RV Kitchen Envy
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RV cooking has really been on my mind a lot lately. Which leads me to think about RV kitchens and, you know, one thing leads to another then next thing you know I’m obsessed with makeovers. Can I just say how much I love all of the Rv makeovers I’ve seen. Every style, every color palette. I look at them all and daydream about how those ideas would translate into my space. Lately, I’ve really been into the kitchen makeovers. One thing I’ve noticed is that most of my favorites are 5th wheels and I think I know why. Bigger kitchens. I love the islands with the lights hanging above and when the whole island is a different color from the rest of the cabinets, swoon.
Well, that’s not the reality of my RV.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Phaeton Menace. She’s a 40 foot class A with two big slides, so lots of room to move around and tons of storage space. But as far as RV kitchens go, it’s not the smallest but it’s certainly not the biggest either. It’s one strip, about eight feet long. (And not a very attractive one at the moment, but that’s another story.) That eight feet holds a double sink, a bit of open counter and the stove, so not a lot of room for cooking and it’s prep work. Which leads me to lots of thinking about cooking in this kitchen for the long term.
We’ve camped in this RV for years and had a couple smaller ones before but that was camping and with full timing on the horizon, I really need to evaluate how this will work. Hamburgers and steaks on the grill are great and all but that’s not what we eat every day at home.
So a question for you about RV cooking
How do we cook a casserole or a chicken or whatever in an RV? Especially one like mine with no conventional oven. And what if I want to bake?
I don’t have answers for it all yet but I have found one solution at home that is definitely coming on the road with us. The Instantpot. I love this thing so far. I mean, you can throw in frozen chicken breasts and some veggies with liquid and in about a half an hour you have a great dinner waiting. So it’s perfect for those days you forgot to pull something out of the freezer beforehand.
But I need more. I need crispy pizza crust and brownies.
Our kitchen does have one of those combo microwave/convection ovens so I know in theory, I can bake, but I haven’t yet had the patience to experiment. Like, will things brown and crisp like the regular oven? Will they heat evenly? And can I really put metal in there? Well, I have about a year to find out.
