Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I haven't moved forward much with my build as I'm still in the planning/drawing stage. I plan to do 99% of my cooking outside since we are camping and the idea is to well, enjoy the outdoors. The question I have about cooking pertains to those times where the weather is nasty or other situations where I may prefer to cook inside. As we all know, space is a premium in these trailers, so I'm debating as to whether or not I should "build-in" cooking facilities inside the trailer. This also brings up a couple of other questions..

- How many people here actually cook inside their trailer? If you do, do you find that the grease and/or cooking "smells" build up inside and on the surfaces?

- If you do cook inside, do you have an exhaust fan installed over the cooking area?

I might just build in a small microwave for those rare occasions...decisions, decisions...

You don't say what size your CT is. But even if 7' wide, I think you are correct and believing that space will be tight. I do not plan on having any stove cooking appliances in the CT ( 6 x 14 in my case) for the space and odor reasons you mentioned. I plan on building a "chuckwagon" setup in the back of the trailer (I have barn doors) and that is where most of my cooking will be done. That or on a table under a canopy. But I do plan on having counter space for those really rainy or otherwise miserable days outside where I can place a Coleman or similar stove just to get through the bad weather.

Like you said, space is at a premium to all of us. Knowing that I don't think I would build in a dedicated cook area. I would make sure I had counter space large enough to set up my basic cooking needs. If you do cook much, the grease can be a real problem. I would only cook or reheat the types of meals that didn't splatter. What I like to do these days is go to Taco Bell a day before I leave on my camp trip, and get a few of their burritos or loaded grillers and put them in the fridge overnite. Then I just heat them up in a non-stick pan. Man they are delicious! But then again I more of a corn beef hash and eggs kinda guy, not much of a gourmet chef

I have a 7x16. I think the responses so far align with my feelings and suspicions, so either I'm on the right track or we're all running amok together

I think I will build in some counter space for those times, but I might also build a chuck box like lrrowe mentioned. Being in scouting, I'm familiar with this method all too well.

Thanks

The other kitchen thing to think about is a sink. Again, I have no plans to add one right away, but I will allow space should I want to add one later. It will also have room under the potential location for a 5 gal jug to catch the gray water. Or I may have it drain right out the bottom to a 5 gal jug outside as with the shower water. I plan for my "dish" washing to be done outside also.

It may depend on what kind of camp cooking you do. A CT is a very small area, but with good ventilation and care you could do some. I would stay away from doing a lot of greasy and smelly stuff inside.

I do a lot of my "cooking" inside, but mine usually entails boiling a little water or warming something up. I don't "cook" a lot while camping. Most of my food supplies are either precooked or dried. So no frying of bacon or sausage etc.

I did put a portable fan in the window right above my table, where I cook. I also have a roof vent in that general area. It has a fan in it too. My fans are more about removing the small amount of propane exhaust gasses from the stove than just odors.

I don't normally cook anything or even grill out, I do plenty of that at home, most of the time I prepare what I am going to eat and put it in meal size containers and microwave them.
I also take things like sandwiches and salads and snack type food so I don't have to heat them up, last weekend I was in Florida and it was hot and I didn't want to shut off the AC to run the microwave at the same time with the generator and that made me realize next time I am going to take less food that needs to be heated up.
I guess I am lucky because I go to sporting clays events that have good food vendors I can buy good meals and they normally provide food and beer at nights, I normally take to much food and eat it later in the week when I am at home.
I have a 7x16 and like to keep things simple and stream lined as possible cooking and cleaning is one less thing I want to deal with = I also boondock most of the time. If I had power and water that is a whole different story.

This is my 6x12. I cook and bake in here. I do need to add a fan!

When its rainy, windy, or just cold (or I really need my bacon fix!), I cook inside my 6X12 all the time! For breakfasts I fry bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes/french toast, and make omelets. I heat/make soups, and grill hot sandwiches. I boil rice, noodles, and pastas to be mixed with other ingredients. (there's 101 ways to enjoy a pasta salad, and it keeps in the cooler!) Then of course, there's heating of canned veggies, soups, sauces, etc.

I open a window or two, roof vent or two (when not raining/snowing), and sometimes even the front door with the screen door closed. I pull out my Coleman propane stove and set it on top of my chuck box. It doesn't take much heat/flame for simple cooking/frying, and my co detectors have never gone off with adequate ventilation. I use a lid on pans when cooking greasy or splatter stuff like bacon, and cook it on a lower heat than normal to minimize any mess. Same with heating water for hot drinks. I don't have residual odors from any of the simple cooking I do.

I wash all the dishes/pans outside, regardless of weather. I heat the soapy water in them on the stove first, after wiping them out as a pre-clean. Water/drain/soap stays outside. In bear country, I wash/rinse everything over a bucket so as not to leave odors outside.

No deep frying. No heavy sauces/gravy. The key is to cook everything a bit slower, keep it covered as much as possible, wipe up any splatter immediately, and ventilate! Be sure you stove is on a good stable platform with no flammables near it. Don't leave the trailer with the stove on! The stove gives out some heat, so properly ventilating even on a cold morning, it stays toasty inside, and the hot meal is a great start (or finish) to a cold wet day.

When I was little our first trailer wasn't even 6x12 for 4-6 of us. And my mom cooked a lot outside and inside on a Colman stove.

desertrat222 wrote:This is my 6x12. I cook and bake in here. I do need to add a fan!

I really like your front "kitchen" desertrat.

We do not actually cook inside ours. We may warm food in the m-wave, boil water and that is about it. Inside gets too hot too quick with cooking inside. We have a side wall counter for the camp stove. We normally carry a few precooked home cooked meals that only need warming. Also we have a couple of canned meals for rainy days when we are caught w/o anything else.



Mount bar...





We do have a sink in a counter inside. That does duty for dish wash up and for personal face washing. We used a bar sink to keep things smallish.

I've been on the fence about this very same question for a while. We cook outside for all the reasons of odors, mess; I'm just an inch too tall to stand straight in our CT, and we don't go camping to hang around inside. That said, I really want the option to cook inside when the weather gets nasty. Having that ability makes the camping season that much longer.

The best I can figure out is to build primarily for outdoor cooking, then have a single burner or portable campstove that can work on an indoor countertop. Once our youngest is out of the porta crib we will have space to build such a countertop.

Outside and 99% of cooking with a crew is a 3 burner camp chef stove

But for inside or if it's just me and the wife we use a butane stove or two

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Camp-Chef-But ... e/20468060

Handy for warming water for the morning coffee and super adjustable so fries eggs nicely

That Butane cooker would work nicely inside the CT. And for those sites where AC is there, this would work also.

http://www.amazon.com/IMUSA-GAU-80305-E ... 744&sr=1-7