A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

OK ladies,
I'm new here! I introduced myself in the new forum, now I have questions!
I'm in the process of downsizing the house. I want to know what you think are required items for your kitchen on the road. I plan to full-time. My 2 necessary appliances are a waffle iron and a crock pot. I don't drink coffee so no coffee maker needed here. Do you have a toaster oven or a toaster? How many baking dishes do you have? Cooking skillets? etc.
When you started out did you have to many or to few items in the kitchen? I know some of these questions depends on the space you have in your RV, but I really want to simplify life.
Thanks for the help on this topic. I thought I would start with an easy one.....lol before I get into the more technical stuff! Julie in Oregon (for now)

Personally I would say to keep the ones that you continually use at home.

An RV isn't quite like a house. Dishes need to be washed up and put away as there sure isn't a lot of counter space to let them sit on. I have a set of Revere Ware, a crockpot, ele skillet and my toaster. Oh and a special fry pan just for eggs! Nothing else gets cooked in it!!!

I have a small TT with limited kitchen storage. At the moment I'm only camping a couple of days at a time. I've got Corel plates and bowls in my cupboard. Only 4 of each. Carrying about 4 mugs, why 4 i don't know, might size that down. I have the usual silverware and since I had a bunch of misc utensils in my kitchen drawer (spatula, slotted spoons, wood spoons etc., you know that kind of junk) I put some of the extras in the RV. I haven't used some of them, so they may be coming out. You kind of have to see what you use and don't as time goes on. I carry paper plates, napkins, plate holders etc. As for cooking, since I am only doing a one day and two overnight thing, I just take my Foreman grill along and sometimes things I can just reheat in my micro. I BBQ a lot outside and I even plug my Foreman grill outside too. I like Echo's thing about a crock pot and a few other items. If I were to travel, I would get a small electric fry pan, a crock pot and probably a toaster oven. That can do double duty as a toaster and oven both. Maybe even a hot plate too. Trick is to reduce propane use and if you have electricy, why use propane for cooking. The oven in most RV stoves makes a great storage area for some of that stuff. Course I also carry the other stuff like dish towels, dish clothes, SOS pads, dish soap, foil, and the usual stuff like that. It's kind of experimental. If you don't use it at home, you probably won't use it in the RV either. Can always take it out later. You don't need a lot of plates, cups etc. as most people have their own cups and you can only use one at a time. I do tend to use my plates though especially if I am BBQing. Carry my meat or whatever out on one plate and eat on another of course. I made a stove top for over my stoves folding top, and use that as an additional sink space. Although my stove has it's folding top, they have a crease where the top folds in half and I figure that if something gets spilled top, it can run down in that crease and all over the stove underneath.

Have fun.

I have a very small trailer as well with limited storage in the kitchen area. Fortunately it has a large pantry so I can carry food I don't have any drawers built in my trailer so I put a plastic 3 drawer unit from Wal-Mart in the cabinet under the sink. One drawer holds a silverware organizer with a really cheap set of metal silverware from Wal-Mart. The middle drawer has cooking utensils and the bottom has dish towels and hot pads. On top of the drawers, I keep my veggie grilling tray, cutting board and my collapsible dish tub. That thing is the greatest thing since popcorn. Because we cook outside so much, I just put everything I need for the meal in the tub to haul outside instead of making 20 bajillion trips in and out. We just recently bought a second one and a collapsible bowl.

I have a set of nesting pots that I got off QVC - the handle is detachable so they really nest well together. Plus I have one skillet. I also keep an enamel coffepot - one of those old-fashioned percolators. We use that a lot for heating water on the outside stove.

I keep mostly paper plates and bowls in a corner shelf unit in the top cabinet. I want to get Corelle but we just haven't done it yet. One nice thing about the paper goods - cuts down on gray water since we don't have to wash them. I have really really small holding tanks. I make sure to get the kind that we can throw in the fire if we have one going. And I keep a bunch of rubbermaid to store leftovers - but they are the stackable kind. My glasses are really plastic and ride in a small basket in the top cabinet. And my sister found some nice plastic wine glasses at REI. Those ride in another plastic basket.

Here is a picture of my under sink storage. You will note the wheel well and the plumbing take up a good part of that storage. The trash can is a small bathroom size - the plastic grocery bags just fit as a liner. That's one reason for the pile of grocery bags next to the shelf cabinet. The other reason - I have 2 large dogs.

Each person has to discover their own "must haves" and you will probably refine the collection over time. For instance: your waffle maker is a top priority and for me - not even way down on the list! But here's what I currently have on hand:

- elec. 4-cup coffee pot (even have a top of the stove perc for those times w/o elec). Guess that is in place of your waffle maker since you don't use coffee.

- A George Forman grill - can't beat it for grilling meat while the fat drains off. It can be used for a lot of things (grilled veggies, bacon, etc.)

- A toaster/oven/broiler (not all toaster/ovens also broil, but it's a great option to broil your fish or meat, etc. or bake a few biscuits in the same place you toast your bagel!

- Crockpot. The heavenly scent when you walk into your rig after a busy day is unbeatable!

- And my newest acquisition: an electric hot pot -- that sucker heats water to boiling in seconds, I swear! Found it really cheap in one of the chain pharmacies and bought 2 - one for my son who also loves it! It's plastic, so doesn't weigh much and rides inside my microwave.

Pooker
And, of course, all the misc. nesting pots, frypans, utensils, etc. that most of us pack.

Sandersmr wrote:
Here is a picture of my under sink storage. You will note the wheel well and the plumbing take up a good part of that storage. The trash can is a small bathroom size - the plastic grocery bags just fit as a liner. That's one reason for the pile of grocery bags next to the shelf cabinet. The other reason - I have 2 large dogs.

