simple kitchen ideas

[ZombieCat]

If you want a small highly versatile stove that can boil water fast and and be adjusted down to do a butter sauce The MSR dragon fly is a great stove, it is a white gas stove that packs up very small. The fuel bottle can be up to a liter. The down side is you need to prime.

The Dragonfly is an excellent stove! The fuel bottle is refillable and you can buy white gas by the gallon, so it’s economical. Works well at both high altitudes and in low temperatures.
I have an old MSR Superfly. It runs on iso-pro fuel, so I have to purchase/dispose of canisters, but it packs tiny, has a good sized burner and has been reliable for over 10 years of backpacking/camping. I use it when flying to locations; when driving, I use my Camp Chef Everest and the Superfly is my backup stove.

 

[Sparksalot]

How many people?
How many days?
How far off grid or....
Do you go thru a village, town, city everyday.

The ultimate kitchen for one is a mountaineering stove, and pre cooked meals.
My favourite meal mountaineering was instant rice, pre cooked chicken diced up, and cashews.
The menu is more important than the equipment.
We never packed beer, the go to was Grand Marnier or Brandy, even Scotch. No mix, no ice.

JetBoil is my current favourite just because it is soo well marketed but my son who is a chef says buy the cheapest butane single burner you can find.
You see them cooking omletes at every Sunday Brunch.


Today all my cookware is from garage sales. When overlanding in a vehicle weignt for cookware, compact nesting, is not an issue for a single guy or a couple. As a senior, my cutlery is wedding present silverware because ya might as well use it. Same for flatware, repurpose the 40 year old fine china.... that was getting used once a year. And since it was a 12 place setting...... it'll last many years.

Soo many cool ideas out there, I love this one.

View attachment 216278

That’s a neat idea.

 

[Ragman]

The Dragonfly is an excellent stove! The fuel bottle is refillable and you can buy white gas by the gallon, so it’s economical. Works well at both high altitudes and in low temperatures.
I have an old MSR Superfly. It runs on iso-pro fuel, so I have to purchase/dispose of canisters, but it packs tiny, has a good sized burner and has been reliable for over 10 years of backpacking/camping. I use it when flying to locations; when driving, I use my Camp Chef Everest and the Superfly is my backup stove.

I don't have the Dragonfly but I do have a Whisperlite International that is now 30 years old. The things are bombproof as long as they are maintained and MSR does a great job in offering rebuild and maintenance kits for their products. Fuel type is the big question here-butane or white gas.

 

[DaPyrate]

I have one Front Runner Wolf Pack I use as my kitchen box. In it i keep a pan, pot, two high wall plates, a MSR Rocket, cutting board, knife, tongs, spatula, large/small zip lock bags, two sporks, 750ml pot and 450ml cup titanium. I also use a Gas One single burner dual fuel stove but that doesn’t fit in the Wolfpack with the case. I may rearrange some things to be able to pack that in there without the case.

 

[TrailMasonCliff]

Take a look at my super versatile and easy to remove Kitchen box in by build tread I think something similar could work perfect for you.
2021 Sportage build

 

[joemacinnes]

Simplify your cooking setup as much as possible . Pre cut up your food at home and dump it in ziplock bags . Focus on meals that can be cooked in one pan and served on tortillas or bread , saves on needing dishes and cleanup further helping to keep your cook setup small .

This is everything. When it comes to overlanding or even just camping I find that the kiss method is the best method. Meal prep or even just packing to make simple easy meals that are healthy (most of the time), taste good and are rewarding to cook is the best.

Planning a camp kitchen around keep it simple stupid has also worked great for me. Everything as easy and simple as possible from storage to cooking to cleanup.

 

[Longshot270]

Magical vacuum sealer and an organized plastic tote that holds everything but the two burner. And those $1 sides can be turned into a meal with canned chicken, fish, beef or pork.

 

[cug]

Since overlanding for me is more than short trips over weekend but or such, pre-cut or pre-cooked is just out of the question. I have to be able to buy fresh food, keep it cool, prep it and cook it. That doesn’t mean complicated meals but that there can be no required prep outside of what I can do when traveling. I mostly need a pot and a pan, two burner stove, or single burner and a either more time or a secondary way to heat something: fire, grill, etc.

Therefore, my kitchen consists of a Jetboil Genesis two burner stove, a carbon steel pan, a stainless steel pot, a kettle, a Dometic fridge, and utensils for prep, additional goodie is a Dutch oven. The biggest item is the fridge of course, the rest is relatively compact. I cook the same things at camp as I do at home. It’s worth it.

 

[ontos]

How many people?
How many days?
How far off grid or....
Do you go thru a village, town, city everyday.

The ultimate kitchen for one is a mountaineering stove, and pre cooked meals.
My favourite meal mountaineering was instant rice, pre cooked chicken diced up, and cashews.
The menu is more important than the equipment.
We never packed beer, the go to was Grand Marnier or Brandy, even Scotch. No mix, no ice.

JetBoil is my current favourite just because it is soo well marketed but my son who is a chef says buy the cheapest butane single burner you can find.
You see them cooking omletes at every Sunday Brunch.


Today all my cookware is from garage sales. When overlanding in a vehicle weignt for cookware, compact nesting, is not an issue for a single guy or a couple. As a senior, my cutlery is wedding present silverware because ya might as well use it. Same for flatware, repurpose the 40 year old fine china.... that was getting used once a year. And since it was a 12 place setting...... it'll last many years.

Soo many cool ideas out there, I love this one.

View attachment 216278

I am on board with your son's suggestion. I also have done a fair bit of professional cooking and a cheap butane burner is tough to beat. Cheap. Fuel is easy to find anywhere. You can cook anything on it. If you made me pick a super simple set-up, I'd go cheap butane burner and a non-stick wok. In fact that is what I run in my CRV and on my little sailboat. I also like the cheap Kom Kom Thai knives, an Ikea cutting board, and a melamine bowl from the Korean grocery. If you add a set or two of chopsticks and a wok turner you have a sweet cooking set up for about $100.

 

[Carnage_95YJ]

That sounds like a great setup! My only concern is size. I plan to be sleeping inside my jeep majority of the time so packing small is a must.

I’m in a JT, but my kitchen build is only 38”. There is a drawer for large items and the stove is on a slide-out in front. I have a fold-out top that turns the kitchen into a 1 person sleeping platform. The whole thing is held in by a ratchet strap. Fully loaded it gets heavy to remove by myself, but is doable.