I Moved In! (the Realities of Being Brand New to Van Life in California)

[@Nickclogan]

Thanks for everyone watching and the support! Just the start of van life for me and I'm excited to share the journey with y'all

[@maxmichaelis5021]

@nicksvanlife I’m not a professional chef, but I meal prep for myself every week. I can meal prep for you if you can pick up in Huntington Beach. Hit me up!

[@Nickclogan]

@@maxmichaelis5021 dang dude thanks for the offer that’s really kind of you! HB is bit too far south for me to drive to right now but I’ll definitely hit you up if I start heading down there more

[@maxmichaelis5021]

@@Nickclogan sounds good! Surf is really fun in Newport and Huntington if you’re ever down this way and wanna get a surf in let me know.

[@Nickclogan]

@@maxmichaelis5021 I definitely will!

[@OxygenTheef]

I live near a grocery store that's great for food you will eat the same day. Grocery Outlet. Also find Vons, it's basically a Safeway. Arco for gas. 😉

[@OneStrangeJourney]

I'm not a van lifer, but I am an RV lifer! I’ve noticed a lot of new people try to cram as much fun and adventure as possible at the start. Just remember, if this is your lifestyle now, take it easy. I know it’s exciting in the beginning, but burnout is real. If you feel disappointed when an adventure doesn’t happen, it won’t be sustainable. This isn’t a vacation-it’s your life now, and it’s totally okay to come home from work and just relax. As for those steaks, crank that burner up to full blast, let the pan get super hot, then sear both sides to perfection. Let that fat render a bit, and you’ll be in steak heaven. Good luck!

[@Nickclogan]

RV life sounds like luxury haha! Thanks for watching the vid and commenting. Totally get what you’re saying. Fortunately going to Malibu and surfing is normal and relaxing for me. I’d be stressed if I couldn’t do those things!

[@jabreck1934]

12 years full-time, van life in CA. The first five years was in a van like yours. My longboard was mounted on the inside ceiling. My bike….. removed front wheel and mounted forks on engine cover between seats. “C” st. Surfers point was my hang out. Day and night…. only left to get food or go to work. I told my friends, my goal for retiring was to take care of horses on a ranch. That’s exactly what I’m doing. Now I have a class B, parked on 20 acre horse Ranch in the Hills above Santa Barbara. They provide me everything. No debt and only monthly bill is phone. We provide equine therapy for special needs children and veterans. I’m living my dream!👌 Good luck with yours

[@Nickclogan]

That’s awesome! Sounds like you’re living a great life! 12 years straight at C Street sounds like a dream

[@lisapalmieri5929]

Buy a slow cooker, you can make lots of meals inside it. Cook while you are at work and it will be ready when you get home.

[@Nickclogan]

That’s a great idea! I’ll have to try one out

[@jlr3636]

Eating is a hassle, takes well over an hour to setup, cook, clean… takes 10 minutes to eat. Check out the Costco cooler section where they have pre-prep meals (street tacos,salads,rolls), some need to be baked which is a problem but some don’t, and there are options for warming. Hopefully your existence doesn’t become centered on eating and finding a sleeping spot. Your idea of having a cook is interesting, wouldn’t it be convenient if there was a restaurant or kitchen which was set up to prep a couple of meal options each day, take out, preorder options, pay by the week, not super gourmet but a step above the grocery store take out section.

[@Nickclogan]

Glad you feel the same haha. Great tip on Costco I’ll check them out! And yea I know a couple restaurant owners in the area. I’m going to reach out and see if we can set something up

[@chrisgodwin8473]

Man, for being new to the vlogs and van life, you're doing a great job right out of the gate! Keep it up and I look forward to your adventures....

[@Nickclogan]

I really appreciate that! Trying to improve a little bit every video, thank you for watching!

[@fotomotoxxiii]

Doing the same in the same van with my lady and 2 dogs it’s gonna be interesting as I’m in a wheelchair and it’s a lot of hassle! Limited space and all but we are hoping the good outweighs the bad! I subbed lm in San Diego area heading up the coast soon in the next few days if you wanna meet up!

[@Nickclogan]

man that sounds like a packed van haha but should be fun! I'm bouncing around too much right now to meet up but I appreciate you reaching out. That 4runner build you have looks sick! I'm excited to see what you do with the van!

[@ochamness]

I love your attitude! I’m working towards moving into my vehicle, but so far I’ve only done week long trips to get a feel for it. Im slowly learning what I will need and what I can live without. Keep up the videos and the honesty, it’s encouraging. Good luck!

