Camper Van Cooking

[RyanK]

[font=Helvetica, Arial,]Hi everyone,[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial,]     I'm new here and was hoping to learn more information about how people go about cooking in their vans. My name is Ryan Koester and I'm a college student going through Cal Poly. I'm working on a project to make compatible portable stove top for those cooking outside a house! I'd really like to learn more information about how cooking devices are currently used and stored as well as any features you particularly like or dislike about your current cooking set up such as having compartments for storage or the type fuel source used. Any information would be extremely appreciated.[/font]
[font=Helvetica, Arial,]Thank you for your time.[/font]

 

[AMGS3]

Hey Ryan,

Welcome to the forum. If you go to the "newcomers corner" section and drop an introduction then people will see you.

Have you seen Bob's video about van cooking?

Here's a link to one, but you can search on the Cheap RV Living YouTube channel for more

Again, welcome!
~angie

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[crofter]

Campchef with oven in the van. Vintage (nice word for dented) coleman two burner for outside cooking. I always cook outside and use the big bottle of propane chained down. Costs about $4 to refill about once a year.  -crofter

 

[B and C]

I have a 2 burner built in cooktop in the van and a coleman grill/stove combo for outside: https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Camp...leman+stove+grill+combo&qid=1578534606&sr=8-1

 

[Almost There]

A single burner butane for in the van, a 2 burner propane for cooking outside. I also carry a Coleman oven that folds up. It can be used on the propane stove but doesn't fit well on the butane so I don't  use it inside.

I now also carry a small propane barbecue!

Cook much - ummm yea!!

 

[trailer-t]

A small Weber Smoky Joe portable charcoal grill is cheap and nice to have for outside grilling.

 

[abnorm]

^^^^^For a Nomad...…. Problem is charcoal is forbidden in a good part of the country all summer long...……




Personally we use a Two-Burner stove feed from a larger tank/hose...…... outside the Van/RV in a rear-door Chuckwagon Kitchen...…

Soon to purchase (Like ALMOST THERE) a cheap miniature gas fired BBQ......Paulette saw the neighbor's !......she's Tired of Stovetop...…...

 

[BILLandSHEILA]

I'm cooking and baking on a CampChef. I am an avid cook and this works well for us. It's been an adjustment cooking for a full family of 5 to just 2 adults. That is my biggest struggle with cooking and baking.

 

[jacqueg]

Single burner Coleman camp stove propane. Also use propane for heating, but I don't use heat very often.

I also carry an electric rice cooker - you can cook lots of different things with it - and an electric tea kettle. If I'm paying for shore power, I'd rather save the propane.

Sounds like an interesting project, please keep us posted!

 

[vanbrat]

Since we will be traveling With a trailer that we will be working out of and it needs a generator, we decided to go electric. We have a single burner induction burner and a microwave. We also carry a small charcoal BBQ for when we want to grill. I have a big instant pot, but have not brought it with us yet. When we leave the trailer home, we carry the generator in the van if we are going to be someplace that does not have power. It gets chained to the van so it does not walk away at night. I do all the food prep and such before turning on the generator so it is only on for 10 mins usually max. and it is on again for another 10 min max as it heats water for dishes.

 

[VanFan]

We use a two burner stove with small propane bottles outside.  It is hard to get a simmer without both burners on.  Formerly used a quality one burner butane, but it is slow in cold weather or at altitude.

An electric hot pot has spoiled us.  I made room on our last trip for an electric skillet, which was really nice:  great temperature control and easy clean-up.  I agree with the above post that if you're paying for electricity at a site (sometimes no option), you might as well save the propane.  We had shore power about half the time, so it earned its keep.

 

[GypsyJan]

I have a single burner butane stove, a propane grill, and a 12-volt immersion coil (for hot water in the RAV4 in inclement weather). I also carry a rice cooker and electric kettle if I know there will shore power.

 

[maki2]

Your topic is about cooking outside of a house.  You need to realize that cooking inside of a vehicle is also considered as cooking inside of a house for things such as safety regulations. A lot of the devices people use in their vans are only rated for use out of doors. These things are regulated by national and international safety standards.  The word "house" is not appropriate when it comes to your project. The regulations are for indoor use, if it is not suitable for indoor use then you can't use in a vehicle, RV or even inside of a tent.

There is a second situation though. Some of the portable propane and butane appliances have a rating that allows them to be used indoors but only by professional food workers who are catering a temporary event.

So what this means for you as a student working on a school project is that you did not do your homework and take the time to do the background research understand the regulations that govern the class of product you are temping to design.

While a person who is living in a vehicle might choose to ignore the safety warnings that come with the device they are cooking on that does not mean that you as a designer will have that option. You as an individual have no ability to create a new classification for a cooking appliance. You are stuck with it either being rated for indoor use or else it is going to be for outdoor use only.

As a new designer you always have to do background research and that includes the relevant safety regulations and it also includes doing patent research to make sure you are not in violation of any existing patents that might be used in your product. Doing a survey is not the first step, the first step is learning more about the class of product you want to design and finding out the existing regulations governing that class of product.

