The Best Gear For Feeding Your Dog While Camping & Caravanning

Feeding a dog on the road sounds simple until you’re dealing with it twice a day for six months straight. Kibble everywhere. Bowls blowing across the campsite. Stale food attracting ants in the van. A water bowl that tips over every time someone walks past.

The right feeding gear makes a surprising difference to your daily routine. You want bowls that won’t tip in the wind, something collapsible for day trips, a decent travel water bottle, and a proper storage solution that keeps food fresh and pests out. Here’s what actually works.

Camp Bowls: Heavy, Stable, Built to Last

Your dog needs a proper bowl for camp. Not a flimsy plastic thing that blows across the site in a breeze, and not a lightweight travel bowl that your kelpie can flip with one enthusiastic nose-dive. A camp bowl lives at your setup and stays put. You want something heavy, non-slip, easy to clean, and tough enough to survive being knocked around for months.

1

Best Camp Bowl

~$70

Yeti Boomer 8 Dog Bowl

Overbuilt, non-slip, and practically indestructible

Yes, it’s a $70 dog bowl. And yes, it’s worth it. The Yeti Boomer is made from the same 18/8 stainless steel as their drinkware, with double-wall construction that makes it heavy enough to stay put. The BearFoot non-slip ring on the bottom means it won’t slide across concrete, tiles, or packed dirt, no matter how enthusiastically your dog eats. It holds 8 cups (about 1.9 litres), which is plenty for food or water. Dishwasher safe, rust-proof, and virtually impossible to damage. You’ll have this bowl long after the big lap is over.

Capacity

8 cups / 1.9L

Material

18/8 Stainless Steel

✔ Pros

• Non-slip BearFoot ring keeps it planted
• Stainless steel won’t rust, crack, or stain
• Dishwasher safe
• 5-year warranty

✗ Cons

• Expensive for a dog bowl
• Heavy (not a travel bowl)
• Not insulated despite double-wall construction

Best for: Your permanent camp setup. Buy one for water, one for food, and never think about dog bowls again.

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Collapsible & Travel Bowls

A camp bowl stays at camp. But you also need something for day trips, walks, hikes, and roadside stops. Collapsible bowls fold flat, weigh almost nothing, and live in your glovebox, daypack, or pocket. You’ll use this more than you’d think: every time you stop for fuel, every walk in a new town, every beach visit. The key differences are material (silicone vs fabric), whether they hold water without leaking, and how small they pack down.

1

Best Travel Bowl

~$42

Ruffwear Quencher Collapsible Dog Bowl

The original packable bowl, and still the best

The Quencher has been around for years and it’s earned its reputation. It’s a fabric bowl with a waterproof liner, squared-off base (so it doesn’t collapse when your dog drinks from it), and it folds completely flat to fit in a pocket. The medium holds about a litre, the large holds 2.5 litres. The waterproof lining is genuinely waterproof, not “mostly waterproof.” It dries quickly, doesn’t hold odours, and the reflective trim is a nice touch for dusk walks. Available in multiple sizes and colours.

✔ Pros

• Truly waterproof lining
• Folds completely flat
• Squared base prevents collapse while in use
• Machine washable

✗ Cons

• More expensive than silicone alternatives
• Fabric takes a little longer to dry than silicone

Best for: Day trips, walks, and keeping in the glovebox. Worth the premium over cheap silicone bowls.

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2

Runner Up

~$22

EzyDog Roll-a-Bowl

Rolls up, clips on, costs half the price

EzyDog’s take on the collapsible bowl is a simple rolled design that unfurls into a functional food or water bowl. It’s waterproof, lightweight, and clips onto a lead or bag. At around $22, it’s roughly half the price of the Ruffwear Quencher. The trade-off is it’s not quite as stable when full, so enthusiastic drinkers might push it around. But for quick water stops and day trips, it does the job well.

✔ Pros

• Good price point
• Rolls up small with a clip attachment
• Waterproof

✗ Cons

• Less stable than the Ruffwear when full
• Smaller capacity

Best for: A solid travel bowl at a fair price. Good backup or second bowl.