[@Nickclogan]

Thank you! Good luck to you too

[@TheTravelsofElijah]

I just moved into mine too and spent week one broken down in Denver scrambling for repairs but it’s been a memorable experience

[@Nickclogan]

@@TheTravelsofElijah man sounds like a tough start but at least you got the toughest part out of the way on week one. I hope it’s smoother sailing for you now

[@funkymonkey8174]

I live in Santa Cruz California and I spend $90 a week on groceries. So $90 for that seems absolutely insane to me. I have to be careful shopping. I tend to buy a lot of chicken. And I don't shop in places like Malibu. If I want red meat I'd probably have hamburger. If you're in places like Malibu I would look for a grocery outlet. Shopping for one can be costly and difficult. But it's not impossible. Good luck man. Love the content

[@Nickclogan]

Thanks for the tips! $90/week is really impressive..chicken makes sense for price but I was worried about storing it without having consistent cold temperatures in my yeti. Gonna have to eventually upgrade to a proper van fridge system

[@JaneLogan-e2q]

Great video! I'm happy that you are pursuing your dreams! I have to admit that I teared up a little at the shout out to your upbringing and love of the ocean!

[@Oneverythangilove]

Welcome to van life I have been doing it for 3 years now and I love it . I also don’t cook in my van I eat out every night. But what’s funny I did the same exact thing when I own my own home. I have a full time job and own a business I have not done any traveling because of work I get 6 weeks a year of vacation a year,but I have the business to run. I’m ok with that I do get to hangout at a lot of parks and i meet a lot of cool people good luck and by all means stay safe.

[@Nickclogan]

Thank you! One week in and I’m loving it! Glad I’m not the only one that’s not into the cooking scene haha. Yea I’ve already met so many more ppl, it’s a great change of pace

[@Hezekiah1]

Being a native to this land, I can tell you now this is one of our favorite campgrounds! Enjoy, many many stories have been made here!

[@Nickclogan]

It’s an incredible place, I loved my stay there. I’ll have to look into the history more before my next visit!

[@chilton00]

Surfing at sunset was awesome. Very well captured shots.

[@Nickclogan]

Thank you! Sunset surfs are hard to beat

[@philipherr6782]

Congrats on finally getting to move in! As a fellow engineer (civil) who did van life in college, it’s great to see someone being able to work an engineering job and do van life at the same time. On the food cost note, you could still be decently healthy by doing Blueprint by Bryan Johnson nutty pudding mix with Greek yogurt and frozen/fresh berries, (breakfast) and then there’s these instant riced broccoli bags (don’t need to be refrigerated) or you could meal prep broccoli and cauliflower. And then make a fresh meat every couple days. I’m personally not quite this frugal atm- I add some other toppings and such. But this would be reasonably healthy and maybe around 15-20$ a day. Of course there are lots of alternatives too, I just know how hard cooking can be in a van (when I did van life in college I would eat rotisserie chickens and a bag of spinach from Walmart😂) Edit: I forgot to mention, on Blueprint I only eat two meals a day which is why I only mentioned two meals here.

[@Nickclogan]

Wow that's awesome you were able to pull it off in college! Thank you so much for the detailed meal suggestion. I haven't seen the Blueprint plan but I'll check it out, sounds like a really good option for me. And so funny you mention rotisserie chickens..exactly what I was thinking of doing haha

[@huckleberry8864]

I'm in the OC. Been working on my van furiously for the past 2 months getting ready for the V-life. Can't wait to be done...Malibu is great. Good luck out there.

[@Nickclogan]

Nice! Yea you really just gotta put everything to the side and grind it out. Good luck to you too!

[@mkramme]

Your dinner looked great for one that does not cook much. Looks like you are going to have a lot of fun in your van. What is the brand of your wearable beach towel 5 min in? I could use that.

[@Nickclogan]

Haha it was pretty solid! It’s a slow tide surf changing poncho from Amazon! It’s an essential for sure

[@mkramme]

@@Nickclogan thx

[@loriking3319]

Well we women like to see what's cooking! Lol I like the combination of travel,camp and cooking. I am not into alot of the new q&a or long drives. I like a little of all of the wandering nomad life

[@Nickclogan]

Haha well I’m glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching! I’m not into those videos so much either so these aspects are what I’ll keep showing!

