When you’re on vacation, you want to be able to relax, go on adventures with your friends and family, and not spend the whole time fretting about what or where to eat.
That’s just exhausting.
Then again, you want good food that you all enjoy together. But making the same meals you normally make at home takes longer in an RV, and they don’t always turn out right.
- Your RV stove cooks differently.
- You don’t have the same amount of space in your fridge.
- And you don’t have the same kitchen accessories that you do at home.
What you need are easy RV meals that are quick to cook and delicious to eat.
Hi, I’m Elon. I’m a full-time RVer, freelance writer, and mom of three girls. Here’s how I cook quick, easy, RV-friendly meals for my bottomless pits—I mean…girls.
Before we get to the meat of the blog, let’s talk about what makes RV meals different from traditional, home-cooked meals. (I’ll also share my system for making mealtime easy.)
What Makes Cooking in an RV Different From Cooking at Home?
When you’re cooking in your RV kitchen, you have certain limitations you have to overcome.
1. Hotplates don’t heat like your stove at home: they take longer to heat which throws off the timing you’re used to at home.
2. Propane ovens don’t bake evenly: RV ovens are plagued with baking issues because the propane doesn’t provide even heat. One side ends up burnt, while the other is underdone.
3. Limited Fridge Space: It’s no secret that RV fridges are small. In fact, the largest RV fridge is about 18 cu. ft., and that’s a tight fit for a family of four. You have enough space for dairy and hot dogs, the occasional condiment, and (maybe) some veggies.
RV meals take careful planning and timing with simple ingredients. They’re also supposed to be easy because you’re allowed to relax. You’re on vacation, after all!
How to Plan, Prep, and Execute Delicious RV Meals Your Family Will Love
I break down camping meals into three phases to make the day of cooking a lot easier.
PHASE 1: Plan Your Meals
The planning phase is where you answer these questions:
- What food do we eat?
- What cooking equipment do I need?
- How much do I need to prepare ahead of time?
Once you have the answers to those questions, stock your pantry with the needed dry goods like salt, pepper, sugar, etc., and cooking equipment like frying pans and spatulas.
You may think to yourself, “Wow, I can keep that stuff in my camper between trips, so I only have to do this once. That’s awesome.”
And yes, you would be right, IF you store your goods properly in heavy-duty plastic containers.
Once you’ve sorted your pantry, write down your meal plan on paper so that you know what meal you’re having on which day.
Pro tip: Make sure you plan the easiest meals on your busiest adventure days and plan to use your leftovers for lunches or other meals.
PHASE 2: Prep Your Meals
When you put together parts of your meals beforehand, you get to spend more time with your people. Easy things you can prep beforehand are…
- Dry ingredient mixes, so you just add liquids on the road.
- Marinades for your meats. If you start them now, your meat will be extra tender and juicy.
- Premade sides that last, like pasta salad, potato salad, or coleslaw.
And remember, you still need to bring your RV recipes with you.
PHASE 3: Execute like a Boss
You’ve done all the hard work. Now, all you have to do is follow through. Here’s how you make it go off without a hitch.
- Start cooking at least 30-60 min before you plan to eat – depending on your meals.
- Recruit help: If you’re cooking over a fire, there’s no reason why you should have to build and tend the fire while running back and forth into the camper to get stuff. Ask others to do those jobs.
When you plan, prep your meals, and execute like a boss, you’ll find RV meals aren’t that difficult. Everyone pitches in to get things done, and that’s what camping is all about.
18 Easy RV Camping Meal Ideas for Every Meal
This is what you came for: the food. So, I won’t wait another minute to share the simple RV camping meals we love at my campsite. What’s great is that they come in several variations, so you can get fancy or keep it simple. It’s all up to you.
Breakfast: Quick and Efficient
I’m not a morning person, so breakfast is a simple affair that my girls can usually do themselves. And boy, do they get creative!
