Eating well as a Vandweller Is Not Hard

Those that follow my blog have seed me write about cooking on the road.  I rotate my food selection for variety.  My biggest problem is buying fresh food for one person.  Food packaging involves more food than I can eat in one, two and possibly 3 meals.  If I rotate my food selection I have to eat the same type of food for days.

My solution is to invite other vandwellers to eat dinner with me.

The smallest package at Walmart for the above steak tips was enough for 3 at dinner.

I decided to take a zucchini squash and grill them with spices in my frying pan.  I cooked these before the steak tips.  I put them in a dish I can put back on my one burner stove to keep warm.

 

I do not make potato or macaroni salad.

The above served me and 2 friends.  I cooked this meal in my FWC camper and the three of us sat in the camper to eat.  We then talk while I wash and one friend drys the dishes.

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Another night I made personal pizzas for myself and 3 friends.

Each pizza is an 8” soft tortilla with pizza sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, green pepper, and cheese.

My frying pan is 8” which is perfect for this.  I set the burner low and cover the frying pan and use it as an oven.  Slow cooking is the key not to burn the tortilla.

Above is the results.  When the tortilla is stiff I use a flipper to just lift it out and put in plate.  

I then start making the next.  I made a total of 8, 2 each!

This dish went over very well.  The 4 of us sat in the camper to eat.  With paper plates cleanup was easy.

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My next meal suggestion is the most elaborate so far this year.  It was dinner for me and 3 friends.

I was so busy cooking that taking pictures was not on my priority list.  80 minutes from start to eating.

Tonight was fajitas!

- 8” soft tortillas 

- fresh chicken breast cubed seasoned and grilled in frying pan

- sauté onion and green bell peppers and seasoning 

- diced fresh tomatoes 

- shredded lettuce 

- mild chunky salsa

- guacamole 

- sour cream

The hardest part of this was preparing the diced chicken breast.  I bought boneless breasts but they needed to be trimmed of fat and then diced.

I then had a guest come early and cook the seasoned chicken in the frying pan while I prepped all the bowls of garnishings.

After the chicken was done I put the seasoned on yon and pepper in my large pot to fully cook.

In the picture above, I put the cleaned frying pan and put tortillas in it.  I then figured out I could warm the tortillas from steam from cooking the onions/peppers, near the end of the cooking cycle.

Tonight we at at 4 pm to allow eating outside.  there were too many dishes to make eating inside possible.  For a place to put all the items, I have a small roll up table and Set up my leaning board (a piece of plywood I have to prop under my back to lay on my couch propped up) on my larger camp chair seat for more table space.  

We 4 sat around the tables and built our fajitas. 

I forgot one thing on my list today for the meal and that was shredded cheese.  With all the garnishing the cheese was not missed.

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A simple one pot meal I did recently that serves 3 was Kraft Mac & Cheese with diced ham pieces.  Walmart does sell diced ham in a package so I used this but cubing of a ham steak is not that hard.

I just made the Mac & Cheese and added the diced ham in the same pot all stirred in. This was a quick easy meal that took little time and only one pot to clean.

Eating well on the road doesn’t have to be hard or time consuming.  As well variety is possible.  Just invite some friends over to test some skills

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com