Crystal & Alexis @roadside_van_life
Small Kitchen feature
Hey folks, I’m Ash Butler, author of The Small Kitchen cook (and partner of Jared, co-founder of #vanlifediaries). This interview is part of a series where I chat with food-lovin’ folks who have amazing campervan kitchens.
If you’d like to check out my book, please click here. Thanks for your support! Ash x
Hey Crystal & Alexis,
Thank you for being a part of this interview and for telling us about your love of food and your tiny kitchen.
Tell us about your small kitchen
Our van kitchen is made from an upcycled unit that was given to us. We have used solid pine furniture board for the worktop, which stretches an impressive 2.2 meters while being relatively lightweight.
“Lots of cooking and prep space was really important to us.”
We have the Phoenix two ring burner camping stove and gas oven that we use alongside our bespoke handmade log burning stove.
Name three key pieces of equipment in your small kitchen
Our log burning stove! We definitely couldn't live without it. Not only does it provide us with all night heating, but it's designed to be used to cook on. The temperature control is amazing. a
Our massive catering pan. We couldn't live without this.
Maybe the old fashioned hand whisk, that's handy too. But we like to keep our belongings to an absolute minimum, to save on space, so we don't have loads of fancy kitchen gadgets or anything like that.
What are some food ingredients you always have in your pantry?
We don't have a fridge in our build. We opted to keep the cupboard space instead. We shop for store cupboard foods, with that in mind. Dried chickpeas, beans, pulses, as well as tinned, part-bake rolls and packaged naan breads which will store for a couple of months unopened, too! UHT and powdered milks are another must have. As well as oatmeal and coconut blocks.
We store our vegetables in a net bag on our porch and do a lot of vegan cooking, because it’s compatible with easy stored foods. But we do eat meat and dairy on days we visit shops or pass by a local farmers market. It's really exciting to explore local ingredients from different places and countries.
What are a few dishes that are on high rotation and why?
Coconut curry! We use the block coconut which is also divine in porridge! We are big fans of anything you can throw it all in one pot to minimize on washing up, because life is too short for washing dishes. You can make it in bulk, so you can eat it for days or feed hungry guests. It makes well with dried lentils/dahl and any random vegetables you have about the place. We recently made a cauliflower and fig curry and it's possibly the yummiest thing I have EVER eaten!
Do you have any tips for minimising food waste and packaging?
Well, we never waste food because we have a dog haha, if we don't eat it she sure will!
“We often buy veggies from independent vendors and they usually don’t have any packaging, apart from the mud it was grown in!”
If we do pick up groceries in a store, we have been known to leave our packaging at the till. You really do become so much more aware of your waste living in a tiny home on wheels, because you have to think about it.
Is it important to you to eat with sustainability in mind?
Sustainability is of great importance to us. Where possible, we purchase our food from local sources. Farm shops are ideal for this. However, it's not always possible to avoid sustainability issues and sometimes the only choices are in the less sustainable superstores. When shopping at such places, we try to intelligently purchase the more ethical products. We also try to avoid excess packaging and actually unpack much of our shop at the store, so that the store can deal with the excessive waste that they use to package everything.
Thanks Crystal & Alexis for your time and for your thoughtful responses!
Check out more pics from Crystal & Alexis’s small kitchen at @roadside_van_life
Edited and published by Ash Butler @thesmallkitchencook