HQ for intensive photography outings, meaning we don't really want to spend time doing an outside-kitchen setup. It works okay, french toast for second breakfast (first breakfast is a bowl of cereal at 4:30am), for dinner a steak and salad or some pasta, that sort of thing. I have never found that cooking inside has left much in the way of cooking smells, but maybe that soaks in less with the hard inside Burro shell.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Tina in AZ

16' owners, do you cook inside your trailer?

I have a 16' side bath that has more counter space than the 16' that have the bath at the front with a small side table. And yes if the weather is poor I cook inside. I will normally do all my prep work inside regardless of the weather.

[theresa p]

like others, i tend to share prep work indoors and outdoors depending on what it is i am cooking and what the weather is like.
but essentially, cooking is done outdoors. we have an electric frying pan, bbq and crockpot that all are great for outdoor cooking. inside, mostly prep and boiling the kettle for tea.

[spfar]

When camping we mostly grill outside. I also do most of my prep outside on the picnic table. Inside I boil water (pasta, etc) or obviously, anything that is done in the microwave.

As for storage, we store a few things like coffee, cereal, snacks, and spices in one cupboard over the microwave. Everthing else goes in a plastic box in the back of the truck. We also keep a cooler with ice filled with drinks outside.

[Mouse]

I cook inside a 13 ft uhaul.



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



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.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Tina in AZ

Now how do you all store your food? In the trailer, or your car?

I normally dont carry anything in my car other than golf clubs or bikes.
All the food is stored in the fridge or on the shelf's on the bottom half of the coat closet & if to many bulky items to fit on the shelfs I might use the hatch under the front seat. I use one side of the overhead bins in the kitchen for spices and dry foods such a rice, coffee and pancake mixes etc. If I buy more fresh food than what will fit in the fridge I will take veggies out of the fridge and stick them in the cooler I normally only use for drinks.

[floyd]

The microwave is inside!
But really ...When breakfast is cooked at the campgrounds it is cooked at the picnic table.

[Tina in AZ]

Originally Posted by Carol H

I normally dont carry anything in my car other than golf clubs or bikes.
All the food is stored in the fridge or on the shelf's on the bottom half of the coat closet & if to many bulky items to fit on the shelfs I might use the hatch under the front seat. I use one side of the overhead bins in the kitchen for spices and dry foods such a rice, coffee and pancake mixes etc. If I buy more fresh food than what will fit in the fridge I will take veggies out of the fridge and stick them in the cooler I normally only use for drinks.

This is what I have in mind for food storage with a trailer. Based on seeing a 16ft and a 13ft, I'm guessing this is only accomplished in the 16' since there is obviously more storage.

...Now to convince my hubby that the 16' is a good idea. Currently, he is leaning towards a 13', and I am leaning towards a 16'. What usually happens is that we are so good at persuading one another, we usually swap sides! Decision making for us can be quite the process!

Since we are looking for a used trailer, I'm guessing it will come down to what we can find nearby.

[Tina in AZ]

Mouse, I just saw your post! Now that is an impressive set up! I love the IKEA(?) spices on the front of your cabinet and fridge! I guess I can get creative and make a 13' work for us