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What To Pack For Vanlife: Kitchen

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When we left for a life on the road we knew we would be soon getting a crash course on minimalism. Our van full of stuff would be the only things we own. No more couches, big screen tv’s, king sized beds etc.

In the weeks leading up to moving into our van we went through everything we had and decided on that item’s importance to us. We ended up selling most things, donating lots, throwing out some and keeping even less.

The things that make up our everyday life is surprisingly minimal. We have a mere fraction of what we used to. For van life everything needs to have multiple uses in our life. Instead, you do everything to get outside and live.

This is us. Even though we live a minimal life we still travel with a van full of our gear. It enables us to not only work from anywhere but also enjoy life to the fullest.

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When we were downsizing it was difficult to decide what was worth keeping and what was a mere luxury that we didn’t need. Some luxuries of course are worth keeping which further blurred the line. Since living in our van full time we are still constantly analyzing what has meaning in our lives.

Whether you are a weekend warrior or living in your vehicle, the gear you bring is all you have. Being in a remote location can be dangerous if you aren’t prepared.

One of the biggest things we have learned is quality over quantity. As we shop so infrequently we find it much more worthwhile to pay for a more expensive high quality item than one that will fall apart. For example a bamboo thread shirt rather than your standard $5 cotton. After all, if you only own 6 shirts it is important that they feel soft and last a while without wrinkles rather than getting a hole in it after a couple wears.

As food is our biggest expense everyday expense, and our health is important to us, we thought it was appropriate to start off in our kitchen.

Even though we are living in small quarters, food is still one of the biggest parts of our life. We place a high importance on the quality of the food we eat and food is one of our biggest expenditures. Our first leg of the trip we spent far too much time at Taco Bell. Eating out became expensive and repetitive.

You may also like: What Is It Like To Be Vegan: A Meat Eater’s Perspective

vanlife, vegan, groceries, food, vegetables, volkswagen

Plus you begin to feel as though you are on vacation instead of living a lifestyle. Being able to pull off the road, literally anywhere, and cook a full meal is one of the best parts of this life.

This post is one in a series where we will slowly release all the gear we carry and their level of usefulness in our everyday life. This is great for those looking to a life of minimalism or looking to take to their home on wheels.

Stove ★★★★★

As we do not have an oven or microwave we have learned to make practically every meal with only a two-burner stovetop. Believe it or not, this has not hindered what we cook in the slightest. From pot pies to spaghetti squash we have learned to make our stovetop our lifeline.

Even though we couldn’t customize our rig like in DIY van conversions we find that we have everything we need.

Fridge ★★★★★

This has been one of the best purchases we’ve made since being on the road. Our fridge, even though it takes up a lot of square footage, allows us to actually keep food (and beer) cold for long periods of time. We’re literally writing this article in the middle of nowhere because we have enough food that allows us to not be tied to cities for weeks at a time.

Mugs ★★★★★

We have a few mugs that we use every single day. They keep our drinks cold for days and hot for the entire day. Safe to say we use our Yeti mugs for just about every liquid we drink. If we aren’t drinking from our water bottles, we use our insulated cups for anything from cold to hot. The only downside is they don’t fit in our cup holders.

Stainless Steel Thermos ★★★✰✰

This will keep your water colder for longer than plastic bottles. And if you are a coffee fanatic like us, it will allow you to have hot cups of coffee for up to 24 hours. While this is used by us often, we know it is much more of a luxury than a necessity.

Pots & Pans ★★★★★

If there is one thing we admittedly have too many of, it is our pots and pans. With one large frying pan, a small long handled pot as well as our Enamel set, there is a lot.

Enamel Pots & Pans ★★★★★

These are the best for cooking over the fire. They last forever and are easy to clean – something we love. We have 1 regular pot and a pan as well as our enamel kettle which is all we use. We do however cart around an unused large enamel pot that we have hardly ever used.

Plates ★★★★✰

We have four plates. They are all enamel as we have found that they are the toughest and can withstand our rough lifestyle. We love the diversity that this provides as we use them to cover our food while cooking to insulate heat rather than cart around a lid for our pots.

