Food Storage and Prep

*Our staples buy in France before we shipped the truck to Iceland where groceries are ferociously expensive.*

Thank you to John for the recomendation for this specific blog, sorry it took so long!

First off I should say that we are not foodies, gourmet cooks or even that innovative. when it comes to what we eat. We also have very different tastes that we work around. Andy despises tomatos and onions (unless they are pulverized beyond recognition and then he appreciates the flavor) and most vegetables. He leans toward red meat, potatos and anything sweet. Dawn loves all vegetables, (especially tomatos and onions), prefers savory to sweet every time and for meat primarily wants chicken breasts or mild fish (no goat, lamb, pork, kudu or crocodile).

That being said, we have been married for 34 years so have learned the work arounds.

We are also not as good as we should be as eating like a local when we travel. We know that is more budget friendly and a means of experiencing more of the local culture, but we are, sadly, somewhat stuck in our ways. This means that throughout our travels we stock up in European style supermarkets looking for our favorite staples - when we can find them. Which, of course leads to food storage needs.

Andy’s favorite meal - stove top nachos - (we found tortilla chips in Namibia for the first time in 6 months after driving down the west coast of Africa). And it is completely possible to make stovetop nachos on low heat. (In fact we have found you can make almost anything on your stove top).

*Dawn’s favorite meal - stir fry chicken with vegetables (the ones that Andy is OK with, beans, peppers, carrots and corn)*

We also cook about 95% of our own food. Mostly this is for budget reasons, and because we are a little picky. It also fits the lifestyle. We don’t like to drive or walk after dark (at least not in Africa) so we pull into camp and make our dinner. We have been remarkably consistent on our average daily grocery budget - about $15 for the two of us over the last three years in the truck. We do buy luxury items (wine, beer, chocolate, meat) and could do it for less if we tried harder.

Dry Goods Food Storage - Under the Dinette Seat

Our main food storage is under the dinette seat on Dawn’s side (closest to the camper door). Andy made plywood partitions which make it easier to store and organize the food. He first split the space in half vertically, and then on one side built a false floor that pulls out. Under that false floor we store things like extra soap, coffee filters, repellent etc. On top of the false floor we have two grocery sized bags filled with our essentials: rice, pasta, canned tomatos and vegetables, coconut milk, beans, granola . . .

*Grocery bags with dry goods sitting on false floor in dinette base*

*Full view of under dinette with the middle partition*

The closer section under the dinette does not have a false floor. In the beginning we stacked drinks on the bottom (beer - Andy, wine - Dawn, soda - Andy) then placed “delicate” dry storage items on top - fruit, potatos, bread. But after a couple of years on the road, Andy got the idea to build drink storage grates which he inserted in the non dry good part of the dinette storage. Now our beer, wine, soda and juice is secure and doesn’t fall into a jumbled mess.

*Inserting the drink grates. They were built based on measurements on a trip home so we were grateful they actually fit.*

*The final look - facing the door side, dry goods ont the right, drinks on the left*

*What our fridge looks like the day we shop*

Snack Food Storage

We keep our snacks in the cupboard to the right of our fridge. What you see below looks a little different than a standard Fleet Pop Up as Andy added the drawer at the top- which has become our ubiquitous junk drawer (head lamps, pens, scissors, batteries . . . )

*Snack cupboard - surprisingly deep - it can fit a lot!*

*What is inside the cupboard - chips and nuts (Dawn), cookies (Andy) and peanut butter (our favorite late afternoon snack is an apple with peanut butter)*

Which leads us to - keeping things fresh. Dawn is a huge fan of zip loc bags. If it is open, it goes in a zip loc. Chips get a clothespin. Things like pasta and rice get a clothespin AND a zip loc. Even Dawn admits this may be overkill but we have spotted the occastional rogue ant or the dreaded “c” bug that makes its way into the camper. The extra protection gives her peace of mind. It also protects foods through the many climates we travel. We use the heck out of the zip locs but they do occasionally get holes, so a new box is carefully brought back from the US every year or so. (Sorry UK readers, the Tesco brand ones are horrible.)

*Bungee cord Andy installed behind sink and stove. Holds spices, dish soap, hand soap and the knitted baby Yoda that our daughter made Dawn*

We carry 12 spices which change occasionally depending on where we are. We picked up Hungarian goulash spice that we used for soups for a while (mostly paprika but much hotter) and currently have the Moroccan version of an “all spice” for meats and stews. Our most frequently used spices are salt, pepper, garlic powder (although we use fresh when we can), onion powder (approved by Andy), red pepper flakes, and curry powder. But we also have paprika, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper and an Italian seasoning mix.

*Our current favorite. We always have some hot sauce on hand - it can cover up a lot of cooking mistakes.*

We also always carry hot sauce, soy sauce, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Spices and sauces have been universally easy to find and the main way we tend to mix it up based on where we are.

