To add to what Karl and Steven Sittser advised, it's a good idea to carry
an all-around cookbook, like the Joy of Cooking. That way, if you happen
upon a farmstand (surprising number of them parallel to I-70 in Utah) you
can figure out a way to cook up whatever you find.

When traveling, it's a good idea to carry some dry goods and some canned
goods. "Healthy," to me, means keeping a supply Near East boxes in the
pantry. Taboulie, rice pilaf. The barley pilaf will keep your hominid
pipes clean.

I wouldn't cook anything involving grease inside a Westy, so carry a
Coleman stove for that. To me, the smell of bacon in the morning is the
essence of camping -- it goes with birdsong. But cook it outside.

And as long as you have the Coleman stove, carry a wok and a small wok
cookbook. Slide into a supermarket and grab a half dozen vegetables for a
stir fry. But do not use the wok inside a Westy -- it will coat the
headliner, windows, poptop and canvas with grease. Gak.

The best way to cook meat, if meat is consistent with your notion of
healthy, is either to carry a Weber smoker as Karl suggested, or very
small propane grill (they sell them in supermarkets here for about $25.)
To cut down on the amount of grease you have to clean off skillets (and
which ends up coating your drainpipe, graywater container, etc.,
substitute ground sirloin for ground beef. You don't have to feel guilty
about it.

If you need to feel guilty, feel guilty about all those paper plates. :-)

An old fashioned pressure cooker is a good device to have, for cooking up
stews and whatnot on the Westy range without raising the humidity inside
the van beyond tolerable limits.

The ultimate would be a Westy-ized crockpot, running on 12v all day while
you drive. West Marine or RV places might have one. Ideally it would have
something to hold the lid on tight.

For quick meals, I have found that Lipton side dishes (sold in foil
envelopes) like stroganoff are better tasting than tuna or hamburger
helper -- just add tuna or ground sirloin.

Two pots are way, way better than one.

A Coleman oven is a worthwhile purchase. You can make biscuits, brownies,
bread (from frozen dough), pizza, Pilsbury doughboy stuff. Note, though,
that it won't brown anything.

If you use a lot of milk, carry a combination of fresh and powdered. That
way a) you won't run out of milk and b) you can go half-and-half for some
uses. (Spoken like a true aging baby-boomer-son-of-depression-children.
Not quite 90s, not quite 30s.)

Get a hand-crank mixer for beating eggs, batters, etc. Using a whisk will
scare you inside a Westy.

When I was growing up, I always got a kick out of the Kellogg's variety
packs, with the perforated side you opened up to use the box as a bowl.
Don't know if they still make them that way, but with a knife you can
accomplish the same thing.

Cooking in a Westy involves a unique combination of conveniences and
constrains. It's not quite a full RV kitchen, and it's not quite camping
out. I think the thing to do is make use of the variety of possibilities.
Some meals on the Westy stove, some outside on the Coleman or the Weber.
Knowing how to get a full meal inside, especially when rain is pelting
down, is a noble skill.Vanagon