- Dressed Up Oatmeal
It’s filling. It’s hearty. It has protein and fiber, and it’s fun for my girls to do. If you want to keep it super simple, then buy the pouches of pre-seasoned instant oats. Pour hot water into the package and mix.
But they like to play dress-up, so after the oats have cooked for about five minutes, we fix them up.
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal:
Add peanut butter, Butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla, salt, and milk. Stir it all together, and you’ve got a protein-packed oatmeal.
- Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal:
Cubed apples, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla salt and milk. Let it simmer for two minutes so the apple softens and the butter and sugar get all caramelly. (This also works great with peaches.)
- Gingerbread Oatmeal:
For those seasonal campouts, you need something special. Add butter, molasses, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger, along with a dash of salt, nutmeg, and clove. Seasoning Greetings!
- Fancy Pancakes
Because everything is fancy in this RV, we take classic flavors and put them with our pancakes.
- Fruity Pancakes: Make your pancake batter. After you pour the batter onto the griddle, sprinkle on your favorite fresh fruit. Blueberries, dried fruit, and pineapple work great. Just make sure the fruit is cut small enough to disappear into the batter.
- Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes: After you make the pancakes, spread peanut butter over the tops. Split the banana in half lengthwise. Put two pieces of banana between the peanut-buttered pancakes. Top with whipped cream and a drizzle of honey or syrup.
- Strawberry Nutella Pancakes: Who doesn’t like chocolate-covered strawberries? Repeat the same process you did with the peanut butter above (except sub in Nutella). Then, place sliced strawberries between the layers of Nutella and pancakes. Dust with powdered sugar.
What are your favorite combinations? Put them on your pancakes!
- Camp Donuts
Thank Chopped for this recommendation. These are the easiest donuts ever! Are they as good as my double-rise, homemade yeast doughnuts? No…but they’re pretty close! And they’re so much quicker.
Here’s how:
- Bring oil to frying temperature (325-375 degrees).
- Open your refrigerator biscuits. Don’t worry bout the doughnut hole, just cut the biscuit dough into fourths.
- Gently drop the cut pieces of dough into your frying oil.
- Let them fry on each side for about 30 seconds until golden brown.
- Immediately toss them in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.
Enjoy your donuts with coffee or hot cocoa.
- Mountain Man Breakfast Frittata
When you need to start your day off with protein and carbs to fuel a long day of outdoor action, then you need a mountain man breakfast. But when you don’t have time for coals and a Dutch oven, make a frittata.
- First, brown your sausage until just cooked. Then remove it from the pan.
- Quickly add the hash browns to the drippings in the pan. Add fat (butter or bacon grease) to the pan to keep them from sticking.
- While the hash browns are cooking, scramble your eggs.
- Once the hash browns are about half cooked, add back the sausage, a little more fat, and the scrambled eggs (plus salt and pepper to taste).
- Add some veggies like cherry tomatoes, chopped spinach, and basil, and then cover with cheese.
- Put the lid on your pan and let the eggs steam.
- Steam until the eggs look set, then remove the lid and allow the steam to escape.
- Remove from heat and serve with flour or corn tortillas.
This breakfast is not as quick, but it sticks with you through those active days.
That covers breakfast, let’s move to lunch.
Lunch: The Midday Milestone
Lunch is the meal that tends to interrupt your outings and excursions–which can be inconvenient. But you still need it. So, on those days when you want to get back to what you were doing ASAP, choose one of these quick lunches. Many of these lunches are premade for convenience.
- Uncle Si’s Grilled Chicken Salad Sandwich
No, Uncle Si has nothing to do with Duck Dynasty. That’s what my girls call my brother, and he makes delicious grilled chicken.
One time, he took that leftover grilled chicken, added mayonnaise, salt and pepper, a little diced celery and apples, and boom! The best chicken salad I have ever tasted.
I just told you the salad-making part, so now let me tell you the marinade for the chicken.
