Show Me Your Chuckboxes/Camp Kitchen Setups
- Thread starter Corey
- Start date
Advocate III
Member III
Member I
I keep mine simple. I have a kitchen tote, long term pantry tote, perishable food tote.
1st photo is my long term pantry tote. It's inventoried, & well stock items that can be stored for 2 yr life span with the basic ingredients of making most meals & side dishes.
2nd photo is my perishable food tote. Bread, chips, corn & flour tortilla's, hotdog buns burger buns & etc..
3rd photo is my kitchen tote.
last photo is our camp kitchen set up. The Engel 12v. fridg\freez is used for vegetables, meats, & food that requires refrigeration.
1st photo is my long term pantry tote. It's inventoried, & well stock items that can be stored for 2 yr life span with the basic ingredients of making most meals & side dishes.
2nd photo is my perishable food tote. Bread, chips, corn & flour tortilla's, hotdog buns burger buns & etc..
3rd photo is my kitchen tote.
last photo is our camp kitchen set up. The Engel 12v. fridg\freez is used for vegetables, meats, & food that requires refrigeration.
I whipped up a simple load plan for my XVenture trailer. I also like to take pics once everything is packed. 4-5 days later when you break down basecamp, you forget how it all fit in there.
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I like that three box approach. Maybe not the end all of setups, but a great starting point for someone like me. I think I'm going to give it a try.
Thanks for sharing!
-jim lee
Member I
I've tried many configuration for chuck box\kitchen set up's & always end up going back to this set up. I've been camp on my own since I was 17 yrs old & I am 58 yrs old whether hunting, fishing or pleasure camping. IMO this is the easiest "for me" the most logical way. I carry 4 totes altogether, 2 in my overland trailer :Kitchen Tote & Miscellaneous Tote, 2 in my truck bed: Pantry Tote & Perishable Tote.
The above post I listed 3 of the 4. The 4th one is what I call my "miscellaneous tote". This tote has items that are not related to kitchen or food.
In this tote I stock items like: extra 21" bow saw blades, extra supply of rechargeable AAA & AA batteries, small solar battery charger, Trauma\First Aid Kit, Fire Starter Kit, Hygiene Kit, Shower Shoes, Over the Counter Med's Kit, 550 Paracord, Tool Kit includes (sharpening stone & file), Water Purification Kit, assorted container of Bungee Cords, Extra Lantern Mantles, Oil Lantern w\ pint of Lantern Oil & extra 5\8" Wicks, Flash Lights, Headlamps, Electronic Bag: (various cords, 12v. charging devises for electronics), 14 ft. 12v Extension Cord, 25 ft. 110 Extension Cord, 110 Outlet Splitter, Anti Fog Proof Mirror w\cord, Toilet Paper, Insect Repellent & Thermacell w\ extra pads & fuel cells, Binoculars, Large Camp Knife bowe style, & 50rounds of handloaded .45acp.
By the way Jim, love the Dodge. My dad used to restore the flat fender military Dodge Power Wagons & the Jeep Kaiser M715's.
The above post I listed 3 of the 4. The 4th one is what I call my "miscellaneous tote". This tote has items that are not related to kitchen or food.
In this tote I stock items like: extra 21" bow saw blades, extra supply of rechargeable AAA & AA batteries, small solar battery charger, Trauma\First Aid Kit, Fire Starter Kit, Hygiene Kit, Shower Shoes, Over the Counter Med's Kit, 550 Paracord, Tool Kit includes (sharpening stone & file), Water Purification Kit, assorted container of Bungee Cords, Extra Lantern Mantles, Oil Lantern w\ pint of Lantern Oil & extra 5\8" Wicks, Flash Lights, Headlamps, Electronic Bag: (various cords, 12v. charging devises for electronics), 14 ft. 12v Extension Cord, 25 ft. 110 Extension Cord, 110 Outlet Splitter, Anti Fog Proof Mirror w\cord, Toilet Paper, Insect Repellent & Thermacell w\ extra pads & fuel cells, Binoculars, Large Camp Knife bowe style, & 50rounds of handloaded .45acp.
By the way Jim, love the Dodge. My dad used to restore the flat fender military Dodge Power Wagons & the Jeep Kaiser M715's.
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Member III
Thanks! I'm still wondering if its going to actually work for Overlanding. As I work on it, I'm starting to realize that there is virtually no support out there for a vehicle like this anymore. If something breaks out on the road? I'm pretty much on my own. There very few people left with the know how to work on these and there is no longer a pool of parts available for them.
But I agree.. They're so cool!
-jim lee
Member I
My little Action-Packer setup is weak compared to some of these. Maybe it's time to up my game and build a proper chuckbox.
