Last week I wrote about activities to engage in when the weather is too bad to be outside. But what are van or car dwellers to do when they can’t cook outside like normal due to inclement weather? What are van or car dwellers to do if they just don’t feel like cooking? Sure, if you’re in the city, you could rely on restaurants for your meals, but doing so could get quite expensive. Of course, if you’re off boondocking in the wilderness, you probably won’t find a restaurant for miles in any direction, and you’ll have to figure out some way to feed yourself. Today I’ll give you some ideas of what to eat when bad weather (or anything else) keeps you away from your stove.

Be prepared for those times you can’t get outdoors to cook or you just want to have a quick and easy meal by keeping nonperishables on hand. When I lived in my van, I tried to always have crackers, rice cakes, nuts and/or nut butter, Nutella, corn chips, dry cereal, corn or flour tortillas, canned fish, raisins or other dried fruit, canned fruit, and shelf-stable milk in my pantry so I’d be able to eat if I was stuck in a place where I couldn’t cook. Usually with these staples and what I had in my cooler, I could feed myself for a couple of days. Nonperishable foods also came in handy if I got hungry while I was stealth parking.

If you know bad weather is coming or you will be too busy to cook for a few

days and you have eggs on hand, boil enough to get your through until you can cook again. It’s easy to get enough carbs when you can’t cook, but you’ll be glad for the protein and fat you can get from eggs. Store the boiled eggs in their shell in your cooler until you are ready to eat them.

Another food you can cook in advance of bad weather is pancakes. I’ve found pancakes stay good for several days without refrigeration, and I find them as tasty at room temperature as just off the griddle. If you don’t have any sliced bread on hand, you can substitute pancakes when making nut butter sandwiches. You can also munch on pancakes plain or with a touch of honey or maple syrup.

I can eat happily for several days on dry cereal and milk. If you don’t have milk in your cooler, use shelf-stable milk from your pantry. Fancy up your meal with fresh, dried, or canned fruit. If you don’t do dairy, plant-based milks are typically easy to find in most large supermarkets.

Yogurt with fruit and granola makes a quick, tasty meal or snack. For a slightly different riff on the cereal and dairy theme, sprinkle dry cereal other than granola over your yogurt.

When you can’t cook, nut butters (peanut, almond, and cashew butter, as well as sunflower seed butter and tahini) can be your best friends. Like boiled eggs, nut butters will give you the protein and fat your body will probably be craving. Also, nut butters don’t spoil as quickly as animal products like eggs and milk or yogurt from cows and goats. Some ways to eat nut butters: on bread with bananas, with crackers, spread on apple or pear slices, plopped into the hollow of a stalk of celery and dotted with raisins, spread on pancakes or rice cakes. For a little extra yum, add some hazelnut/coco spread (Nutella or a store brand version) to your nut butter concoctions. Of course, if you have jam or jelly in your cooler, you can have an old-fashioned PB&J or a more modern AB&J (almond butter) or CB&J (cashew butter).

If you eat fish, canned fish on crackers or with chips will give you a protein boost too. In a pinch, I’ve been known to eat canned tuna, oysters, salmon, or sardines on crackers with a squirt of hot sauce. A little cheese (especially, I think, cream cheese) if you have it in your cooler added to any of these combos makes the meal extra tasty.

Of course, any canned, fully cooked food you have on hand can be eaten at room temperature if you can stomach it. The thought of room temperature beans eaten straight out of the can does not appeal to me, but I’ve seen The Man eat them that way with no ill effects on several occasions. Folks who already eat beans, Vienna sausage, potted meat, or other canned goods without the benefit of heat can continue to eat this way when the weather is awful or there’s no time to cook.

If you have cheese in your cooler, slice some up, lay it down on crackers,

and pretend you’re at a fancy party eating cheese and cracker hors d’oeuvres If you’re a wine drinker, having some now will add to your fancy party fantasy.

Chips, rice cakes, or crackers with dip may not be the height of nutrition, but such fare can get you through when the weather is so bad you can’t even think of leaving your rig. Salsa is probably your most nutritious option, but bean dip is probably relatively healthy too. Ranch dip, French onion dip, and queso may not be exceptionally healthy, but they may offer morale boosting comfort when you’re stuck inside. You may want to keep at least one jar of shelf stable comfort dip in your pantry for hard times. 

