Packing the van (1 Viewer)

Loujess

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We are off on Friday for a month and there will be shops every step of the way so why do I feel the need to batch bake, make pies, get loads of fruit and veg, about 10 packets of biscuits and basically stock up for a siege? It's absolutely bonkers. Do others do this? ::bigsmile:

Ivy
 
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Certainly did before we set off across Europe to Crete last month. Totally unnecessary apart from the Yorkshire tea bags.

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camocam1

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Maybe its a bit like Christmas & New Year, shops shut for 1 day and all hell breaks loose and we buy loads of stuff that will never be eaten !!!!!
But to answer your question yes we always stock up on everything before we go away.
 
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So do we.........but why?:RollEyes:

Wyn


Probably because we like to think that we are self-sufficient in our home-away-from-home and like to adopt the "smug mode" when talking to our house dwelling friends ::bigsmile: :winky:

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Having been stranded on one occasion without meals,I always ensure we have sufficient for 24 hours,usually long term storage for emergency/survival rations.
I take a slab of fruit cake and a boiled ham joint. The ham lasts for up to 2 weeks, kept cool and wrapped in greaseproof. It provides sarnies and salads for lunch,ham and eggs for dinner and the bits make a great fried rice
 

bernardfeay

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We take a modest amount of groceries with us but we do make sure we have that part baked bread that lasts for months and semi skimmed milk in those cardboard boxes.

Other than that, the thing to really watch out for is the national holidays that can easily catch you out. They don't always do it on a Monday like we do, they do it on the actual celebration date. Far too often we find nobody about and all the shops shut and we had no idea that it would happen. Therefore always have enough on Sunday and one spare day.
 

Bailey58

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We usually have dinners for 3 days in the freezer where they stay if we don't need them, but yes we pack enough for a siege. Just found a box of tinned stuff under the bed in the spare room where we cleared the old van last week, shall we load it into the new one, decisions, decisions. :Doh: Do they sell milk and bread in France? :RollEyes:

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Jim

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Tis true.. but don't you just love that feeling of being self-sufficient having everything you need with you in the van? We do. :Smile:
 

scotjimland

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No, don't do that.. just the very basics, milk coffee and baccy .. but when we had the RV twas a different story.... we stocked it to the gunwales as it was hard to find parking close to shops with it.

Now as a happy tugger we don't need to take rations for the duration as we can park up on site then visit the local shops, supermarket, farmers markets etc.

so much easier with a car and caravan than a motorhome .. :thumb: :Cool: :winky:

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ciderman

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Us too, always have and always will.

On a 3 month jaunt in our caravanning days we were stranded once at a Ford Dealership in the middle of an industrial estate in Girona. No shops for 7 days. Had taken a freezer full of Flank steak with us :Eeek:.

Steak for breakfast
Steak for dinner
Steak for tea

It was such a dreadful time, don't know how we survived the ordeal ::bigsmile:

Maria
 
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Living in rural Germany all the shops shut at 1300 on Saturday and don't open again until Monday morning (although most of the garages do sell the basics), we always have a base supply which we replen after every trip. Being in the Army I always manage to save a few 'boil in the bag' bits from the ration packs on exercise which are certainly a vast improvement on what was issued when I first joined back in the late 70s. They are particularly good when you are on the move with a nice selection of curries, pasta's and stews and not just good old . :spam:
 
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T bags, coffee and a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie suffice. Like to buy fresh if possible.::bigsmile:

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Ivory55

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yes we stock up to. think it started from before we had a caravan , when self catering with kids. we called it the red cross box and in the weeks leading up to the holiday jill would add something to the box ie sugar, breakfast stuff etc.then we would not be spending our holiday money on basics when we got there. cheers ivory55
 
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Loujess

Loujess

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Yep - the bacon joint is defrosting for boiling tomorrow, then soup with the stock. There are boxes of mince in the freezer and I'm thinking of defrosting some stewing steak to make a couple of pies. ::bigsmile:

Ivy
 

ciderman

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yes we stock up to. think it started from before we had a caravan , when self catering with kids. we called it the red cross box and in the weeks leading up to the holiday jill would add something to the box ie sugar, breakfast stuff etc.then we would not be spending our holiday money on basics when we got there. cheers ivory55


That brings back memories. My Mum always kept one in the Pantry. It was used for our holidays and then afterwards it was changed into the Christmas box. :Smile:

Maria

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cmcardle75

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We are off on Friday for a month and there will be shops every step of the way so why do I feel the need to batch bake, make pies, get loads of fruit and veg, about 10 packets of biscuits and basically stock up for a siege? It's absolutely bonkers. Do others do this? ::bigsmile:
Ivy

Nope. However, we do keep dried and tinned stuff (and olive oil, vinegar etc) in there all the time anyway. Before going away, we just decant anything useful from the house fridge (i.e. milk, pate, yoghurt, whatever) and some bread and drive off.

