10 RV Cooking Essentials that are Great for Toddlers
Cooking in (or outside) an RV is a ton of fun! Doing this full time, we prepare A LOT of meals in our camper. While everyone thinks of cooking outside over the fire while camping, that is not always the case when you do this full time and with toddlers. We often cook in our outdoor kitchen - to keep an eye on kids, to enjoy the outdoors, and to keep the camper cool in the hot summer months - but we also cook inside a lot. Space is limited in an RV so choosing wisely on the cooking tools to bring with you is super important. We’ve compiled 10 items we can’t live without in our RV kitchen!
Blender
We love smoothies because they are quick, easy and can be made on the go! A lot of times it is a great way to get some power greens into our toddlers who don’t always eat their veggies. Blenders can also substitute as a food processor for making dressings and marinades. We love our Nutribullet because it is compact, lightweight and easy to clean. Sometimes we’ll have to make multiple batches of smoothies, but we don’t find that terribly inconvenient.
We really like this blueberry smoothie, but we make a few tweaks. We use vanilla flavored greek yogurt, pink Himalayan sea salt, and super greens powder.
Instant Pot
We know lots of people that don’t have Instant Pots, but we are big Instant Pot people! We love the ability to cook meals in one pot very quickly for our toddlers. There are so many meals you can cook in these! We were surprised at first to see how well pasta can be cooked with the rest of your ingredients - no boiling in a separate pot! Our go tos are Mexican chicken, cheesy chicken broccoli and rice, sausage ziti, chicken and dumplings, and pot roast - but that list really goes on and on. We love our 8 quart Instant Pot Duo! Even if you don’t think you need it, we recommend the 8 quart over the 6 quart - we like to make more when we do cook and have freezer meals prepared.
Side Note: We’ve recently learned this can function as a sterilizer! We used to have a separate sterilizer for bottles that we definitely wouldn’t have space for in my camper. Get an Instant Pot and you can conquer dinners and bottle sterilizing!
Air Fryer
This is another tool that may seem like excess in a camper, but we seriously can’t live without it. We use this daily and even more often than our cooktop and oven! We cook chicken breasts (for our favorite chicken, bacon, avocado salad), shrimp, bacon, roast veggies, pizza, and of course, chicken nuggets and fries. We love our Instant Vortex Air Fryer which is 6 quarts, but if we could purchase one again, we’d get the 9 quart (the footprint isn’t much larger). We love the design of this air fryer and the window with light so we can check on the food as it’s cooking without opening the unit.
Toaster
We are a big toast family! Hubby makes sourdough bread that is phenomenal toasted and the kids like raisin bread, bagels, english muffins, etc. There is nothing like a buttery slice of toast and it’s a go to for our toddlers. We like the Cuisinart Classic Toaster because of the additional button functionality, but we haven’t actually upgraded our camper toaster to that yet. We had the 4 piece at our home, but we left that with our renters as our home was rented furnished.
Coffee Maker
This is for Mom and Dad, of course! We can’t survive a day with toddlers without coffee! Black and Decker makes a 12 cup Thermal Coffee Maker (that does NOT have a glass mug!) which we like. We have the 8 cup actually, but will be upgrading to the 12 cup soon as our auto feature hasn’t been working lately.
Foldable Step Stool
Our toddlers like to be involved in the kitchen and we like to encourage that so a step stool is super necessary. We really like our folding step stool as it can tuck away in our limited space. Be careful as we have experienced some pinched fingers (and bellies)!
Locking Trash Can
A locking trash can is important in a camper with toddlers to deter them from opening/playing with trash and to ensure no trash spills in case of an unfortunate turnover in the camper during travel. We keep our trash emptied during travel but you never know what may get put in the trash without your seeing it.
Food Thermometer
When my husband went to culinary school, there were entire classes about cleanliness, bacteria and food safety. Thus, we are vigilant about ensuring our food is cooked to the correct temperature and is safe for eating. We use a digital thermometer that has a rotating sensor, auto on/off feature, is magnetic and waterproof.
Reusable Sponge
So much bacteria can enter your kitchen sponge, especially when you solely hand wash dishes and handle raw meats. We had always stuck to sanitizing or replacing our kitchen sponge twice a month, but in our camper we wanted something sustainable and reusable. We purchased Norwex EnviroSponges and like their non-abrasive ability to remove tough food residues and that they are machine washable. We are able to wash them weekly in our combo unit with our towels.
Utensils
In our opinion, having utensils in the kitchen, that work, are game changers. It removes potential frustrations from using the wrong tool for the job and can sometimes prevent an injury. A few of our favorite things are:
Sharp knife: We use a Mercer Culinary 8” Chef’s Knife, Mercer Culinary Steak Knifes, and Mama’s Great Bread Knife (for hubby’s amazing sourdough!)
Knife sharpener: The Mercer mentioned above is a high quality knife that holds it’s edge, but the bouncing around in the camper will dull it over time. Keep your knife razor sharp with this adjustable sharpener. Plus it looks like a fish when it is hung up - the kids love it!
Silicon spatula: We use this silicon spatula for basically everything! It says its for cookies, but it makes a world of difference as it forms along the edge of your cookware. We use it for eggs, stews, instant pot meals, casseroles, etc.!
Silicon tipped tongs: In addition to the spatula, we wouldn’t be able to cook without these! We use them to turn chicken, bacon, nuggets, etc. and they are safe on our cookware.
Nice can opener: We like a smooth edge can opener and we are partial to Oxo.
Drop us a comment if we’ve missed any of your RV cooking must haves!
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