fast foods or home-cooked?

Retro70s

Member
Joined
May 16, 2025
Posts
11
Location
Newport, MN
To all the traveling RVers, this question is for you.

How many of you stop to eat at a restaurant, cafe, convenience store, or a fast food chain? And how many of you use your RV kitchen to make your own home-cooked meals?
 
We eat out less often when in the motorhome than we do at home just because we like to be in more remote locations. Lots of our favorite spots only have FF joints, and those get old fast. If eating outside the rig, we go to home style, local restaurants most often. Maybe every 3-4 weeks we might go to a really nice steak or seafood place with good wine or cocktails. But mostly we just cook in the motorhome. We do keep a few “emergency meals” in the freezer, things like pre-cooked meatloaf that just needs heating up, shredded pork, or maybe some chili.
 
When on the road we normally eat "in" our RV for ease and not having to disconnect our car (which isn't that hard) When camped for a week or longer, we tend to eat out a time or two and have home cooked meals the rest of the time. With the higher cost of going out to eat, the smaller items on the menu but same cost or higher, eating in our RV is becoming the more normal preference.
 
My idea of "Fast Food" these days is a corn dog or a burrito at the FlyingJ while I'm fueling up, or a Granola Bar as I'm hitting the road for the day.
 
Site breakfasts are a sure thing. Lunches can be whatever we come across during the day. While we mostly enjoy our dinners cooked at the site, with a glass or two of wine, we do occasionally go out to eat for a change or treat, if you will.
As a good friend of my said on a regular basis "whatever floats your boat!! "
Enjoy whatever it is that does the job..
Safe travels and all the best. ;)
 
We usually stop mid-day for a restaurant meal when on the road.
Once parked, we cook/prepare nearly all of our food.
We never eat fast food and absolutely never, ever, ever eat a corn dog or “roller” dog at fuel stops.
 
How many of you stop to eat at a restaurant, cafe, convenience store, or a fast food chain?
Occasionally we do if a place with ample parking is handy. The most common time is when we happen to stop in a truck0-stop for fuel at lunch time.
And how many of you use your RV kitchen to make your own home-cooked meals?
We do that most of the time, or I cook outside on the grill. Pretty much the same as at home.

Retro70s, you keep asking us questions so how about telling us why you are asking? Are you considering an RV, writing an article, or just posting? If you want us to keep answering your questions, you should share a little information about yourself.
 
To all the traveling RVers, this question is for you.

How many of you stop ... And how many ... use your RV kitchen ...

We are probably 50 / 50. It all depends upon how far we are traveling, where we are going, our end points for the day's travel, how tired we are, how hungry we are.

Mostly, we have available quick foods we can fix in the camper when on the road ... canned soups, canned green beans, or something that can be reheated on the propane stove top. We may stop for lunchmeat sandwiches, Little Debby's, some fresh fruit, a glass of milk or soda, or what ever. When actually traveling, we very seldom do full scale meals, like first time cooked fried chicken or BBQ on a grill. But we do stop, get out of the truck, go to the fifth wheel, fix something, take the time to eat, and move on.

Other times we may stop and actually use a restaurant. When we do, it's usually fast food, like a McDonalds, Wendy's, or Burger King. We'll purchase the food and then take it back to the camper and eat there. When traveling, time is important. We do not speed or rush, but we cannot spend a couple hours sitting at a restaurant either waiting to be served.

And then, sometimes, we just have snack food in the truck and just keep driving, grabbing a candy bar or an ice cream bar at the gas station when filling up with fuel.

The farther the distance we need to travel in a given amount of time, the less likely we are to stop at an actual restaurant. Once at our end point for the day, we can unhitch and run into town, or wherever, and go to a sit-down meal.

In the end, it all depends upon how much time we have for the overall route, the time we allow ourselves traveling on a daily basis, and how we feel at the moment.

We have one other consideration too. We have 2 dogs, and we NEVER leave them in the truck alone, not even for a few minutes. We may put them inside the camper for a few minutes while we take care of business, but that IS only a few minutes. The dogs are never alone. That eliminates both of us going into a gas station or a restaurant at the same time. That's why we grab it, and eat in the camper.

Now... un until the last 5 years or so, we primarily ate at the camper and fixed meals at the camper once at the campsite. I absolutely enjoy cooking at the camper. But, that was when we were doing week-end get-aways and the 2 week summer trips.

Now that we are long-timers, (away from home 3 to 6 months at a stretch), eating out in an actual restaurant is pretty much as frequent as when we are home. On average, when on a 5 or 6 month trek, parked at one location for 4 months or so, we may actually "eat out" once ever 2 weeks or so. The rest of the time, it's just like home ... fix "it" at "home". Eating out is VERY expensive these days.... even McDonalds has ridiculous prices. We can't afford that every day.

One more thing... we eat well, and healthy, with a mix of junk food ever now and then. Because I camp host, we have no camping fees. The single most expensive part of our RVing experience is the cost of food.... grocery store and occasional eating out, or getting a pizza from a pizza restaurant. Any time we "in", it's always costs less per meal than it does when eating "out". Remember, when eating "out" ... unless it's a McDonalds, there's always "tipping" costs too, which makes for some REALLY expensive dining experiences. Who can afford that on a regular basis? Well.... you "can" max out your credit card and file bankruptcy ... but we have moral ethical standards we won't compromise on too.
 
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Retro70s, you keep asking us questions so how about telling us why you are asking? Are you considering an RV, writing an article, or just posting? If you want us to keep answering your questions, you should share a little information about yourself.
Yes, 100%--This is getting ridiculous.
 
Retro70s, you keep asking us questions so how about telling us why you are asking? Are you considering an RV, writing an article, or just posting? If you want us to keep answering your questions, you should share a little information about yourself.
Yes, 100%--This is getting ridiculous.

Ah, come-on guys, just have fun with it!
 
Sometimes, when its just the two of us, we pick up a hoagie on our way out. That carries us thru the day, augmented with drinks from a cooler and snacks we prepared ahead of time.
After arrival we take our time and enjoy preparing dinner with a glass or two of wine to make the experience more enjoyable.
I just want to savor each moment, with good food and good company.

Its even better when traveling with our crew.
The dinners we manage to put together are nothing less than banquets, coupled with the pleasure of sharing dinner together it is always something to look forward to.

Differing circumstances call for specific planning. Just plan to suit the nuances of you endeavors. ;)

Safe travels and all the best.
 
I always prepare my own food because I used to doing it, know what I like, and know how to prepare it the way I like it. It's just me and my dog and I'm not going to leave him in the rig while I go into a restaurant to eat.
 
We like to try local restaurants when traveling, though we also cook in our RV, in general we avoid fast food, and most of the national restaurant chains.
 

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