Traveling with an RV offers a lot of freedom and adventure. You get to travel around the country and experience nature. The other side of this is leaving the comfort and predictability of home, which includes a kitchen. You’re leaving the usual array of utensils, appliances, and amenities, but it doesn’t mean your cooking has to suffer. Here’s how you can make the most of your RV kitchen.
Get a Quality Stove
When selecting your first RV, you’ll find that many come with a stove, although some do not. Either way, investing in a quality stove is a great first step to getting a proper RV kitchen. You don’t have access to everything you have at home, so getting an oven that does what you need it to can often be crucial.
A great gas stove can be used to cook amazing meals. They usually run off of propane or butane, and most RVs already use propane or butane to run hot water. If you prefer, you can also use an electric oven, but the point is that being in an RV doesn’t really restrict your choice of stoves. You can also find microwave convection ovens, which essentially serve the same functions of both.
Other Appliances For Your RV Kitchen
Asides from a stove, there are some other appliances you can bring. One of the best is a grill. You can bring a small charcoal or gas grill if you want, but an electric grill is probably best. They don’t take up much room. They grill food faster than other grills. You don’t have to lug around propane or bags of charcoal. In essence, they’re quick, easy, and great for the road.
You can also purchase an air fryer. They run on electricity, and once again, they don’t take up much room. They are great for cooking food without all the grease that is usually used with fryers. They are also better than microwaves for reheating food. They take longer than a microwave, but the quality of the food is better. They don’t dry the food out and make it stale like a microwave, and they can even make it crispier. If you love rotisserie chicken or enjoy cooking kabobs on rotisseries, there are small portable rotisseries available.
Of course, you can also just bring a microwave. Microwaves are the most convenient of your options. A toaster is another simple and small appliance that you can use on the road. For more tips on choosing your grill – check this post.
Prioritize
While the above options are all great, you probably don’t want to take every one of them. When you’re in an RV, you want to travel light.
Ideally, you want to look at the list above and pick what is most important to you. Do you like to make cooking an event every night? If so, then you may want to invest more into grilling accessories. This way you can set up outside and have a good time with whoever you have with you.
If eating isn’t as big a part of your life, then maybe the stove and microwave combination is what you want. The important part is striking the balance between the appliances you like to use and keeping things from becoming cluttered.
When it comes to spices and condiments, start with what you use the most. Salt, pepper, mayonnaise, salad dressing, and whatever else you use regularly should be counted up. Figure out how much room the essentials take up, and then go from there. Keep expanding the list until you have the most commonly used ones.
If you like to use cumin, paprika, basil, and 7 other ingredients when flavoring a certain meal, maybe just pick the few that are most important. One way to do this is to buy a small spice rack, and simply bring whatever fits in it.
If you have room for a 10-item spice rack, then pick your favorite 10. This will keep everything neat and prevent you from taking up too much space. Similarly, you don’t need a fully stocked fridge. Prioritize the condiments by how often you use them.
This also applies to the food itself. You want to think of what you enjoy the most. You can still incorporate some variety, but you do have to sacrifice cooking whatever you want whenever you want. Also, be sure to bring a balanced palette of foods. Just bring some combination of proteins, carbs, and vegetables according to your likes and dislikes.
You may also want to bring food that has large serving sizes and can be reheated the next day to save on cooking time while on the road. This could mean things like pasta or various types of casseroles. It is often easier to just heat up pre-packaged meals in the microwave. This is not the most efficient for storage though, so maybe try not to stock too heavily on these items.
Secure Everything
This is the sort of issue that can be overlooked until you find that everything has crashed onto the floor of the RV at 70 miles per hour. Before you embark on your journey, you need to secure everything in place. Ovens and microwaves should be bolted down well enough to not worry about this, but you need to take some steps with your other items.
One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to purchase nonslip mats. They cling to whatever surface they are placed on, and they hold things in place. You can put these in your cabinets to keep dishes and spices from rolling around. You can also use them with other plugin appliances so that they stay in place.
You may also want to install latches onto your cabinet doors. A little turbulence can send the doors open and their items can be strewn about the place. A simple latch that is convenient to open and close can go a long way.
You can try storing food and other items in Tupperware style containers. This will hopefully keep it safe from bouncing around. It also makes your storage of food more efficient.
RV kitchens don’t have to be bare of necessities. They can not only be useful, but they can add to the fun of the road.
