Easy food ideas to stop expensive meals out

[Diane1969]

Morning,
I cook all our food from fresh ingredients at home during the week which is time consuming and we normally end up eating out or takeaways at the weekends, as I can't be bothered to cook, ( lazy I know ) anyway the thing is having spent all our money on our van we need to keep the cost down whilst being away and not eat out all the time which is what we normally do whilst away, which ends up really expensive! we want to enjoy the van and not worry about the added cost.
So I'm wondering if any of you lovely people have some easy, tasty meal ideas?
We have an oven, hob and microwave So even if it's a really good quality ready meal I would be grateful .
I have searched the forum for this type of thread but didn't find one so sorry if this has already been covered before

 

[Flamenca]

White wine about 200mls or so

And what do you suggest we do with the remaining 500ml of white wine?

 

[Bacchus]

Corned beef hash

One of my favourites

which one - the corned beef or the hash?

 

[paul lancaster]

pan fried chicken...mushrooms and blue cheese...sounds aweful but tastes gorgeous (unless you hate blue cheese)....

 

[Diane1969]

A big thank you for all the great recipe ideas and tips, especially the freezing ice cubes of ginger and fresh herbs , I throw so much of these away at home can't believe I never thought to do it, last time I cooked anything in ice cubes was baby food 16 years ago. I have always made a chilli or bolognaise for the first night away camping but never bothered to take anything for other nights.

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[Diane1969]

Agreed......known as "eyes bigger than belly"

2 burgers, 4 chicken portions, 4 kebabs and half whats in the pan....EACH......
50% more than you can eat but your eyes tell you its the correct amount.

He suffers with this CONDITION at restaurants too which is why it ends up so expensive , chinese or curry buffets are the best value as he had the choice, but he still has to go back for that extra plate he doesn't need . And just to rub it in he's not a big bloke !

 

[Diane1969]

pan fried chicken...mushrooms and blue cheese...sounds aweful but tastes gorgeous (unless you hate blue cheese)....

I love blue cheese , Steve's not so keen though

 

[Diane1969]

Lunch break food.
My workmates always took the p/ss when i produced the pot noodle and a couple of bread rolls.....they had never tried them.

My daughter loves to take them to school

 

[gus-lopez]

'bola' of Victoria curado. olive oil, olives sin hueso, baguettes ,what more do you need ? Apart from the tea, sugar & milk & occasionally coffee. Corned beef for a change or mortadela (spam) on occasions. Pot noodles or whatever Mercadonas chinese equivalents are called. Or even 'proper' chinese pot noodles with extra lead when the chinese shop in Águilas has them in.

 

[ojibway]

Food porn, but it really needs to be read out slowly by Joanna Lumley.

Joanna Lumley?
I thought it was Nigella who put the SEX into cooking

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[ojibway]

A double skillet is another oddity with a large fan club. It can be used to cook things you might otherwise use an oven for. There have been supply problems but I think that has been sorted now. http://www.doubleskillet.com

Their website does not seem to have been updated since 2010 and the Dskillets are out of stock!

 

[DBK]

Joanna Lumley?
I thought it was Nigella who put the SEX into cooking

I was watching a programming at the time on the TV which as her on

Their website does not seem to have been updated since 2010 and the Dskillets are out of stock!

Perhaps they have another website now? I remember reading on here folk having problems getting them then I thought things were sorted. The company moved premises at some point, but this needs the input of an experienced skilletist to resolve.

 

[parknride]

And what do you suggest we do with the remaining 500ml of white wine?

You need to ask????

@Chris do you have many more of those temptingly written sophisticated recipes

 

[Neilfg]

One item we stock up on as saves mess, easy to cook, packs easily and aids portion control is Boil in the Bag Rice. Also like the small sachets of sauce (chinese and thai usually available at most good supermarkets) that with veg and/or a meat makes a tasty meal.

Other useful thing we found was the herb and spice containers with 4 types in each, save having to carry loads of little jars, we have 2 in the van so have 8 available to use.

Personally avoid too much tinned stuff as although they pack well and last ages, also tend to stick around, those carrots have just moved from their home in the house (sure the other goods had a farewell party) to the van and at some point they maybe moved again.

