Vintage meals on wheels books

[Steve in Missoula]

I recently ran across a couple of older books on cooking on the road, one from 1971 ("The Care and Feeding of Outdoor Appetites") and the other from 1970 ("Cooking on Wheels"). Interesting reading! Here are a few photos, if I can figure out how to add them...

[mary and bob]

I have the book "Manifold Destiny", it is a guide to cooking on your car engine while traveling. Includes recipes.

[Gilda]

While not very old, I remember "A Man, A Plan, and a Can" book. To my surprise, when I looked up this 2001 book, on Amazon, I also saw many sequels! https://www.amazon.com/s?k=a+man%2C+...f=nb_sb_noss_2

Other great camping books to add to your repertoire are Girl Scout and Boy Scout handbooks...the older the better.

Check out Etsy.com for "camping cookbooks" galore! My favorite title, and my personal camping motto is, "Camping with a Dash of Cooking"! https://www.etsy.com/search?q=camping%20cookbooks

I think backpacking cookbooks are among the most useful as the cooking uses pantry items that are lightweight and require little time/fuel. How about "Supermarket Backpacker" by Harriet Barker (1977) anyone? https://www.etsy.com/listing/8289408...search_click=1


My favorite website for RV cooking is BoatGalley.com Here's a sample https://www.allrecipes.com/article/t...-kitchen-boat/ While this site's content used to be free, much of it is "pay what you can". Note: These food tips can also be a great help during our pandemic as you can get by with only one grocery shopping trip every 3 weeks!

[francene]

Interesting find, Steve. Thanks for sharing.

[Capn.Curt.Wiebe]

I remember travelling from Edmonton to Montreal in 1967, Mom, Dad, two brothers, my sister, and two dogs in our 1963 Impala, pulling a soft-topped tent trailer. We ate hot dogs cooked on the exhaust manifold.

Don't remember ever seeing cookbooks for this kind of thing, I think maybe Mom & Dad read recipes in the Edmonton Journal!

[Lynn Eberhardt]

Am I the only one who finds it difficult to think of 1970 advice as vintage? I was already camping in a pop-up with the kids then.

[mary and bob]

Besides "Manifold Destiny" I have three other vintage books that have info on cooking while camping. "Camping Tips from Sir Edmund Hillary" which was a booklet available at Sears. "Hunting, Fishing, and Camping by L.L. Bean, and "The Joy of Camping by Richard Langer. When we had our Uhaul camper I had found a cookbook that Uhaul sold back when they rented campers, sold it after we sold the Uhaul.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by Capn.Curt.Wiebe

...We ate hot dogs cooked on the exhaust manifold...

I think you mean "reheated on the exhaust manifold." Hot dogs are fully cooked and can be safely eaten right out of the package. That is to say safely, if you ignore the fact that they can increase your risk for certain cancers, they aren’t good for your heart health and they can increase your risk for type 2 diabetes.

[Steve in Missoula]

Not technically about cooking in a camper, but somewhat similar: in the early days, the Forest Service would regularly pack in a fairly standardized supply of food, but they realized many were young men with very little cooking experience. For that reason, the Lookout Cookbook was published in 1938 with recipes using the what the lookout would have on hand. Here's a scan of that first cookbook:

https://foresthistory.org/wp-content...38Cookbook.pdf

And the following year they put out a supplement. How many of the items on the "Grocery Supply Check List (All Lookouts)" do you take when camping?

https://foresthistory.org/wp-content...supplement.pdf

[JeanPlew]

I have a pair of books called Manifold Destiny about cooking on your cars manifold as you drive. We used to do that a lot
& the kids got a kick out of it but these days you cannot get to the manifold anymore to do that!!!!

[Scamper881]

This book was originally published in 1991 (I think). It was made for boating but as many know, such things are interchangeable between RVs and boats.
The book is "The Two Burner Gourmet" by Terry Searfoss. If you buy one used, be in contact with the seller before you purchase to make sure you get the shopping list that came with the book--without it the book's usefulness is diminished (IMHO).

[Pete Hein]

Cooking on a boat is not much different from cooking in/beside a camper. Here are two books I have:

"Kitchen Afloat" by Joy Smith (2002, Sheridan House), and
"Cooking Afloat" by Kathrene Pinkerton (1959, M. Barrows and Co.).

The older book obviously lacks references to some things that we now take for granted (like miso) but it's a great "back-to-basics" volume.

Another good cookbook is any later edition of "The Settlement Cookbook". Some of its recipes are too complicated for camper cooking but there are plenty that aren't, and the book is a good general reference.

-Pete

[robf]

Love this thread! And the old treasures, like the Joy of Cooking with the recipe for squirrels. Cooking is such a big part of camping. The best is having the fridge and cupboards loaded up and then trying to get creative.

[burrorojo]

Gilda, thanks for the hint regarding A Man, A Pan, A Plan. Bought two - one for me and for a newby trailer guy. Thanks. Love the book. Info on cast iron pans, basic cooking skills - all done with a bit of humour!
Derek