Biodegradable soap ★★★★★ <a href=”https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0009ET6TS?ie=UTF8&linkCode=li2&tag=freedomchas00-20&linkId=ca2f6752764938094e1179c98ac12cc7&language=en_CA&ref_=as_li_ss_il” target=”_blank”><img border=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0009ET6TS&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=CA&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=freedomchas00-20&language=en_CA” ></a><img src=”https://ir-ca.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=freedomchas00-20&language=en_CA&l=li2&o=15&a=B0009ET6TS” width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />

Our soap is one of our favourite and most widely used items in our van. We do a lot of dishes and are friends with the environment. We use one soap that doubles as an all-in-one for laundry, dishes, dog wash, hand soap and anything else we can think of. The best part is that it is safe enough to use in rivers.

Bowls ★★★★✰

We have two bowls. We honestly don’t use them very often and could easily do without them. They are most often used in times when we run out of plates and are far too lazy to do dishes. One thing these are great for is mixing. Our new favourite sauce is a honey mustard-mayo concoction.

Cutlery ★★★★★

We work in sets of four. Four forks, four knives and four spoons. Seeing as that we eat mostly raw foods, our knives go almost completely unused and our spoons rarely see the inside of our mouth.

Sharp Knives ★★★★✰

We have one serrated and one smooth sharp knives that we use for everyday cutting. This gives us the diversity to cut nearly everything. We find that since we are vegans and do not cut through tough meat, this is more than we need to get by. The trick is to get a knife that has a blade sharpener built into the sheath. This way you always know you have a sharp knife to work with.

<a href=”https://www.amazon.ca/Sabatier-5171959-Triple-Riveted-EdgeKeeper-Self-Sharpening/dp/B071L73PW1?keywords=self%2Bsharpening%2Bknife&qid=1652904477&sprefix=knife%2Bwith%2Bself%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-5&th=1&linkCode=li2&tag=freedomchas00-20&linkId=6f4ae619457a1fd420a02303d87cdc12&language=en_CA&ref_=as_li_ss_il” target=”_blank”><img border=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B071L73PW1&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=CA&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=freedomchas00-20&language=en_CA” ></a><img src=”https://ir-ca.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=freedomchas00-20&language=en_CA&l=li2&o=15&a=B071L73PW1″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />

Rags ★★★★★

If you are anything like us you hate paper towels. They are expensive and unnecessarily harmful to the environment. Cutting up old clothes works great for us but we also have proper face cloths. We use these to clean our van and to wash our dogs feet when they play in mud.

Washing Tub ★★★★★

Yes we have a sink, but it’s easier to bring our dishes outside and wash them on the grass in case we splash. Make sure to get a versatile tub (we have a collapsible one) so that you can fit a pair of pants in it to do laundry. We tend to use a bungee strap and hook it to our passenger door handle so we can stand up straight and do dishes freely.

Cutting block ★★★★★

This is so useful for both cutting our veggies and for acting as a place to put our hot plates so they don’t harm our counters. It fits perfectly over top of our sink so it is out of the way. As a bonus, it also prevents our stovetop from chattering as we drive.

Lighters & Matches ★★★★★

Since our stove runs on propane it is necessary to carry matches and a lighter. There is no electric start to our stove so we manually have to ignite it every time we want to use it. It sounds like a pain, but we actually like striking a match. There is something satisfying about it.

Can Opener ★★★✰✰

Some of our food, like pasta sauces and refried beans, come in cans that require a can opener.

Bottle Opener ★★★★★

It’s hard to drink beer without a bottle opener. We like ours which also has a wine opener as well.

<a href=”https://www.amazon.ca/Multifunctional-Corkscrew-Stoppered-Bottles-Restaurant/dp/B092VDQMHW?keywords=wine%2Bopener&qid=1652904733&sr=8-8&th=1&linkCode=li2&tag=freedomchas00-20&linkId=4324ffc3d4871d0c6f86fc209655d6e0&language=en_CA&ref_=as_li_ss_il” target=”_blank”><img border=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B092VDQMHW&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=CA&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=freedomchas00-20&language=en_CA” ></a><img src=”https://ir-ca.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=freedomchas00-20&language=en_CA&l=li2&o=15&a=B092VDQMHW” width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />

Scissors ★★★✰✰

While we use our scissors often, there is virtually nothing we can’t open with a knife rendering our scissors to be more of an unneeded luxury rather than a useful everyday item.

Mixing Bowls ★★★★★

With the amount of salads and wraps we eat, large mixing bowls are important. We have three mixing bowls of various sizes that stack into each other. We use these big bowls to make lots of our food and although they take up a huge amount of space, we find them quite important.

Spatula ★★★✰✰

We have far too many spatulas. We typically only use our white spoon with a stunted handle that fits perfectly in our drawer and tongs that we use to flip our cooking. In addition, we cart around a flipper and a pasta spatula that we need to purge as we never use them. The Dollar store has these for ridiculously cheap prices.