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3

Best Value Set

~$50

Navigator 3 Piece Dog Travel Buddy

Bowl, water bottle, and food bag in one travel kit

Navigator is an Australian brand well known in the caravan community, and this three-piece set is designed specifically for travelling with dogs. You get a collapsible bowl with a waterproof liner, a water bottle with a built-in drinking tray, and a food storage bag. It’s a smart bundle if you’re starting from scratch and want everything in one hit rather than buying pieces separately. The quality is consistent with Navigator’s other gear: practical, well-made, and built for life on the road.

✔ Pros

• Three essentials in one kit
• Australian brand with caravan-focused design
• Good value compared to buying individually

✗ Cons

• Jack-of-all-trades: each piece is good but not best-in-class
• Only available direct from Navigator

Best for: Anyone setting up from scratch who wants a solid starter kit without hunting down individual pieces.

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Travel Water Bottles

A collapsible bowl and a regular water bottle works fine. But a dedicated dog water bottle with a built-in tray or dispenser is genuinely more convenient for roadside stops, because you can offer water with one hand without putting anything on the ground. These live in the car door pocket and get used constantly.

1

Top Pick

~$20

Wanderer Pets Travel Water Bottle 550ml

Simple, cheap, and fits in a car door pocket

BCF’s Wanderer Pets range is surprisingly decent, and this 550ml travel water bottle is a standout for the price. It has a flip-out trough that your dog drinks from, a lock button to prevent leaks, and it’s sized to fit in a standard car door pocket or cup holder. At $20, you could buy three of them and keep one in each vehicle. It’s not fancy, but it does exactly what you need: quick, mess-free water for your dog at fuel stops and rest breaks.

✔ Pros

• Under $20
• Fits car door pocket or cup holder
• Leak-proof lock button
• Built-in drinking trough

✗ Cons

• 550ml won’t last a big dog long
• Trough is small for large breeds

Best for: Keeping in the car for quick water breaks. The best value option on the market.

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2

~$7

Dogness Pet Travel Bottle Filter Pack

Replacement filters for Dogness travel bottles

If you already use a Dogness travel water bottle (or plan to pick one up), these filter packs keep the water clean and fresh. At $7, they’re a cheap consumable to throw in the cart. The filters help remove sediment and improve taste, which matters when you’re filling from unfamiliar taps across the country. Not essential, but a thoughtful extra if your dog is fussy about water.

✔ Pros

• Very cheap
• Filters sediment from unfamiliar water sources

✗ Cons

• Only useful if you have a Dogness bottle
• Niche product, not a standalone solution

Best for: Existing Dogness bottle owners. A handy add-on, not a must-have.

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Dog Food Storage for Caravan Life

This section isn’t about a specific product pick. It’s about solving a problem that every pet owner on the big lap runs into within the first week: how to keep 15-20kg of kibble fresh, pest-free, and contained in a caravan where space is measured in centimetres.

Leaving kibble in the original bag is asking for trouble. The moment you open it, you’re on a countdown. Air degrades the food. Moisture (especially in tropical humidity) breeds mould. And ants can find an opened bag of dog food from what feels like a kilometre away.

What to look for in a food storage container

The non-negotiable feature is an airtight seal. Not just a snap-on lid; a proper threaded or gasketed seal that locks out air, moisture, and insects. Beyond that, think about size (you need to fit a few weeks of food, but it also needs to fit in your van), shape (rectangular stores more efficiently than round), and material (food-grade plastic or stainless steel).

The gold standard is the Vittles Vault range. These are purpose-built airtight pet food containers with a patented threaded lid that ants and moisture cannot get through. The Vittles Vault Jr holds about 2.5kg (good for small dogs or a weekly refill), while the larger Outback models hold 13-36kg. They’re widely available on Amazon AU and some pet retailers. The smaller sizes are perfect for caravan life.

Practical tips for food storage on the road

Buy smaller bags more frequently rather than trying to store a 20kg bag in a caravan. Most Big Lappers find that buying a 7-8kg bag every couple of weeks works better for space and freshness. Stock up at major towns where you know the brand is available, and note which supermarkets and pet shops carry your dog’s food.

If you feed raw or fresh food, a dedicated section of your 12V fridge or a small separate cooler is the way to go. Some travellers switch to freeze-dried raw food on the road because it stores like kibble but rehydrates into something closer to fresh food. It’s more expensive per meal, but the convenience and storage benefits are real.

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