I must admit I have a bit of a crock pot obsession. I’ve got three of them and I still don’t have my “dream” crock pot (Yes, I’m cool like that, I dream of crock pots). I’ve got a 5-quart pot for the camper, a 6-quart pot for the house and a 2-quart pot that goes between the house and the camper.
I know some of the cooks complain about not actually getting a break when they’re camping with the family, because there’s still the cooking and cleaning for all the meals, but my crock pot really seems to cut down on a lot of that. I use the crock-pot bags by Reynolds to make clean up easy. Toss your meal into the crock-pot bag and your good to go. The meal cooks it’s self while you’re out enjoying your vacation with your family. When you’re done eating, just take the bag out and toss it. If by chance there’s leftovers, you can store them in the bag in a container in the fridge.
I know you’re thinking, but I don’t want a pot roast while camping, well that’s ok, because you can cook just about anything in the crock-pot. For summer trips I make North Carolina pork BBQ, taco meat or sloppy joes ahead of time and then just pop them in after lunch. In the spring and fall chili, stew or baked potato soup all make the camper smell wonderful and take the chill off when it’s time for dinner. I guess if you really wanted to, you could even do the pot roast, but my guys might not want to take all that time to eat when there are so many are adventures to be had.
Now if you want a quick lunch just put the hot dogs in the 2-quart pot w/ a bottle of BBQ sauce on low after breakfast and you’ll be good to go for a quick lunch after a morning of exploring/fishing/playing.
A great place to find deals on a crock-pot (if you don’t own one already) is yard sales. There are people out there who own a crock-pot and just don’t understand how wonderful and useful a crock-pot can be, so they’re almost giving them away!!! (no really my parents bought me the one in the picture for $5, never used, new in the box) Just think how happy that crock-pot will be to find a home in your camper and hear your family rave about how yummy dinner is!
Read about budgeting tips for your next RV trip.