Rope ★★★★★

Ok, this isn’t exactly kitchen related but we don’t have a laundry room. Having a rope on hand will make it so that you can use the tub and your biodegradable soap to wash your clothes. This will also act as your clothesline.

Veggie Bag ★★★★✰

As we live with our windows and doors completely open the majority of the time, having these veggie bags are incredibly important. They make it so that our fruits and vegetables stay safe and bug free during the day. They also allow us to get creative and hang our produce all over the van.

Tables ★★★★★

Our van, like any Westfalia, comes equipped with two swiveling tables. These have been specifically designed to fit perfectly. They are able to reach the passenger seat when it is facing backwards, and over our bed when it is transformed into a seat. This is the area where we do everything from work on our computers to prepare and eat our food. This also works as our only counter space making them even more valuable.

It has been said that the kitchen is the heart of the home. This is true in our tiny home as well, despite our minimalism lifestyle. Cooking may look a bit different in this small space but it has become more important than ever. Our life as vanpeople has shown us the importance of minimalism.

Are you a vanlifer? Let us know what your essential kitchen gear is in the comment section below!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links which means we may get a commission if you make a purchase at no extra charge to you. Our opinions are our own and we only share what we believe you’ll find helpful. We also use all the products that we have links to. You can even see them in the photos we post.

In VanDogs

Living In A Van With Your Dog

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More and more people are turning to life in a tiny house. Regardless of if yours has wheels or not, living in that small square footage takes some adjustment, especially with dogs. The realms of this lifestyle are forever expanding as more and more people are testing the limits.

Us, we are testing the limits by cramming five bodies into one van.

It is true that vanlife would be worlds easier without our three rascals. More space, less stuff, and the ability to go anywhere we choose without second thoughts. Our dogs do limit us, a lot, but they also add an unbelievable amount of happiness to our life.

We decided to let you in on the things we’ve learned about how to make life in a van more livable with your pup.

Crossing the border

When crossing the US Canada border with your dogs the only vaccination they care about is against Rabies. All you have to do is go to your vet and get the paperwork. They will give you a piece of paper with the dogs information along with a rabies tag and a sticker off the bottle they used.

If this is the first time your dog is getting its rabies vaccine it will last for one year. After that it will be every three years you have to redo it. It is a simple shot. Your dog will become docile the night of their shots but recover quickly. Use this time to shower them with treats and extra love.

Do you need a passport to go to canada?

Yes! You do.

Every time we cross we hand our passports along with the dogs paperwork. This significantly reduces the border wait times. We cross the border a lot and it is never an issue for us. The guards rarely check the piece of paper and have never made a big deal about the dogs.

Check out the ways we keep our dogs cool!

Leaving your pups

This is the only, and by far the biggest, negative of living in a van with dogs. As your van/bus/car becomes your home there is no safe place to leave your pup while you are gone.

dogs, volkswagen

This presents a problem at simple things like the grocery store as well as more crippling things like National Parks and must sees like Antelope Canyon. I’m going to be real, this is the hardest part of having dogs in a van.

Our recommendation: when getting your dogs their Rabies vaccine, get them vaccinated against a couple other common illnesses such as kennel cough so you can opt for some doggy daycare. Ask your vet about which vaccines kennels require to board them. That extra hundred dollars will be well spent ensuring you are not sitting beside the Grand Canyon without a way to go see it.

Night time

It may sound silly but giving our dogs a bedtime is CRUCIAL. This is mainly true when we have new people with us, or are having a fire and staying up well into the night. When our dogs get tired, they get grumpy.

We don’t have a time but it is easy to see when the pups are starting to bark or get grumpy. Putting them in the van gives them the safe place they need in order to go to sleep. They feel more comfortable and are able to make their own bed and relax. We load our bed and floor with blankets and pillows so they have the comfiest sleep possible.

Let them out, a lot

This is by far the best part of having a dog. On driving days or days where you find yourself in a cement heaven let your pups out, a lot.

dogs, lagoon, lake

For us this has been great and has helped us to see parts of the world we would otherwise have not seen. We have had some of our greatest experiences in areas where we never would have expected to go. We stopped to give the dogs a break and rounded a corner to be surprised by a crystal clear lagoon or met some amazing new people.

This is by far the best part of vanlife with dogs. They inspire you to get outside more.

