No one wants to eat poorly when they’re on vacation, but the limitations of an RV kitchen can make cooking difficult. The appliances don’t always measure up to the appliances used for cooking at home. Pantry and refrigerator space can be severely limited, and the limited workspace can present a major challenge as well. Luckily, with just a few tips, you can make the process much easier.
Read on to learn our best tips for cooking in your RV. If you’re looking for an RV with more kitchen space, stop by Country Camping Leisure Products. We’re located near Kelowna and Kamloops, British Columbia, in Salmon Arm, and we proudly serve the area of Vernon, British Columbia.
If you want to make the most out of the limited space you have in an RV, try using other types of appliances besides just the stove and oven. The microwave gives you many cooking options, from steaming vegetables to reheating leftovers. A slow cooker doesn’t even have to go on the counter (it can sit on the dining table or some other flat surface) but it will give you the ability to cook an entire meal in one pot.
Food waste can be bulky, heavy, and a waste of space. Try preparing meals ahead of time and then freezing it flat in plastic bags. By making and freezing your own meals, you can have control over everything that goes into your food and be confident that it will taste good. Not only is it more space efficient than cooking every meal from scratch in your RV, but it’s also more delicious than just buying frozen entrees from the store.
With limited workspace, you have to make the most out of every bit of workspace you have. Having dirty dishes everywhere is a bad use of space. Instead, make sure you clean throughout the cooking process. Plus, when you’re done cooking and eating, you’ll have significantly fewer dishes to clean up. All you’ll have to worry about is the tableware and whatever serving dishes you used.
If cooking starts to become a stressful activity, try eating simpler foods that involve less cooking. It’s not even particularly hard to make dinner the first meal in which you actually turn on the stove. At breakfast, eat more fresh fruit, yogurt, or cereal. For lunch, try eating more sandwiches and salads. You can warm up soup in the microwave if you are really craving something warm and comforting.
Batch cooking is a great technique for cooking in an RV because it allows you to cook much more efficiently. Batch cooking refers to the process of cooking large batches of a given item and then saving the leftovers to be used in another dish. This isn’t about simply making enough food to have leftovers. The main advantage of batch cooking is that it allows you to repurpose the leftover food for something equally as satisfying as the first dish. For example, grill a whole salmon one night for dinner. Then, use the leftovers in a salmon salad or salmon chowder the next day. This technique works well for proteins, but you can use it for vegetables, too. A large amount of mashed potatoes can be turned into shepherd's pie the next day.
If you’re running into space constraints at the stove and oven, do more cooking outdoors. By using the grill and the campfire, you can open up multiple burners and the oven inside. You’ll also get the added advantage of adding the wonderful flavor of the grill or wood fire to your food.
Hopefully, some of these tips have given you some ideas for cooking in your RV. If you’re looking for a new RV with a better kitchen, stop by Country Camping Leisure Products. We’re located near Kelowna and Kamloops, British Columbia, and we proudly serve the areas of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, and Vernon, British Columbia.