*Cabinet to the right of the snack cupboard - also surprisingly deep. Plastic tub holds coffee/tea fixings and olive oil, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar.*

The one thing we have absolutely never run out of is coffee. Before coming to Africa, Dawn was paranoid and stocked up with 8 pounds of ground coffee from Spain. But no worries, it has been easy to find. Dawn does not get out of bed until coffee is drunk. Ever. She uses the pour over method with paper filters. We also carry a gold filter but as we are often more careful about our water situation than our rubbish one the paper ones are more convenient.

*Dawn’s coffee station the first hour after we wake up. Andy patiently waits at his dinette seat for her to become human.*

Food Prep

We do have fun buying local produce at a variety of markets but are always aware of the possibility of microbes our stomachs not being used to causing us trouble.

*Bleach spray bottle, Andy labeled it with the formula so we wouldn’t forget, we only fill it about every 6 months.*

So, when it comes to fruits and vegetables, we are extra cautious (knock on wood we have never got sick from eating food we prepare). If it is not peeled, we wash it, spray it with a very light bleach solution, then wash it again. All of this is done with our own filtered water supply.

*One day’s farmstand buy in Tanzania - $4*

Speaking of water, we have become hilariousy particular about our daily drinking water. All of our water comes from our filtered water tank (more on our UV treatment set up on “The Build” blog page). Every day we fill our hydroflasks with water, ice and squeezed lemon. It’s a process, but we have time and it makes it so much more enjoyable to drink. When we re-fill mid day we do manage to forgo the lemon and additional ice though. We keep a small water supply in our fridge so it always starts off cold.

Breakfast

Basically we have two versions of breakfast that we go to - the egg version and the yogurt version. An extra special day includes bacon (Dawn approved not too piggy tasting version). Eggs are a great universal protein and easy to find even in the smallest African village.

We have a plastic re-usable container that is easily recognizable so even if we cannot speak the language people understand what we are looking for when we show it to them.

*Classic morning breakfast, eggs with hot sauce, pineapple, bacon.*

*Or sometimes it is the potato and egg fry up - can also add any extra vegetables or random on handmeat.*

And actually our most common breakfast - yogurt, fruit and granola. But we do buy two yogurts - usually cheap full sugar neon colored version (Andy) and non fat non sugared much more expensive version (Dawn).

*Whatever we are eating to start our day, the varied and beautiful wild views remind us why we do this.*

Although sometimes it is cold and we hunker inside to start our day. In this breakfast version we have added toast to the egg/bagon mix. Dawn is getting reasonably proficient at toasting bread in a pan.

*We have also been known to have the full on European breakfast - fresh bread with cheese (Dawn) or jam (Andy)*

And then just a special note on bread. This is where our minds meet up! We both love bread. Especially fresh baked bread. This is another item which is universally available although the quality (for our tastes) can vary wildly. Sadly, Eastern Africa has been a good bread desert for us, but in West Africa we could find wonderful fresh baguettes in almost any village.

*Designer bakery in Bulgaria - loaves about $4 each*

*Roadside village bread stall in the Democratic Republic of Congo, baguettes about $.25 each*

Lunch

So with bread being our cross over food, we are on to lunch. Which, for Andy also involves bread. Most days, stuck in our ways as ever, Andy packs a sandwich in the morning and Dawn makes a salad.

*Another version of Dawn’s daily salad - basically whatever we have that goes together goes in it. She also makes her salad dressing with oil and vinegar and a variety of spices.*

*And yet another lunch set up - if they look similar it is because the are . . .*

Dinner

If we were truly helpful we would provide lots of easy recipes but unfortunately Dawn doesn’t use them. She does the cooking, partly because she likes to control the food, but mostly because Andy does almost all the driving. Below are a few favorites. Not pictured here but definitely high on the list are a version of peanut noodles. (Basically stir fry cabbage, any other veggies, some chicken if you have it. Boil whatever noodles you have. Make the sauce with peanut butter, soy sauce, garlic and hot sauce and mix it all together.) It also doubles as a nice lunch when we are tired of sandwiches and salads.

*The old classic - beans and rice, with vegetables (poor Andy). Rice made in a saucepan then folded in.*

Fresh fish with beans and rice (caught on the beach in Mexico). Unfortunately we do not eat enough fish as we don’t have an easy way to cook outdoors and cannot stand waking up to leftover fish cooking smell in the morning.

*A favorite from Mexico - tacos with beans, cheese, meat cabbage, and of course, hot sauce.*

*Making it all work in one pan, sauted potatoes, fileted chicken breast and peas.*

Especially in cold climates we have many versions of soups and stews - you can literally throw anything in. We carry pureed tomatos to thicken things up and usually have some bullion on hand for flavoring.

*Another version of the skillet stir fry - sausage and potatos, carrots . . .*

*Ending our evening with a cheers to all the travelers and would be travelers out there.*

Thank you for reading, we hope we gave you some ideas for organizing your own trip food. Safe travels.

Zambia

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