Think safety

I can’t tell you how important this one is. Our dogs are our best friends, we want to keep them safe. We spend almost all of our time in completely foreign areas in which our dogs don’t know. Our dogs are pretty used to it, but the longer we stay in a place the more confident they get and farther they stray. Even if we stay in a place for only a few minutes we make sure to bring out the dog beds for them to get comfortable.

We definitely free range parent more so than most dog owners. We let our dogs roam to their heart’s content as they have mastered the rules of not going on the road and not going out of sight (they know just how dependent they are on us). That isn’t to say something still can’t go wrong.

Not too long ago, we had a horrible day when our one pup Freckles chased a bunny and ended up getting stuck or lost. We lost him for about 9 hours. The whole time we spent scouring our desert landscape thinking only the worst. We notified animal shelters and anyone we thought could help us.

It was an absolute nightmare. That reaffirmed that despite how good your dogs are, accidents happen and it is so unbelievably crucial to work hard to avoid them.

We have our dogs have a microchip and tattoo with their all of our information on their dog tag. We make sure that their collars are always on (except our lab who gets skin reactions – she’s micro-chipped though) and their info is up to date.

Sleeping

Our bed is not that big. When you couple that with three dogs that like to cuddle, you are left with no room to move. Roxy is a spooner. She lays length-wise like we do. Freckles likes to find a space near our legs while Bella usually sits on our head. Right before we go to sleep we like to spend some family time. We usually watch a movie or TV show with the dogs on the bed.

But when it comes time to actually sleep we rearrange the dogs. Our front passenger seat swivels and faces backwards. This has quickly become Freckle’s favourite spot. We put a blanket on the floor, with two pillows under it, for Roxy. Bella is small enough that she can fit on the bed with us. She doesn’t usually sleep on the floor since she thinks she needs four times the room she actually needs. Even though we have a lot of bodies we make it work.

When it gets really cold we bring the dogs on the bed for safety. We’ve slept in some frigid temperatures where the dogs needed to stay warm. When this happens Freckles and Bella end up under the covers near our feet while Roxy assumes her spoon position. It keeps us all warm and safe.

Road tripping with dogs has added endless rewards to our life and with these tips it can in yours too. Let us know how you find traveling with your dogs in the comment section below.

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In VanDogs

VanDogs

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We don’t just travel the world, we do it with three little rascals in tow. From our sassy Chihuahua, our docile dachshund to our goofy Labrador they provide us with endless adventures.

While life is all fun and games for the most part, these dogs do make traveling quite a bit harder.

Traveling with dogs requires more planning, more sacrifices and endlessly more adventures.

dogs It takes about three second after you have your own dog to realize that these four legged creatures are far more than pets, they become your kids (but the amazing kind that never cry or throw tantrums). We have three, and if we had any more square footage would rescue more and more.

At one point we kept finding stray dogs on the road feeding them and helping them find their way home. Needless to say, we are dog lovers and because of this we geared our life to be able to travel with our best friends in tow.

Check out some of our tips on traveling and hiking with your furry friends. We take our pups just about everywhere we go with us. Typically they add to our adventures but there are lots of extra things that we need to be aware of when traveling with them.

Read about how these little pups add so much to our trips as well as a few tips we’ve learned on our travels.

In Vanlife

It’s A Lonely Life

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You have heard me write probably more than you need about how amazing this life is. It’s true, I am in love with it. The freedom to travel, the unbelievable places we visit and the memorable people we meet along the way. I try to keep it real and never gleam over the fact that oftentimes, especially in cities or on rainy days, it’s claustrophobic as hell and cleaning is a constant battle. But I never really talk about one of the biggest battles in this life. The truth is, this one leaves me vulnerable and I am sure you’re not here to read about the down times. Regardless, here it is.

Vanlife is lonely.

I know, I am constantly beside Myles, how can it be lonely. I am always writing about how we meet and talk to new people every single day, that doesn’t sound lonely. Well, it is. It is weird to me that my life feels so very on display that I never have privacy and yet still feel lonely.

Myles said to me one day “you know you’re great and all but I wish I had another opinion.” How true those words are, it actually shocked me. I may have been thinking it, but hearing him say it aloud reaffirmed just how lonely this life gets sometimes.

There are some things I just don’t want to talk to Myles about, you know those things you need a girlfriend for. Well in this life, I can’t just show up at my best friends door. If I have a question, Myles opinion is the only one I get. Sure, it is a great opinion and one I value more than any other, but sometimes you just crave a friend.

