Raven’s RV
The ongoing education and adventures of two rank newbie RVers

We had the groceries, and now I wanted to cook. I had a value-pack of ground beef and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

In my old house, I had more utensils. Actually, I had cleverly put exactly the utensils I had wanted to use in the RV in a box, but I have been unable to find it in the storage shed, which isn’t so clever. Therefore, I had to scavenge a few pieces from the box of things I didn’t want to take and make do. I had also, apparently, thrown away my big frying pan because it had become scored and worn out–and forgotten about it until today.

I improvised.

So first I used the canned sauce we’d found in the dollar store to make up a batch of sloppy joe sauce. I added a chopped onion just on general principles. I browned half the meat and onions in my largest size frying pan, which is medium to small to you guys, then put it in the largest saucepan with the sauce and let it finish there. Then I browned a second quarter of the meat and one and a half onions plus some pressed garlic in the frying pan, and assembled my chilli there in the frying pan. It was too small, of course, so it made a moderate mess.

So what else is new?

While that cooked, I put the lid on the sloppy joes and turned off the heat; I got a plastic mixing bowl for the remaining hamburger, added in the half onion, then salted, peppered and garlic-powdered the mix with a handful of breadcrumbs for binding. The end result was two nice large hamburger patties which, sandwiched between slices of waxed paper, go nicely into a freezer bag.

I freeze things in freezer bags. They are very inexpensive, and take up very little space. You can then freeze them in portions according to how much your family will eat. I do feel a little uncomfortable with the waste — i.e. these are single use baggies — but it has proven over the years the best compromise for a person with limited space.

Cooking in an RV will be interesting for me. I’ve become accustomed to buying ingredients in bulk, and I simply don’t have the storage for that now. The trick will be to buy the biggest amount I can store and use: balancing price and space. I’m glad I didn’t get a gallon jar of mayo, for example, because it simply would not fit in the fridge.

Here’s the verdict:

1. I need to relocate a real chilli recipe, as I was winging it and the flavor was more bland than I would have liked.
   
2. The canned sloppy joe sauce was full of sugar and much too sweet to my taste.
   
3. The burgers will probably be just hunky-dory.
   
4. Home cooking–priceless!
   

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