I am not a chef by any means, eating on the road is by far the biggest challenge for me. However, in order to eat healthy and stay on a budget, making meals on the go is a must. So, I have come up with some great go-to camping meals that are easy and delicious, emphasis on the easy!
Salad in a Bag
I’m certain others have thought of this before, but salad-in-a-bag is one of my favorite and easiest meals. I ate one for lunch almost every day on my trip from Alaska to Colorado this past summer. There are a few ways to make such a creation.
One could buy the lovely salad kits that are already made or keep in stock whatever salad ingredients you enjoy. Pretty much every salad brand makes salad kits, my favorite is Caesar and southwest. It’s essentially a bag of lettuce with a package of dressing, croutons, cheese, and whatever other items are needed to make up the salad. All it takes is pouring the contents of the bag, shaking it up, getting a fork and enjoying yourself a nice salad. If you want to add something extra, wrapping the salad up in wheat or white flour wraps is a great way to do so.
Quinoa Salad
This is one of the healthier options that I like to keep in my cooler. The most complicated part of this recipe is cooking the quinoa. I recommend having a small pot with a lid for cooking this grain. This takes up minimal space in an RV and can be used for many other easy recipes. The rest involves adding vegetables and red wine vinegar. My recipe includes: quinoa, chickpeas, cucumber, red pepper, green pepper, red onion, and red wine vinegar. It’s best served cold, so no need to reheat!
Fancy Ramen
Ramen is not the healthiest meal choice out there, but man is it so easy to make! I usually keep 1-2 packs of Ramen in my van for when I’m hungry and short on funds. I got the idea to spice up Ramen soup from eating at a restaurant that served all different types of “fancy” ramen. My favorite ways to make fancy ramen include adding an over-easy egg and cut up bell peppers. Adding just a few fresh ingredients makes the meal tastier and adds some nutritional value!
Easy One-Pot Meals
Perhaps using a cooler makes it more noticeable if items are going bad. I pay way more attention to this than when I had a real refrigerator in an apartment. Spoiled vegetables can stink up a cooler with ice rather quickly. When it has been three or four days since I bought some perishable food, it’s time for a one-pot fix. I’m sure everyone has done this in their life, but sometimes the meals turn out way better than expected.
To make this meal, it’s pretty simple. All you need is a pot, some perishable and non-perishable ingredients, then throw them all in a pot and cook. My favorite creation yet was a combination of ground buffalo meat, cucumber, red onion, bell pepper, beans, olive oil, and some spices. Perhaps we were very hungry, but this meal was one of my favorite one-pot meals to date!
As stated before, I am by no means a chef and I don’t particularly enjoy cooking as some folks do. But, I hope these easy meals that I have learned work well for you and make cooking on the road less daunting.
To test out your chef skills on the road, check out the RV rentals on Outdoorsy today for your next adventure!