 

[Debs]

pan fried chicken...mushrooms and blue cheese...sounds aweful but tastes gorgeous (unless you hate blue cheese)....

Thankyou
Going to try this tonight but with some added shallots.......

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[Debs]

One item we stock up on as saves mess, easy to cook, packs easily and aids portion control is Boil in the Bag Rice. Also like the small sachets of sauce (chinese and thai usually available at most good supermarkets) that with veg and/or a meat makes a tasty meal.

Other useful thing we found was the herb and spice containers with 4 types in each, save having to carry loads of little jars, we have 2 in the van so have 8 available to use.

Personally avoid too much tinned stuff as although they pack well and last ages, also tend to stick around, those carrots have just moved from their home in the house (sure the other goods had a farewell party) to the van and at some point they maybe moved again.

Agreed......had a few shocks when I've checked use by dates with tinned stuff hanging around

 

[rangi]

And what do you suggest we do with the remaining 500ml of white wine?

While cooking the Mushies sample a glass or two, then finish the rest while laying back in your favourite chair burping happily

 

[rangi]

Here's summin I knocked up tonight, Once again, as with all recipes I post I leave it up to you as for the Quantities.
With this one I've gone for, the usual to me anyway, "Very Lazy Garlic" and "Very Lazy Chillies", these fellas are a boon to M/Homers, no chopping, deseeding, squashing, peeling, just dip in a spoon and Bingo! and the jars take up zilch space in the cupboard.
Serves 4, only got 2? well halve everything!"
700 gms Cauliflower
8o gms Pine nuts (hey man! don't like 'em? Don't use !)
60mlo Extra virin olive oil
2 cloves Garlic chopped (this is where the Lazy Garlic comes to the fore)
7g teaspoons Oregano (Give it a bloody good dose, if you only have dried!)
2 heaped tablespoons of lemon Zest (or a bloody good squirt of "Vitafit Lemon Juice available from LidL)
1teaspoon of dried Chilli flakes (this is where the "Lazy Chopped Chilli" comes in)
Salt pepper to taste and
400 gms Pasta , the Shell ? the Spirals? The Wheels? use "a shape rather than " a Length"

Chop the Cauliflower Flowerettes as finely as you can, heat a non stick fry pan over a medium to high heat, add the Cauliflower mixture, oil, garlic, chilli,salt ,pepper, oregano, lemon zest, and cook stirring occasionally for 15 mins, or until the cauliflower is golden
While the Cauliflower is cooking , cook the Pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until "al dente" Drain!
Toss the pasta with the cauliflower mix Sprinkle with Grated cheese to serve!

This recipe you can baulk out with frozen Sweetcorn , mixed frozen veg, or even Quinola

We found because we only had 1 lemon in the fridge, we could not have enough Lemon Zest, however we made up for it by giving it a good lashing of Vitafit Lemon Juice,

It was an easy mix to make, 2 burner hob could cope very easily , only a ten minute preparation time and a 15 minute max cooking time
Ideal "fodder" for a M/Home!

 

[Rugeley Tim]

Like many other Funsters we make double and freeze it during the week, we also often buy the Asda curry bag for two which you can either 'nuke' or heat in the oven and one of my favourites is buying a spanish torte (spanish omlette) from Tesco or Asda it is lovely for bfast with a bit of sausage and bacon and sets you up for the day. But I have to admit that even in the depth of winter I will be found outside with gloves, hat coat and long johns cooking on the BBQ with the proverbial weeks worth of meat!!

 

[Rob and Val]

Brother-in-law isn't allowed to cook fish in the house, (sister hates the smell, taste and sight of fish) so he always BBQs it in the garden - even in freezing cold weather. Neighbours think he's crazy but, as he loves his fish, he'd rather do that than go without.

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[Gary217]

We once spent four weeks away in our previous van which only had two hobs, supplemented by a small campingaz twin hob stove for cooking outside and when we got home we realised we'd only ate out once, Sue's a dab hand at hob cooking (but now we've got an oven...there'll be no end of good stuff). It really does save money on food and drink to enable us to have long tours - we did four days in Venice doing B&B in a hotel and found we spent over €200 on fairly ordinary meals...ouch!
I've got a mental block on what we had on our last trip but I knowChicken and Chorizo go together nicely with rice, I'll ask her for more of her favourites later on.

