Must-Have Kitchen Tools for Van Life

If you live in your adventure mobile – be it a van, bus, or trailer – you understand the importance of efficiency, collapsibility, and low watt equipment. Cooking can be a hassle because of limited space and power. Here is my list of how I’ve made cooking hassle free on the road.

If you’re thinking about transitioning to living life on the road – then this post is definitely for you. If you’re a pro – leave me a comment on instagram on your favorite – must have kitchen tools!

12 V Crock Pot

It took me over a year to try a 12 V Crock Pot – and I wish I would have tried it sooner. Why? I absolutely love crock pots, and I used to cook with them all the time. After 2 years on the road, I’ve started to feel limited on what I was cooking. Especially after living in a house again for a few months this past winter – I was reminded how amazing it is to have a normal kitchen.

This beauty of this device is that it has a car charger type plug so you can run it direct to your battery via 12V charger port. Side note – the ports are super easy to install and I will write a post about this in the future! Anything that charges from your battery will be more efficient than anything requiring 110 W from the inverter. Why? Inverting power from 12V to 110V requires energy to do so, therefore decreasing your overall energy available. AKA it drains your battery faster.

This may not be an issue on a sunny day, but if you’re near trees or have rain for more than a day – your battery will be struggling. Unless you have a generator of course, which I have opinions on lol. Or maybe you have more than 2 batteries, which most people don’t simply because they’re expensive and take up space.

Anyways – adding this to my tiny kitchen inventory has improved my quality of life. There’s just something about slow cooked chicken thighs or a nice chuck roast – that warms my heart and belly.

Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

Cast iron cookware should be in everyone’s home – homes on wheels and in the dirt. Non-stick pans shouldn’t be a thing – they’re full of nasty chemicals that leach into our food and bodies.

Get a cast iron pan, learn how to use it, and you’ll never look back. I love my 10″ high, 2″ deep cast iron pan because you can do a bit more with it and it’s less messy because of reduced splatter. It takes very little water to clean, and doesn’t need to be ‘spotless’ due to the nature of cast iron.

I also recommend getting a pot holder if you go with a bigger pan. Because of how heavy it is, it’s pretty hard for me to get a strong grip with one hand and turn it over high enough. I’ve tried the silicon and they’re too slippery to grip. Something like leather or oven mitt material will most definitely work better.

Stainless Steel Copper Bottom Pans

Similar to the above – ditch the non stick and learn how to use these. The trick is to get them hot enough that water doesn’t sizzle, it dances. Food becomes non-stick on these pans too if done right. Water is also helpful during the cooking process to prevent sticking. These are important tricks to learn when you have very limited water and grey tank space to wash dishes. You want the clean up to be as easy as possible.

It’s also super easy to reheat food this way. Adding water to the pan ensures the food doesn’t dry out, and makes cleaning a breeze!

Collapsible Measuring Cups

This one is obvious – collapsible things save space – even if it is just inches – that matters when you have a 2 inch wide shelf, or a 3 inch high drawer. I use mine just about every day to scoop blueberries into my smoothie and measure out the water. I also use one as Pumpkin’s food scooper.

NutriBullet Blender

This has to be the best blender to travel with because it’s extremely easy to clean, has a to-go lid, and it gets the job done while being low wattage. Not to mention the small size makes it easy to store away in a drawer or cabinet. I love mine and don’t feel bad about needing to turn on my inverter to use it. Since it’s only running for about 30 seconds total to blend a smoothie – the battery barely notices.

Berkey Water Filter

If you don’t know, most water we drink is filled with heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and many other nasty things – please look into it. Since humans are 70% water, drinking high quality water should be a priority and conscious decision for our health.

I’ve been using my Berkey Water Filter for probably 4 years now. I can see, feel and taste the difference of the filtration. They don’t take out EVERYTHING – but for a travel filter, they give me the peace of mind I need to not worry.

Collapsible Sink

I have my mom to thank for this next one on the list. I use my collapsible sink as an extra sink to clean fruit and veggies, transferring water, peeling pomegranates, and anything else I don’t want to use my main sink for. While I’m not using it, I store it in my window sill where it’s completely out of the way.

My Airstream only has a blank tank, so to conserve space I typically toss my grey water as I go. This makes it so much easier since I can’t pop out my actual sink to do that lol.

Oven Mitts

My oven mitts double as storage for small things that roll around while driving. Or things I may want to quickly access like a lighter or chapstick. No I don’t have an oven 🙁 , but these are still useful for the cast iron and cooking over fires.

Storage Hooks

Hooks are the equivalent of nails when you live in an aluminum can lol. I have several types of 3M hooks around my airstream that are useful for everything from my pot lids to my dirty laundry basket.

I started hanging my pot lids from a hook, and then from the handle of one, to the lip of the other. When they were in the cabinet with the pots and pans, they moved around too much and took up extra space unless they were perfectly arranged all the time. I got sick of having to constantly readjust – so I tried hanging them, and it’s been so much nicer! More organized and easier access to the pans.

Here is a cooking video I whipped up that showcase some of these items. Oh and one more.

If you want to learn more about me and Pumpkin, check out my about section!

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