 

[maki2]

My mistake I miss read and did not see that you were going to be focused on outside cooking. My sincere apology to you for the long article that you did not need to see. The small type of my computer defeated the ability of my eyes. I just changed computers to one with very small font size as it is high resolution is my only excuse for being such a rude bludder head.

 

[DLTooley]

The classic two burner white gas Coleman set a standard, now more typically done with propane.

I use a 20lb tank, but keep the small green 1 lb tanks as a transitional reserve. They are very reliable, but hoses and the regulator doo hickey need replacement. BBQ hoses are cheaper and last longer than the camp product. The one fault is that they are difficult to set to a very low flame, but it can be done.

There is room for improvement in single burner propane. A larger size with a windscreen and perhaps a griddle or such as you see on the higher end Coleman’s.

With reducing battery costs the feasibility of electric is increasing. Perhaps a ruggedized induction model?

 

[maki2]

I cook outside with a portable single burner dual fuel stove. I also cook outside using a small portable charcoal kettle style burner. Space is at a premium in vans and cars so the smaller the volume of space a cooker occupies the better. I would rather have a cloth tool roll for my utensils than have them rattling around in a drawer. It is very annoying to have thing such as silverware rattling in a drawer while you are driving. You want to avoid designing a product that is noisy when traveling on rough roads. No squeaks, no rattles, not large or bulky, and it must be lightweight. The case it is in should be durable because of the rough roads.

Avoid small details on the design where grease can get trapped in crevices and grooves. No one wants to have to use a tooth brush and de-greasing solvents to get it clean. Water is in limited supply as is waste water containment so easy to wipe clean is an absolute essential design factor.

 

[eDJ_]

As I Google Cal Poly looking for "Industrial Design" (which I studied in Central Ohio)  I see Art and Design listed.  I worked in Design and can tell you that there are evaluation techniques you may wish to observe.  Especially that which leads to serving of people's needs.  One of the leading voices in ID of the past century was Victor Papanek who developed a model of functionality that would satisfy people's real needs.   So often aesthetics takes precedent over function, and in my own view this is quite clear in the RV manufacturing industry and likewise with a lot of "camping" equipment. 

As a student we were advised to visit places where the product was sold, then where it was used, and later yard sales and flea markets to see what people trashed. (as a view of the product life cycle)  

A lot of the stuff you see for sale at WalMart, or online at places like Campmor etc aren't really that suitable to full time usage.  The equipment used in building RV's isn't much more durable. (and is more stationary in nature)  Most of this stuff has some real limits, not only or cooking but for safety as well. 

Papanek System:

[img=400x400]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1...19_at_3.55.07_PM_large.png?v=1550617888[/img]


Papanek wrote a book titled:  Design for the Real World    

It is online here:

https://monoskop.org/images/f/f8/Papanek_Victor_Design_for_the_Real_World.pdf


Propane & Electric (110 AC or 12 VDC) will be your most common power sources. Liquid petrol fuel is still around but not as popular as it was decades ago. (safety being a primary consideration) 

Instant Pots (digital controlled electric pressure cookers) are a new wave and making quite an impact now. 

Other cooking tools for ideas

12 VDC Store here:

https://www.my12voltstore.com/12_volt_Appliances_s/81.htm 

As for looking at products that are trashed check this Youtube Video from Kentucky:

Where RV's go to die



Remember the two leading States in RV production have been California and Indiana.

Finally you may want to look thru the IDSA website for some ideals  (can't promise anything but it is nice to know about

https://www.idsa.org/

I like these converted Vans & Utility Trailers myself as they lend themselves to using more domestic household types of appliances. than commercially built RV's. 

I have to agree with Tooley,  that the Coleman Camp Stove has been the standard from back when they used white gasoline until recent times when they used propane.

 

[hallalujah imabum]

When I have the chance to cook outside I have a couple of those little tube solar cookers I got on sale (they are too expensive at full price.) I like these a little better than the larger ones because these can boil water, although it takes about 90 minutes when mostly sunny, at about 5,000' altitude for a rolling boil. Each can hold about 14 oz of water, so enough for ramen noodles and coffee (I eat like the student I am.) I wish that they made the trays a little bigger. They work great and don't weigh much, and fit in a case so they're not that fragile. I've also made my own box cooker, but the glass broke on that one day when the wind blew it over. It worked okay. I like to use the solar stuff because my main stove takes 1lb propane canisters. Yeah, I feel bad about using them, but the flame is clean unlike the unleaded gas I ran in my MSR International that I used to have. Whew, my lungs must look like the black soot that stuck to the paint on the hatchback of my car.

 

[maki2]

mine is not on that poll. A built in stove that uses fuel other than electric, propane or butane. My built in stove uses diesel for fuel.

 

[nature lover]

I use the propane stove but as often as I can I love to cook over a wood fire. I used to have dutch ovens and really enjoyed cooking with the hot coals from the fire. I might be a kid at heart but I still like my "hot dog stick" over the fire.