Make road trip meals enjoyable with simple prep, storage tips, and easy RV-friendly recipes.
Life’s simple pleasures
Eating and drinking – we do these things routinely, most often without too much thought; like breathing. But aside from nourishment and energy, food and drink provide enjoyment and relaxation. Mealtimes can be the high points of our days.
Staying Hydrated: Your Mobile Water Source
Plentiful drinking water is, of course, essential and non-negotiable. We take it for granted ‘at home’ where it’s also quite easy to fill the freshwater tank/s in our vehicles before departing on a trip. However, replenishing water supplies can be challenging in remote places. Bore water, which is great for irrigating farmland, is not so great for drinking; it is often discoloured and smelly. Consider a good filtration system for your mobile home. It’s a good idea to carry lemon or lime juice, too; add it to your water to make it more palatable.
The importance of water is paramount. You and your travelling companions need to stay well hydrated always – particularly when your journeying involves heat and physical exertion.
Setting Up a Travelling Pantry
You’ve got your fridge and your Esky (possibly several of both), but your cool storage is always going to be limited on the road. It is best to stock up with fresh perishable items to sustain you for your first few days away, with plans to replenish these things along your journey if and when you can. Staples like meat, eggs, fresh vegies and fruit should form a foundation. In reserve, it is wise to carry canned goods and dried foods like pasta and rice.
Choose to load your stash with ‘ingredients’ rather than prepared food – the enjoyment of preparing and cooking meals in the outdoors cannot be overstated. Fresh air and hunger combine to make even simple fare enjoyable in unfamiliar ways.
Keeping Fresh Meat Fresh: The Cryovac® Solution
One of the best ways to transport fresh meat is in Cryovac® (or similar) wrapping. Ask any butcher shop – many will be happy to vacuum-wrap your products for you, meaning the meat will last days longer in the fridge or the ice box with no need for freezing. Triage your meat and use more perishable items like fish and chicken before red meats, which will stay fresh for longer.
Essential Ice for Your Journey
Weight is a consideration – but having lots of ice is always good. Plan ahead and freeze some plastic milk bottles full of water before your trip; they make great ice blocks, and when they eventually melt, the water can be used for other purposes.
If you have the space, take along a large, long-life Esky like the ones offshore fishermen use. They will keep things cold for a week or more if you don’t open and close them too frequently.
Carrying Dairy for Every Meal
Australia’s swaggies in the past were famous for living on billy tea and damper. Black tea, of course. They didn’t cart milk with them while trudging through the scrub. Today, you can carry fresh full-cream milk in your motorhome’s fridge with a back-up stock of canned milk or UHT milk. Avoid powdered milk … it is only suitable for feeding livestock.
All the other dairy products are on the menu, too (butter, cream, cheese, whatever). Just be mindful of shelf life and be ready to draft these items into mealtime dishes well before their time expires.
Eating on the Go: Car-Safe Foods
For responsible adults, this is a viable option. For children and animals, it should be avoided at all costs … the mess potential is right off the dial. It is always preferable to stop at an attractive location and relax in the open air for a short time, but if you need to keep moving and feed yourself simultaneously, try to select ‘manageable’ food items that you can eat with one hand. ‘Yes’ to cheese sandwiches, sausage rolls, pizza slices; ‘No’ to bulky hamburgers, sloppy pies, bowls of cereal.
Your partner in the passenger seat can be invaluable here; they can hand-feed you while you concentrate on the road.
Eating Al Fresco: Making the Most of Scenic Stops
This is the essence of eating and drinking well on the road. A grassy location in the shade, with a panoramic view all the way to the horizon. A gentle springtime breeze wafting across a picnic table laden with sumptuous food and flanked by comfortable chairs. The aroma of barbecue smoke and a cool drink in one’s hand. No flies.
When you can’t indulge in that idyllic scene (due to cold, rain, heat, dust, noise, insects or other commonplace outdoor intrusions), retreat to the comfort of your motorhome interior and create your own private restaurant.
Happy Hour: A Road Trip Tradition
An icon of the wandering lifestyle, happy hour is perhaps the highlight of the day for many travellers. Break out the camp chairs, knock up a plateful of bickies and cheese and pull something cold out of the chiller. Which begs the question: What are we having to drink?
When travelling, beer in cans comes up trumps. Cans are more compact, lighter, easier to pack and simpler to dispose of. Stubbies might be nice-to-have, but glass is heavy and it can break.
Wine in cans is not unheard of; but casks are the go-to here. If you search really hard, I am confident there will be some worthwhile cask wines on the shelves somewhere. Sneak in half a dozen actual bottles of quality plonk too … for special occasions.
When space and weight are critical considerations, we drinkers will inevitably turn to spirits to calm our troubled souls in the evenings. A good bottle of bourbon or scotch can easily last a few days with some care and moderation.
Don’t forget the nightcap. What can compare with a tiny glass of port (or two) beside the fire while you’re swapping yarns before collapsing into bed?
Life is a Smorgasbord on the Road
The road is long, with many a winding turn … but it doesn’t need to be a culinary wasteland. We can carry the requisites to create the feasts of kings anywhere we want. Our personal menus can be simple and satisfying or vast and elaborate even when we’re limited to our road-going residences. But we don’t need to limit things. Hundreds of wonderful towns in this great country of ours host brilliant bakeries, cafes, restaurants, pubs, farmers’ markets – and the list goes on. Eat and drink well – just about anywhere you want to! Enjoy this land of plenty.
