Food for Thought
We have a very British Motorhome - Autosleeper Broadway with parallel bench seats. Today we spent a long time looking at small Hymer motorhomes at the NEC (although still bigger than the Broadway). Now, anybody who spends most of their motorhoming time on the continent knows that continental MH’s have raised fixed beds, big garages, tiny kitchens and small living area because the lounge is the outdoors (as one of the Hymer reps. said to us today). British MH’s assume bad weather so have a bigger indoor living area. That’s my take on it anyway.
So chief chef (not me) says: here’s the problem. I really like the continental style MH but how the heck do I manage with two gas rings and hardly anywhere to spread out when cooking. I can think of several solutions: eat out, use one pan and just reheat something, cook outside. .... and so on.
So does anybody have any helpful thoughts on how we would change our cooking and eating habits to match our continental friends who, presumably, get by perfectly adequately?
Comments
-
Kitchens don't come much smaller than in our Eriba- 3 gas rings, no oven, no grill, and no microwave - so we bought a £30 mini electric oven that lives under the bed and comes out for heating up ready meals, but we never barbecue. We have toured mainland Europe that way for ten years, but only rarely in the UK.
Breakfast is continental + fruit and juice + cereal and yogurt + an old Italian espresso pot boiling on one gas ring.
Lunch in France is either whatever we have bought in the morning market - paella, roast chicken or something else from the rotisserie van, or very, very often is main course + coffee from whichever local restaurant menu catches our eye. In UK we would go to a pub.
Supper is cold meats, ready made salads, cheese, fruit , extravagant patisseries, and wine.
Frankly we never actually cook anything.
1 -
Washing up in an Eriba with a small sink, no draining board and no hot water supply? Joke ?
Dirty plates, cups and glasses go into a bucket outside and when it's full or when we have run out of clean ones, then once a day one of us (guess who) wanders over to the toilet block. to use the big sinks there. In France there is always company there, but in the UK I am always alone for that task.
0 -
We have a Knaus with 3 burners and a TEC Tower oven, never use a microwave so when we looked if the van had one it was crossed off our list lol. The key is to prepare everything first (can stand prepared food on the massive table or shelf between lounge seats and kitchen) , put everything away as you use it, then get on with the cooking part, we rarely use more than 2 rings, cook roasts type things in the oven or use the same to heat up frozen meals from home or ready meals, one pot meals are also helpful such as stew etc. If doing chops, steak etc. we ahve a small cadac safari chef BBQ we use.
Washing up we use the sink and have one of those JML drying cloth/stand things to stand it on whilst it drains (hangs in shower when not in use) and by this time the hob is cool so we put the lid down to stand it on. We have a large area in front of out hob to use as well as the hob is at the back of the worktop under window.
As for lounging as BB says swivel front seats round, beer/wine open, feet up and bobs your mums brother.
It is really about thinking like a MHer and adjusting to suit your environment, we really only sit out abroad as we mostly tour out of season in the UK (4 trips planned to new year) so its not normally warm or dry enough to sit out seriously and we manage well, eat like we do at home with some adjustments.
0 -
Some excellent advice from both B.B. and MichaelT. We have already made the adjustment from Caravan to small Motorhome and got rid of many things. Space is difficult in the Broadway and we just have the two picnic chairs for outside use as we use the supplied table outside and in. As we have the bench seats there is no need to swivel the front seats so have found it convenient to strap the picnic chairs behind - the shower compartment is already used as a bottle store.
So, the small Hymer T, Exsis or Van do the job because we can use the garage for picnic chairs, BBQ etc. (need to watch payload though). A bit reluctant to go too much over my current 6.3m length so that is a further restriction. Went down that route with the Caravan and ended up selling it as it was too big to lug around Europe.
The real compromise is the kitchen (for OH) so the advice is welcome, particularly concerning washing up. The AS is only 18 months old and we love it but OH is always willing to consider more ways of spending money!
0 -
We have one of these, Multicooker.
Can use inside or out to cook /slow cook, bake, fry, steam rice veg etc. So versatile and portable.
makes excellent curries, stews, cooks joints of meat or half a chicken whilst out all day. Leaves the gas ring free for other things.
