Spending a lot of time in an RV is likely to require a good supply of food and supplies. Additionally, you might want to search for easy travel meals so you don’t have to spend lots of time prepping meals in an RV kitchen. The good news is that this is entirely possible. Here’s our suggestion: Make your meals beforehand!
Having your meals prepared ahead of time reduces the time you spend cutting, seasoning, and doing other small things before eating each night. For those in RVs, this is ideal because you don’t have to clear space before cooking each night, an effort that can become tiresome fairly fast.
Moreover, planning easy vacation meals in advance ensures that you can completely unwind and enjoy your getaway rather than fretting over food three times a day.
Do you meal prep before a long trip?
You may be wondering how to plan and prepare your meals while you are traveling. This section is dedicated to helping you choose the best recipes and take all the steps toward having a great vacation while enjoying some easy meals.
Prepare Your Plans
Consider these factors first when planning your vacation:
- How many hours will you spend outside every day? You’ll want to prepare meal ideas for fast travel that can be served in minutes once you arrive home if that’s the case.
- Those who intend to spend most of their time relaxing at the campground might want to opt for vacation meals that require more cooking time.
- Plan your schedule accordingly if you will be doing both.
Further, you may wish to take food along with you, such as sandwiches, salami, fruits, raw vegetables, cheese, and crackers. The following items make great travel lunches, both when you’re driving from one campground to another or sightseeing. Prepare enough lunches for the number of days you’ll need them, and make sure you have enough.
Whether you spend your days with work, family, or leisure, preparing your meals in advance is helpful.
Learn the best way to cook
It is also important to consider what type of equipment you will need to cook. If it will be extremely hot outside, an Instant Pot might be worth considering, as it will not heat up your RV. On its pressure cooker setting, the Instant Pot is also great for cooking things quickly, while its slow cooker setting is great for making dinner in the early evening and returning to a warm dinner that is ready to eat.
Cooking outdoors can also be an excellent option in hot weather, especially if you do not have access to an electric hookup, which the Instant Pot requires.
Additionally, the RV stovetop can also be used. Those with ovens in their rigs should consider that option, but they should add a pizza stone to the oven to ensure that things are cooked evenly.
Organize Your Storage Space
The lack of storage space is one of the biggest complaints people have about RVs. Obviously, this is true for equipment, but it is also true for food, especially when trying to prepare for longer excursions.
Because of this, you should keep your food storage space in mind when considering travel meal ideas. Pick some meals that you can store in your refrigerator and others that you can store in the freezer. You can also save space by adding canned goods into your meals later rather than immediately, allowing you to store that part of the meal in the pantry instead of the fridge.
Additionally, if you plan to choose meals that are based on pasta or rice, these items can also be stored in the pantry. This will extend your meals while also allowing you to use your fridge for other things.
Starting at home
You may find it difficult to prepare meals in an RV kitchen, as mentioned above. Take advantage of bigger kitchens by prepping all your meals in a house, then transferring them to the RV’s fridge or freezer once the food is ready.
Preparation needed in the RV? Absolutely no problem! This is completely possible and we will explore tips to make this happen later in this article.
Plan Your Strategy
Making easy and quick meals for vacations – as well as matching each meal to a particular day – requires a fair amount of planning. By preparing the wrong meal on a wrong day, you may end up running into trouble when you need a certain type of meal but already have it prepared.
It is at this point that a road trip food planner can be useful. The planner does not have to be elaborate. You can write it on your phone or on a piece of paper. Be sure to take note of your vacation meal planning recipes, the time you should eat each meal, and any particular notes for that meal. So that you can fully relax and enjoy your vacation, keep mealtimes stress-free.
How about meal prepping for a week?
The problem with storing a lot of food in an RV is that it can be tricky. When people plan a longer vacation, many don’t know whether they will have enough food to eat while on vacation.
With these tips, we can assure you that it is absolutely possible to prepare meals and stock up for a week or more. You can also ensure you have enough space to store your food by following these tips:
- Organize your pantry with can organizers and lazy Susans.
- Avoid storing sodas and other beverages in the fridge and keep them in ice chests instead.
- By buying a hanging fruit basket, you can store produce off the countertop and keep it away from the pantry and refrigerator.
- You can store excess dry goods underneath the couch or other furniture in plastic tubs.
- Consider purchasing condiment bottles of a smaller size.
Are you able to meal prep on the road?
Let’s say that you don’t own a house, or that you will be traveling for several weeks, which means you should plan your meals while on the road. How would you go about doing this?
Honestly, meal prepping in an RV is similar to what you can do in a house constructed of sticks and bricks. In any case, there are a few tips and tricks that will make the process seem a bit less daunting.
Schedule Your Time
The first thing you should do is make sure you have time to prepare meals. Making your meals in advance may save you time and energy on a day-to-day basis, but it does take a fair investment of time at first.
Because of this, we suggest spending one day per week of your vacation prepping meals. You may spend the whole afternoon chopping, slicing, boiling, grilling, and washing dishes, but you’ll have almost all of your meal preparations out of the way for the week.
During this day, it is recommended that you do laundry and clean the rig. Since you will have planned to do these things over the course of an entire day, you will feel less stressed and be prepared to continue your adventures the following day.
Make Room
The second thing you will need to do is to make room for meal preparation in your RV. In some cases, this can be pretty tricky depending on the size of the rig. Perhaps you could set up a table outside and do much of the work there if the sun is shining. It would be possible to use an induction burner, an Instant Pot, and a grill to cook outside.
Can’t heat the food outside? Make sure you clear the dining table and countertops of anything you don’t need and you’ll have as much room as possible. In addition to washing dishes as you go, you might choose to keep things from piling up so that valuable counter space is not wasted.
Meal Ideas for Traveling
In the event that you want to prepare all of your meals for vacation in advance, you will have to decide what you will eat. It is fortunately easy to find plenty of perfect vacation meals that are quick and easy.
Salads
Salads are light and healthy. A salad makes a great lunch or dinner side dish. The best part is that they can be prepared ahead of time.
Make tiny salads in mason jars by chopping all your veggies and adding grilled meat if you like. Store them in the refrigerator. It’s as simple as adding dressing, shaking, and enjoying straight from the jar! These are great for taking anywhere!
Soups
In addition to freezing the ingredients beforehand, you can also throw them in the Instant Pot or slow cooker later after they’ve been frozen. In addition to storing well and being easy to customize, soups freeze well.
Pasta and Rice Dishes
You can also freeze sauces for pasta and rice. For instance, you can freeze spaghetti sauce or curry. Whenever you are ready to eat, just heat the sauce over the stovetop or in the slow cooker before cooking your pasta or rice.
Sandwiches
Sandwiches make an excellent on-the-go meal. There is of course the classic PB&J or lunch meat option. But we really enjoy making chicken salad, egg salad, and tuna salad so that we can keep them in the fridge and use them throughout the journey.
Grilled Meats and Veggies
There is nothing like grilling out on a camping trip. Fortunately, grilling is the simplest method for cooking meat and vegetables. Preparing these meals is as simple as putting them in a marinade. If you grill this when dinnertime comes, you’ll be dining well in no time!
