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10 Kitchen Gadgets We Love In Our RV

When you buy items for an RV kitchen, you need to think differently than when you shop for your sticks and bricks house. We like to cook and eat freshly prepared meals and compromising on this is not an option for us just because we live in a home on wheels. Space is precious in an RV so things that can do two jobs or can be stacked and stored in a space efficient way are always welcome. But space is not the only consideration when selecting kitchen items, because we boondock and dry camp most of the time, we also look for things that use little or even better no electricity, use very little water or generate only a small amount of waste.  Here are 10 of our favorite kitchen things:



1. Collapsible Storage Bowls
A staple in any RV, these bowls collapse and store flat and are perfect for leftovers, picnics or for serving snacks. We have found that the rubbery plastic part that collapses does stain very easily on contact with tomato, curry or other colorful sauces.

These are widely available. We bought ours at Camping World but they are also available at Amazon.

2. Hario Manual Coffee Grinder
Iain is the coffee lover in our house and likes to get fresh beans each week. This is a ceramic grinder that is robust and durable. It uses no electricity and has the benefit of a 30 second upper arm work out built in. Seriously - the manual grinding is trivial, in fact I normally add a small coffee-grinding dance to my morning exercise routine.

Available at Amazon
Cost: ~$26 (shop around for a deal)


3. Aeropress Coffee Maker
Thanks Aluminarium for recommending this to us. We were using a regular french press when we first hit the road which creates a bit of a mess and needs a lots water to clean it. The Aeropress is supposedly one of the best ways to make great tasting coffee and the clean up is minimal; just a small coffee plug and filter in the trash and a wipe with kitchen paper and you are done. Another benefit - no electricity required; very boondocker friendly. We use a stove-top kettle to keep my insatiable desire for tea met. We let the boiled water cool a little for the coffee.

We bought ours in Bed Bath & Beyond. Also available at Amazon.
Cost: About $30

4. Joseph Joseph Worktop Saver
This heat resistant board acts as a trivet for hot pans from the oven, or can be a cheese board. It's main use for us is as a chopping board to protect our countertop. We use it with color-coded chopping sheets on top to ensure food safety by separating vegetables and bread from uncooked meat and fish. You can get it with various patterns, but the US map seems the perfect RV accessory.

Available at Amazon
Cost: $28

5. Over the Sink Roll-Up Drying Rack
This has been an awesome recent addition to the kitchen. The rack rolls up and goes under the sink when not in use. It has so many uses. I put it over the sink when I am cooking since it is strong enough to act as additional counter space while still allowing easy access to the sink. It is also a handy cooling rack for baked goods out of the oven and since it is heat resistant, it makes for an excellent trivet. Bonus: draining dishes after clean up. It's a multi-talented gadget.

Available at Amazon
Cost: $25

6. Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender
This is one of the only electric items that we conceded to when we hit the road. It pulls very little power and tends to be used for less than a minute at a time, so we can even use it when we are boondocking. It has a whisk attachment; a blender, used for soups or smoothies; and a chopper, used for pesto sauces and chopping other veggies and nuts for various recipes.

Available at Amazon
Cost: About $54

7. Joseph Joseph Stacking Bowls
Although a bit of a splurge, it's a great space saver and has everything I need. There is a large mixing bowl for baking or tossing salads, a colander for draining veggies or pasta, a sieve for flour and rice, and finally a small bowl for making guac or other relishes. The measuring cups on top range from a teaspoon to a cup. We went stainless since we like shiny things but they have a version in multicolored plastic too.

Available at Amazon
Cost: About $100

8. Oxo GreenSaver Produce Keeper
There are collapsible salad spinners out there but I always have fresh greens in the fridge, so being collapsible for storage doesn't really matter to me. We used to have a mini round spinner also from Oxo but it wasn't very space efficient in the fridge. Round things take up too much of a footprint, and the spinner mechanism hogs a lot of the inside storage space of the container. So we switched to this which is rectangular. It's much better in the fridge, and has a removable basket but no spinner, so we can fit loads more in there. It also has an activated carbon filter to help keep the contents fresh.

We bought ours in Bed Bath & Beyond. Also available at Amazon
Cost: About $20

9. Storage Containers
Containers and sandwich bags are my most formidable weapon for saving space. When we go grocery shopping I remove everything from its original, space-hogging packaging. I put rice, nuts, dried fruit, flour, pulses etc into resealable bags. If needed, I write on it with a sharpie so I don't get my all-purpose and bread flour confused. Then I stack them inside storage containers and add labels to the outside of the containers to keep track of everything inside. I also buy in bulk at the store when possible, again to avoid excess packaging.

Available everywhere. Check Amazon for different sizes.

10. Wooden Bowls
We do carry some breakables, because we don't always like to sacrifice for practicality. For instance we won't compromise on wine glasses and plates; we figure we can just replace them if they break, which actually seldom happens! But for serving bowls, we are always on the look out for unbreakable varieties and have found great wooden and plastic products.

Available everywhere. We are always lucky in Target. Check Amazon for different styles.

What gadgets have you found to be invaluable in your RV kitchen? We'd love to hear from you in the comments section.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for this post.. we immediately ordered the drying rack, and it just arrived. It is PERFECT!

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    1. Good to hear. That rack is a recent addition to our kitchen and it's great. Some people need fancy cars and expensive jewls but I love that simple things like this make me happy:-)

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  2. I had gotten that rack from another retailer. Love it! I have a 'smart stick' too (another brand), seldom have used it, but it lives in the RV too. Best gadget we use, is our Food Saver vacuum sealer. Not only for harvested berries, shellfish etc, but keeping leftovers fresh and spill prevention.

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    1. Ooh I have had my eye on the Food Saver too. Seems like a good addition!

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