[@bettinamcdonald5394]

Wishing you lots of luck and adventures. I will be following your journey. Stay safe and do stress too much.💐🤗

[@bettinamcdonald5394]

I meant don’t stress too much😅

[@Nickclogan]

@@bettinamcdonald5394 haha thank you I’m glad to have you watching!

[@Snooopiy]

It was a great edited video man and also Chef Nick Logan that is one hell of a dish and thats coming from an italian looked great I have to say tho 90 Dollars for that is crazy

[@Nickclogan]

Thank you! I know right?! 90 bucks is insane

[@cynthiarodriguez8204]

Enjoyed you taking us on your surfing journey. That was pretty awesome. Yeah, being on the westside of Los angeles is more expensive. Have you tried shopping at Trader Joe's? Produce and other items may be less expensive there. I wish you great luck on your new adventure.

[@Nickclogan]

Glad you liked it! I have! There weren’t any directly on my commute to the campsite and to work but probably worth going out of the way a bit to save

[@williammartens1776]

This is awesome, I bet you could eat king crab every night and still save more money than renting lol

[@Nickclogan]

haha absolutely could! Rent would be about $3k so that's a lot of king crab

[@meggggg]

I finally feel validated for never cooking in my vehicle, all I keep in there are utensils and an electric mug to warm things in lol no cooler or anything. I much prefer just to buy food as I go!

[@Nickclogan]

@@meggggg right?! I could see if you’re off grid but for the amount of time and effort I don’t think it’s worth it

[@meggggg]

@@Nickclogan I completely agree, it's one thing if you have a full set up/RV etc but I'm just in my SUV so I have to go in to town for showers, laundry, gym etc anyways and I'd much prefer just to grab food for a day or two while I'm there!

[@AsaFletcher]

So sick! I surf at Leo all the time!!

[@Nickclogan]

Such a sick wave!

[@IvanR-c5b]

Sup dude, I’ve been wanting to test out my rig and I’m down for a hang

[@Nickclogan]

Yo! I really need to make an Instagram for DMs haha. What type of rig do you have?

[@IvanR-c5b]

It’s a Tacoma with leer topper. It’s super minimalistic but then again it has everything I need and nothing I don’t

[@Auxbeam]

Hi Do you interested in adding some LED upgrade to your Van? We hope to do some sponsorship with you!

[@lettyzane2720]

You remind me of my college age sons, makes me want to cook for you 😂

[@Nickclogan]

Haha sounds like you already got your hands full! I’m sure they eat a lot!

[@cerealxperimints]

I know cooking isnt your thing but the steak looked good as hell!!

[@Nickclogan]

Haha yea it’s not but thank you! And yea they were bussin bussin!

[@ThumperYo]

I did not have enough time to comment my grocery price guess, you gave like half a second. $90 for that is crazy though wtf

[@Nickclogan]

Gotta be quicker than that! Haha but what was your guess?

[@ThumperYo]

@@Nickcloganif you hadn’t said the price of the steaks I would’ve guessed like 55 probably

[@Nickclogan]

Yea that’s what it would be

[@RudyGold]

Malibu’s great and all hit its way overpriced. Surfs good that’s for sure. Even county lines fun too but I’m local spot use to be El Porto down in el segundo. Plus much cheaper. Look into Trader Joe’s

[@Nickclogan]

Thanks for the tips! Never surfed el Porto but I’ll check it out sometime when I’m down south

[@4xYotax4]

Wait, is it the new cool thing to not use wax or what? I am tripping.

[@Nickclogan]

Haha well it’s got a thin foam layer on top. As for the cool factor..foamies still have a stigma to them but I’m leaving it on top of my van 24/7 and don’t feel like dealing with melting wax all the time. Performance wise I don’t notice much of a difference

[@Trish-j2y]

87?

[@Nickclogan]

You must be a fellow Californian

[@diggy4963]

Enjoy the unknown

[@Nickclogan]

Absolutely!

[@sandragalus8825]

Hey buddy, I subscribed we’ll see how your content goes but do me a favor no more talking with your mouthful while you chew. Peace, love and good vibes.

[@Nickclogan]

Thanks for the sub! Haha what can I say I’m a great multi-tasker

[@tiktokshock4652]

It’s not “$90 at Ralph’s for groceries in California”, you’re just a terrible shopper 😂

[@Nickclogan]

Haha yea definitely not my strong suit

[@Somebodysomewheresometime]

I was gonna say 97$😂

[@Nickclogan]

Haha you’re good!