One of my favorite things about my camper is the kitchen. I really like the bathroom too, but it’s more of a love/hate relationship in there. Everything about the kitchen makes camping so much more fun. There’s just nothing like watching other campers stand in the rain with an umbrella over their charcoal while you push the button on your microwave. Although there are many features that make my camper kitchen feel like home, it’s much different than my non-rolling kitchen. The limitations of an RV kitchen can make it difficult to stock, but I have learned some dos and don’ts of stocking a camper kitchen.
~New Kitchen Gear-I love these dishes~
~Don’t try to recreate your home kitchen in your camper. There just isn’t enough space.
~Do make a list of the kitchen supplies and utensils you use at home for one week. A dry erase board on your refrigerator is a great place to jot down the tools you use at each meal. This is an important step in stocking your camper or RV kitchen because it forces you to stock up for the cook that you actually are rather than the cook you want to be. While I might dream of needing a pasta extruder and a mandolin for every meal, the truth is that I am more of a can opener kind of cook and need to plan accordingly.
~Do take a look through your home cabinets before your make your shopping list. My home cabinets are certainly overstocked with cookware and tools that I can move to the camper without needing to spend any money.
~Don’t forget to measure your space, including your oven, countertops, and cabinets. Finding out that your favorite pizza pan won’t fit in your teeny tiny oven just as you’re putting your dinner into to cook is very discouraging. Ask me how I know.
~Do plan to shop at a generic store, like Walmart or Target, before you hit the specialty camping stores. Products designed for especially for campers can be lifesavers, but they are usually more expensive. If you can find some of these items in a standard store, you can save some cash.
~Do give your camper kitchen a test drive. Take it out for a long weekend and make sure your supplies and space are workable. You’ll likely find a few things you need to add to your drawers and cabinets.
I have never used a camper before. I grew up camping in tents and gave that up as soon as I was an adult and could afford a hotel room. However, you make it appealing. I like how you expand your opportunities to travel when you save money by bringing the hotel and your own kitchen with you. You're going to have a great adventure!
It was so hard trying to fit all my cooking gear into my RV kitchen! One thing that I really appreciated while we traveled in our RV was the roll of non-slip liner that I picked up to keep my dishes from sliding off the shelves at every turn. Very helpful!
I also loved my cutting board that fit over my sink, essentially adding to my counter space. I always make a huge mess when cooking and spread things over every inch of the counters at home and that doesn't change in the camper. I'll squeeze out an extra inch here or there anyway I can.
I love those light weight cutting mats,I bought mine at Walmart they come in different colours. So I used red for cutting meats green for veggies etc. And it saves on extra we it in motorhome.
You can also find them at Dollar Tree.
I stocked most of my kitchen RV by buying from The Dollar Tree. It was so much cheaper than anywhere else and with the minimal use the utensils, coffee mugs, etc get it makes sense. Nothing has broken yet!
Your camper looks fancy!!!! I want it!
Now I totally want a camper so I can buy cute dishes! 🙂 Great tips, especially the "make a list of kitchen supplies" one. As someone who once forgot a can opener while car camping (when almost everything we were eating was in cans), I can attest that a list would have been SUPER HANDY!
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When we bought our camper I had to stock it with pampered chef items. We have a microwave and I can not live without my micro bowls. We do most of our cooking on the grill outside. I also take a crock pot and liners with us. Can’t live without my crock pot either. A electric fry pan has come handy too.
I stocked most of my kitchen RV by buying from The Dollar Tree. It was so much cheaper than anywhere else and with little use the utensils, coffee mugs, etc get it makes sense. Nothing has broken yet!
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Great camping tips. Btw I love your camper 🙂
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Handy tip: wine glass holder under cabinet for wine glasses. Gives you cabinet space. We also removed our table and built a bar with doors and we store the bar stools under the bar when on the road. Gives us more floor space.
Another good place to buy items for your RV is BIG LOTS (or ODD LOTS depending on where you live) You can get good quality items that won’t break the bank and if something happens to them you won’t be upset. We bought our first RV (a pop up) back in 1999. I purchased a set of cookware and a set of knives from BIG LOTS and we are now on our 4th (they keep getting bigger) RV 16 years later and I am still using the same pots and pans I bought n 1999. They are also great for towels and linens etc and you might even find some decent plastic dishes not to forget all your little kitchen tools and knife sets.
