The Best RV Kitchen Tips

Stocking and Organizing your Essential RV Kitchen

When our family decided to spend almost a year traveling the country in our RV, one of the (many) things I worried about was how I would cook in that little kitchen! I love to cook, and I cook a lot for my family, but tiny spaces are a challenge. We brought a lot of stuff we ended up not using, and we bought things on the road that we realized we needed but hadn’t brought! I spent months perfecting my RV kitchen set-up and I think I figured out the key to RV cooking. I would have loved to have found a list of RV Kitchen essentials when I was starting out.

We have a C class, which means our kitchen is pretty small, so I found a lot of gadgets to make RV cooking easier. Also, my husband is a genius when it comes to storage and a creative use of space, so he helped me set things up to use every last inch of space in a functional and effective way. For more info on making things fit in your RV, check out my post on RV Storage Hacks. Now. onto my tried-and-true RV Kitchen essentials!

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Cookware for the RV Kitchen

There simply isn’t enough room in an RV for a full set of full-size pots and pans. I found that having one good, heavy-duty Dutch oven serves for a huge variety of things. You can boil water for pasta, make chilis, soups or one-pot meals like arroz con pollo! I use this one (bonus: it fits in the oven for storage):  

For pans I managed to narrow it down to two pans and a stove-top grill pan. Between these two sizes, you’ve got sauces, stir-fries and eggs covered!

The oven can be tricky because in a Class C motorhome like ours, it’s smaller than a regular size, but bigger than a convection oven. It’s hard to find just the right size oven pans, but here’s what I use:

You’re probably wondering where to store all of your RV Kitchen essentials. If you’ve got a small to medium sized rig like ours, there isn’t a ton of storage. We use a large plastic container for all the pots and pans. When we are stationary, we keep it in the front seat so it’s out of the way, but easy to access. Pro-tip: When you are driving, use your pot holders and kitchen towels in between the pots and pans to keep them from making noise while you drive.

Kitchen Prep

My RV has very little counter/storage space, so there are a few items that I simply couldn’t live without! I use my over-the-counter cutting board/colander like three times a day. The stacking, collapsible bowls can be used for both prep and storage. And the knives I just love.

RV Kitchen Essentials for Storage

Things that stack, collapse or can be affixed to a side surface all really make a difference in RV living! Here are my must-have items:

Plate holders – keep plates and bowls from rattling around as you drive!

Spice rack – my husband put one of these on each side of our little cupboard doors and my spices fit perfectly!

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When we are traveling I don’t like to have to cook every day. I tend to cook big portions and refrigerate or freeze them so I have some pre-made dinners. I use these storage containers for the fridge and freezer. They collapse into each other for storing, they’re easy to clean and they are microwave safe.

RV Kitchen Utensils:

Utensils aren’t that hard to store, and I know everyone has their personal favorites. But if you’re like me, you use a ton of different utensils at home. I had to decide which ones I couldn’t live without and/or could be multi-use so that I don’t have to bring too many. Here’s what you’ll find in my RV :

• Plastic spoons
• Hand-held cheese grater
• Pasta spoon
• Ladle
• Can-opener
• Spatula
• Kitchen Scissors
• Whisk
• Measuring cups/spoons

RV Tableware:

I have two sets of tableware for the RV. I know that sounds ridiculous, but when you travel a lot (or full time) you might want more than one set.

For every day we use these, they are microwave safe and durable. I don’t mind taking them outside.

For a little bit nicer set, I like these Corelle dishes that I know are popular with a lot of RVers.

If you want something super cute and camping themed, go for these! They aren’t really ‘RV kitchen essentials’, but they are so fun I had to include them on my list. We own two sets that we got as a gift when we first set out on the road. They aren’t microwave safe, so they’re less practical, but they’re fun and they make a great gift!

Coffee/Tea:

I’m a huge coffee drinker! I also really like tea in the afternoon and evening. But there’s no way I could fit a regular coffee maker in our RV. It wouldn’t work anyway when we’re camping without electricity, and I would hate to have to pack it up every time we move. So my solution is a French press. I have an electric tea kettle to heat up water when we have hook ups, otherwise I just heat water on the stove, pour it into my handy French press and… voilá! Delicious coffee!

Extras:

I have a few extra gadgets that I use regularly in the RV. Number one is my Instant Pot! I love, love, love it and I use it once or twice a week in the RV. I make everything from Pulled BBQ Pork to Corn Chowder to Beef Stroganoff in this thing! I store it in the outside storage. This is the model I use. Bonus – when it’s hot I plug it in and set it up outside.

 I also Love my Ninja.  Use it to make salsa, smoothies, etc. It’s pretty small so I can store it under the couch.

I’ve always been a fan of the electric griddle. Like the Instant Pot, I can use it outside. It makes the best pancakes!

Outside Cooking:

In good weather I love to grill. And I definitely don’t like to heat up the rig by cooking in hot weather. We also usually grill when we’re boondocking so we don’t have as much clean up and don’t use as much of the RV’s propane. I know there are a million grills to choose from. We like this one because it folds up and stores pretty easily, but the fold out legs mean we don’t need to find a surface to grill on.

After 10 months of travel, I learned a lot about RV life. I’d love to hear your tips and tricks as well – please leave a comment! You can also check out my post on Getting your RV Travel Ready.