Bare essentials for staying at a campsite

[scottk]

For your first time, keep it simple. Something to make coffee, gas for your burner unless it will come with a canister, duvet and pillows. If you aren’t cooking maybe some breakfast items. Many campsites have communal fridges. Cups, crockery and cutlery. Most of this you can take from home until you see what works for you.
I use a 25m cable and need it in quite a few places.
Best of luck and enjoy it. Its a continual learning process and there are always loads of new gadgets coming out.

 

[secret lemonade drinker]

Please don’t buy a thermoelectric 12v fridge they are junk and whilst cheap you will end up buying a portable compressor fridge.
If you don’t want to splash out now stick with a cool box / bag.
For me having an ice cold drink is one of the pleasures of a campervan.

I have a domestic/waeco tcx 21 cool box, piezo cooler, 12v and 240v powered, the lid matches the beach floor, had it since 2017 and works perfectly even in 40 degrees heat in Gibraltar. But you don't need this for your first weekends away

 

[Barbara]

I have a Halford's cool box and a mains power connector for it. I plug it in at home before my trip then run on 12v during travel and when the van is connected to electric at a site switch back to power off 240v. It is noisy but at the rear of the van not noticeable. it also fits between the driver and passenger seat so accessible on route. It will hold a bottle of white wine!

When I brought my van it came with a VW cook box which was big and fitted in a track, it never worked well but was a good foot stool.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/travel-accessories/coolboxes/halfords-12.5l-electric-coolbox--748107.html?stockInventory=undefined&_gl=1*1tpa2s4*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTYyMDg4MDI3MS4xNzUwMzI4NTQy*_ga_VK44BRER97*czE3NTAzMjg1NDEkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTAzMjg1NDEkajYwJGwwJGgw

 

[Kayleigh]

I have a Halford's cool box and a mains power connector for it. I plug it in at home before my trip then run on 12v during travel and when the van is connected to electric at a site switch back to power off 240v. It is noisy but at the rear of the van not noticeable. it also fits between the driver and passenger seat so accessible on route. It will hold a bottle of white wine!

When I brought my van it came with a VW cook box which was big and fitted in a track, it never worked well but was a good foot stool.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/travel-accessories/coolboxes/halfords-12.5l-electric-coolbox--748107.html?stockInventory=undefined&_gl=1*1tpa2s4*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTYyMDg4MDI3MS4xNzUwMzI4NTQy*_ga_VK44BRER97*czE3NTAzMjg1NDEkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTAzMjg1NDEkajYwJGwwJGgw

Interesting. I opted for an Indel B TB15 compressor fridge that sits between the front seats. It’s powered by a 230ah LiFePO4 battery that sits under the drivers seat along with a Victron mains charger. It powers the fridge for more than 2 weeks between charges. It can also be topped up when driving via my Delta2 battery while that is in turn charged by the alternator charger. Best thing for me is that it’s all totally removable if/when I sell the van and can be easily installed in another van..

 

[Perfectos]

The problem with cooler boxes (I used to have one for tent camping) is that they are very power hungry, particularly when used with 12v, they need to run 24/7 and will only cool up to 18°c below the temperature in the van !
So in real terms if the ambient temp is 31 degrees c the cooler box will struggle to hold a constant 13c , higher temp in the Van means higher temp in the cooler box ! Temps easily reach 40c in a van on a sunny day !
No good whatsoever for storing food for more than a very short period of time, I.e same day purchase and use. Ice blocks help a little for a short period of time, but it'll only be effective for day or so, depending on ambient temps.
Can't beat a compressor fridge / freezer IMO

Edit: DYOR there are some products marketed as Fridge / freezer , but they will only work on 240v , when on 12v they are merely a cool box and are limited as noted above. (I.e. No good for camping in a van, unless permanently on hook up)