Our Class B Kitchen

James and I love rolling in our Class B campervan, "Lance." Having such a small RV makes us incredibly mobile. We can do U-turns, fit in parking spaces, and even parallel park! But having our nimble little go-anywhere Travato means there are sacrifices we must make as well. They all have to do with space.

The kitchen is no exception. With very little storage for our cooking needs, everything we bring with us in the kitchen has to earn its space. Other factors come into play, too. We're healthy eaters, and that means certain gadgets are a priority. Plus, the amount of electricity required is a huge consideration. The less electricity, the better. While our Class B kitchen is always a work in progress, here are a few of the things that have made the cut and you'll currently find in our Travato's galley.

The Magic Bullet is a mini-blender where you actually blend right into a convenient mug, so you don't have to use separate glasses, which means less clean-up! We use it to make healthy smoothies when traveling, like our all-time favorite, the Coffee Peanut Butter Smoothie. The Magic Bullet takes very little space and only uses 250 watts max, so if you have a portable inverter, you can run it off that without needing any shore power or the generator.

We travel with the Cuisinart Mini-Prep, a tiny version of the traditional Cuisinart. Since we try to eat "raw" as much as we can, a food processor is pretty much a required staple in the RV. Not only do we use it for chopping veggies and fruits, we also make lots of raw energy bars with it. This was a big hit last year on the Driftless Adventure group RVing tour, since I made lots of fun bar recipes and handed them out to fellow RVers! The most popular was our Carrot Cake Energy bar Once you try it, you'll see why we travel with this gadget. And another bonus, just like the Magic Bullet it only uses 250 watts, so again, it'll work just fine off a portable inverter.

Just look how colorful and fun they are! But that's not all, silicone kitchen utensils serve a bigger purpose in our RV kitchen. THEY DON'T RATTLE. James goes a bit nutty whenever anything rattles as we're driving along. These silicone utensils keep things nice and peaceful for him. Which means peace for me, too. And there's more to love about silicone utensils. They don't harbor germs like wooden utensils can, and they're good to really high heat.

Did you know bagels actually have quite a bit of protein? James loves bagels, and they can be a good choice when you're about to head out for a full day of physical activity. But Mr. Persnickety won't eat them unless they're toasted. So, we did our research, and settled on this toaster by Rival. It's one of the smallest we could find, and only uses 750 watts. While this wouldn't work with a portable inverter, it works just fine off the aftermarket inverter we had installed in Lance.

Eggs are among one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. They have a little of almost every nutrient we need and despite what you've heard, they don't adversely affect blood cholesterol. Knowing this, we try to eat eggs frequently. One of the most convenient ways we've found to eat eggs when traveling is by using our handy little microwave egg cooker made by Nordic Ware. The egg cooker works like a charm, takes very little space, and cleans up easily. You can even get creative and add veggies to the egg cooker, and then once cooked plop it on a toasted whole wheat English muffin for a fantastic breakfast in the RV. Now aren't you glad you brought that toaster?

As you can see, these pots nest. That made them a no-brainer for our tiny space. We've been using this set by Magma for many years, since we brought them over from our last campervan. They're a high-quality set of pots with only a 12" footprint, and have held up great over the years. Magma cookware comes in several different finishes that include non-stick and a version that is magnetic for working with induction cooktops, so check carefully on which version is best for you.

We use these bowls made by Nordic Ware all the time in our RV meals, and again, love the "nesting" concept. The bowls are very sturdy and have a white silicone ring around the bottom so they're super grippy and won't move around when the RV's in motion. They're surprisingly lightweight, won't break if dropped, BPA-free, microwave-safe, and well, they're just perfect for our RV lifestyle.

We use our tea kettle every morning to heat water on the stovetop for coffee (and sometimes for oatmeal). We've tried a lot of different methods to make coffee in the RV, and eventually settled on Starbucks VIA instant coffee packs. I know, the coffee snobs everywhere are shuddering at this, but honestly, we really like the flavor! Plus, pour overs, French presses, coffee makers, all other methods mean messy grinds and clean-up. Not so with instant VIA packs! It works for us, is much simpler, and means we don't need any electricity at all to get our morning coffee fix when traveling.

So, there you go! Some of our most used gadgets in our small RV kitchen. Of course, I'm always making changes and thinking up my next cool kitchen purchase, so in a few months this list might possibly change. But for now, our kitchen is working great. Still, I'm always learning from other RVers and would love to hear your suggestions. If you've got some tips for me, I'm all ears. I'll check back for comments!

Stef