5 Simple Budget Meals to Make in a Camper

Juicy burger budget meals campervan

Cooking in a camper can be an adventure sometimes, working with limited space with a small stove and trying to avoid too many dirty dishes! Besides the challenge of working with a camper kitchen, you need to pay attention to the costs. Cooking these simple budget meals will keep your camper kitchen in order while saving you money to keep on the road a little longer.

 

What Are Easy-Budget Meals to Make in a Campervan?

 

Denise has been a vegetarian for years and given the environment and the practical side of it, we always eat vegetarian meals together. There are 5 veggie meals that we eat regularly, which are not too fancy, but extremely enjoyable and cost less than €15 for 2. All of these meals are vegetarian based, though they can be prepared with meat and/or fish or even made vegan. We are excited to share these go-to meals with you and boost your camper menu.

It is important to indicate that we love cheese and sauce. These are the top ingredients of our meals!

 

All meals are based on portions for 2 people, or slightly more (we have one standard eater and one big eater)

 

 

Falafel Wrap

 

Falafel veggie wrap

 

This Mid-Eastern meal is healthy and delicious and could easily be made vegan! It takes about 15 minutes to prepare this meal.

 

What Do You Need?

  • 200g pack of falafel
  • Small bag of lettuce
  • 10 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 avocado
  • 100g of feta
  • Small can of chickpeas
  • 6 wraps
  • Garlic sauce or aioli
  • 2 eggs

 

Approx. €10

 

How Do You Prepare It?

  1. Boil 2 eggs for approximately 7 minutes until they are hard-boiled.
  2. Cut the tomatoes, avocado and feta into small pieces
  3. Fry the falafel balls in a pan until crispy and warm
  4. Open the wraps and make a line of garlic sauce down the middle
  5. Divide the egg, lettuce, tomatoes and chickpeas on the wraps. Be careful not to put too much on, otherwise, you won’t be able to close the wrap!
  6. Lastly, add the falafel balls to the wrap. Add the feta on the top, roll up the wraps and enjoy!

 

 

Pasta With Cream Cheese and Spinach

Spinach pasta with cream cheese

 

This is a recipe with an Italian vibe. The pasta is filling and full of cheese, we love it! This meal takes about 20 minutes to make.

 

What Do You Need?

  • 150g cream cheese with herbs
  • 120g penne pasta
  • 200g spinach
  • 200g mushrooms
  • 30g pine nuts
  • A bag of parmesan cheese flakes
  • A block of vegetable stock
  • 1 onion

 

Approx. €12

 

How Do You Prepare It?

  1. Fill a small pot with water and place it on the stove, add half of the block of vegetable stock
  2. Heat a dry frying pan, and roast the pine nuts for a few minutes until they are brown and crispy. Keep an eye out because they burn quickly! Once cooked, leave them aside
  3. Now, put the pan back on the stove with a dash of oil to heat
  4. Cut the onion into small cubes, and put them in the pan
  5. Clean the mushrooms under water and dry them with a paper towel. Cut them into slices, then add them to the onions
  6. Add the spinach to the other vegetables and stir it all together
  7. Add the penne to the boiling pan of water and set the timer for 9 minutes
  8. When the penne is done, drain the water and add the penne to the vegetables
  9. Now add the cream cheese and stir. Add some salt and pepper for taste
  10. Serve the pasta in a bowl. Top with pine nuts and parmesan cheese flakes

 

 

Juicy Veggie Burger

 

Juicy burger budget meals campervan

 

One of our favourites is this incredibly tasty burger with an Australian twist. This recipe is for the big eaters: 2 burgers each! It takes about 20 minutes to make this meal.

 

TIP: Add a hashbrown/rosti on each burger, this makes it even better and is typically Australian!

 

What Do You Need?

  • 4 hamburger buns/ or similar buns
  • 1 avocado
  • A bag of grated cheese
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 onion
  • A small bag of iceberg lettuce
  • 4 burgers (vegan/veggie/meat)
  • Mayonnaise

 

Approx. €14

 

How Do You Prepare It?

  1. Put the buns on a dry frying pan over the stove and add grated cheese on top to melt. Remove the buns when the cheese has melted and the buns are crispy (if you have an oven, you can warm them up in there)
  2. Cut the onion into small strips and cook them in a frying pan on low heat with a drizzle of butter. Remove them from the pan after about 5 minutes
  3. Meanwhile, cut the avocado into slices and place it on the buns together with the lettuce
  4. Fry the burgers with some oil or butter until they are cooked and crunchy
  5. Now fry the eggs to a sunny-side-up
  6. Divide the eggs and burgers on the buns and finish with some mayonnaise. Tasty!

 

 

Mix of Shakshuka & Ratatouille (Vegetable Stew)

 

Moroccan dish with eggs

 

This recipe is ideal if you have some vegetables left over and fancy something healthy. We regularly make this vegetable stew (Eastern mix with a touch of French).

 

What Do You Need?

  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Provencal herbs
  • 1 baguette
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 red paprika
  • 1 zucchini

 

Approx. €10

 

How Do You Prepare It?

  1. Chop the onion and garlic finely, and cut the zucchini and bell pepper into small pieces
  2. Fry the garlic and onion with oil. After a few minutes add the other vegetables to a large pot
  3. Then add the diced tomatoes and herbs to the pot (add salt and pepper to taste), stir the stew occasionally and then leave the lid on
  4. When the vegetables are soft, use a spoon to make 4 holes in the stew for the eggs
  5. Break an egg into each hole. We prefer 4 eggs, but you can use less (or more)
  6. Put the lid back on and check from time to time until the egg is cooked
  7. When the eggs are done you can divide the stew into 2 bowls. Place the baguette next to it and break it into pieces that you can dip in the stew. It’s delicious!

 

 

Filled Paprika with Feta

 

filled paprikas with feta

 

Delicious Greek! We love it. This recipe is on the table in no time, and it’s nice and cheap! We use the oven for this recipe, but you can also use a pan to prepare this recipe. This is an easy meal for us, which you can have ready in no time and it’s nice and cheap! It takes about 20 minutes to make.

What Do You Need?

  • 3 peppers
  • A block of vegetable stock
  • 140 grams of orzo
  • 1 block of feta cheese
  • Greek herbs
  • 350g tomato passata
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Tzatziki (tip)

 

Approx. €10

 

How Do You Prepare It?

  1. Put a small pan with water over the stove. Once boiled, add vegetable stock and cook the orzo for about 10.
  2. Dice the garlic and cut the onion into small cubes. Then add to a well-oiled pan to fry.
  3. Cut the peppers in half and roast them in the oven for a few minutes. Alternatively, oil the peppers and wrap them with aluminium foil to cook in a pot with the lid on.
  4. When the orzo is cooked, mix it with the onion, garlic, herbs (the amount depends on your preference) and the passata.
  5. Fill the peppers with the orzo mix and divide the feta over the peppers.
  6. Now put the stuffed peppers in the oven for 8 minutes or put them in the pot with oil for a few minutes (with a lid on it).
  7. Serve on a plate with tzatziki. Enjoy!

 

You can find many more camper-friendly meals on Camperkeuken’s Instagram account. Have a look, it’s delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

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We are Bai (Aussie) and Den (Dutch), living in a van for over two years.

 Together we have lived in two self-built campervans over the past two years. Through this experience, we have gained many storiestips and tricks.

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