A reliable 12V portable fridge or freezer is the only way to go. Pre-chilling or freezing food also keeps the temperature down from day one.
7-day outback meal prep: How we pack and fit it all in our 12V fridge
- Date Published: 18 November 2025
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Overland Travellers
- DC-X Upright (50L, 65L, 85L, 130L)
When we’re on the road for a full week off grid or in a remote location, keeping meals fresh and interesting can either make or break a trip. We really put the effort into eating well while we are travelling but some days after countless hours on the road, the last thing you feel like doing is cooking up a big meal. We’ve found a system that packs a week’s worth of food into our compact 12V fridge. In this post, we share how we plan, prep, and pack everything we need for 7-days of meals off-grid, without compromising on taste!
Why meal prep matters on the road
Having travelled around Australia now for over 5 years we realised that having a meal plan and pre-prepping is a game changer. In the early days we were travelling full time so didn’t get the chance to meal prep and were limited with fridge space to store bulk meals, but now that our travels are thoroughly planned for a month or two at a time, it gives us the foresight to create the plan and time to prep.
One of our top camping fridge tips is the centre console car fridge. We had our Bushman Roadie car fridge installed in our troopy as a second fridge/freezer from the get go and it gave us so much extra space. We use ours as a second freezer, which means we can pre-make heaps of delicious meals. When it’s properly packed, we can get in at least a week’s worth of frozen food, and still have plenty of space for fresh food, fruit and veg in our other fridge that lives in the camper.
Our 7-day meal prep system
Here’s how we plan for a week’s worth of food when we’re heading off on a camping trip.
Plan before you pack
Do a list of all the meals for the trip, from breakfast through to dinner and snacks. Figure out which meals can be made in advance and how many you’ll need to see you through. List out the fresh ingredients you’ll need for breakfasts, lunches and snacks and buy everything before you hit the road.
Choose long-lasting ingredients
Pre-made meals like stews, curries, ragu’s and even home-made pies are brilliant make-ahead camping meal options. Once they’re cooked, they can be frozen flat for easy storage and last for ages. Having the second Roadie centre console car fridge/freezer means that on travel day, we simply transfer all our frozen pre-packed meals into the Roadie. We can still pack fresh fruit and veg in our upright or chest fridge which means we’re never short on cooling space.
Batch cooking and portioning
Cook up your meals and divide everything into easy to store portions before you go. We do a big batch meal cook-up a few days before travel day, then let everything cool.
Vacuum sealing and packing
A vacuum sealer is another one of our top camping fridge tips. We use our vacuum sealer to pack and seal individual portions of every meal. By making long and thin, and freezing them flat, we can pack them neatly in the Roadie. This fits so much more in and makes meals easy to find when you’re travelling.
How we fit it all into our 12V fridge
Fitting all your food in for a big trip is no problem when you have the right fridge setup. Here’s some of our top 12V fridge storage tips for a week-long trip.
Know your space:
The trip will determine which car we use and in turn which fridge system we run. In our Troopy we use a dual 12V fridge camping setup. Ours is the Bushman Roadie 15L centre console 12V car fridge, paired with the Bushman 85 litre DC-X 12v upright fridge in the back of the set up. These two-fridge combos give us heaps of room. All our frozen food goes in the Roadie, and our chilled food and drinks – like milk, drinks, cold meats, eggs, fruit and veg – go in the upright fridge. If we’re taking the 60 series, we’ll use the Original 32L portable 12V fridge. We are also in the process of installing our 12V Bushman drawer fridge/freezer in our 250 Prado which we can’t wait to road test soon!
Stack and seal smart:
The key to camping fridge organisation is all in the packing. Our pre-prepared meals are vacuum-sealed and frozen. By packing them long, thin and flat, they can be stored tightly in the Roadie fridge optimising the storage space. If we take the 60 series out on a trip, we can use the extendable Bushman Original fridge, so for big trips we can expand it up to 52L capacity which is a great space addition.
Layer by need:
The beauty of the Roadie car fridge is that we can use this as our overflow food storage. The height of the roadie also allows you to stand bottles of milk and wine upright if you aren’t using this as a freezer.
We then store our common use items in the upright fridge. We keep cans of drink towards the bottom of the fridge, milk and sauces in the door, and all our fresh food goes on the top shelves. The Bushman Original portable chest fridge’s stacking baskets also make it easy to put things in different compartments so it’s easy to locate them without having to unpack the whole fridge. All the food we want to keep extra cold is packed at the bottom, and fresh, smaller food or items we use all the time, are packed in the top baskets.