The Marinade:
- 1 ½ T Paprika
- ½ T Smoked Paprika
- 2 t Salt
- ½ t White pepper
- ½ t Black pepper
- 1 T Onion powder
- ¾ C Olive oil
Covers two pounds of chicken.
- Marinate for at least 24 hours. Three full days is best.
- Grill to perfection for your first dinner in camp.
- Cube the leftover pieces of chicken
- Mix together with the mayo, celery, and apples, then add salt and pepper. Let it sit in the fridge overnight.
The next morning, slap it on some stiff bread like sourdough or ciabatta and wrap it up for lunch. Super easy and so delicious.
- Pizzadillas
My kids love pizza. But homemade pizza is complicated and takes a lot of time in an RV, so I made a quick and easy alternative.
- Instead of crust, use a tortilla.
- Layer with mozzarella cheese.
- Fill it with your favorite pizza toppings, such as pepperoni, bacon, onion, green pepper, and fresh basil.
- Fold in half, just like a quesadilla.
- Grill both sides in a buttered pan.
- Serve with marinara dipping sauce.
Wrap it up, and take it with you.
Well, lunch was quick. How about dinner?
Dinner: Time for a Tasty Meal
I imagine that people do things differently, but dinner is the main event at my place.
- Marvelous Marinades
If you don’t grill out at least once, are you even camping?
While Uncle Si’s is our favorite grilled chicken, there are tons of delicious marinades that work great while camping. Just make sure you give the marinade time to work – at least 24 hours.
- Teriyaki Chicken with Grilled Veggies and Brown Rice:
Buy the marinade at the store. Throw your marinated chicken on the grill. Skewer your favorite grilled veggies like red pepper, onion, or zucchini. Then, place them on the grill. Halfway through grilling the veggies, squirt some soy sauce on them. While everything is grilling, simmer your rice.
- Chipotle Lime Skirt Steak Street Tacos with Refried Beans and Rice:
To make the marinade, dump a can of chipotle peppers, about a quarter cup of lime juice, and olive oil into a ziplock bag with salt and pepper. Let marinate. Grill the skirt steak on high for 2-3 minutes each side. Be careful not to overcook it. Cut into slices across. Serve in corn tortillas topped with sour cream, picante, and any of your favorite toppings. The refried beans come from your canned pantry, so you just need to start the rice before you put the steak on to cook.
Crock Pot Meals
These meals are great for when your activities keep you out of camp all day.
- Tuscany Chicken over Pasta: Dump four chicken breasts, sliced onion, a can of tomatoes, 8 oz cream cheese, one cup parmesan cheese and milk, lots of garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning into your slow cooker set on low. 5–7 hours later, throw in a bunch of spinach. Boil water for pasta. Drop your penne pasta, then go stir in the spinach and shred the chicken. Serve over penne pasta.
- Beef Quinoa Taco Salad: Mash up two lbs of ground beef in your crock pot. Next, add a cup of quinoa, 2 t beef bouillon, and two packages of taco seasoning. Then, add 2-3 cups of water. (If you’re going to be gone longer, add more water.) Stir it up and let it cook for at least 4 hours on high. Serve over a romaine salad with taco fixings.
And that’s dinner!
Summary
A good camping trip must come to an end. And I hope you see that you can enjoy delicious meals while RV cooking in good company without working yourself to death in the kitchen.
When your road trip ends, it’s time to pack up the food into heavy-duty containers and store your RV where it’s protected from the sun and storms.
(There’s nothing worse than gearing up for a trip only to find that something got into your food or your roof was damaged in the last storm).
But where can you find covered or enclosed RV storage in your area?
With Neighbor, you can find RV storage options in all 50 states. You’ll even find storage spaces in your very own neighborhood. Neighbor–a peer-to-peer RV storage marketplace that offers RV storage that’s up to 50% cheaper than traditional storage options.
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