RV Kitchen Hacks - tips for tiny kitchens
A folding table that can adjust to counter height adds a remarkable amount of prep space to a tiny kitchen.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but camper kitchens typically have less space than home kitchens. Surprise! But we’ve got these tiny kitchen hacks to help you make food and meal prep a StressLess Camping experience.
Many of us struggle with storage space in our RVs. Space can be at a premium, and people get really creative in making the camper kitchen as comfortable as the one at home. Most RVs, though, don’t offer the cabinet space or the countertop space that we are accustomed to. So we improvise. We downsize. We modify our cooking habits. We do without some things (gasp).
We prep meals and ingredients at home before a trip. We divvy out smaller portions of our staples into stackable containers (yay, Tupperware!) that fit into the camper kitchen cabinets easier.
We shop on Amazon for over-the-door paper towel holders, magnetic spice jars, stick-on hooks to hang our towels and potholders, free-standing shelves to increase storage space in tall cabinets, collapsible silicone storage bowls, teeny ice trays, and the list goes on.
We buy colorful plastic baskets at the dollar store to organize food, dishes, and utensils.
We build multi-use cutting boards that double as stove covers or sink covers to turn those appliances into countertops.
We have a plastic adjustable-height folding table. The tallest setting is counter height. The table fits next to the sink, so we have more prep space. Of course, when we are done cooking we have to clean it off and fold it back up (or take it outside) out of the way. But it sure is handy when we have a lot of ingredients to spread out.
The RV cookware we use is also designed specifically to be compact, taking as little precious space as possible while still offering great quality foodies will love.
We make our coffee one cup at a time, with an AeroPress (which I like as much, or better, than the coffee at home). We wash our dishes as we go – there is no room to stack them up for later. We simplify the meal plan. We stir with a spoon instead of a mixer. We estimate measurements instead of using a separate measuring cup for each item…
Instead of bringing condiments in bottles, a friend of ours suggested using fast food condiment packs which need no refrigeration and also save space.
A friend of ours suggested using the condiments you’d find at a fast food place instead of the bottles we’re used to. StressLess Camper Kory Disney gets all the condiments in fast food style packaging which minimizes the amount of space they take and keeps them fresh without taking up fridge space.
I used to live in a studio apartment. Of course, I really didn’t cook for myself much so I didn’t need many supplies, but I do love my gadgets. At home I have all the gadgets there are. For the RV I try to find multi-taskers. Did you know that you can flip an egg with the same spatula that you use for a pancake?? Hahaha – ok maybe that’s not a good example of a multi-tasker. Cut a carrot with the same knife as cutting a steak? (Knives are a good example of our downsizing – we own a lot of knives!) How about using an empty beer bottle as a rolling pin? A pot can be a mixing bowl. You can grate butter for biscuits with cheese crater instead of chopping it up (this actually works really well and I’ll be taking that tip back into the house).
I also learned in my studio apartment that I could have more of the things I wanted, if I organized them well. Tony is less than pleased that I know that… but it was good practice for RV life!
Let’s face it, the more stuff we carry, the more gas we burn. So it pays to be organized and thrifty in what we pack into our tiny RV cupboards.
