Creative Cooking in a Van, on a Budget

This is my kitchen.

 

Saving money was an obvious priority for us in our choice to switch to this life style and we were not about to start cutting corners when it came to food–even though this was what we had to work with.

My kitchen provisions consisted of this little sink and pantry area shown in the above picture, a small cooler for perishables (which meant we didn’t often have many perishables), and a two burner propane camp stove (we actually cooked over the fire 90% of the time).  My cooking wares/dishes consisted of one saucepan and one cast iron skillet, some wooden spoons and a spatula, a few knives and a plastic cutting board, a single cup french press, silverware, plates, and mugs and cups for four. That was it.  No non-stick pans, no coffee pot, not assortment of kitchen gadgets. Everything that we cooked had to be made in just two pans and served on one plate or in a mug (for soup).

It could have been easy to fall into a habit of going out to eat or ordering take-out or buying ready-made food to avoid having to cook with our limited means. But we did not. We instead had a great time embracing the challenge and being creative and we honestly probably ate better than most people do for a fraction of the cost (~$40 per week on groceries).

Our two burner gas stove.

How did we cut our costs?

1. Shop the sales. When we shop we look primarily for things that are on  sale. We would base our meals for the week around what was on sale when we went shopping.

2. Buy cheap, substantial staples. We always had plenty of rice, canned beans, corn meal, barley, whole grain pasta, potatoes, canned tomatoes, etc, on hand. Foods that are inexpensive, versatile and non-perishable are essential for eating cheap (but also healthy).

3. Free food. Dumpster diving was the primary source for this category, but we also were happy to be known as the couple who would eat anyone’s leftover/unwanted food.

Dumpster diving, however, was by far the most productive of our methods of saving money on food. The amount of quality, free food we were able to obtain was remarkable. Many wonder about the safety of eating food out of dumpster, but it is really pretty simple to determine whether food was safe to consume (most was packaged or in separate boxes or had only just expired that day).

If you have doubts, check out this food

All of this food is just from one dumpster run. And this was all we could take, but there was much, much more.

Food from dumpsters gave us a significant boost in the amount and diversity of produce we were able to have in our diet in addition to some dairy products, snack foods, and bread products.

Meals we made:

 This sandwich was composed of bread from a dumpster, fresh tomatoes and sauteed onions, and a slice of marinated and grilled puffball mushroom which we had scavenged ourselves from the woods. The large white object in the background is the puffball.

These mushrooms were also scavenged from the woods and went into the dish below. It was an egg and mushroom mixture on a bed of pan fried potatoes, topped with seasoned chili beans. 

Pancakes were a favorite meal for us on mornings when we neither of us had to work. We would wake up late and then cook up a stack of hot pancakes with large cups of coffee on the side before heading out for a day in the park.

Blueberry pancakes (blueberries from the dumpster), topped with pancake syrup and butter.

 

 

Another morning favorite was scones and muffins (day old saved from the garbage) with coffee or tea.

After a long day of work or hiking we would often want something extra hearty and so a meal like this beef and veggie dish over barley was the perfect solution.

This dish had a can of beef chunks (canned meat helped reduce worry over food going bad),  and onions, tomatoes, and zucchini, all from a dumpster.The final example of our fine cuisine from our van life is a rice and bean dish. We ate some variation of this dish very frequently as it was extremely cheap, composed of almost entirely non-perishables, and wonderfully delicious and filling. This particular dish was one of our best. It started with a bed of white rice, then a layer of sauteed onions, peppers, and tomatoes all from a dumpster. This was then topped with chili seasoned pinto beans, garnished with avocado slices and chopped cilantro, also both from a dumpster, and served with a side of warm corn tortillas.

So, if you thought that life in a van would mean eating canned soup and tuna salad sandwiches everyday–you were wrong. We enjoyed every meal we made to its fullest and never once regretted our choice to limit ourselves to two pans and a fire. There is nothing more satisfying then sitting down outside, just as the sun is setting,to a hearty meal of rice and beans cooked over a fire, outside of your very own, loan-free, mortgage-free, portable house.

This will probably be the last post on van living for a while as we recently  moved back from CO at the end of Tyler’s seasonal position at Rocky Mountain National Park and are temporarily staying with family until our next opportunity for a van adventure (in a warmer climate) arises.