Feb 10, 20227 min read

Caravan Kitchen Packing Tips & Food List

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Caravan Kitchen Hacks Plus What Should You Pack

In this article, you will find our tips on packing a caravan kitchen, plus we will even include what is in our caravan kitchen also. This is not an essential list, more a bunch of items you could consider beginning your kitchen with.

What we will discuss:

The kitchen items we find best to pack to suit our needs.

The best ways to pack these items, efficiently utilising your small space.

We will even include basic food items to pack.

Packing your caravan is a huge task. There are many things to consider, but the most important are space and weights.

You won’t need to pack everything that’s in your kitchen at home, which is just as well! My kitchen has a lot of stuff that I only use every so often, like Christmas and birthdays etc. So many of these will not be coming with us, as I’m sure you will find with items in your kitchen also.

View the range of great travel items here

We have managed to save space in our caravan through buying collapsible items, which fold into themselves and take up only half the space in some cases. These items work just as good as the standard non-collapsible version, and there is quite a wide range of them these days.

In our kitchen, we carry:

Drawer 1

Cutlery set for 4

Utensils – spatula, tongs, ladle, salad spoon, whisk, wooden spoon, masher

Can opener

Grater

Peeler

Measuring cups which nest

Scissors

Toothpicks

Silicone egg rings

Chef knives in protective sleeves

Fire lighter plus matches

Roasting rods

Table cloth clips

Drawer 2

Coffee cups (we have camp style plus travel mugs for in the car)

Dinnerware for 4 (we use Corelle)

Cups

Serviettes

Stubby holders

Disposable cutlery

Paper plates

Get your retro travel mug here

Drawer 3

Pots and pan set with glass lids (this set has the removable handles so they nest nicely)

Al-Foil

BBQ mat

Oven gloves

Check out the range of caravan & camping pots and pans here

Bottom Compartment

Dish drying mat which rolls up

Silicone food covers

Roll out dish drying mats available here

Under Sink Cupboard

Tea towels x 4

Dustpan and broom

Spare towel under sink in case of water leak

Bin bags

Silicone heat pad

Dishwashing liquid

Dish cloths – reusable microfibre

Mozzie coils plus wire to hang them on

Scourer – metal type

Dishwand plus refills

Antibacterial kitchen spray

Spray bottle for water only

Fly spray

Chopping board

Freezer bags

Glen 20

Fire blanket

Bottom Space Under Oven

Toaster – 240v plus camp style

Gas kettle

Microwave cookware

See the microwave cookware here

We have a cupboard which we turned into a 3 shelf slide out system where we keep:

Cooking spray

Alcohol bottles

A few cans of drink (most of the time we just have our soda stream on board)

We installed a pull out wire basket system to better use the space in this cupboard

Our paper towel hangs on the newly installed paper towel hanger.

These items are what we use just about every smaller trip, and once we are on the road full time, they certainly will get a good work out.

Our collapsible items are:

*Strainer

*Funnel

*Dish drainer

*Netted food covers – nesting set of 3

*Colander

*Mixing Bowl / Salad bowl

*Containers – we have about 3 sets of 4

*Kettle

See the wide range of collapsible items here

It is always best to store these in the most space saving way. Collapsible are number one on my priority, but not everything comes in the collapsible range. The next best is nesting. Like the saucepans and bowls etc.

Food

Let’s discuss the food options for your caravan now.

There are a few things to consider.

First, let’s talk about your regular eating habits. When you’re on the road, they may change slightly. For example, on the long drive days you may find you will snack more, purely out of boredom if there is quite a distance between stops (although it is advised to stop and rest every 2 hours). And then in turn, the busy days where you are already set up, you may be off exploring and have little time to eat. Take this into consideration when stocking your caravan. Especially if you have perishable foods.

Something you also should consider are the meals you already eat at home. Do you cook a lot? What sort of food do you cook and what appliances will you need to take with you to continue cooking your current meals. Do you eat take out a lot? Bear in mind take out can cost a fair bit more in the smaller towns, so if you’re working on a budget, perhaps change that habit a little.

I am a meal prepper personally. I do a lot of meal prepping for my family and also for my parents. It is quite common for me to make up to 60 meals in any one day, but that’s a hard slog. My parents can no longer cook for themselves and I like to know they have good food, rich in protein and veggies at their fingertips.

Meal prepping in a caravan worked really well for me on our last trip to Alice Springs. I had to work out what days we were free camping and had no access to using my microwave and what days we were staying on a powered site. I had it all planned out and we executed it amazingly!

You may eat a lot of ‘cook once, eat twice’ type meals at home, and this may well just work on the road also, providing you have the fridge space to put the second night’s servings. Things like pasta bakes, lasagne, tuna mornay, chow mein, all of these types of meals would feed a family for 2 - 3 nights.

