We recently saw an article about people’s favorite electric appliances when RVing and it got me to thinking about the things we use that don’t require us to be plugged in at all. Would camping actually be StressLess Camping without 110vac power? I actually believe it would be. 

I will add a caveat to this that, while we aren’t plugged in to 110vac power, we will have the solar panels and batteries available so there’s that. Here’s to the power of batteries!

Coffee

Of course making coffee in the morning is an absolute essential. For a lot of people this is the first place where they draw the line. But I counter with the fact that you can make a great cup of coffee without ever plugging anything in. 

I should set the ground rules here and admit that I am a total coffee snob. I like the beans to have been ground moments before they get used in the brewing process and I like my coffee to actually taste like. Well. Coffee. 

I grew up in a German family whose taste in coffee is like much of the rest of Europe. Coffee should be strong and dark. Thus, the first step in a great cup of coffee are great beans ground right before they become that wonderful drink that powers our mornings. So a manual coffee grinder is also a must-have if you’re boondocking. There are so many choices for this including plenty made right here in the USA if that’s your preference. It is mine. 

As for the coffee maker itself I absolutely love the Aeropress. Yes, I’m surprised that I like it so much since it’s completely made of plastic but that hasn’t seemed to affect the quality of the final product. We have an article about the Aeropress here so I won’t drone on about that. 

Toaster

While on the subject of breakfast, one staple that exists on a lot of breakfast tables is toast. And right along with toast are things like bagels. Yet we’ve been toasting bread for decades over an open fire and we can continue to do so without electricity in our RVs. 

So this is an easy substitution with the typical campfire toaster that used to be a staple at campgrounds for decades. We have been using the one that Peggy grew up with but I was happy to see these simple and highly effective campfire toasters are still available on the Interwebs. The best thing is that if you’re making something like a breakfast casserole or other meal over the campfire you can set this right alongside that and have some great toast. 

I like these folding toasters, also, because they fold into a tiny disk so they’re not taking up a great deal of space in the RV when not in use. Take that, bulky electric toaster. 

Blender

Is a blender an essential item for boondocking? Well, that depends. If you have your battery-powered Bluetooth speaker and you happen to be listening to Jimmy Buffett you’re likely camping with me and, yes, you’ll need that blender. But what do you do if you don’t have 110vac power? There are options. And, yeah, you can make smoothies, too. 

As someone who loves things that do more than one thing I got to thinking about blenders, what with the Jimmy Buffett angle, and wondered if I could make a blender with a battery-powered drill. The answer is a resounding absolutely. 

What I discovered is that the base of an Oster blender will screw right onto a Ball Mason jar. You know, the kind home canners have been using for years. That that thinking, if a blender base can screw onto a Ball jar this gives you a lot of options. 

First of all you can pre-mix things to go into the Ball jars and freeze them. You could have breakfast smoothies pre-mixed, if you choose. But you can also pre-mix margaritas and keep them in the freezer with a lid on them. Put some fruit in the jar and close the lid. When it’s time to make the smoothie or margarita or whatever you want to blend just take it out of the freezer, replace the jar’s lid with the blender base and you’re ready to enjoy your drink right out of the jar!

From the drill you’ll simply need a 1/4” Allen driver to turn the blades of the blender base and you’re all set. We bring a lot of Ryobi tools with us that all use the same battery so we’re set for that sort of power. In fact we can even charge these batteries using our solar panels but they tend to last a while. Check our video on the subject below - this has been an elegantly simple solution. 

Fire Pit

Here in California we are finding an ever increasing number of restrictions on fires. Some campgrounds won’t allow wood fires at all, and others won’t allow you to burn anything you’ve brought with you to protect against the spread of invasive tree-destroying critters. 

Frankly, we’ve found it’s just easier to bring our propane fire pit with us and just use that. It’s instantly on when we light it and instantly off when we shut it off. I’ve adapted the propane feed from the trailer to the campfire so we don’t even have to bring extra propane bottles - we just use the propane on the RV. 

We looked around at grates we could carry with us so we could use to cook over the propane fire pit and, while there are a number of them that we’ve seen, they all seem really flimsy. So we had a local blacksmith make one for us. 

Our goal was to be able to hang our cast iron cookware over the fire but also use the grill as well. The tripod stand our friend made is very strong and also height-adjustable (see picture). With this we’ve grilled hash browns, baked a breakfast casserole, made a Dutch baby, made pizzas and much more. It’s proven to be a great accessory and one we are using more than we thought. 

Of course we also have one of our favorite campfire accessories in the Grubstick. For things like hot dogs, breakfast sandwiches, s’mores and more the Grubstick has long been a favorite of ours. 

Power on the go

There are some things that absolutely require power on the go. For example, CPAP machines but also possibly a notebook computer or something like that. If you’re looking for 110vac power on the go one of my favorite devices is Lion Energy’s Lion Cub GO. I like this because it offers a 110vac outlet good for up to 150 watts of power. There are also two USB power ports and even the typical “cigarette lighter” port on this device. Plus it also has an LED light. 

What I particularly like about this device is that it can be charged by the tow vehicle or RV, a generator and, best of all, a solar panel. If you’re like me and enjoy using silent solar power this might be a device worth looking into. 

Hair dryer

For others the breaking point of going off grid is drying one’s hair. Now if you’ve seen me you know that I don’t have an issue with this whatsoever because my follicles went on a permanent StressLess Camping trip decades ago. But Peggy seems to get along fine without a blow dryer. 

However I know there are those for whom the blow dryer might seem like an essential gadget. I can’t speak directly to this need, but I will say that L’Oreal might have some knowledge of hair and they actually have a post about drying your hair without a blow dryer. See? It is possible.