Pathfinder I
Right now it all goes in bins. But the Boy Scout in me keeps wanting a chuckbox, so many memories tied to them. The issue as always is space and weight and of course cost.
I am working on going from the three bin approach to a slide out on my trailer. At first I wanted something like the chuck boxes we used in scouts. I remembered how heavy and awkward they were. My wife was very specific, she said "The kids will be gone soon and it will be just you and me. We will have to move this stuff around by ourselves." I figured if I could come up with a slider that was removable then I'd be good to go. So here are a few pics of the process. I had a boat trailer and built a box for it. 
I bought batteries from batteries+ and a water pump/ filter setup from camping world. Then I quickly figured out that I overloaded the boat trailer. So i built a new trailer.
And put the box on it.
I also bought a Camp Chef Triton water heater also from camping world that I run the pump through. This is the sink that I built as well that will eventually become the slider.
For now it just sits on a foldable table which actually works great. The water heater has a shower head on it that allows it to turn the water on and off which makes washing dishes so easy. I've always thought dishes were the worst part of camping until I put this together. Now they are a breeze!
Not very clean in this photo but you get the point. I picked up a Coleman 12' canopy and one from Cabela's. I definitely like the Coleman version better. Add some rope lights and your all set.
Me cooking for the masses on our Laguna discada. You can see the discada lid, water heater and our honey wagon that we use for grey water only to the right side of the pic. And of course the dutch oven makes some great lasagna among other tasty delights.
I think we had around 7 coolers parked in a row. Kitchen and eating area from a distance.
The long distance goal is to make some outriggers for the box so i can pull the trailer out from under the box when we get to our base camp. That is why the full sheet of diamond plate on the trailer. I also have to add a front box to where the grill is tied to the trailer in one of the above pictures. This will house the electronics for the trailer, generator, batteries, pump, etc. A work in progress to say the least. For now we haul up to 5 kayaks on the trailer. I am planning to change that out to a RTT down the road when the kids are on their own and possibly a 270 degree canopy with it. I am still in the process of figuring out how to make the height adjustable for ride height and use height. I like that the trailer loadout rides below the height of my vehicle currently cutting down on some of the drag and reducing the effects of side wind gusts. Hope this helps.
I bought batteries from batteries+ and a water pump/ filter setup from camping world. Then I quickly figured out that I overloaded the boat trailer. So i built a new trailer.
And put the box on it.
I also bought a Camp Chef Triton water heater also from camping world that I run the pump through. This is the sink that I built as well that will eventually become the slider.
For now it just sits on a foldable table which actually works great. The water heater has a shower head on it that allows it to turn the water on and off which makes washing dishes so easy. I've always thought dishes were the worst part of camping until I put this together. Now they are a breeze!
Not very clean in this photo but you get the point. I picked up a Coleman 12' canopy and one from Cabela's. I definitely like the Coleman version better. Add some rope lights and your all set.
Me cooking for the masses on our Laguna discada. You can see the discada lid, water heater and our honey wagon that we use for grey water only to the right side of the pic. And of course the dutch oven makes some great lasagna among other tasty delights.
I think we had around 7 coolers parked in a row. Kitchen and eating area from a distance.
The long distance goal is to make some outriggers for the box so i can pull the trailer out from under the box when we get to our base camp. That is why the full sheet of diamond plate on the trailer. I also have to add a front box to where the grill is tied to the trailer in one of the above pictures. This will house the electronics for the trailer, generator, batteries, pump, etc. A work in progress to say the least. For now we haul up to 5 kayaks on the trailer. I am planning to change that out to a RTT down the road when the kids are on their own and possibly a 270 degree canopy with it. I am still in the process of figuring out how to make the height adjustable for ride height and use height. I like that the trailer loadout rides below the height of my vehicle currently cutting down on some of the drag and reducing the effects of side wind gusts. Hope this helps.
If it works for you, then why change it? I've seen guys throw a lot of money at Pelican and aluminum cases and still have a crappy, inefficient system. If you feel like you spend the majority of your time setting up/tearing down or looking through totes to find something, then it might be time to assess your storage situation.
My three amigos of containers - Pelican case, Alu-Box, and Yeti.
I just know how nice it is to have a proper chuck box that can drop open and have everything you need. The only reason I haven't gone that route is because I don't have the woodworking skills or tools to make one for myself in the size I want. So, I stick with the totes for now.
I won’t lie, I certainly love having my Trail Kitchen King Charles chuck box with the sliding utensil drawer. I’ll admit that I don’t have the skills to build anything even close to that quality, especially out of aluminum. So the $300 I spent on that was well worth it just to make my wife happy with our camp kitchen setup (happy wife = happy life).
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Member III
Advocate III
