Since moving into our bus, we’ve been reacquainting ourselves with the joys of kitchen gadgets. In our previous super tiny trailers, we didn’t have much room for such things.
With a little bit more space, we’ve been enjoying picking things out that match our lifestyle and serve meaningful functions in our household.
All of the below items are products we’ve purchased and are loving. And we consider them all ideal for RVing life – whether it be for how they save power, maximize storage space or just add to our mobile joy!
So we now present you the kitchen gadgets we love that you, or the RVer in your life, might like to add to a holiday wish list.
And oh heck, they’ll probably all work in stationary homes too.
Household
Amazon.com – BLACK DECKER Pivot Vacuum
This rechargeable vacuum SUCKS! Very compact and awesome. We got it for the Travato, but it always ends up coming with us as move between the boat and bus too.
Kitchen Gadgets
Amazon.com : 6 Cup Rice Cooker
We have two of these – one for the RV, one for the boat. Love that it’s NOT lined with teflon.
Beverages
SodaStream Soda Maker
We love our soda maker for making our own fizzy water. Perfect for RVs – needs no power, saves money and saves storage space for big bottles. And now that Bed, Bath & Beyond carries the carburetors & soda mixes, so much easier to restock as we tra
One thing I can’t live without is my Aeropress coffee maker. Perfect for making just a cup or 2 at a time. I like it so much better than a French Press
Forgot to comment on this post. Lots of EXCELLENT christmas ideas here. Another kitchen gadget we love (altho’ it’s more of an old-time thing) is the Wok. Use it for everything from soups to curries.
Nina
I love cooking in a wok too! I need to remember to add an induction capable one to my own holiday wish list! They are so incredibly versatile.
Interesting list. I think we cook and eat differently. One thing I abandoned when I went on the road was a small rice cooker, even if I wind up buying another there are other things I’ll regret loosing more. One thing that might sound good until you see it is colapsable measuring cups — they don’t stack, so use more room than a stack of cheap measuring cups.
When I first hit the road, I too gave up my rice cooker… and really hadn’t give it much thought. When we were in the USVI over this past winter tho, we ran out of propane for our stove and it took weeks to get re-filled… leaving us with no way to heat food up. But I was able to Prime over a small rice-cooker on Amazon as an alternative way to cook. It was a nice reminder of just how versatile they are. We’ve used them for making soups, steaming veggies, sautÁ©ing potatoes & onions, etc.
Huh, measuring cups. Haven’t had a set of those in years. I honestly haven’t needed to measure anything, I cook by intuition 🙂
Our kitchen is primarily vegetarian and gluten-free, so our eating/cooking style is not exactly what is considered ‘normal’.
Great list of gadgets! One that I would definitely suggest is our Progressive Collapsible Tupperware. These things are genius: http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-Collapsible-Prep-White/dp/B001ESAIIQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322395501&sr=8-1
Have you tried Thermos Shuttle Chef? They are quite expensive here in Aussie and no good if you don’t like meals consisting of high levels of liquid – eg stews, curries etc but after five mins on the stove top the food cooks in its own heat over 5-8 hours so effectively during the day if you’re on the road. A potential saving on gas or other fuels. X
I’m going to miss having a rice cooker when I go RVing. Sadly it belongs to the roommate – not that I’ll have much room anyway since I’ll be in one of those tiny trailers. 😉
With the SodaStream what brand of soda mixes do you like? I had a home made soda at a party once and the flavor was pretty bad, it was suppose to be cola, had a weird aftertaste. I’m not sure what the brand had been but I’m thinking they’re not all created equal. 🙂
We’ve tried out a few of the SodaStream brand soda mixes.. but we’re honestly not much of soda people. We drink it straight up or with a little bit of fruit juice. But we do like their energy drink, and use that quite a bit.
If we had stayed in the Oliver, we would have made room for a rice cooker. When we had ours built – we left out the microwave to get extra storage. We also carried a SodaStream in the trailer too 🙂 You’ll be amazed with how much space a Casita will give you, they’re really well designed.
the plasic glass is the most practical way to bring wine glasses with you on a trip. they always get lost or brake!
its also good to use them indoor, when there is hyperactive children around you
Hah.. if we have hyperactive kids around us, we’re totally in the wrong place.
Try this in your rice cooker:
Hoppin’ John
1 can black eyed peas (rinsed)
1 can Rotel (drained slightly)
1/2 cup rice
1-1/2 cups water
4 veggie sausage links, cooked and crumbled
1 Tbsp Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning (or to taste)
1 each tsp garlic powder and onion powder
1/2 tsp each hot sauce and celery flakes (optional)
Put rice in the bottom of cooker and cover with the water. Set rice cooker and walk away. About half way through the rice cooking time, dump in everything else and stir well to combine. Serves 4-6.
The induction cooktop is cool. I saw the video early of the cook off. That was neat too. Four adults watching water boil and getting a kick out of it…
Davy
Yup.. us geeks are strange that way 🙂
Wow, my Amazon Wish List is getting bigger now! That Ninja blender and Induction Cooktop look especially neat. I’m a SodaStream addict too and posted it as one of my RVing “Favorite Things” a few weeks ago. One of my other favorite kitchen items is my $7 Crock Pot. Not high-tech at all, but great to fill the rig on a cold winter day with smells of a delicious dinner cookin’!
We are absolutely loving the induction cooktop. Not only is it quicker to cook … we get more control over temperature changes, and it adds no heat to the interior of the coach (great in the summer!).
Here’s a video we & some friends did comparing an induction cooktop to a regular electric cook-top: