Nomadic Home

The Galley/Kitchen, is in my opinion, the very heart of a nomadic home. It is also a place that more often than not only receives a minimal amount of space. A galley doesn't have to be very fancy to work well, but it does need space. In particular it needs a decent size working bench.What it doesn't need is clever space saving things, like covers over the sink to give more bench space, as they only make it difficult to use the sink without actually giving any more bench space.

Personally, I think that the smallest clear bench area needed is about 36 inches (900mm) long, by about 18 inches (450mm) deep. But would go to about 6 feet (1800mm) long by about 2ft6inches (750mm) deep if possible. On boats, all benches and tables should have fiddles to stop things sliding off and I think they would be worthwhile in motorhomes too.

I don't consider refrigeration to be a necessity. Refrigeration uses a lot of energy, which you have to generate yourself and can become an expensive luxury. The trade off is that you either have to change some of the ingredients you use to things like milk powder instead of fresh milk; dry meats like salami and bacon which keeps quite well without refrigeration and/or shop more regularly for fresh foods. With experience, people discover that a lot of things that are generally kept in the fridge don't need to be, like eggs for example.

Sinks should be deep, but don't need to be elaborate. Plastic buckets can work well, if you don't mind carrying them outside to empty. My preference is deep double stainless steel sinks. You can also use them for storing things in, while traveling.

I have a personal preference for using manual foot pumps for water, over electric pumps. There are two reasons for this, the first being that they are less likely to breakdown and more importantly, they reduce the amount of water you use. When you have to physically pump the water, you will only pump what you need. But when you turn a tap on and the water just flows, more water invariably just goes down the drain when you don't actually need it running. For hot water, just heat a jug on the stove, it doesn't take long. You can either mix it with cold water in a sink, or better still, just heat it to the temperature you require.

You also need plenty of secure dry storage for ingredients and utensils.

Stoves & Ovens

There are a variety of stoves and ovens that are suitable for a nomadic home. I would avoid using electric ones, due to the expense of generating enough electricity to run them. So you will be looking at stoves/ovens that run on a combustable fuel. The following list gives some comparison of fuel types.

Kerosene (paraffin) is reliable, cheap and has a hot flame. It is  readily available in most parts of the world.

Alcohol provides less heat, is fairly expensive and is not as widely available  around the world. It is popular and available in North America and Scandinavia.

LPG/Propane/Butane is very convenient to use and has a hot flame. It is usually fairly economical to use. Disadvantages are that different geological locations use different fittings to connect the bottle to the stove, which can also create problems getting bottles filled. Due to the fact that LPG/Propane is heavier than air, it can be hazardous to use on boats, with leaking gas settling in the bilges, creating a risk of explosion. Probably not such a concern in a nomadic home, which sits on wheels, as an open door would let the gas run out, of it's own accord, if a leak were to develop.

Diesel is available just about everywhere and when used in stoves/ovens such as the Canadian made Dickinson and British made Taylors are excellent in cold climates, as they also both warm and dry the entire nomadic home. Generally they will also share the same type of fuel as the homes engine, which means you aren't carrying an extra type of fuel, just to do the cooking. Due to the fact that most diesel stoves/ovens take quite awhile to reach cooking temperatures, they are not particularly well suited to traveling in hot climates. For those who spend time in both hot and cold climates, a diesel stove/oven can be suitable with the addition of a portable stove, using one of the above fuels. They can be set on top of the diesel stove/oven when in hot climates.

Wood/Coal/Charcoal. Stoves/ovens running on these  solid fuels are much like their diesel counterparts in use, with the same advantages and disadvantages in the main. Some of them are only designed for burning one type of solid fuel, which can be problematic. For instance charcoal is sold in many places, only during summer. Coal is sometimes only availabe in winter and not at all in some places. Wood is freely available in some places and scarce in others. If a solid fuel stove/oven is the choice of preference, then a multi fuel (wood/coal/charcoal) burner would be a sensible choice.