How do I eat my dinner?

Right.... stupid question time... start rolling your eyes....

I am an avid mountaineer, I use the smallest, lightest stove I can find and shovel it straight out of the packet into my mouth, I might wash the spoon by licking it and certainly won’t wash my jet boil out… I will use the leftover food as my breakfast in my morning coffee…. Anyway, when I suggested to my partner that we turn the land rover into an camper her immediate response (clearly scarred for life on ‘character building’ trips) was “that’s a good idea, you fidget too much in your sleep and it would be nice to have a hotel room to myself for a change” ….

Anyway, that aside, I have started looking into buying some actual camping gear! The choice is huge and has left me with some conflicting ideas. I think the idea at the moment is somehow bolt the stove onto the rear door, and use the draw between the wheel arches for the ‘kitchen’.

The simplest and easiest option is just nick everything from the kitchen before we leave – or buy normal kitchen things for the Landy. However, my issue with this is that they are big, bulk, and will break. So then I go down the route of melamine (sp?) plates, bowls etc and these seem nice – cheap ish too. However there not that draw friendly and I think will take up a lot of room. In my lunch break I have just been looking at some sets (Sea to Summit if I remember rightly) that was 4 bowls / plates and 4 mugs all packing into one of the bowls – sounds ideal. However, I am not sure how irritating every time I just want a mug I have to unpack everything in the set. There are lots of clever ideas out there – collapsible things, folding into each other things, metal things, plastic things……

So what I am asking in a roundabout way is what do you do? And more importantly how do you store it?

On our last trip with had the ‘kitchen kit’ in a box and it was Tetris to get it in there and rattled so much I ‘accidentally’ left it at the camp site once – well that’s the story I am sticking to! So I think a draw might be easier.

I know this sounds like a silly question, but I can see serious advantages and disadvantages of each one and wondering what the collective think is a good idea?

Get a plastic Crate/tool box
with lid & wheels.Stanley do 1 you can put a fair in it.
This also doubles as a seat/work bench.
What you can't fit in you don't need. Easy to remove after a weekend away.
I only use 1 crate so I won't forget to pack it.

That’s how we went on the last trip one box (we used ‘euro boxes’ i.e. poor people’s wolf boxes as there the same size) but I thought the draw may be more convenient. But a thought that you just gave me is that if it is in a box I can easily lug that into the house to wash it all up after a long trip.

19_Hue_95...I came fro exactly the same background.Doing Karimors,ultra distance MTB racing & trecking Munroes.

I had already got a 90,which I origionaly built as a challenge truck.But wasn't getting much use.
I already had bought a roof tent,so sleeping was sorted.In the back of the 90,I have built a drawer between the wheel arches,but leaving a space to the L/H side 100mm wide,where I've instaled a bottle holder made from 4 short legnths of plastic pipe.
On top of the L/H wheel arch,I have made a big open box from ply.I use this for storage of the 2 Folding camping chairs.
On the R/H wheel arch,I build a 3 shelf unit with PVC roller shutter door,which houses,Shelf 1,the compressor for my ARB lockers & tyre inflation.Shelf 2,Clear plastic tubs for non chilled food stuffs,Shelf 3,towels waterproofs etc.
The orange thing between the aly drawre & the roller shutter is a small folding camping table.
Fridge sits on top of the ally drawer in a cradle to stop it sliding around.Elastic nettin hung from the roof for lightweight clothing etc.

On the rear door is mounted a 2 burner stove with grill.The gas bottle sits between the rear door & aly door.Hi-lift jack stored on the hinge side of the door opening.
The drawer holds recovery gear in one half,& cooking/eating equipment in the right.

Externaly,I carry waffle boards on each side strapped to the rollcage.Shovel on the front wing top.& Foxwing awning.


I consider,after many years of experience this is what works for me.
The pic that shows the 90 white is as it is now,with Raptor coating,this is an excelent product for resisting scratches from overhanging branches etc.
Marc.

Have a look here: [email protected]...

sharkey964 said:

19_Hue_95...I came fro exactly the same background.Doing Karimors,ultra distance MTB racing & trecking Munroes.

I had already got a 90,which I origionaly built as a challenge truck.But wasn't getting much use.
I already had bought a roof tent,so sleeping was sorted.In the back of the 90,I have built a drawer between the wheel arches,but leaving a space to the L/H side 100mm wide,where I've instaled a bottle holder made from 4 short legnths of plastic pipe.
On top of the L/H wheel arch,I have made a big open box from ply.I use this for storage of the 2 Folding camping chairs.
On the R/H wheel arch,I build a 3 shelf unit with PVC roller shutter door,which houses,Shelf 1,the compressor for my ARB lockers & tyre inflation.Shelf 2,Clear plastic tubs for non chilled food stuffs,Shelf 3,towels waterproofs etc.
The orange thing between the aly drawre & the roller shutter is a small folding camping table.
Fridge sits on top of the ally drawer in a cradle to stop it sliding around.Elastic nettin hung from the roof for lightweight clothing etc.
View attachment 178361
On the rear door is mounted a 2 burner stove with grill.The gas bottle sits between the rear door & aly door.Hi-lift jack stored on the hinge side of the door opening.
The drawer holds recovery gear in one half,& cooking/eating equipment in the right.
View attachment 178362
Externaly,I carry waffle boards on each side strapped to the rollcage.Shovel on the front wing top.& Foxwing awning.
View attachment 178363
View attachment 178364
I consider,after many years of experience this is what works for me.
The pic that shows the 90 white is as it is now,with Raptor coating,this is an excelent product for resisting scratches from overhanging branches etc.
Marc.

Click to expand...

Nice camper.....

A lot of it also depends on what else you use the vehicle for. Mine is my daily drive so I could not fit anything permanent to the back of it. I use tote boxes as I can get them fro nothing form work as things get shipped in them. When I did Morocco I had 4 of them along the back of the 110, one for fluids, one for spares, one for camp set up, one for food/cooking. as @Hicap phill said if it doesn't fit in the box it is not needed. For more local trips I just take the camp and kitchen box and for really local I combine the two into one. as I have a 110 there is just enough length for me to sleep in the back, so with all four boxes an airbed goes on top and I sleep there (swmbo has a similar attitude to yours!), with one or two boxes they are strapped to the wheel boxes and I sleep on the floor. I also have a side slung tent for some more comfort, but the best way of camping is probably more inline with your mountaineering experience and that is a hammock slung between two vehicles.

Camping:


In more specific relation to your question about kitchen ware again it depends on what you think you will need. In terms of utensils I carry a wooden spoon, steel ladle, 2 sets of cutlery, enamel tin plate, bowl, mug. To cook in I have a dutch oven and a grille I made for an open fire or a small gas stove I use mess tins or a percolator on if an open fire is not suitable. But again it depends what your expectations are and how much comfort you want to have, how long and how far away you are. I go alone so am happy to "rough it" compared to a hotel, if I was going with partner she would not be happy with anything less than a 4 star hotel! The advantage of a vehicle is you can take some luxuries with you and it depends on what is important to you as to what you take. For me an open fire and a hammock under the stars is the perfect way to spend the night therefore the only addition I need is my box of liquid moral which contains real glasses and a selection of good scotch.

Cooking:

Luxury:

My only suggestion in addition to many of those already given is to get a pan 'compendium' set as used for camping - 4 pans, lids and detachable handles all neatly fitted together.

My lone idea notwithstanding a large number of those all around offered is to get a container 'summary' set as utilized for outdoors - 4 dish, tops and separable handles all perfectly fitted together