When purchasing dishes for your RV, consider CORELLE it is break resistant, nests together tightly in the cupboard and doesn’t jingle down the road. Sometimes you can find it at garage sales or thrift stores.
Also a pots and pans set that nest together is essential for space saving.
If you do dry camping or boon docking, buy a thermos pump or carafe. You can use the generator and coffee pot to make your coffee and then poor the hot liquid in the carafe, so you can turn off the generator and coffee pot. saves on the noise, gas and energy. Get one of those little circulation fans for the refrigerator. It will work much better as they don’t come with an internal fan to blow the cold air around the food like your refrigerator at home does. Camping World and almost any RV store has them.
One of the 2 best food items I buy when camping are the shakeable pancake mix. you just add water and shake then pour and the other one is I buy the little land o lakes mini tubs of butter. No mess and takes up less space.
I highly recommend going to the dollar store and taking a slow walk down every isle when your are stocking your camper for the first time. It’s like stocking a second home so be frugal. They have everything in those stores, from paper towels to dustpans to flashlights!
I LOVE RVing!
Thanks Julie. I just hit Dollar Tree and found several useful items for stocking our first RV.
We road trip in a luxurious 16 foot travel trailer with a small dinette slide out. It’s very well designed, making the most of limited space. Because our trailer is small, the kitchen is very compact, but functional. So, I’ve had to be creative when stocking my camp kitchen.
We use vintage Corelle ware I picked up at Goodwill that matches the interior design of our trailer. There are no drawers in our camp kitchen, so all utensils stand in a travel safe crock style container in a small cupboard above the sink with the dinnerware, my cookbook and tablecloth; this works fabulously.
We have two large cavernous cupboards below our cooktop and small single sink. One stores all our cookware, including a crock pot, microwavable cookware, nesting pots and pans (we use a backpacking set to save on space), toaster, electric hot pot, cutting sheets, serving tray. I have stocked this cupboard with collapsible items where possible, such as a food sieve/drainer, mixing bowls, measuring cups and measuring spoons. I also store all my cooking utensils, including cutting knives in plastic storage bin with a lid in this cupboard as well.
Why a toaster and an electric hot pot? These are invaluable for making quick on-the-go breakfasts with very little clean up. Instead of a coffee pot, the electric hot pot heats water really fast, and then we use coffee singles and tea bags for our morning brews, and the rest of the hot water is used to make instant oatmeal or boiled eggs. Likewise, the toaster is an indispensable tool cooking up a quick gotta-hit-the-road-at-dawn breakfast . . . peanut butter toast, leftover waffles or pancakes, bagels, etc.
In this cupboard, I also store all my foil, plastic wrap, waxed paper, and various sizes of plastic zip storage bags. These boxes stand upright in a couple of heavy duty plastic magazine organizers, so everything is easily accessible. These organizers take up a small foot print in this cupboard and make good use of top to bottom space.
The other cupboard is our pantry. I utilize all the space in this cupboard, front to back, top to bottom (so no space is wasted), by storing my food items in see-through plastic storage bins with lids. The bins fit perfectly when stacked in the space and are easily removed to access what I need quickly. The space is more than adequate to store well over two weeks of food supplies for two adults.
Our smaller third cupboard, at floor level, is great storage for our cleaning supplies and tools, corralled in a regular dishpan. This is stacked with two other hard-sided dishpans, used for dishwashing, rinsing, laundry, etc. I’ve learned you can never have too many dishpans while camping! They can double as buckets, serving trays, storage containers, and sometimes used for corralling nuts, bolts, and camper and auto parts, when fixing a breakdown while on the road. A collapsible dish drainer slides nicely into the cupboard along with an old Kleenex box stuffed with plastic grocery bags we use for trash, a box of kitchen trash bags and a box of garden waste trash bags.
Cat – thank you for such a great bunch of information. I loved your reply as much as the post itself. Dreaming of an RV still but your info is very inspiring.
What is the rack behind the stove? where did you get it?