The Campervan Larder

I’m currently preparing the campervan for a trip down to Spain, so it seemed to be an opportune moment to review the campervan larder. We generally eat the same quasi-vegetarian food on our travels and at home. I wanted to establish a basic range of store cupboard provisions that would enable me to cook some of our usual favourite meals, either from dry or tinned basics or with the addition of a couple of fresh or frozen ingredients. Payload is again the key issue in the campervan, so it’s important not to build up too many duplicate items despite the numerous cupboards and under floor storage lockers available. 

I decided to keep the dry goods like pasta and rice in airtight plastic boxes, the oils and bottles go on a slide-out wire rack and the heavier tins in the storage locker within the double floor. I had lots of Tupperware type boxes in the house kitchen and plastic baskets to stops tins rolling about, so there was no need to buy anything new. We don’t usually drink the water out of the on-board water tank, although we empty and fill regularly and use sterilising formula, we prefer to carry a supply of bottled water. It’s amazing how many bottles we get through with a few cups of tea and drinking water for the pets.

Considering the main meals on our regular menu I drew up the following list, limiting the basic ingredients to 33 items – this wasn’t too much of a challenge. The list seemed to limit itself to 33 quite naturally.

1.       Olive oil

2.       Sunflower oil

3.       Wine vinegar

4.       Salt

5.       Black pepper

6.       Chilli flakes

7.       Curry powder

8.       Mustard

9.       Vegetable stock cubes

10.   Capers

11.   Pinenuts

12.   Toasted breadcrumbs/ fried onions for crunchy toppings

13.   Paella powder mix

14.   Long spaghetti

15.   Penne pasta

16.   Risotto rice

17.   Paella rice

18.   Boil in bag rice (less messy, plus I can’t cook rice!)

19.   Boil in bag couscous (ditto)

20.   Tomato puree

21.   Tin of chopped tomatoes

22.   Tin sliced mushrooms

23.   Tin of potatoes

24.   Tin of peas

25.   Tin of thin green beans

26.   Jar of green asparagus

27.   Jar of green pesto

28.   Tin white haricot beans (cannellini)

29.   Tin of chickpeas

30.   Tin or jar of ratatouille

31.   Anchovies

32.   Tin of red or pink salmon

33.   Small 25ml box white wine for risotto

I’ve got a repertoire of about eighteen different meals that I make with this basic store cupboard, so the next challenge will be to develop some different recipes. I haven’t decided on the ‘rules’ for this project yet – obviously I’d like to develop a range of 33 different recipes, perhaps with the addition of no more than three fresh or additional ingredients.