While we still have our friends, texting them isn’t as good as the real deal and sometimes it gets to us. We have learned that one of the best ways to combat this is to get a WiFi plan and message our friends whenever we start to feel lonely (sorry Courtney for the constant chatter).

We tend to feel less claustrophobic in this life and generally just worlds happier in the forest, but the downside of this is that we lose our reception and therefore our lifeline to our friends. Doing things independently, such as taking our dogs on a hike, even for a short time typically fixes this as we come back breathless from explaining all the cool things we found.

A side effect from this loneliness that has both good and bad repercussions is that we have learned about each other on such a deep level. This has brought us closer than we ever could have imagined but also caused some strife. I know what Myles is thinking by a mere face twitch now.

From someone like me who seems to never shut up to someone like Myles who is a man of few words, it is interesting to me that at times he feels the affects more than I do. I believe it is because I am constantly either chatting his ear off, telling long elaborate stories to the dogs or writing so much that my fingers feel they may fall off. Sure I may drive him nuts or look crazy when sitting on the grass talking to Roxy but for me it works.

Every life has pros and cons but for me the freedom I feel and the ever changing backdrop is a pro that far outweighs any con I am yet to find.

In Vanlife

How To Find The Best Free Campground

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After living a life on the road for around 3 years, we now consider ourselves experts in finding the best free campground. If you add the fact that we have only paid for about 4 nights of accommodation – boondocking is our specialty. There are many aspects you should factor into your decision about where you should spend your time in the woods.

Whether you are looking for a new unplugged experience, or just want to find some of the most secluded campgrounds, going off the beaten path works wonders for your mental health. Since we travel with dogs we prefer public sites rather than private ones where we don’t have to keep them leashed all the time. We have been asked so many times how we find the sites we stay at so we thought we’d let you all in on all of our secrets.

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This is for weekend warriors and Vanlifers alike. No matter where in North America you are these tips will help you find the best campground near you. Some places are going to be easier to camp in than others. Depending on where you are going, there are certain things you should know.

Not in North America? Check with local bylaws for rules on camping. When we were road tripping through Scotland they have a freedom to roam act that allows you to camp on any public land.

Free Sites

There are tons of land that you can camp on for FREE in North America. If you are in Canada most “Crown land” is free to camp on as well as any forest service roads. For example, 94% of land in British Columbia is considered Crown Land. This means the government owns the land. The USA has a similar thing called BLM land. This is land that isn’t owned by a single person. It is owned by the government, considered public land, and is free to use.

Not all maps will show you where this is or how to get to it, but trust us it is some of the best land to camp on. Some of this land is simply that, bare land that you can set up a tent or park your van on. The cool thing about this land is that you will find campgrounds that have everything provincial, or state, parks have. This can include picnic tables, fire pits and even outhouses. Don’t expect electricity or running water though.

* A few things to consider:

  • Do your research to see if there are any fire restrictions in your area. If there are you can be fined for starting a fire. It is your responsibility to find this out. This is especially true in Canada where there are fire restrictions every single summer in most places.

  • For both Canada and the USA, there is usually a stay limit, typically around 14-21 days. This, at least in our experience, isn’t strongly enforced but rather a way to keep it fair for all campers to get an opportunity to experience the site.
  • There are no garbage services at these sites. It is your responsibility to pack out what you pack in. Keep in mind that someone has been at your site before you. If they left the site a mess you’d be upset, so treat your space with respect. One thing that is great to leave behind is the extra firewood you didn’t use. This is always a welcomed surprise for the next camper or RV.
  • Rangers and police do not usually patrol these areas. This doesn’t mean that they are dangerous, it just means you have to be courteous to your neighbours. For example, don’t party until 2 am right beside a family with young children.
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Recreation Sites (Canada)

Recreation Sites and Trails are a halfway point between completely free off-grid sites and Provincial/State Parks. They usually come with a small fee per night – usually in the $15 – $20 range. Rules are usually more relaxed at these recreation sites but also have fewer amenities than at Provincial Campsites.
Their website is a great resource to find areas that have a lot of campsites. These are nearly all first come first served so we recommend finding areas that have a few Recreation Sites close by – there’s nothing worse than having packed and drove to the site only to find out that it’s full.
When you click on a site that you’re interested in you’ll see all of the important information. Some postings have more information than others, including photos. The cool thing about this is that the driving directions sometimes include information about the vehicle you need to access the site (ie. 2 wheel drive vs 4×4 and if a motorhome or trailer can access).