10 Items All Full-Time RV Kitchens Need

There are lots of things anyone thinking of starting full-time RV lifestyle have to consider. If you're anything like me and love to cook, paring down your kitchen might seem like a daunting task - what do you actually need and what is just want? I wanted to write about the top 10 things that I brought with us on our full-time camper life that have made themselves known to be necessity.

1) Non-breakable Dishes

Let's just scream this a little louder for those of you in the back:

NON BREAKABLE DISHES!!!!!

I am possible the most clumsy person that I know. Knowing this ahead of time [and tallying the number of dishes I've broken in our 2 brick & mortar houses LOL!] we decided to go with melamine plates and bowls. Our one mistake was not researching and realizing that melamine cannot be microwaved... *sigh*

So we have to keep a supply of paper bowls and plates for when we need to reheat something, but I'm still glad we bought them. We got our from Amazon after searching in stores for them and finding them at exorbitant prices at places like Camping World.

If you're looking for pretty, rustic bowls and plates that wont chip, crack or shatter if dropped, these are the way to go!

2) Small Coffee Pot

Counter space is valuable real estate in any camper and the coffee pot is one item that not many can do without (including my wife). We decided to donate our old, huge, machine to my parents and pick out a sleeker, smaller model. Due to stomach condition, I can't drink coffee anymore :( so Chelsea got to pick out her own special coffee pot. This Hamwan Drop Coffee Maker brews things a little differently - allowing more water to hit more grinds to give a fuller, bolder tasting coffee.

Bonus: It's really small and sleek and fits pretty perfectly on our countertop!

Double Bonus: It's super quiet, has the automatic shut off AND can brew 10 cups of coffee in six minutes.

So if you're as coffee addicted as Chelsea, you definitely need this little pot of gold for you full-time RV life!

3) Small Toaster

Again, sounds pretty common-sense, but you'd be surprised. We didn't need a big bulky 4 piece toaster, so we donated that one to my cousin (who got most of our kitchen stuff for her first apartment) and got this super sleek little Brevo 2-slice Extra Wide Toaster! It fits so easily up into the cabinet above the fridge and it runs on the GFCI plug with the coffee pot and doesn't trip the breaker!

[not something you'd think is a daily occurrence, but you'd be surprised. I trip that sucker a lot]

It's got a bunch of cool settings like reheat, defrost and even a bagel setting! Super handy for quick and easy breakfasts and doesn't take up too much cabinet space!

4) Pyrex Glass Tupperware

This is a necessity for us due to the non microwavable plates we bought, but I've found they could be super handy for pretty much anyone! Not only do they have this really cool set that nests inside each other, but they're good for cooking as well. They can be used inside of an instant pot or crock pot for pot-in-pot cooking. They also don't hold smells like normal plastic tupperware have the tendency to do (yuck!) and are BPA free!

A lot of people ask why I would want glass storage when I have non breakable dishes, but these are a nice thick glass that I *may* have dropped once already and they didn't shatter.... so there's that. When traveling, we just secure them in the cabinet and wrap a dish towel around them so no other dishes smack up against them. :)

5) Brita Water Pitcher

So most RVers (full-time or not) have some kind of filter on their fresh water supply. We use this carbon filter. Now, that's all fine and dandy for clothes, running water and they dogs (they don't mind), but it doesn't taste the best. We drink a lot of water and really didn't enjoy how the filter made the water taste - or the white residue it left on the inside of our cups! To avoid this, and having to continue to make ice cubes, we got this really awesome Brita 5 Cup Small Water Pitcher. We love how small it is - doesn't take up a crazy amount of room in our tiny fridge - and how fresh and clean the water tastes! As long as we always refill it when one of us fills up a cup, we don't have any problems with it!

If you're unhappy with your drinking water, this might just be your solution!

6) Multi-purpose cooking dishes - ceramic crocks, stoneware, cast iron

Having been camping (in an RV) most of my life, I knew the different ways to cook in one. This being said, I knew I wanted to take a *few* of my different cooking dishes with us on our full-time adventure! We brought our cast iron dutch oven for camp-fire cooking, along with my stoneware (which I store in the oven).

I also brought along my ceramic crock to use in my Ninja Cooking System (since I rarely - if ever - use my oven). It's handy, cute, and great to bring meals to pot lucks! [mine was my grandmother's so I didn't buy it on Amazon and don't have a link for it!] I'd suggest just thinking long and hard about how and what you like to cook and decide what pieces you would actually need for this - which pieces are versatile and could be used in more than one way.

7) Square, stackable containers

This one isn't cooking related, per se, more so storage related. It comes in handy for coffee storage, sugar, flour, etc. I love that they are different sizes and that they stack on top of each other. The square shape makes them easy to store than round containers. They come in many different size packages (number of containers), but I got this four pack of Rubbermaid Modular Food Storage Cannisters!

I love the medium one because it perfectly fits the large bag of Community Coffee. And coffee is life, according to Chels. :)

8) Shelf risers

Keeping with the storage trend, these shelf risers are awesome! We use them in the pantry, kitchen & a few other cabinets. They allow you to utilize more of your storage space - be it food, plates or board games! The ones in our pantry are seriously life savers! Being able to store shorter things on top and larger boxes/containers on bottom makes our tiny pantry a lot easier to navigate!

9) Nesting Pots & Pans

One of the things that I knew we needed for the camper was pots & pans. The only question was what kind? Which ones would store the easiest & also be durable and long lasting? After a lot of research, we decided to go with this 10 Piece Magma Nesting Stainless Steel Pots & Pans set.

I love this set! Not only are they super durable and non-stick, the handles are also removable so I can use them to cook inside my Ninja Cooking System or even my Instant Pot! Very versatile and totally useful. Definitely worth the price!

10) Can Rack Organizer

This is another storage item. Having this Stackable Can Rack Organizer in my pantry has made life a lot easier. I like to keep the canned veggies on the bottom, pasta sauce jars on the top and the "other" in the middle shelf. You could also use this or the smaller version for canned drinks as well. It makes keeping the cans/jars organized and easy to get to a breeze! Seriously. If you don't have one, get one.

So these are my 10 favorite kitchen items that make full-time RV life so much simpler. What are yours? Log in to leave a comment or shoot us an email if you don't want to sign up! I'd love to know what your favorite RV kitchen items are, full-time or not!