RVers or boaters... how do you manage cooking?

Question

We own a small sailboat and I don't have a lot of storage or cooking space. I want to be able to cook breakfast (sandwiches are fine for dinner) but need to consolidate... how do you manage it? What do you cook for breakfast that's hearty but doesn't require several pans?

Answer 1

Thank you for asking this question!!  I have had a few chuckles and took a nostalgic trip down memory lane in reading the answers.

In my opinion one of the best suggestions you have had is the one about the pressure cooker.  Make sure you know how to use it, but it was indispensable to me when we lived aboard.  I made many meals in it.  If you buy one, invest in a good one - stainless steel.  We often travelled without refrigeration, and we sometimes left food in the pressure cooker and heated it up again for the next meal.

I also used the grill/griddle pan for breakfasts and many other meals and so was able to cook several things at the same time in the same pan.  I had a two burner stove, but I often cooked breakfasts of pancakes, bacon and eggs for 10 or 12 people on that stove.  I made bread on top of the stove in a cast iron frying pan - you can use a recipe for whole wheat biscuits but cook them on top of the stove, and add raisins, berries, etc. to increase the nutrition.  You just turn them half way through.  I had several recipes for bannock - stove top bread. The cast iron pan must be properly seasoned as someone else mentioned.  

My husband and I often had oatmeal for breakfast when we didin't have company.  I would get everythng ready the night before (put the oats in the water and let them soak overnight) and add skim milk powder, raisins or other dried fruit in the morning and cook it all together.  When the oatmeal was bubbling, I would remove it from the heat (heavy stainless steel pots hold the heat for a long time) and then I sometimes made toast using the stove top toaster.  You will find one in the camping section of department stores.

If you will be on board for extended periods you might want to invest in a stainless steel stove top coffee percolator.  I still have ours sitting on the shelf in my pantry, and I look at it fondly.  If you don't get a pressure cooker, you might want to check out a set of nesting stainless steel cookware.  We had a heavy set, which I also still have, and it was a good investment.

Go to a marine store such as West Marine and look through their books.  You'll find a number of cookbooks for live aboard life, and they have great ideas.  Also check out any stores that sell second hand marine stuff.  My favorite that I have is called the Cruising Cook, but there are many others.  I would say that one is enough, because if  you are used to cooking just one will give you ideas for other things.  Camping cookbooks are also good.

Most importantly, because your space is small, don't make any hasty purchases.  Think about it, and decide what will work for you.  And enjoy it.  Don't try to do so much that you take the fun out of it, because it is supposed to be fun!

Happy sailing!

Answer 2

Fry up some bacon or sauge in a pan, throw out the grease and then fry eggs and toast in the same pan. Use a cookie cutter, or glass or whatever to cut a circle out of the slice of bread. Put it in a buttered pan and crack an egg into it and fry! It is very tasty. The circles you cut out can also be fried into little toast pieces. A pot of coffee, instant grits, and you have a one pan breakfast! BTW, kids love those things!

When I was in college, I had eggs, toast and coffee for breakfast in my dorm room every day. I would put 2 or 3 eggs in the percolator, and toast my bread with the 50 cent yard sale toaster I had. When coffee was done, I had boiled eggs, toast and coffee and NO dirty pots!

Answer 3

What a wonderful question... You are going to have so much fun!

   Actually, I was not going to answer your question until I read

that hilarious response from "br549'  (I am still laughing)  I tell you, sometimes, he can really live up to his phone number.

   I am for sure - br549 - going to pull out and wash off my old coffee perculator - just to put two eggs in there - and perc a cup of coffee. lol

Now... back to your question - my son (now 40) and I sailed around the world from 93 (when he got out of the first Iraq War (Dessert Storm). We didn't actually sail around "the" world - we kinda more like sailed around "in" the world. But we were out at sea for the better part of 4 years sharing the constantly shrinking space of a 32' sloop.

   We however - had "two" burners and no stove.  But we also had a BBQ pit attached to the stern rail - and that is really what got the most use - by far... (less cabin heat, less fuss, less mess, etc.)

   Our other "saving grace" was we had very ample refrigeration - even a 2 1/2 cu. ft. feezer we built into one of the little aft berth areas.

    Anyway... you can imagine 2 guys (father & son) on a small shrinking boat for weeks at a time between landfalls - When we got really board with fixing or fishing (he was always trying to catch a fish the size of the shark in jaws - and I was always telling him we had more fish then we could eat... lol) but, when we got really board, and had to move around a bit - we cooked!

   What we learned was - not only minimal pans - but more importantly - limited fresh water - so the reasons to not use more than one pan was less mess "and" less water to wash it.

   We took care of this by cooking everything we could at one time, and then all we had to do was heat it - which for us, meant simply throwing on the grill -

    We almost always had cold breakfasts... and cold lunches ... dinner was usually our only hot meal of the day.

   But, my suggest to you is to do as my wife did - she would cook everything at home and bundle it in individual serving size portions that could be simply heated and served.  Eggs, both poached, and scrambled worked well in this manner - (they turned out looking like the ones you get at McDonalds)... One thing my son and I took on our trip that got more use then we ever thought would... was a "pressure cooker" not only can you put everything in it all at once, but, you can even keep it seperated if need be... ie: gravey in one bag, meat in another, and veggies in another... additionally, the "pressure cooker" works like a crock pot on steriods... wow, you can drop in potatoes, and lobster in hot water and its all ready in 10 minutes... less heat, less fuel, one pan cooking... we also used the pressure cooker for our "fish fries"... we would bread our fish and the fries in cornmeal... drop in all in the hot oil in the "pressure cooker" put the lid on it - and "poof" like magic, in about 5 minutes, we had cooked fries, cooked fish... hot an ready all at the same time, and only one dirty pan.

Have a wonderful day...

Happy & Safe Boating...

   http://boatwrights.org/

Answer 4

I have lived aboard & cruised for many yrs> You cook meals like at home just learn to use the space you have>I pot cooking>Do in different order> I myself have large meals> But then I'm on a 48" Boat>Cook out on the grill> Make pasta> Meals> Lot of foods >Just take time to get aquanted to your suroundings>Breakfast have bacon first then the eggs> Have french  bread toast in pan with butter> when the $ comes in than a larger boat with more comferts> Have fun anchoring in a quiet with no swell i makes for the best edventures>

Answer 5

if you look for camping and military surplus web sites you can find neet space saving ideas for the kitchen eggs and bacon cook well in the same pan or you can do sausage and put it aside when you start the eggs since the dont tak long at all to cook and remember you are roughing it too so have fun with it as shop for what you are going to cook

Answer 6

I would start with a cast iron grill that will be about 10x 16 inches, season it properly with peanut oil.  Then you can cook several items on that grill and control the serving time by moving the slower cooking items that you started first to the edges. and then cook the rest of the meal.  I would also get a cast iron dutch oven. These cooking pans will heat slower but more evenly over one burner.  I do use a grill quite often for most of my cooking.  Bacon goes on first, then the pancakes when I turn the bacon  and move it to the edges, the pancakes and the bacon then finish cooking just about the same time.  The dutch oven will let you develop stews and soups and dumpling dishes.  These are how the pioneers cooked when on the trail and many of the old time campers still do.  Clean them gently with water and just a wipe out of any stuck food. Soap damages the finish on cast iron.