Camping Hacks for VW Bus and Vanlife

Camping and traveling in a van often requires some creativity and improvisation. Most of the time the space is limited and you simply don’t have all the amenities you would normally have at home or in your everyday life.

But I think that’s exactly what makes a camping vacation so interesting and varied. Away from everyday life and doing things in a different way. But that doesn’t mean that you have to do without all the amenities.
We also enjoy optimizing and trying things over and over again to make our VW bus and the life around it a little more comfortable.

Which ideas these are and what we have optimized so far, we show you in our personal camping hacks.

Our green Bulli doesn’t stand out at all

Camping-Hack No. 1 – The toilet paper candle

For a romantic evening, you don’t always need a big campfire. Even if this is certainly better, you can also easily put together your own small campfire from 3 ingredients. A tin can, a roll of toilet paper, and vegetable oil.

Wash out first a large tin can. Then roll some paper from the toilet paper roll so that the roll fits into the tin. Then use the unrolled paper as a wick by rolling the paper into a tight stiff strip and putting it in the middle of the toilet paper roll.

Camping candle with toilet paper and oil

Now fill the can with vegetable oil. Depending on the can, a good half-liter will fit in here without any problems. The paper is soaked up with the oil and burns off slowly later.
When you use it, put the candle on a fireproof base and light the wick. The toilet paper candle should now burn for about 2-3 hours. If it should last longer, you can carefully add a little oil in between. If you like, you can add dried herbs such as sage or rosemary to give the candle a nice scent.

The camping candle provides a little romance

Camping hack no. 2 – Soap bottle as sauce dispenser

When camping, space is usually limited, including in the kitchen of course. Since we don’t feel like taking and stowing away big sauce bottles, we just picked up some of the small empty soap bottles from the drugstore.

They hardly take up any space and we fill them at home with soy sauce or a hot sauce we mixed ourselves to spice up our camping recipes afterward. At Action-Market, there are also very cheap spice racks that fit perfectly into the storage bar above the kitchen. So we always have a large selection of spices for different camping recipes.

Soy sauce in a soap bottle while camping

Camping hack no.3 – Shopping net as additional storage space

In most supermarkets, you can now buy the reusable shopping nets for small money. These are very suitable for us to store fruit and vegetables in them and hang them on the elevating roof. This creates additional storage space and does not disturb anyone when standing.

Camping hack no. 4 – Coat hook as kitchen roll holder

To stay in the kitchen: We have discovered the lifting rod of our lifting roof as an excellent addition to our storage space. Another option for the kitchen is to simply attach a kitchen roll to a coat hook and then hang it up. Simply cut a cheap wire coat hook in the middle and thread the loose wires to both ends of the kitchen roll. This way you can hang up the roll everywhere to save space.

Holder for kitchen rolls from a coat hook

Camping hack no. 5 – Space-saving packing with the Nato roll

I have already shown it to you in my Backpacking Packing List Southeast Asia. An easy way to pack your clothes for the day in a space-saving and at the same time already sorted is the NATO roll. Underwear, socks, and a t-shirt are rolled up as shown in the picture below in such a way that a firm package is created which fits into the backpack as well as the camper’s wardrobe.

Nato roll for more storage space when camping

Camping mince no. 6 – Tortilla pizza as camping recipe

On our last road trip, we had little desire to cook for one evening. But that didn’t matter, because we still had tortilla wraps and some leftover ingredients from last night’s dinner. So why not just prepare a quick camping pizza? All you really need is a large pan, or like us, the cooking plate of the van, tortilla wraps and ingredients of your choice. We have made the experience that it is best to choose ingredients that are not so moist and not too much tomato sauce, otherwise the camping pizza will be a bit soggy.

The wraps are first fried on the plate (or in a pan) at low heat with a little oil, then covered with sauce and ingredients and then baked until the cheese melts. You can either put a lid on the pan or use the lid of our Omnia oven* like we.

Prepare the camping pizza

Bake the tortilla pizza under the Omnia lid

Camping Tipps & Hacks – Our conclusion

Camping and living in a small space seem to encourage creativity. At least we have fun to develop and try out new ideas again and again to make our everyday life on the road more pleasant. That’s why we are always happy when we come across new ideas to expand this article in the coming weeks. 

Which ideas do you have and how do you arrange your camping everyday life? You can tell us in the comments. 

You can find more information about camping in these articles: 

• Camping in a Bulli – On the road with the VW T3 Westfalia
• Short trip to the Vechte – With the Bulli to the farm
• Building your own camping toilet – The eco-toilet for the VW bus