Another great dip is guacamole. If you know ahead of time that bad weather is going to banish you to the rig, grab a premade tub from the produce section of most supermarkets. Guacamole requires no cooking, so you can certainly mix up a batch while sheltering in your rig. Cut open an avocado or two, remove the seed(s), and scoop the soft green middle into a bowl. Mash the avocado and squeeze a little lemon or lime juice into the bowl. Mince some garlic (one or two cloves, depending on your preference and the size of the cloves), and throw that in. Sprinkle on some salt and chili powder, then mash it all up to your desired consistency. Yippee: guacamole! You can eat it with chips or crackers or spread it on a flour or corn tortilla. If you have any leftover, store it in your cooler for later.

Hummus is also a delicious dip you can buy premade ahead of time or easily make in your rig. Open and drain a can of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas), then dump them into a bowl. (If you can save some of the water the garbanzos are packed in, you may use it later to thin the mashed bean paste.) Mince some garlic and throw that in on top of the garbanzos, then add tahini, olive oil, and salt to taste. Mash it all up as smooth as you can, and add some of the juice from the can if you need to thin the paste. Be warned that this dip will probably be thick and chunky since you probably only have your own arm muscles and (at best) a potato masher to do a job usually done by a food processor. Once your hummus is prepared, you can eat it on chips; crackers; pretzels; veggies (carrot slices, celery, bell pepper chunks); rice cakes; or bread.

If you have cheese, cold cuts (traditional or vegetarian), veggies, and bread,

you can always slap together a sandwich. Add a piece of fruit or some chips and call it a meal.

If you can stand to be outside long enough to boil water, there a few quick and easy warm meals you can prepare.

Add boiling water to instant refried beans, stir, then let them sit (covered) for five minutes or so. Add chips and cheese (and salsa and/or chopped avocado or guacamole if you’ve got them) to the warm beans for an easy meal. You can also add warm beans and any of the fixin’s mentioned above to a flour or corn tortilla and fold or roll.

Boiling water can also be added to packaged ramen noodle soups. After sitting (covered) for 5-10 minutes, the boiling water should have made the noodles plump and tender. I never use the flavor packets that come with the noodles, but you can (of course!) if you want to. I just add some soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and nutritional yeast. If you have a boiled egg or canned fish on hand, either would be a good addition to ramen.

You can also add boiling water to oatmeal—instant, quick cooking, even old-fashioned. (This is not a technique I recommend for cooking steel cut oats.) Add enough boiling water to cover the oats, stir, cover the bowl, and let sit for 5-10 minutes (less time if you’re preparing instant oats). When the cover is removed, the water should be absorbed. Old-fashioned oats may be a bit chewy, but should not be crunchy. You can fancy up oatmeal with fresh or dried chopped fruit (added before the boiling water), nut butter, hazelnut spread, raisins or craisins, honey, maple syrup, or nuts.

If you have extra boiling water, you can have a cup of hot tea, cocoa, or instant coffee now, or store the hot water in a thermos to use later.

If you’re able to stay outside long enough to boil water, you may be outside long enough to scramble an egg, heat a can of beans, warm a couple of tortillas, or make some toast. Even a brief break in rain or sleet or snow may give you the opportunity to prepare warm food. Eat warm food when you can get it, and save cold or room-temperature food for later when you might not be able to get outside at all.

You’ve got to eat, no matter what the weather or even if you’re too busy to cook. A little planning and a stocked pantry can get you through when you’re stuck in your van or can’t get to your stove for whatever reason.

Images courtesy of https://www.pexels.com/photo/landscape-photography-of-snow-pathway-between-trees-during-winter-688660/, https://www.pexels.com/photo/food-eggs-8439/, https://www.pexels.com/photo/food-healthy-meal-cereals-135525/, https://www.pexels.com/photo/food-biscuits-snack-sliced-37922/, https://www.pexels.com/photo/selective-focus-photography-of-sliced-avocado-1759055/, and https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-vegetable-sandwich-on-plate-1647163/.