RV Accessories You Can’t Live WithoutKevinOphoff2024-10-12T11:23:00-06:00

RV Accessories You Can’t Live Without

On the first two pages of this series, Essential RV Accessories, and Essential Accessories for Your RV, we list RV accessories that are essential for every RVer like a bottle jack, fire extinguisher, and bedding.

In response to readers’ questions, I’ve created this list of RV Accessories You Can’t Live Without. While these products may not fall within the category of absolute necessities, they sure make life on the road more enjoyable!

On this page we will cover Outdoor Seating, Cooking Essentials, and Pet Care.

Favorite Outdoor Seating

A good chair is essential for enjoying your time around the campfire. Those $15.00 specials your see at the door of the big box store seem like a great value until you sit in them for any length of time.

You have limited storage space, so they need to be exactly right. You also have your specific requirements for the chair, like stargazing, shade included, or a tote carrier.

We delve into the Best Outdoor Seating on this page of the website. In the picture here you see my “Zero gravity” lounge chair that fully reclines so I can watch the night sky.

The picture was taken in one of my favorite boondocking sites. Boondocking requires a few additional accessories like an outdoor table and fire grate as these things are not provided. See my page on Boondocking for more information.

Cooking, Dish Washing, and Utensils

Newbies’ first concern seems to be keeping their dishes from sliding around in the cabinets while traveling. We put ours in plastic tubs within the cabinets to keep them safe and together. Our “fine dinnerware” is reusable plastic plates and cups. More often we use paper plates. Many campers use Corelle™ plates because they feel like sturdy china plates but are unbreakable.

This outdoor portable folding camp sink keeps the cleanup mess outside.

Stay away from metal or tin cups as they can burn your lips if filled with coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Use insulated coffee mugs instead.

We also have a few cafeteria trays because some of the campgrounds or resorts have chuckwagon suppers or a pancake breakfast. We find a sectioned cafeteria trays makes carrying the food easier.

Utensils are different. When we downsized, we kept the good flatware for the house and put the everyday utensils in the RV. Good quality utensils and cooking tools like you have at home make RV cooking way easier. Sharp knives too. We struggled for too long with poor-quality knives. Having useful sharp knives makes cooking much less of a chore.

Other Basic Cooking Tools

A Good 12″ Non-stick Frying Pan
Collapsible Dish Drainer (Can also be used to keep dishes organized and safe in the cupboard while traveling).

A saucepan and a bigger pot with lids should round out your cooking tools. A “nesting” set of cookware would be even better because it saves a lot of cabinet space.
Can Opener
Slotted Mixing Spoon
Spatula
Cutting Board
Extra Long Tongs keep your hands away from the heat when flipping that steak or adjusting coals.
A metal mixing bowl with a tight fitting lid keeps potato chips from being squashed and stops birds from snatching them. I can make gobs of coleslaw and keep leftovers fresh by just snapping on the lid.

Unbreakable Dishes

Weekend warriors are fine with paper plates and plastic utensils but if you are living full-time in your RV you might want something a little nicer. But, it needs to be unbreakable to withstand the rigors of traveling.

Corelle is what you want. Made from 80% recycled glass it’s doubled glazed and takes a pounding. When I was a kid Pyrex dishes were all the rage. In 1998 Pyrex spun off from it’s parent company Corning and was renamed Corelle. Pyrex concentrates on bakeware, prepware, and food storage.

Corelle has a good selection of patterns, shapes and package deals. Visit the Corelle Amazon store for details.

Coffee Maker

Everyone has their favorite type, from a French Press to the old cowboy percolator pot. Some take their drip coffee maker from home.

I like drip coffee, but don’t like running a generator in rustic campgrounds in the early morning. So I use the iconic enamel percolator on the propane stove. The only downside is it takes a long time.

Coleman makes this propane-powered drip coffee maker (see by clicking on the link), but it’s pricey. Coleman also has a great one that runs on the burner of your camp stove, this stove top drip coffee maker. Drip coffee without running the generator. Sweet.

After going to all that trouble to make a pot of coffee, stick in a metal thermos to keep it warm.

For many other ways to make good coffee while camping or RVing, visit this blog post: How to make great coffee off-grid camping.

Your Favorite RV Cooking Appliances

Everyone has their favorite appliances, but in our reader comments the one that comes up most often is the

Ninja Foodie Digital Air Fryer

The Ninja Foodie digital air fry oven packs a lot of features and cooking capacity in a small countertop footprint. Air fry, air roast, air broil, bake, bagel, toast, dehydrate, and keep warm, all in one appliance. When you’re done cooking, reclaim your counter space by simply flipping the oven up and away to clean and store.

See more clever, useful, space-saving cooking appliances on this page of the website.

Portable Countertop Ice Maker

Another kitchen appliance that’s on everyone’s list is a countertop ice maker. Jump to this page to see details on the best ice maker we found.

Cooking Outside

Outdoor cooking is an important skill for RVers and tiny house owners. Keeping the smell, moisture, and spatters outside are just a few of the benefits. But it does require a unique set of tools and equipment.

The BBQ grill is essential outdoor cooking equipment.

I also have fun cooking and baking over the fire. This requires fire grates, Dutch Ovens, and specific utensils.

See my page on Outdoor Cooking and Dutch Oven Baking for more details.

Newentor Weather Station Wireless Indoor Outdoor Multiple Sensors, Digital Atomic Clock Weather Thermometer, Temperature Humidity Monitor Forecast Weather Stations with Backlight

This handy information center will help you keep track of the temperature and humidity in three crucial areas of your RV: Within the skirting under your RV, the wet bay where the plumbing is, as well as outside and inside.

It has an accurate atomic clock with two alarms, and gives a simple weather forecast too.

The display is quite large and you can label the remote with creative labels included.

Humidity is always a concern for RV owners because of mold and water damage issues. See more about that on this page.

This will also alert you to potential freezing of your water pipes so you can take preemptive action.

RV Pet Care Essential Accessories

Your pooch will need a safe, shady place to watch the world go by. See my page on How Best To Provide For Your Dog In A Campground for many details and good ideas provided by readers.

This uniquely designed safety harness, shown here, will allow you to use your vehicles seat belts to safely restrain your pet while driving.

Simple things will make all the difference to both you and your pet. Like this spill proof water dish. The water dish is the first thing to get dumped over.

Pet Tracking Systems

I live near BLM land with plenty of campgrounds and dispersed camping. We frequently see lost dog posters around town, so I strongly recommend a pet tracking collar when you are traveling. See my page comparing the different types of dog tracking systems.

Pet Home Monitoring Systems

If you must leave your dog in your RV alone, there are many ways to keep track of the temperature, air-conditioning, and other environmental factors. See my page discussing the various types of Pet Monitoring Systems.

TV and Internet Accessories

We have many pages on this website about TV, WiFi, Internet, and streaming:

TV Reception for a Tiny House or RV

On this page we cover ways for LIVE TV reception like satellite, cable, and antennas. We compare DISH Network and DirecTV satellite packages. Finally, we look at powering this equipment with an inverter, generator, etc.