If you prefer to cook fresh the majority of the time, you will find that many small towns have great little veggie stalls and well stocked supermarkets. The prices are usually a little more expensive than what you would normally pay in your home town, so keep this in mind also. Just be prepared.

Food List:

Our pantry generally looks like this:

Staples

Flour

Sugar

Bread

Coffee

Pasta

Wraps (these last a really long time)

Butter

Milk (we keep fresh and UHT)

Bacon

Rice

Eggs

Cheese

Meat (frozen chicken, mince etc)

Tins

Tomato

Mushrooms

Spaghetti / Baked Beans (for the lazy or busy days)

Tuna

Pineapple

Mixed Fruit

Soup

Fruits & Veggies - we don't always keep all of these at any one time

Bananas – our main go-to for a light snack

Apples

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Lettuce

In season produce

Frozen veggies

Jars

Pasta Sauce

Simmer Sauce / Marinades

Homemade Relish – Cucumber & Tomato (my dear passed Mother-In-Law’s delicious recipes)

Condiments

Sauces – Tomato, Mustard, BBQ, Sweet Chilli, Mayonnaise, Salt & Pepper

Spreads

Jam, Vegemite, Honey & Maple Syrup

Spices & Herbs

Cayenne Pepper, Nutmeg, Chilli Flakes, Ginger, Garlic, Tumeric, Paprika, Oregano

Dry Foods

Cereal

2 Minute Noodles (also great for busy or lazy days)

Oats

Nuts – I buy in bulk and separate into snack size sealable containers

Fruit Chips

Flavoured Pasta Sachets

Snacks

Biscuits

Cake slices (the prepacked ones will last longer as each individual slice is sealed)

Potato chips – try buying the larger packs that have individual packs, for 2 reasons. 1 – they will last longer in a sealed pack than a large pack unsealed and clipped. 2 – less chance to overeat!

Meusli Bars - great for the drive days

Drinks

Coffee

Water – we have fitted a filtered water tap so we always have fresh, clean drinking water on hand

Juice boxes – great for the travel days

Soft drink – either cans or soda stream which is less weight to carry

Alcohol

If you are going to venture to an isolated off grid location, it is really important that you consider how long you will be away from the nearest town with a food supply for. You should always ensure you have more food than you think you will need. So if you are planning on being a long distance from a town for 6 days, for example, ensure you have enough food for 8 days. There may be unexpected circumstances that may mean you can’t get to a store for longer than anticipated.

Carrying water, is extremely important. Humans should consume approximately 2 litres of water a day. On cooler days, this could be a little less, however on the harsh 40+ degree days, you can count on doubling that amount to 4 litres. It is a basic survival necessity. Whether you have on board drinking water through a filtered tap or you carry bottled or cask water, make sure you carry enough to last you an extra 2 days above your estimated time off grid.

Tips for storing items in your pantry:

Square it

Use as square containers as possible, with lids that seal tightly. The squarer they are, the better they will store in a square space.

These ones are long rectangular with rounded edges

See the range of square pantry containers here

Stack it

Use containers that stack rather than the ones that would fall off one another at the slightest bump in the road.

Stackable pantry containers

Sachet it

Buy sachets where possible as they will fit better into smaller spaces rather than bulky round jars.

Nest it

Invest in the nest! Use nesting items when possible, they take up far less room when they can stack inside each other.

Collapse it

One of the best ever inventions when it comes to caravan kitchen items. These items take up half the space when they collapse.

Use dead spaces

Use the microwave and oven to store items such as bread and bakery items in the microwave and oven trays and disposable trays in the oven when travelling and not in use. Always take them out before using though!

Alter shelf space

If you have any of those ridiculously tall and skinny cupboards that usually only one or 2 items will fit into, perhaps look at changing it up a little. Consider options like:

Under shelf baskets

2 or 3 tier pull out basket system

Adding shelves between the shelves

Wire basket system that stacks

Vacuum Seal It

When you are buying meat from the supermarket, do away with the large plastic packaging and either vacuum seal the meat or use a freezer bag. This will save so much room in the tiny space in the freezer.

12v Vacuum Sealers

Use the backs of doors

If your doors are strong enough, consider using them for hanging smaller items such as boxes of sandwich bags, or a magazine holder for your alfoil and baking paper, even keep your knives stored there.

In summing up, space is a premium in any caravan, whether it be the kitchen, bathroom or even the living and sleeping areas, so playing tetris with your items just may ensure you can make the most of the space you have. And don’t forget weights. Weights are very important also, and these should play high priority to many other items on our ever growing lists. #preparationtools

Read our massive 58 caravan and camping mods and hacks here