Pre-freeze meals:
Pre-freezing meals means they last – so we never have to worry about expiry dates, and they keep the internal fridge temperature down – which is a bonus.
Our 7-day outback meal plan
Here’s a sample of camping food meal ideas we take with us for a week off-grid.
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porridge | Chicken Tender Wraps | Chicken curry with Rice | Popcorn |
| 2 | Yogurt and fruit | Panini Sandwich | Home-made pies | Muesli Bars |
| 3 | Chia pots with yogurt and fruit | Left over pies | Beef ragu with pasta | Fruit & nuts |
| 4 | Porridge | Panini Sandwich | Chicken Wraps | Up & Go’s |
| 5 | Bacon & eggs | Leftover stew | Burritos with slow cooked beef | Cheese and biscuits |
| 6 | Fruit and yoghurt | Leftover chicken wraps | BBQ night | Muesli Bars |
| 7 | Pancakes with Bacon | Toasted Sandwich | Satay Chicken | Up & Go’s |
We sometimes buy some fresh food on the road if we want to explore a local produce stall on the way and it always great to support the local communities you travel through. It’s also a great idea to keep canned and packet food with you too in case of emergencies.
Power and packing tips
When you’re heading out bush or off-grid, knowing your power setup and packing carefully can either make or break your trip. Here’s our 12v fridge power and battery setup tips.
Keep power in check:
The beauty of the Bushman 12V fridge setup means that when we’re on 7-day trip changing destinations each day, everything runs off our 12V house battery system. Even in 40-degree heat with a dual fridge setup, we’ve never had a problem. When we’re staying put in one place, we have a 180W solar setup with 200amp of lithium batteries which keeps everything running smoothly.
Quick cooling hack:
A great little portable fridge power tip is to pre-chill everything including pre-freezing meals before loading up your fridge. This way, your fridge temperature starts low and stays low, to keep power consumption at a minimum.
Packing carefully before you head off, means you’ll find everything easily, have less waste and your trip will be infinitely more enjoyable.
Overland Traveller’s road-tested tips
After countless trips and tried and tested meal plans, here’s some off-grid meal prep tips and camp cooking hacks we’ve learned along the way.
- What we’ve learned from hundreds of hours off-grid. With planning, meals can be easy but also delicious. Utilise staples that are canned but add a lot of flavour.
- Our go-to kitchen gear. Other than our 12V fridge setup, we love our Overland Travellers fridge organise which keeps all our kitchen utensils in the one spot. We use a small gas cooker for most of our meals, but also have an induction plate if the weather is very windy. We also love the simplicity of our jet boil and our travel buddy oven gives us options to cook oven based dishes on the road.
- Find out what works best for you. After a few trips, you’ll learn quickly what you love and (don’t love so much!) and get into your own travel routine. Have fun, don’t worry if things don’t always go to plan, and stay flexible. The most memorable road trips are usually when the unexpected happens! Also remember that even though Australia is a very big country and you can travel really remote, if you forget something you can usually buy it at the next town you drive through.
With a little planning, a reliable 12V fridge, and some advance prep, a week off-grid doesn’t have mean boring meals. The key is thinking ahead and packing cleverly, to turn a trip from average to magical. Whether you’re travelling to Oodnadatta or Airlie, these are a few of the tips that keep us going when we’re heading off the beaten track.
Ready to go off-grid? Find your perfect portable fridge setup
FAQs
How do you keep food cold off-grid?
What’s the best way to meal prep for camping?
Make a list and a shop before you go. Batch cooking, sealing and freezing meals is a winner for tastier food options, easy re-heat and more space when you’re travelling for extended trips.
Overland Travellers Fridges
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Bushman DF30-HD
30L Drawer Fridge / Deep Freezer Heavy Duty Series - 12V / 24V
$1,499 -
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Bushman Roadie 15L Car Fridge
Heavy Duty Camping Fridge Freezer Series - 12V / 24V
$899 -
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Bushman DC85-X
85L Caravan Fridge - 12V / 24V
$1,495 -
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Original Bushman Fridge 35L
35L Camping Fridge / Freezer - 12V / 240V
$1,295 -
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Free Shipping on Fridges -
3 to 7 Year Warranties -
Easy Customer Service -
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