 

[Diane1969]

Brother-in-law isn't allowed to cook fish in the house, (sister hates the smell, taste and sight of fish) so he always BBQs it in the garden - even in freezing cold weather. Neighbours think he's crazy but, as he loves his fish, he'd rather do that than go without.

Our neighbours cook fish alk year round too outside, I eat a lot of fish at home but have decided not to cook it in the van because of the smell, so will have to send steve outside to do it for me ! ☺

 

[Peter Ashcroft]

Interesting thread this, I am genuinely surprised that the majority of people cook in their vans and a lot also take meals from home. You see so many threads about councils not allowing motorhome parking or overnighting and this is bad for the economy because of all the money motorhomers bring in. After reading this you would think that might not be that much after all.

 

[DanielFord]

Interesting thread this, I am genuinely surprised that the majority of people cook in their vans and a lot also take meals from home. You see so many threads about councils not allowing motorhome parking or overnighting and this is bad for the economy because of all the money motorhomers bring in. After reading this you would think that might not be that much after all.

It swings in roundabouts, for example, we stayed at a britstop earlier this year with the intention of meeting up with an old friend. We had lunch, had a walk, then I dispatched wife, daughter and dog to the van, and me and buddy went for a swift pint at the bar. Several swift pints later, my friend suddenly realised that he was in no state to drive back home, in fact he was in no state to do little more than point at the car and giggle if we're honest, so he spoke to the landlord and secured a room for the night. We then retrieved wife daughter and dog and ordered tea from the restaurant. That particular britstop did rather well out of our free stay.
On another stay at a campsite, we did all of our cooking in the van, this was a trip to visit the in laws, so evening meal when we arrived. Then we did breakfast and then set out to visit the family, back to the van in the evening and another evening meal prepared in the van. That stay cost us only our pitch fees of £14 per night.
It really depends on our mood as to what we eat

 

[Diane1969]

Interesting thread this, I am genuinely surprised that the majority of people cook in their vans and a lot also take meals from home. You see so many threads about councils not allowing motorhome parking or overnighting and this is bad for the economy because of all the money motorhomers bring in. After reading this you would think that might not be that much after all.

I have to say although I want to cook meals in the van , we have every intention of eating out too , our first trip away we had a sandwhich in the site bar on arrival, as our friends were waiting for us there, andvof course drinks, then we went to an Indian restaurant on the Saturday night and Sunday I had bought a tesco dine in for £10 meal deal but after a lovely long walk we decided to have a little drink at the bar and the roast dinners looked so good we couldn't resist, and glad we didn't as it was lovely, we had the other meal on Monday night at home ! Next time we will cook in van and probably have a lunch out

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[Peter Ashcroft]

Please dont think I was judging anyone, or having a go! because I assure you I wasnt , i dont care where anyone eats, as i said it was just an observation! I was genuinely surprised by how many people eat in the van!

 

[Diane1969]

Please dont think I was judging anyone, or having a go! because I assure you I wasnt , i dont care where anyone eats, as i said it was just an observation! I was genuinely surprised by how many people eat in the van!

I certainly wasn't offended and took your comment as just that

 

[DanielFord]

I certainly wasn't offended and took your comment as just that

Me too

 

[dabhand]

We only eat in the van if We can't get a decent pint and some nice food!

 

[Peter Ashcroft]

Well, we load the van up with food everytime we go away, and then everytime we get home we unload it again! I think we only occasionally cook breakfast, and usually its just easier to eat out, especially with our 4 year old, I do struggle cooking in the van, find it a bit of a hassle.


I use the van sometimes for work and I keep a stock of those packet meals, cant remember what they are called now, but were recommended on here they come in a pouch? Is it "look what I found" or something? only tried one so far and it was good although a little on the small side.

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[Anthea M]

I usually take a meal to warm up for the first evening but we enjoy buying food each day for our meals especially in france. However on holiday we like to eat out and try new foods. Don't fry in the van as I don't like the lingering smell but Lakeland sell some candles to get rid of cooking smells.