0 -
We had a good look at that one when we were looking last year.
Kitchen is huge, but OH commented that she would have been more than happy to sacrifice some of the kitchen workspace for a better washroom with a properly separate and large shower.
We always cook meals in the van so I was rather sceptical over the mainly small kitchens in MHs, but OH reckoned she could work with it, using the various adaptions already mentioned.
0 -
.many pundits' Van Of 2017.....might be the odd last year model about going 'cheap'(er).
Yep.......77 grand !
https://www.lowdhams.com/new-hymer-b-dl-444-motorhomes-57123.3
Very nice van tho'......
0 -
We saw the drop-down bed at the show yesterday. Funny because the bed was down as we walked in and I asked where the cab was (the bed obscures the front seats and dash). Thought it was a Caravan at first! It’s a clever arrangement and we should have looked more closely but being a B Class it looked too big. Another pre-conception to overcome.
I imagine a B Class feels somewhat different to drive than a Coachbuilt. Although it looks big, the length and height are the same as a Coachbuilt and I suppose it is just the greater width at the front makes it seem bigger.
0 -
Thanks for that. I meant A Class of course, not B Class. Certainly true that if the rear will go through a gap the front will as well and that the Coachbuilt just has the illusion of being much smaller. I can see that the A Class has great space around the cab and your point about swivelling seats is well made.
Perhaps there a a natural progression: tent - Caravan - Coachbuilt - A Class. I suspect van conversions sit outside this progression being excellent but for very different reasons.
Looks like we will be off to the February show to do some more research.
0 -
I asked the head chef what she thought and she said she could manage without the hob providing she had an oven and a microwave!!! I think she was joking about the hob? From the cooking point of view it will depend on many things. Do you want to supplement motorhome internal cooking with additional appliances like bbq,separate hobs, cadac etc? If you are happy with that you can probably cope with minimal internal cooking options. Perhaps be prepared to change menu/meal options so they don't need more than two rings. The advantage of a decent kitchen in a motorhome might depend on whether you will use the van all year in the UK and Abroad. Outside cooking, in may view, is fine in hot climates but a bit pointless in less good conditions like a windswept bank holiday weekend in the UK where it loses a lot of its appeal and romance!!!
David
0 -
It’s a Tardis. Definitely worth a close look.
0 -
We have no mindset to get over. Only ever toured in this country, and on the whole, Summer weather has been kind to us, can recall endless weeks of sunshine on some holidays. Our very old caravan has only two gas burners and a very good grill. That is it. We have on occasion taken a small steamer, and used this without filling the van with steam or smells. We don't barbecue, don't eat meat, so hate the fuss and carting one about. We have had friends round for dinner on a regular basis, so we can still cater well. OH has asked my numerous times if putting an oven in would help, but I just don't need one.
Our MH has a great oven and four burners, and yes we eat slightly different, making use of oven, but I never have more than two gas burners in use. There are some great recipes for 1/2 pans if anyone likes to eat that way, which we do. Less washing up as well. It wouldn't be the number of gas burners that decided our next MH model, more the overall layout and size. We are torn between a rear u shaped lounge in an English model, or the raised beds in a smallish Hymer with less lounging space. Not seriously looking yet though.
0 -
So much depends on lifestyle - we have an Autosleeper Broadway and like it for the lounging (napping) bench seats! I could manage with the kitchen of a continental van as we use our oven to store the saucepans and cook on the hob or microwave but (apart from step issues) would not like the small seating area with fixed table found in most Hymers etc. (Just a thought for the lazy among us
)0 -
It’s more about the preparation area than the number of gas rings but as others have said you need to make use of the table to add to the work surfaces.
One thing with the Hymers at the show, they had quite high interior specification but despite the loaded price they often didn’t have a canopy and none had solar panel. They are both a standard extra pack on the Autosleeper, along with cab a/c and cruise control. Makes the Hymer very expensive. If you add in some nice features like electric operation on the bed, electric roller blind etc. I would guess it could end up at £85k.
0
