Cooking and free camping

Grams · Guru

RE: Cooking and free camping

Cruising Granny · Guru

I've had my van since 2006 and never used the oven or grill. I used the stove top once to boil the billy for a cuppa.
I cook outside on the gas, and I've bought an electric toaster oven with 2 solid steel plates on top. I'm still learning how to get the best out of it.
Most of the time I cook on the 2 burner gas stove outside.
When I'm on the job I use a butane cooker. At times the truck driver, and both pilots have a cook up on the low loader/platform. We cook up some great feasts.
We can learn to manage better with less.
It's nice to have the convenience of home, and I think I have that.
I live in the van, camp when I work, and sometimes on the way home I spoil myself with a night or 2 in a van park cabin, or motel. I got it good.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

You have indeed got it good Granny, and deserve every bit of it after all the health problems you put up with. Good on you.

Cruising Granny · Guru

Thanks for that. No real health problems not, except the back and arthritis of course. Otherwise I'm doing it easy these days. I'm getting plenty of work all over the country, and I've learned transport and travel has no borders.
These days I just have to contend with temperamental truckies, and who can blame them with every level of the law out to get them for the most minor and major infringements. I also work with a diverse range of fellow pilots. Keeps life interseting.
It's really all about eating as well as we can.
I do a lot of pre-cooking and freezing meals, wholemeal past and brown rice. We all carry spuds and onions over the borders. Some of the border inspectors are ruthless in their inspections, while others just wave us through. Watch the grumpy woman at the WA/SA border. She's a terrier most days. She hasn't found my humble spud and onion yet. Those veges are well travelled.
Cookiing while travelling is a personal thing, but there are so many ways around it, without having a fire to use the camp oven, with or without electricity. There are several ways to toast the ham and cheese, such as using the norma frying pan. We don't need all those gadgets You can compromise if you think about it.

GaryKelly · Guru

I like my jaffle iron - it's about 50 years old - but I also fry sangers in a pan. I especially like a fried egg and cheese toasted sanger. The trick with fried sangers or toasted cheese under the grill is to toast only one side of each slice of bread. Toasted sangers made in the toaster with both sides of each slice toasted just ain't the same.

herbie · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
I remember our ice box too, and the bloke who delivered blocks of ice in a horse-drawn cart. Our first fridge was a gas Silent Knight. Lemonade ice blocks and home-made ice cream. Bread and milk was delivered by horse-drawn cart as well. Anyone remember Gartrell White?

As to the long handled jaffle iron, I used to butter the top side of the bread slices but now I just give the inside of the iron a short spray with cooking oil. Quick, easy and a lot less buggerizing around. Oh yeah... I also cut the crusts off the bread so I don't get those really hard bits around the edges. And I poke a few holes in the top when it's done to let the steam out and cool down a little before wrapping the lubras around it. Nothing worse than a mouthful of HOT filling!
I also remember that the block of ice lasted a lot longer than the bags of ice .I don't think you can buy block ice any where now.

-- Edited by herbie on Friday 5th of April 2013 05:24:15 PM

gooba53 · Guru

Gary, I know what you mean about jaffles! Mine is mums and she would have been 100 yrs old this year!

Cupie · Guru

I too still have the old family jaffle iron. Love it .. as do the grandkids.

I can still remember using it on special sunday evenings, heating it in the kitchen wood stove, with filling of egg or left over minced meat with a surprise dollop of jam or fruit in the centre. (still have the old Beatrice Express No29 hand mincer too)

At the time I was around 5 years old. That was 67 years ago!

Those were the days when we would have our Sunday night bath in a wash tub in the kitchen in front of the wood fire. Still got the tub too.

But then we got posh & installed a tin bath with chip heater in a rough extension at the back of the house. That was about the time that we replaced our ice chest with a refrigerator (I seem to recall that it was a Kelvinator Chest Cold? But could be mistaken.)

Cupie · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
I remember our ice box too, and the bloke who delivered blocks of ice in a horse-drawn cart. Our first fridge was a gas Silent Knight. Lemonade ice blocks and home-made ice cream. Bread and milk was delivered by horse-drawn cart as well. Anyone remember Gartrell White?

My first boyhood jobs .. maybe at age 9 or 10 included delivering ice from the horse drawn carts. We only had squares of bag to protect the hands .. the boss had tongs! Then there was the job of delivering milk from the back of an old truck. We had 1 & also 1/2 pint for cream, measures with the flip top lid to pour the milk into the customers jugs & replace their doilies over them to keep the files out.

No pocket money in our house of 6 kids ... you got to spend most of what you earned.

I ran a business in competition with the clothes line prop sellers. I used to go into the local bush on my bike & chop long forked limbs to sell to local neighbours. The prop man in his horse & sulky didn't do much business in our street.

After getting a job selling & delivering newspapers which gave me a bit more cash, I learnt how to play pool & made lots more from playing Kelly & Pin pool at the local pool halls.

