Slide-Out Sprinter Skillet
A one-pan camper-van dinner built from shelf-stable parts, sized for two people and a small stove.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 96
- protein
- 28 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Instant white rice | 1 1/2 cups | parboiled, not raw long-grain |
|---|---|---|
| Summer sausage | 6 oz | shelf-stable, sliced into coins |
| Dried onion flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Freeze-dried peas and carrots | 1 cup | |
| Tomato powder | 2 tbsp | or one small tube of tomato paste |
| Paprika, garlic powder, black pepper | 1 tsp each | |
| Bouillon | 2 cubes | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt | to taste |
Method
- Set the pan on the stove with the oil and brown the sausage coins for three or four minutes. The rendered fat is the base of the sauce.
- Add the onion flakes and spices. Stir for thirty seconds so they hit the hot oil before any water goes in.
- Pour in 600 ml of water, crumble in the bouillon, and add the tomato powder and the freeze-dried vegetables. Bring it to a boil.
- Stir in the rice, cover, and pull it off the heat. Ten minutes, lid on.
- Fluff it, taste, salt it. If it is soupy, leave the lid off over low heat for two more minutes.
This is a van-galley dinner scaled down to one pan and one boil. Everything in it sits on a shelf for months, so it works the same whether you have a fridge running or not. Two eaters, twenty minutes, no cutting board if you slice the sausage before you leave.
The order matters more than the ingredients. Browning the sausage first and blooming the spices in that fat gives the dish a base that no amount of bouillon will fake. The rice then finishes off-heat under the lid, which keeps it from scorching on a stove that only knows one setting.
Packing
Rice, vegetables, onion, spices, and crumbled bouillon go in one bag. Tomato powder in a small twist of foil so it does not cake into everything. Sausage and oil ride separately.
Variations
- Swap the sausage for a foil pouch of chicken added at the end if you want it leaner.
- A spoonful of mustard powder in the spice mix pushes it toward a goulash.
- Instant couscous instead of rice cuts the cook time in half, but it stops being gluten-free-adjacent.
https://vanlifemag.de/james-cook-600-e-sprinter-camper-fuer-grosse-traeume