I hope you’re hungry because this post is all about our favorite meals we’ve made in our RV! Joe and I have been living in our RV for 2 months now, and we’ve been cooking almost all our meals. Even though we have limited space and we’re on a budget, I wanted to continue cooking healthy, tasty, home-cooked meals while we were on the road.
Our kitchen is very small – we’re working with two burners, a toaster oven, a grill, and a microwave. Oh, and we have the counter space roughly the size of a cutting board. :P And so, we’ve had to adjust to making meals in one or two-pots that can all be prepped on small counter space or outside.
I hope something here catches your eye, whether you live in an RV or not. I’m your typical cook-without-measuring-anything person, but if you want any more details on these dishes, feel free to leave a comment!
Our easy go-to meal: Grilled salmon + veggies
This was me and Joe’s go-to meal before living in the RV, and it certainly stayed in our favorites after. We have this meal once a week. Back at our old apartment, we would make this in the oven, but since we are now oven-less, we fire it all on the grill. We bought a charcoal grill a few weeks into our road trip, and it’s become a staple. It took some trial and error learning how to work with charcoal, but eventually Joe figured it out, and we find ourselves firing it up around 3 times a week! With RV life, we love to bring our cooking outside as much as we can, and I just love the charcoal taste and crispy exterior the grill provides.
Cooking notes: One of my favorite parts of this meal is that it doesn’t require that many ingredients. We coat the veggies with oil, salt and pepper. The salmon is the same, plus some fresh garlic. We usually rotate between zucchini, carrots, and asparagus as the side veggies.
For a cold day: Thai chicken curry
If there’s one meal on this list I think you should try, it’s this one. It’s one of my all-time favorites, and it all can be done in one convenient pot. I follow this recipe. Don’t be intimidated by all the ingredients – if you don’t have some of them, that’s ok. It all comes together with the store-bought Thai red curry paste (you can find this in the international aisle at most grocery stores).This curry paste is a lifesaver and saves you from buying like 10 spices.
My secret…add a few spoonfuls of fish sauce. It’ll give a special tangy flavor straight from Bangkok. ;)
Cooking notes:
- I like to add red/orange peppers and potatoes as well.
- For meatless days, I substitute the chicken with white kidney beans.
- Top over rice, or my favorite, sweet potato (any excuse to sneak in extra vegetables). Just microwave the sweet potato for 4-5 minutes, and it’s cooked perfectly.
Our leftovers meal: Chicken salad sandwiches
It’s so gratifying when you can use up leftovers in a new recipe. :) We often have leftover chicken from our grill nights, and they make great sandwiches the next day. Chicken salad has become one of our favorite meals, and if we have leftover salmon, you bet we’ll be making salmon salad sandwiches too. They are just as tasty as I just love the creamy texture that the fatty salmon adds.
Cooking notes: For the chicken salad, I combine chicken, celery, red onion, grapes, mayo, salt and pepper. For the salmon salad, combine salmon, red onion, mayonnaise, and relish. Serve over wheat bread + lettuce. Yum!
Comfort food #1: Chinese tomato and fried egg noodles
My mom is from a region of China that specializes in hand-pulled noodles, so noodles have always been my favorite food to cook and eat. My favorite comfort meal from childhood is tomato and fried eggs over noodles – a Chinese classic. Cooking it isn’t that hard, but it does require investing in a number of sauces/vinegars/oils. These are all staples of Chinese cooking, so if you like to cook Chinese food, they will get used a lot.
Cooking notes: The base is simply tomatoes, scallions, and all these Chinese ingredients pictured above. I simmer it for ~15 minutes until the tomatoes break down into a soup. In the end, I add scrambled eggs and fresh cilantro. Serve over any Asian noodles (ramen and udon are my favorites).
Comfort food #2: Fried eggplant and minced beef in garlic sauce
This is another one of my favorite Chinese dishes. I follow this recipe (Red House Spice is my go-to blog for Chinese recipes). I love the soft texture of the eggplant combined with the savory ground beef. I also like to make a version of this replacing eggplant with zucchini.
Cooking notes: If there’s one ingredient that’s worth investing in, it’s the Shaoxing cooking wine. This is a staple in Chinese cooking (especially when cooking meat). It removes the stale taste of burger meat and elevates it into a fresh, aromatic Chinese dish.
Our quickest meal: Pizza bagels
I admit not everything we eat is healthy… ;) when we’re short on time, such as on driving days, pizza bagels are a quick and easy option. I made this for Joe for the first time while we were on the road, and he devoured it up! He now makes pizza bagels a few times a week which warms all my girlfriend instincts.
Cooking notes: Add two spoonfuls of marinara sauce, shredded cheese (I use an Italian blend), and a few slices of pepperoni to each bagel. Cook at 375 F for 10 minutes in the toaster over.
When we want a break from meat: Vegetarian chili mac
I stumbled upon this recipe from a quick Google search of “one pot vegetarian meals,” and it’s become one of our favorites. I like to take a break from meat every few days, and this colorful dish is flavorful, filling, and packed with nutrition with tons of vegetables and beans. And the best part – you can make it all in one pot.
Cooking notes: From some added heartiness to this meatless meal, I use chickpea noodles versus regular pasta.
Our “treat yourself” meal: Grilled burgers
We couldn’t live in an RV without eating burgers every now and then. ;) Joe is the grill master, and burgers are both of our favorites in his repertoire. We’ve made this so many times and my mouth still waters thinking of these burgers. Cooking the burgers takes <10 minutes, but firing up the grill is what takes longer, so we usually like to make this when we have extra time on our hands.
Cooking notes: We find 80% lean ground beef has the perfect fat content for a juicy burger. I like to top mine with red onion, tomatoes, ketchup, and lettuce.