Crockery, cutlery, kitchen gadgets and bedding also live there full time. It does remind me that we do need to buy some RV towels (or more likely buy more towels for the house and retire some to the RV).
 

cruiser

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oh yes we are filling up our tin box as we speak.only going away for a week.of to the thetford bash,then on to hemsby for the rest of the week.weather permiting that is.:thumb::thumb:
 
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Us poor folk keep what SWMBO refers to as "the emergency meal", so that we are never completely without anything, until that has gone, of course.
It is tinned spuds, tinned peas (other tinned vegetables are available) and a tin of corned beef. Goes down a treat with butter on the spuds and HP sauce on the corned beef.

I always have plenty of liquid food stored, so we have never run out of beer, lager or wine yet. :thumb: :drink::wine::beer: :winky:

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Have a lovely time you two .
Longest we've been off in the van is 2 weeks :Sad:
Even if we did stock the fridge and freezer up to bursting point it would only last 3/4 days at the most , with there being 5 of us. 3 of them empty legged teenagers :ROFLMAO:
So we fill it , use it , then when passing a supermarket , farmers market re-stock again. The carousel cupboard always has rice , pasta , sweetcorn , jars of sauces etc on it.
 
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Thought I was being so efficient on our first weekend out in the 'bus' taking a home-cooked moussaka for our first meal. Unfortunately I didn't take it out of the freezer early enough!! We walked to the nearest pub 2 miles away!! :Doh:

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lesleyjean

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I always cook a meal and tub it in the fridge for the first night after traveling.

These are handy

Cook a chicken in the remoska and then put one of these uncle bens snacks in microwave for 2 minutes and it makes a nice meal.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=270964488

They have a very long shelf life. Also do sweet and sour and Mexican chilli flavour.

Not much washing up and very tasty.

Have with French bread with 'butter' and a bottle or two of wine:Smile:

Easy, even for me.


 

Wildman

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always keep a good stock of dinners, we don't eat out apart from the occasional fish supper. Tinned meat and fish, FB pies, pasta etc. Often bake cakes, jam tarts and things to take with us. Basically treat the van as home.
Apart from all that have a great trip Ivy and bugger the weather.
 
M

Madwife

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Yes Ivy, we are the same and always have more food than we need! The first trip we ever had away in our MH (only a weekend) we had lots of food but for some reason Howie only put in ONE bottle of wine and NO beer:cry::cry: how he imagined that one bottle of wine would last all weekend I don't know:Doh: we had a four mile walk to and from the nearest village which luckily sold the required Beveridges :thumb: we have never made the same mistake since then:ROFLMAO:

Kind regards

Kath and Howie

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scousebird

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If we're only going away for the weekend I tend to take everything with us. Tesco Finest meal deals are quite good for sticking in the oven when we arrive on Friday evening. Take BBQ stuff (if weather permits!), savoury rice & salmon fillets or a cooked chicken also quite handy. Got to have bacon, eggs & beans for breakfast as well. ::bigsmile:
 
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Loujess

Loujess

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I always cook a meal and tub it in the fridge for the first night after traveling.

These are handy

Cook a chicken in the remoska and then put one of these uncle bens snacks in microwave for 2 minutes and it makes a nice meal.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=270964488

They have a very long shelf life. Also do sweet and sour and Mexican chilli flavour.

Not much washing up and very tasty.

Have with French bread with 'butter' and a bottle or two of wine:Smile:

Easy, even for me.



I would love that and it would make life so much easier but Sandy doesn't like any of that 'foreign' stuff, although he doesn't mind Chinese too much. He can't bear the smell of Indian, doesn't like pasta (although he loves macaroni cheese) but loves mince with carrots and onions. I really like to cook garlic in a frying pan with a bit of butter and olive oil and spinach and then toss pasta in it, but I'd be the only one to eat it. Never mind, he does wash up so you can't have everything. :roflmto:

Ivy
 

Scattycat

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We normally stick a few days meat rations in the freezer and enough other things like rice, spaghetti, onions, garlic, tinned tomatoes and salad stuff to last a couple of days just in case we get stuck anywhere. To be honest, apart from the perishables we bring a lot of it back with us:Blush:

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