Do car people eat out or make food?

[froghat]

I'm pretty good at finding good deals at grocery stores, but I'm not sure how I would make cooking work in a jeep. Can someone point me to a link of a person who made it work? I would love to be able to park sometimes in the city and not get noticed, but that seems unlikely if you add a bunch of things like a solar panel, generator. etc.....

 

[rvpopeye]

In a city ,trying to remain stealth .... eating out would be the easy way out.
There may be places where it would go relatively unnoticed but out in the boondocks cooking for yourself is a good way to go.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I traveled in a Subaru Forester for three summers, cooking without problems (even in the city).  Cooler, small backpacking stove and pots.  No solar, no generator.

Nice weather, no problem.  In the city utilize a park, nobody pays any attention to people eating in a park.  In the country set up your kitchen anywhere convenient.  

During bad weather in town I would have non-cook meals saved for the occasion; you get noticed cooking in a park in a rainstorm in town (although I have used picnic shelters without issue, just do it away from where you sleep) or save your eating out for those occasions.  In the boonies, since I have been a backpacker for 50+ years cooking outside in inclement weather is doable.  Cooking in a vehicle that small is unadvised as you will generate too much water vapor, and IMO not worth the risks.

 -- Spiff

 

[Zizzer_Zazzer_Zuz]

There are too many tricks for urban no kitchen cooking it incredible. Here are a few examples broken down by tool and what you can cook in it.

Gas station microwave:
Have you ever used a microwave? Yeah. You can all that. Buy a Coke or a cup of coffee and while paying say something like "D'ya mind if I microwave my ____?"

Hot water tap on the side of 90% of the commercial plumbed coffee makers:
Anything with instructions that read "add hot/boiling water like rice noodles, cous cous, outmeal, cup of soup and other instant soups.

Wide mouth thermas:

Alone or in conjunction with the hot water tap this will allow you slow cook low temp things, like long cooking ramen, and eggs noodles but also soft and hard boiled eggs, steam vegetables, and potentialy meat.

Soda can alcohol stove:

Simple. Easy. Cheap. Safe-ish. Just cook. It's just a burner. I bake with a tiny bundt pan and a metal shotglass full of denatured alcohol.

Solar oven/solar cooker:
Not stealth realy buy would let you cook while the car is parked

The posabilities are endless.

I have in fact fried an egg in a cast iron skillet sitting on black top. I won't claim to live doing that just trying to show that there are ways. (Please stay out of traffic when using asphalt for a cooking surface)

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[rvpopeye]

A cooler with ice and a half gallon of milk.
A box of cereal.
A bowl and spoon.

A can of tuna.
A jar of pickles.
and a fork.

Bread
Peanut Butter
Jelly/jam
a knife

I can go on forever
15 years in a pickup.........
5 years on a bicycle before that

 

[TrainChaser]

A simple, small, cheap one-burner propane stove would be fine: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-10-000-BTU-One-Burner-Propane-Camp-Stove/20369794

A folding windscreen will help conserve fuel and sort of hide what you're doing: https://www.amazon.com/HIGHROCK-Lightweight-Compact-Folding-Windscreen/dp/B005QRYQ0C

Pot from thrift store.

I don't know much about Jeeps except that they tend to have annoying steering -- does it have anything resembling a tailgate? I've cooked a lot of meals on tailgates.

 

[lenny flank]

One way I produce hot water in the summer: fill a black metal or plastic water bottle and nestle it up on the dash in the sun. In a few hours, it will be hot enough to make instant rice, ramen, noodles, oatmeal, etc etc etc.

 

[TrainChaser]

Getting back to eating out --- it's quite expensive. If a person did it three times a day for $6 or $7 per meal, that's $20/day x 30 = $600 a month.

 

[OutdoorFT]

Getting back to eating out --- it's quite expensive.  If a person did it three times a day for $6 or $7 per meal, that's $20/day x 30 = $600 a month.

Might as well pay rent for that

 

[John61CT]

Or perhaps the dining out is the "must-have necessity" permitted by not having rent to pay.

For some going to the latest Broadway plays is critical to enjoying life, for me, I'm willing to sacrifice almost anything to help with my daughter's tuition fees, another dad may not consider that important.

It's all a question of priorities and preferences.

 

[TrainChaser]

MOST people with an abundance of money wouldn't be thinking of living in a van.

 

[froghat]

MOST people with an abundance of money wouldn't be thinking of living in a van.

Train, how come? Maybe some well off people hate their lives and wanna change or maybe get out more and meet new people?

 

[sometimesido]

I'm not well off, but enough that I bought a house. I hate my corporate life and want to get out more and meet new people, like the above.

 

[John61CT]

Lots of young adventuring vandwellers could afford staying in hotels.

Voluntary simplicity, standing up to mindless over-consumption, refusing to "feed the beast" of mainstream capitalism, are all part of the ethos.

 

[Gypsy Clipper]

I buy canned beans and cooked rice. And whenever I have access to ice I eat as much fruit and salads as I can find. I can't remember the last meal I ate out of my van. I have spent two years saving every dime. Now I have enough saved to buy my skoolie and my trailer.

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[John61CT]

How does one buy cooked rice?

We go through a 25lb sack ($17) every 2-3 weeks, finest Surin Hom Mali, so hard to imagine buying it cooked.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Getting back to eating out --- it's quite expensive.  If a person did it three times a day for $6 or $7 per meal, that's $20/day x 30 = $600 a month.

You can barely eat at McDonald's for $7 per meal.

Eating any kind of decent meal at a family restaurant or buffet these days, with a drink and then leaving a tip is gonna run you at least $15.

 

[Trebor English]

I use instant rice and quick oatmeal.  They are alleged to cause blood sugar spikes more than regular rice and oatmeal but they sure do cook quicker.

 

[CautionToTheWind]

We go through a 25lb sack ($17) every 2-3 weeks

May I ask where you buy it in bulk?

 

[John61CT]

If not Wally's then most largish supermarkets in a big enough town catering to Latina and Asian shoppers. Asian groceries too, but a couple dollars more markup.

Happens to come from a place I lived for over a decade, the fragrant steam brings back nice memories.

And that's not bulk, to me means at least a pallet