Sorry to divert the post ... We old guys just can't help ourselves....

ps. A mate's Father was a Baker & we helped (just for fun - no pay) bake & deliver bread in our neighbourhood from horse drawn carts. The smell of fresh baked bread or horse poo in sawdust always bring back great memories. The beautiful quarter draughts (horses) just plodded along & knew where to stop to allow the delivers run back to the cart to get more bread for their wicker baskets. A whistle was enough to alert them to wake & come up a bit if necessary.

-- Edited by Cupie on Friday 5th of April 2013 08:10:58 PM

-- Edited by Cupie on Friday 5th of April 2013 08:15:07 PM

Gerty Dancer · Guru

My apologies Granny... I re-read my post and realised I said it wrong (again)... was thinking of when you were crook living in Cairns.... should have been past tense. That seems years ago now.

Sorry to be off-topic too....

GaryKelly · Guru

I remember our ice box too, and the bloke who delivered blocks of ice in a horse-drawn cart. Our first fridge was a gas Silent Knight. Lemonade ice blocks and home-made ice cream. Bread and milk was delivered by horse-drawn cart as well. Anyone remember Gartrell White?

As to the long handled jaffle iron, I used to butter the top side of the bread slices but now I just give the inside of the iron a short spray with cooking oil. Quick, easy and a lot less buggerizing around. Oh yeah... I also cut the crusts off the bread so I don't get those really hard bits around the edges. And I poke a few holes in the top when it's done to let the steam out and cool down a little before wrapping the lubras around it. Nothing worse than a mouthful of HOT filling!

gooba53 · Guru

Well I have only 18 hours to decide, full stove or not! Either way I've really enjoyed this interaction with you all. Thank you so much and I look forward to further chats and hopefully sharing our adventures with you. I'll let you know how I go !

jules47 · The Happy Helper

Grams wrote:
I have just bought myself a Thermos Shuttle Chef for the free camping times. As it doesn't use gas or electric, just the 15-20 minutes to heat the food at the beginning.

We also have the Baby Q for outside. But I like to bake cakes, biscuits, scones, etc so my oven will get used a lot.

I reckon with a bit of experimenting you could work out how to do cakes, scones and biscuits in the Baby Q - I can do them in the Cobb Cooker (but don't do it often - 'coz we are gutses and eat them too quick!!!!)

gooba53 · Guru

My favourite jaffle is spaghetti and cheese. But by gee that can burn!! Yep, got to cut the crusts off!

gooba53 · Guru

I think if my sister, who I admire so much, hadn't said I'd regret not having a gas oven, the decision would be easier. My husband is leaving it up to me , but his choice is no oven!

Sheba · Guru

When we left Cape York, and were living in a small Caravan on a Block, no power] I used to bake Cakes, Scones, Damper etc. in an old Electric Fry-pan, that was no longer used with Electricity. But it had a good heavy solid Base, and I still had the lid. Bread I made in the Camp Oven, in a fire-pit.

Used to sit it on the small Gas Stove in the 'van, with the lid on. Worked perfectly. You soon get used to how high to have the flame.

Cheers,

Sheba.

gooba53 · Guru

My last entry was a bit"happy hour" influenced. Sorry about that. I can only remember milk, bread, Rawleighs and briquettes delivered by vans and trucks. Reading some of the entries today it struck me what great memories we have of our early years.. A lot to be said for it. Something as simple as making jaffles on the fire, it was something the family spent time doing together.

herbie · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
I remember our ice box too, and the bloke who delivered blocks of ice in a horse-drawn cart. Our first fridge was a gas Silent Knight. Lemonade ice blocks and home-made ice cream. Bread and milk was delivered by horse-drawn cart as well. Anyone remember Gartrell White?

As to the long handled jaffle iron, I used to butter the top side of the bread slices but now I just give the inside of the iron a short spray with cooking oil. Quick, easy and a lot less buggerizing around. Oh yeah... I also cut the crusts off the bread so I don't get those really hard bits around the edges. And I poke a few holes in the top when it's done to let the steam out and cool down a little before wrapping the lubras around it. Nothing worse than a mouthful of HOT filling!
I also remember that the block of ice lasted a lot longer than the bags of ice .I don't think you can buy block ice any where now.

Cracker night spending weeks building the bon fire...gee what the kids of today are missing out on.

Rip and Rosie · Guru

gooba53 wrote:
Well I have only 18 hours to decide, full stove or not! Either way I've really enjoyed this interaction with you all. Thank you so much and I look forward to further chats and hopefully sharing our adventures with you. I'll let you know how I go !

Don't wrap yourselves in knots about it.

If you get one maybe you won't use it. If you don't get one you maybe you will miss it!

On the road, you'll be amazed at what you can do without, and how you find alternatives.

gooba53 · Guru

Well it's done and dusted and I'm happy!! Gas oven! Even if I do use it as storage at least I've made a decision!!! June/July is the proposed delivery date.