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Kristin loves cooking but that doesn’t mean she wants to spend all day in the kitchen. Here are some things she uses and some tips which make cooking a lot easier.
Tools
Pressure Cooker
A pressure cooker makes cooking so easy and so quick. You can just add the ingredients, set the time, and walk away. Most electric pressure cookers have multiple functions such as sauté, rice cooker, slow cooker, yogurt (yes, you can make vegan yogurt), etc. An 8 quart pressure cooker is recommended which will allow you to have more leftovers and reduce the amount of time you need to cook each week. Our Instant Pot 8 quart pressure cooker came with a non-stick pot which we replaced with a stainless steel pot. We generally place the pressure cooker outside when cooking or releasing pressure so it doesn’t heat up our camper.
Tip: If you need to quickly release the pressure (vs natural release) just take the pressure cooker outside so you don’t need to worry about the hot steam damaging your wood cabinets.
Small Blender
We use a NutriBullet to make hummus, sauces, smoothies, and ice cream. It’s compact and easy to clean. The blender cups and blades are inexpensive to buy if you need to replace them.
Food Processor
We have used both an electric and non-electric food processor. We actually got rid of our electric food processor in favor of a lighter and, in our opinion better, hand operated model.
This inexpensive food chopper is great for chopping veggies. We use it most days to finely chop greens like spinach and kale with broccoli and carrot for a salad.
Freezer and Refrigerator Storage
To make cooking easier, we prepare onion, garlic, bananas, jalapeños, and other ingredients and then freeze them. Need 1/2 cup of chopped onion? No problem when you have it already prepared and just need to defrost it.
I really like Souper Cubes for freezing food. They come in the portion sizes of 2 cups, 1 cup, 1/2 cup, and 2 tbsp. They are made of food grade silicone, dishwasher safe, and you can put them in the oven (up to 415º).
I also use and like these one gallon freezer bags by Forid. Once I’ve frozen food in the Souper Cubes, I move it to these freezer bags. They take up very little space. I use painter’s tape to label them.
I absolutely love these Silipint 30 oz bowls with lids. I use them to store leftovers. They are so cute and colorful plus dishwasher, microwave, freezer and oven safe. They also have great clearance or Black Friday prices on their website.
If you are short on space, these collapsable bowls with lids may be a better option. They hold 27 oz and they are microwave, dishwasher, freezer, and oven safe.
Plant Milk Maker
We have used a soy milk maker for years. See my Soy Milk post. We also make almond milk using this device. You can choose to strain the pulp or not. We use our unstrained milk in food and strained milk in beverages. The pulp has a lot of nutritional value too so try to find creative ways to add it into your food.
Glass Jars to Store Homemade Milk
We use 64 oz glass jar pitchers to store our homemade plant milk. They are easy to clean by hand (opening is wide enough for me to put my hand in) or the dishwasher. Since they are glass, be careful not to put really hot milk in them or they might crack. I usually let our milk sit in the maker with the lid off for about 20 minutes before pouring it into our storage jars.
Cooking in Campers
Campers are not well insulated which means your air conditioner works hard during hot summer days. Heating up an oven inside your camper may not be the best option. We actually don’t have an oven in our small camper so we bought a Nuwave Brio 15.5 Qt Air Fryer Oven. We put it outside when we use it so it doesn’t heat up our camper.
Staple Foods
We keep certain foods stocked up in our pantry because we use them on a daily or weekly basis. These foods include:
- Non-GMO soybeans for soy milk
- Chickpeas for hummus, dog food, recipes, and snacking
- Lentils for pressure cooker recipes or alone (red lentils make a great alternative to mashed potatoes)
- Various beans for pressure cooker recipes (Lima beans, black beans, navy beans)
- Garlic and onion, chopped and frozen
- Cereal like oatmeal, Grape Nuts, and Shredded Wheat with added dried fruit
- Lots of seasonings like chili powder, garlic powder, no salt seasoning, black pepper
Tips
Batch Prep Ingredients
The last thing I want to do is chop onions and mince garlic every time I cook so I prepare items in batches and freeze them.
- I use a food processor/chopper to chop up the onions and freeze them in 1/2 cup portions
- I use a food processor/chopper to chop garlic (we get large bags of peeled garlic at Costco) and freeze them in 1 or 2 tablespoon portions
- I use the Nutribullet to chop jalapeños and freeze them in 2 tablespoon portions
- I use the Nutribullet to purée bananas with a little almond milk and freeze in 2 tablespoon portions
- I sauté greens and mushrooms and freeze them in 1/2 cup portions
Cooking on Travel Days
It’s not necessary to have your cooking be delayed by travel days. We try to drive less than three hours and arrive by 3:00 pm.
- You can soak beans inside the pressure cooker pot. Place the pot in your sink when traveling.
- Have all dry ingredients for bread or other baked goods prepared. Just add the wet ingredients when you arrive at your destination and bake.
Contact Happy Vegan Campers!
Happy Vegan Campers are traveling the country and building a passive house! Any suggestions on places we should visit or questions about our house? Love our recipes? We’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment at the bottom of the page or send us an email: happyvegancampers@gmail.com
