One of the best ways to get the most value from an RV vacation is to use your kitchen. If you take your camper on a roadtrip, stay in campgrounds and yet, still eat out most meals, you’re going to be spending a lot of money. If you have a well stocked kitchen you can bring along some pantry staples, shop for local specialties as you travel and eat well without spending a fortune. So, what should you include in those tiny cabinets? Here are some ideas.
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Keep in mind, everyone’s cooking style is different and what we need may be nothing like what you need. We really enjoying cooking, and cooking from scratch at that. So, our list reflects that.
- Dishes. Of course you will need dishes to eat off of. We travel with just the two of us, so we have 4 dinner plates, 4 salad plates and 2 bowls. This is enough to get us through one day usually and requires dishwashing each day so we have enough for the next. I picked up the dishes on clearance at Target. They are melamine so they are nice and sturdy and we don’t have to worry about them breaking. They aren’t exactly pretty, but I was more concerned about price. You can also use paper plates and bowls if that’s your thing, but you might include at least one more sturdy plate for everyone in your family in case you have steak or something that requires some cutting. Corelle dinnerware is usually a good choice too, as it is nice and sturdy.
- Silverware. We have a random assortment of old silverware. There are a few pieces from a picnic set, some mismatched stuff, some handme downs. I don’t think we spent any money on silverware. You want something sturdy, probably enough spoons, forks and knives for a whole day of meals at least, as well as some serving spoons and steak knives. With only two of us this means we should have at least 6 spoons, forks and knives and 2 steak knives. We have slightly more than that.
- Glasses and cups. You can go the paper or plastic route here, but we prefer things we can reuse. I pulled four coffee mugs from the collection in the house for coffee, tea or hot cocoa. They also get used for things like mixing up salad dressing or marinades on occasion. We also have 4 large plastic tumblers – I think they are 4 for $1 at Walmart. We also have 2 wine glasses, also pulled from the house. They are pretty sturdy, and we have plenty, so if they break I won’t be heartbroken. We usually bring soda in aluminum cans so that reduces the amount of cups and glasses we use. If you want to pack 2 liters of soda, or you drink lots of water, iced tea, etc. you may want to have more cups available. We also have 2 water bottles which we frequently drink out of.
- Pots and pans. This is an area where we were able to re-use some of the gear we had from tent camping. Our basic set of nesting pots – a deep skillet, a large (6 qt maybe) soup type pot and a smaller 1 qt. pot are all great and something we already had. Also the coffee percolator – now used more as a tea kettle, a 4 qt. enamelware pot, an old nonstick skillet from the house and some cast iron give us plenty of options. There are other pots and pans I would like to use, and I would like to have something besides our old tent camping gear since it is relatively thin but, my theory here is to use what we have. When we upgrade something in the house, we can transfer the old one into the camper. This makes it much more affordable. The cast iron works great in the camper, on the campstove, or even on the campfire so it is nice to have along.
- Bakeware. We have a tiny little oven, so I did end up buying new bakeware for it. 2 quarter sheet pans and one 8×8 baking pan fit in the oven and give us options for all types of cooking. Though I’d hate to make cookies since I think I could bake about 4 at a time!
- Serving pieces. As far as bowls or platters for serving food, we have none. We dish things up out of the pots it was cooked in. We culled several serving spoons, spatula, large knives, etc. from the house. Generally, our big cooking time is dinner, so we only need one or two spatulas, some tongs, and a wooden spoon to accomplish most things.
- Miscellaneous. Cutting boards – we have two small ones and a few of the large flexible ones. The small ones fit perfectly in the microwave for storage. Mixing bowls – we have a set of 3 nesting bowls, that also have lids. Nice for mixing, storing leftovers or even serving popcorn. We also have one ceramic bowl. It works as a nice dog water dish in a pinch and was an extra from the house. Vegetable peeler – if you are into peeling vegetables with one normally and think you may be using fresh veggies this is nice to have. Measuring cups. Measuring spoons. Coffeemaker – a small one works great for us, not a necessity, but a very nice thing to have along. Toaster – nice to have and we got a new one for the house and passed this one out to the camper. Can opener.
If you use extra items from your home, and shop for deals on clearance you can really outfit your RV kitchen cheaply. If you need something and you don’t have it, ask around too. Maybe friends have a spare toaster or a coffeemaker they just don’t use. If you currently tent camp and lot of things from your current chuck box can easily be used in your RV kitchen.
We also have a pretty good collection of outdoor cooking gear, but I think that will be better served in a separate post. And maybe by Robert since he is the outdoor cook for the most part! What do you pack? And what do you cook with it? Share your favorite camping recipe in the comments. If we get enough we’ll do a recipe round up soon!
