3 Easy & tasty camping meal recipes to take your outdoor cooking skills to the next level

Going on a road trip in New Zealand doesn’t have to mean eating pot noodles or canned soup all the time. Your Spaceships campervan comes with all tools and items to create tasty dishes, but the big question for most travellers remains “what to cook when camping?”.

Even though each Spaceships campervan comes with pans, utensils, 2x gas cookers, plates, cutlery and more, the question of what to cook can be a hard one. We know your mouth already started to water when watching our How To Use Your Campervan Videos. The travellers that created these videos also showed you how easy it is to create a camping meal in New Zealand.

No matter how awesome your kitchen at home is you can't beat outdoor cooking with a view like this

And now we are taking your camping cooking skills to the next level. Our travelling friend The Messy Cheffy recently went on a #spaceshipsroadtrip and has created some amazing yet super simple camping meal recipes for you guys. And yes, everyone can cook and eat these tasty yet simple dishes as they are vegetarian & vegan as well. Check out these easy & tasty camping meal recipes for every moment of the day.

Breakfast: Off the beaten track French toast with maple syrup caramelized banana & yoghurt (vegan)

Treat yourself to a delicious café style brunch no matter how off the beaten track you are.

Camping meal recipe: French Toast (vegan)

Ingredients

• 2 bananas
• ¼ cup of plant milk
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• 2 tablespoon plant yoghurt
• 4 slices bread
• 2 tablespoon oil of your choice.

Step-by-step recipe: French toast with maple syrup caramelized banana

In a bowl place, 1 peeled banana, using a fork mash the banana really well until its completely mushy. Add the plant milk, cinnamon and maple syrup to the mashed banana. Again, using the fork whisk the mixture together. Set aside.

Slice the other banana in half directly down the middle leaving the skin on. Heat the frying pan to medium heat. Add a drizzle of oil. Place the banana into the pan allow to cook on Either side for one minute. After cooking on either side for one minute add a splash of maple syrup and toss the banana in the maple syrup allow to cook for a further 30 seconds or so. Ensuring to take care as the maple syrup get very hot. Remove the banana from the pan and place onto a plate and set aside.

Remove the banana from the pan and place onto a plate and set aside

Place each slice of bread one by one into the bowl to soak up the mixture ensuring its completely covered on both sides.

Heat a large frying pan to medium heat with one tablespoon of oil. Add the 4 pieces of bread depending on the size into the frying pan. Reduce the heat slightly cook on both sides until golden brown. Remove from the heat serve with a drizzle of maple syrup, coconut yoghurt and caramelized banana.

Lunch: black bean & capsicum quesadilla (vegan)

Take a walk on the Mexican side for lunch. Try this simple yet super tasty camping meal recipe for vegan quesadillas.

Camping meal recipes: super-tasty Quesdillas

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 zucchini
• ½ white onion
• ½ red capsicum
• ½ yellow capsicum chopped
• A handful of chopped fresh coriander (optional
• 60g vegan cheese
• 1 tin black bean (420g)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil of your choice
• 4 small wraps or 2 large wraps
• Salt
• pepper

Step-by-step recipe: black bean & capsicum quesadilla

First, prepare the vegetables. Slice the onions and the zucchini. Finely dice the garlic. Chop the capsicum. Using the colander empty the beans into the colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Heat a large frying pan or pot to medium heat add all of the vegetables, zucchini, capsicum, onion and garlic, saute for 3-4 minutes until soft stirring often. Add the paprika and cumin to the vegetable mixture and stir. Add the rinsed black beans to the pan and stir into the vegetable mixture. Season well with salt and pepper. Allow the beans to reach temperature 2-3 minutes ensuring to stir often to prevent them from sticking to the pan. (no one wants to be scrubbing pans on their holidays) Remove from the heat.

Place the quesadilla into the frying pan and fry on either side until golden brown

Now to build the quesadilla sprinkle the cheese on one half of the wrap, then using a spoon spread the bean & vegetable mixture evenly above the cheese on one half and fold over. Repeat this process until all the mixture has been placed into wraps, the mixture will fill two large wraps or 4 small wraps.

Heat a large frying pan to medium heat no oil required. Place the quesadilla into the frying pan and fry on either side until golden brown using the spatula to carefully slip them over. Remove from the heat cut in half best served hot with guacamole and wedge of lime.

Dinner: chickpea eggplant & capsicum shakshuka (vegan)

This is great “clean out the fridge dinner” feel free to substitute any of the vegetable listed below with some things you have floating about in the fridge.

Camping meal recipe: Shasuka - Easy, tasty and perfect as a “clean out the fridge dinner”

Ingredients

• 1 tin chickpea rinsed (400g approx.)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes (400)g
• 2 cloves garlic chopped fine
• ½ medium size eggplant
• ½ red capsicum
• ½ white onion
• 60g spinach
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil

Step-by-step recipe: chickpea eggplant & capsicum shakshuka

Using the colander rinse the chickpeas. Pour the chickpeas into the colander and rinse with cold water and set aside.

Fine dice the onion and garlic. Roughly dice the eggplant and capsicum into small cubes.

Heat a large frying pan to medium heat with 1 tablespoon of oil of your choice.
Add the onions, garlic, eggplant and capsicum to the pan and Sautee for 4-5 minutes stirring often. When the vegetables are soft, add the cumin and paprika and mix well, allow to cook for a further 1 minute. Add the chickpeas, a tin of tomatoes & 1 teaspoon of sugar. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Lastly, stir in the spinach. Season well with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

You can serve the shakshuka with crusty bread of charred tortilla wraps.

So tasty and so easy to make. chickpea eggplant & capsicum shakshuka (vegan)

The secret to making it an even tastier road trip

Well, as a matter of fact, it isn’t a secret. Your Spaceships comes with all the cooking gear that is needed to create simple yet tasty dishes. And as these amazing recipes above have shown, it is super easy to create a tasty camping meal. New Zealand has amazing produce to offer. There’s always a farmer’s market, local fruit & veg store or supermarket nearby to purchase the few ingredients needed to make these dishes.

It’s going to be an amazing road trip and with these outdoor cooking tips and camping meal recipes, it’ll be a super tasty road trip. Enjoy.

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