Thanks so much for the pic! It's great to see how it's done. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions, they are great. I guess a lot of people try to use the electric rather than cook with propane? I think I might look at a Foreman grill and a toaster oven that broils. Julie

I cook with propane a lot - just mostly outside. We have a Coleman stove and a small gas grill. And we have a 20 pound propane bottle that we use for those in addition to the 20 pound bottle on the trailer. My trailer bottle is mostly for the fridge when traveling and the hot water heater, with only occasionally using the stove. We use an electric heater for heat.

I found sanitized wipes indispensable as well as window wipes. They also sell the chrome wipes but i don't like the film they leave on the micro and fridge.
I have 4 frying pans, large, medium (for omelettes and fritatas) and two small (for eggs) Also a large pot, medium and small. We don't have a gas oven, so we have drawers in place of that and love the extra space. I have read a few blogs where they have taken out the stove in favor of more storage, but ours came this way. The frying pans nest in one drawer and the lids in another. The last one contains smaller size baking sheet, cupcake pan, small cake pans and a small casserole dish.
I even brought my kitchenaid mixer which I keep under the sink. I don't have a george forman, electric skillet or a toaster oven. I'm thinking about getting a george forman and toaster oven though. We had an electric skillet for a while, but I never really used it.
We have a charcoal grill (small kettle) AND a propane grill. We prefer the charcoal, but we've been a few places this summer with fire restrictions for charcoal, so needed the propane. Anything we can cook outside we do, even if it's raining (but not too hard)
With the dogs we bought a small carpet cleaner...the Spot Bot...for those little accidents. It works great.
As everyone else has said, to each his own. Now that we have been living fulltime for over a year we will be purging VERY SOON. Most of the stuff I need to get rid of are clothes we never wear and dishes, silverware we never use.
MY NOOK...love it!

Full-time or Part-time so many decisions are personal.

I know what I bought and put in my first rig and I know what got walked back into the stick house when I shifted everything to my second slightly smaller rig. I kept shaking my head and asking what made me think I was going to use _____ (fill in the blank) I don't here in the house! I have never been much interested in cooking....so I have only the bare necessities in the pots and pan department. Two different skillet sizes and two different pots. I used to have four of everything (dishes, etc) But I travel by myself and my rig is only 22 ft so it isn't as if I am going to do extensive entertainment. For couples traveling I can see having enough to set the table for another couple (4 places)

After traveling around with these crazy sisters it is easy to realize that we each have our comfort levels and needs. But most RV'ers understand hospitality and being served on paper plates just isn't one of the deal breakers. Many of us have been known to bring our own wine glasses when we go visit. And yet....that wine tastes good out of the plastic cups, too!

It is just sort of understood that this is a more minimalist lifestyle. Items that can serve multiple uses win hands down.

So...give it some thought then give yourself some time to find your own "traveling/living style" over time and experience.

Many of us didn't even know we needed an ice maker until we met Mitch! I still don't have one but as long as she has hers.....

BirdbyBird wrote:Many of us didn't even know we needed an ice maker until we met Mitch! I still don't have one but as long as she has hers.....

It's not coming to AK! I'm sad about that, but I am assuming we will be boondocking more often than not?
Correct me if I'm wrong, and then that lovely appliance can be strapped right where G used to sit...

If ice maker comes along, I will have replaced all of G's weight - kayak, generator, ice maker (and The Beast has put on a couple of pounds, too. Me? I'm losing weight).

In my TINY kitchen, I have 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 mugs, 2 skillets, 2 small pots, and I'll add one larger pot for pasta. And a bunch of paper plates, bowls, coffee cups. Both real and plastic tableware. Oh, glass wine glasses.

..

This one of those "get a milllion different answers" questions. No one can really tell you.

Everyone's kitchen is going to be different, with different drawers and cabinets. We have the Corelle dishes and bowls, cups & glasses. I have about the same pots & pans as everyone else, I need a pizza pan for our pizza needs and all the same cooking utensils we use at home. We don't fulltime but always carry our ice maker. It's a must have in our motorhome. We have our electric skillet, toaster oven, toaster & hand mixer. Our cast iron skillet is a must have.

To be perfectly honest, what I have is sometimes not enough and sometimes way to much. And that's just the way it is in an rv. There are going to be times that you wished you had something with you that you needed at that minute and other times when you're digging the pan you want off of the bottom of the stack that you wonder why in the world am I dragging all of this crap around when a tv dinner would be so much easier! You just learn to deal with it. Stop and think about what and how you eat at home and that will give you a pretty good idea of what you need in your rv to suit your lifestyle.

Irmi - I carry cast iron in the back of my truck - I have 3 dutch ovens that I love to cook with. That's one thing I pack every time we go out since I can't store the cast iron in the truck all the time.

I have the best slow cooker by Westbend -- the base is a griddle. The slow cooker part can also go in the oven that I don't have or on top of the stove that I do have. And, I can use the lid in the microwave because it is made out of glass and is flat on top. It's a 5 quart oblong shape and is still being sold (with or without a carrying case), although the lid is a little different now. I'm going to buy another one so I can have one in the trailer and one in the house.

Other kitchen items are: waffle iron, toaster, small electric hot pot, small square griddle, small and medium skillets, and small and medium pots. Lots of plastic storage containers, a couple of small serving trays, paper plates, and wicker holders. I have a small portable firepit that has a grill top. I bought a package of thin flexible plastic cutting boards that work well (about 8"x10" each).

My small travel trailer does not have an oven so my next purchase will be a small pizza maker that can also bake cookies, make omelets and eggs, and grill sandwiches. Saw it in Walmart last week for $24. Oh yeah, and I want one of the small icemakers just like Irmi's. It is the perfect size!