I don't know how you guys manage to cook with only 2 burners. .... I use 3 just for breakfast - boil the kettle, fry the spuds and fry the bacon. ... I wouldn't want any less than three burners and I like having four.
Bob,
You just haven't been on the road long enough yet...
Look, I fancy myself somewhat of a gourmet cook. If you set me in front of a six-burner Hobart or Wolfe with a shelf full of heavy pans (and, preferably, a phalanx of preppers and someone else to clean up), I can use all six for one meal.
However, I am also the dishwasher around here. Plus, we try to get by on ten gallons of water per day, which stretches our 135-gallon fresh water tank out to two weeks, typically how long we go between dump/fill opportunities. So there's no way I'm ever going to use more than one pan for breakfast. (Or, typically, dinner. Lunch is usually a no-cookware affair.)
We've learned to do bacon and even eggs in the microwave. Much easier to clean up, and much more fuel-efficient than any other way. If I'm going to do a traditional bacon or sausage and eggs (the potatoes are off-limits for us, diet-wise) in a frying pan, I'll do the meat first, then pour off most of the grease (keeping some, frankly, for flavor) and do the eggs in the same pan. If I could have them, I'd do the spuds in that pan, too.
We do almost all our meats out on the grill. Less heat, smoke, grease, and odor in the bus, and, besides, I just like how grilled meat tastes. One of our non-negotiable requirements for the bus was a built-in, pull-out gas grill, so that it's a 1-minute operation from the time I walk out the door to the time I've actually got the meat cooking (although for certain items, I will let the grill warm up for 90 seconds or so first).
I also do lots of stir-fry. With a 14" wok, I can cook a meal for six in a single pan, not including the rice, which makes for two pans total. (By the way, we use the Sunpentown for the rice no matter what -- it is waaay more controllable at low settings than our LP stove.)
One of our weaknesses is that we prefer to eat on real china (as opposed to disposable plates, which are a favorite of the RV crowd). While this makes for more dishwashing later, many food items can be prepared in the microwave right on the plate, eliminating cookware altogether. (Our china, incidentally, is replica Santa Fe railroad "Mimbreņo," and, like most railroad china, tough as nails.)
Bottom line is that when you boondock 90% of the time, you are constantly aware of your energy and water budgets, and you eventually find ways to live within them without sacrificing anything you want or need. Having lived in the bus full-time now for nearly four years, I can happily say that I just don't miss the trappings of fixed-dwelling life -- the 25' fridge, the four- or six-burner stove, the enormous oven with 300 different cook settings. About the only thing I pine for, and I do get one whenever we travel off-bus, is the kind of long hot shower where you can stand under the running water and just not care for how long. (We take "navy" showers now.) Although I find that when I do take such a shower, I feel just a tad guilty about all the water swirling down the drain.
We have three burners aboard
Odyssey (not counting the outdoor grill) -- the two built-in LP ones, and the Sunpentown. In four years, we've only used all three of them at the same time once -- to host a party for about 20 people in our camp site.
YMMV, etc. etc.
-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com(who also travels with a Tuxedo cat named George)
