Kitchen Set-up, the details

Stay tuned for the next rivetting post. Also, coming up: Flo's Favourite Camping recipes.

Kitchen Fit-Out

After much trial and error, we are now fairly happy with the kitchen set-up. "We" meaning Me, really, because mostly Eb is not allowed in my domain.

Without further ado, I will now introduce you to my kitchen:

• Refrigerator--We went with the EvaKool 47 litre Fridge/Freezer combo. Two years on, we are very happy with our choice.  We have been on two extended trips (2-3 weeks) and lots of shorter ones. I wouldn't want to go back to an ice box, that's for sure.

• Stove--With the help of our favourite camping store guru, Wade at Ballina Recreation Mart, we purchased a Lido Junior. It's a two-burner stove with a GRILL!  I never knew you could have a grill on a camping stove, and Now I couldn't live without it.
• The Slides--We have two kitchen slides, which slide directly out of the tailgate of the trailer. The stove, fridge and one small box fit on one slide, and the other one has all of our

• BOXES--This has been one of the most fiddly components of the kitchen set-up. But when you get it right, it can make life in the camp kitchen much more pleasant. All of them are plastic, with wheels and handles that lock down the lid.  Here is the list, from smallest on up: (click on the pic)

1. The smallest box has the things we use most frequently--coffee, tea, salt & pepper, coffee cups...whatever we use once or several times a day. This is the box we chuck in the car for day trips, often with a freezer brick.
2. Medium boxes--These have the dry ingredients for meals, snacks and so on. I take one for shorter trips and two for long trips. I could always have gotten away with one, but have plenty of food in an emergency. Typical foods are tin food, rice, cereal, chips, pasta..that sort of thing. 
3. Large flat boxes (two)--We used to keep all the cooking and miscellaneous kitchen equipment in one big box. Which I would have to dig through every time I wanted to find something. Plus, it was too big to put on the "counter" so I would kill my back rummaging around and trying to neatly put things away. AhhhhG! So...now we have two flat boxes that stack on top of each other. One has the pots, pans, cooking gear, utensils.  The other one has the rest. 
4. The miscellaneous box. This is big, I wish we didn't have it, but we do need it. It contains all the things we use and don't want spread all over the campsite.  The mozzie coils, the torches and other lights, the camp shower, the lie-low, etc etc etc.

• Tables--This is another dynamic category. We have one two-person table, which we use for eating, drinking and merry-making.  We also have the BIG table, which is a four-section folding table and it is just perfect as a counter to put all the boxes on and as a stuff-catcher. It was not the most expensive of tables, and we don't really know how long it will last.  It would be great to (eventually) get a more robust one, and possible three sections instead of four.  The newest table is one of those fold-away kitchen cupboards. It is a nice high benchtop for food preparation, and has three shelves with a zip mesh door to keep out the critters. Once it is set up, I keep the veggies that don't need the fridge, the pots and pans and the every day dishes in there.
• Floor--Recently, we started covering the ground in the kitchen area with shadecloth and a few scattered rubber mat squares.  The mats are great cushioning, and the shade cloth keeps the mud and sand out of the bedroom (and the bed).