Round up: Van-friendly foods

You live in a van and have unreliable refrigeration — or none at all. Which foods should you keep in your van?

This is an adjustment for people used to house-dwelling. A fridge and freezer make perishables possible for longer. One thing we’ve noticed about folks our parents’ age is a love of buying lots of meat and stocking it in the freezer. Chris and I love things like yogurt and hummus, and relied heavily on refrigerators to enjoy them for days on end.

 

Couscous cooks quickly and is a tasty side to sauteed greens and rotisserie chicken

 

Van-dwelling poses a challenge in either scenario. Even if you do have a mini-fridge in your van, it likely takes too much energy to get the freezer temperature low enough. Or you may be somewhere without hookups or enough sunlight for your solar panels to power your fridge. Or, if you’re like us, you have a very small cooler and get sick of replenishing the ice so you try not to rely on it too heavily.

Looking for ideas on food for van travel? Here are the kinds of items we keep in our van pantry.

This is not the only food you can keep in your van. The idea is to have these staples at hand, and then you can supplement them with fresh, perishable things. 

Grains

Difficulty: Easy

• Oats: Keep a little cinnamon, dried fruit and nuts to add to these too
• Dry cereal: Toss the box to save space
• Rice or couscous: You can buy the quick-cook kind or pre-cooked and vacuum-sealed
• Grits or polenta: Good for breakfast OR dinner
• Pasta: Avoid cooking pasta in windy weather…it takes forever for the water to boil!
• Instant mashed potatoes: Just add water and you’ve got some starchy deliciousness in one minute

Fruits

Difficulty: Easy

• Fruit with peels: Bananas and oranges keep well, are sturdier than berries or stone fruit, and are easy to eat in one sitting
• Dried fruit: Tasty but can have lots of added sugar, so choose wisely

Vegetables

Difficulty: Medium

• Root vegetables: Carrots, onions, yams, parsnips or other roots can be cooked alone or added to other meals
• Small squash: You don’t have an oven for a big spaghetti squash, but you can handle zucchini, sunburst or other soft-skinned squash
• Soup in cans or cartons: It’s hard to get leafy greens, but some fancier pre-made soups have kale along with celery, peas, carrots, etc.

 

Our homemade produce keeper… It uses space more efficiently in the back of the van

 

Protein

Difficulty: Medium

• Farm-fresh eggs: Store-bought eggs in the U.S. are power-washed which breaks down the shell and requires refrigeration, but farm eggs from farmer’s markets can last longer without refrigeration
• Legumes: Canned beans, canned peas, dried lentils and other legumes are an excellent source of plant protein
• Nut butters: Peanut, almond, cashew and other nut butters are great on toast, crackers or added to oatmeal
• Tuna packets: Tuna or salmon in vacuum sealed packets have good flavor and are packed with protein; you can even find chicken in cans but we haven’t tried it
• Jerky and cured meats: Not necessarily the healthiest, but good if you’re looking for some red meat

Dairy

Difficulty: Hard

• Powdered milk: Keeps without refrigeration and it’s easy to just add water; you can also try small, shelf-stable cartons of rice or almond milk or making your own with almond meal/flour
• Hard cheese: I’m super paranoid about eating cheese that’s gone bad, but hard cheeses like Parmesan or an aged cheddar aren’t overly processed and can last a while, even in hot temps

 

Is this an exhaustive list? No, I’m sure we’ve missed something. Please share your ideas in the comments!