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How to avoid a mountain of dishes in an RV (or small kitchen) sink
Hi, there. My name is Matt. I’ve been living in an RV for a year and a half, traveling around the country to see friends, family, and whatever National Park happens to catch my eye, all while working remotely as a web developer. It’s been a blast, and I like to think I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to manage life with minimal space.
Full-time RV living is all about doing the most with what you have available. While space-saving features have improved over the years in most rigs, there still isn’t much room available for a monster kitchen sink or acres of counter top.
Consider that by the time you’ve chopped and sauteed an onion (a common cooking chore for many recipes), you may have dirtied some or all of the following:
- 1 chef’s knife
- 1 cutting board
- 1 medium bowl (to hold the chopped onion, especially if you need the cutting board for something else)
- 1 butter knife (to cut a pat of butter)
- 1 wooden spoon (to stir the onions)
- 1 medium skillet (for sautéing)
It quickly adds up, and before you know it there are tiny mountain climbers ascending the newly formed Mount Dirtydish that sprung up in your sink. Most of these things can go into your dishwasher if you live in a standard sized home, but since the majority of RVs don’t have that luxury, you end up stuck with the space and convenience of studio apartment-style living.
How did I manage to sanely live in an RV while still cooking for myself? It’s all about simplification and multi-tasking cookware.
There are recipes out there that utilize no fewer than three different pots and pans to sauté, steam, boil, or poach your way to a delicious meal. I’ve pretty much thrown these recipes out because they are a one-way trip to a stack of dirty dishes three feet high. I realized that I needed to start creating meals that use the same cookware to prepare multiple ingredients.
I love things like crockpots and enameled cast iron cookware that can go from stove top to oven to table. You can do all your cooking in one pot, thereby eliminating extra cookware from your sink at the end of the meal. Fried rice or hash also make for great meals because they are so easy and because you can do all the cooking in one pan. Simple, time saving, and I’m not left with a mountain of dishes when all is said and done.
In addition to one-pot meals, I also commit to using just one knife — usually a good chef’s knife — that I rinse off between chopping and carving, if necessary for sanitation.
You can easily do the same to keep Mount Dirtydish from taking over your kitchen, whatever its size.
20 comments posted
Posted by Trent Hamm - 01/04/2011
Enameled cast iron cookware is a great thing. I am slowly converting our pots and pans to Le Creuset, but they’re expensive, so it’s a slow process.
Posted by Charlie Park - 01/04/2011
The one pot / one knife approach is really great, although I’ve found that it helps when the chef is also the dishwasher. Otherwise, it can lead to … tension.
I’d love to read more about your traveling and remote web development. Do you have a blog or anything?
Posted by Charlie Park - 01/04/2011
(I meant … besides this one, of course!)
Posted by Hillary - 01/04/2011
I could really use some 1 pot / 1 knife / 1 meal recipes. Please do share!
Posted by k8et - 01/04/2011
My husband and I are hoping to full-time for a year – I’d love to see more posts on RV cooking, and I also second the request if you have another blog, please share the link!
Posted by Sara Tetreault - 01/04/2011
This list resembles our kitchen camping gear. Cast iron skillets are great for stove to oven also. They can also be tucked in the camping gear and no worries about chipping their finish.
Posted by Julie - 01/04/2011
Why does the onion need to go in a bowl before it can go into the pan? (Are RV bowls better or something? Do they have an advantage over free-standing kitchen cereal bowls? I jest, but do you see my point?) Eliminate the butter knife also. If your wooden spoon is clean, use it for the butter (You might need to set the butter out a few minutes prior to cooking so it can soften a bit.)Have the butter melting slowly while you’re chopping the onion. Then — zoop! — non-cutting side of the knife slides the cut heavenliness right into the pan. Two less things to wash! Yay!
Posted by Jonathan R - 01/04/2011
Great post! My suggestions are to start meal prep by putting away the dry and clean dishes, as well as other extraneous stuff that winds up on the counter (keys, mail, hats & gloves, etc.), then clean all the dirty dishes that have piled up in the sink (or in the rest of the house), then start preparing in your empty sink and on your cleared-off countertops. Then clean as you go! While the main pot is heating, you can wash up the prep dishes.
Enameled pots are fantastic. I love mine!
Posted by Erin - 01/04/2011
Interestingly, my newly-adult son is learning all these things in his teeny, tiny apartment kitchen. After living with parents and utilizing every square inch of my spacious kitchen (and creating some impressive mounds of dishes), he’s having to learn to do things the smart way (dare I say, the way Mom does…I lived with a teeny, tiny kitchen at one time, and the lessons stuck!). Great post and I’d love to see some of your one pot recipes.
Posted by Rae - 01/04/2011
Hey, a post from another full-timer! I’m already hooked on this site!
One the biggest space hogs in my RV kitchen is the biggest space saver–a rice cooker. I can make whole meals in that thing, including browning onions and chicken.
I made a lasagna a couple of months ago that needed so many different dishes that I wound up with a 2′ stack *on the floor*. There was literally no other place to put the stuff! In one way, that’s good because it forces me to dry as I wash since I have absolutely no space for a dish drainer… I put in a small counter top dishwasher instead. But it’s only good for small things, not pots!
Posted by Merikay - 01/04/2011
I love to cook and my husband loves to pick out recipes. We plan to full time someday so I’m always looking for new ideas to use on the road.
One that I have tried and like is to use coffee filters as temporary bowls for prepared ingredients. Only juicey ones might need to go into a separate bowl. I like to get all my prep done and cleared before cooking.
Posted by Living the Balanced Life - 01/05/2011
I can’t stand cooking and ending up with a pile of dirty dishes after eating, so I have definitely learned to wash as I go. Amazing it took me 30 years o married life to figure this out!
I love to try new recipes, but agree that some just have way too many steps. We made this awesome dish for Christmas brunch this year, but I made the mistake of not reading the directions too well ahead of time. It took multiple steps, multiple dishes and forever to make! WHile it WAS yummy, I’ll have to modify or scratch it from our list!
Bernice
Get your priorities straight
Posted by jazz2600 - 01/05/2011
Ikea, I have recently discovered, has a large amount of small things.
I purchased a set of cookware that was perfectly sized for camping. All the pots and pans and lids stacked into one neat organized bunch. Also they have a lot of small sized utensils to cook with that went perfectly with the cookware.
Posted by Sue G. - 01/07/2011
I have lived in a few small apartments, a trend I don’t see changing anytime soon, so I’m looking forward to your life-on-the-go insights.
Thanks!
Posted by Elizabeth - 01/09/2011
Check out this website:
http://www.foldtukbakeware.com/index.html
Posted by Linda H. - 01/18/2011
My husband and I are on the road now in our Roadtrek 20″ camper van. Having been tent campers and backpackers, it feels like we have oodles of room in the kitchen.
I’ve just purchased a 12-volt 1 1/2 quart crock pot from a trucker supply company. There are now recipes included.
My first attempt will be chicken breast and chopped potatoes in golden mushroom soup. It’s a modification of one I do in a 5 quart at home.
I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t over-fill the pot or cook it too long :~)
Posted by Linda H. - 01/18/2011
Oops. Should have written there were “no” recipes included. :~{
Posted by WilliamB - 01/19/2011
Someone should point out that one can make an entire stir-fry meal using as many dishes as for sauting a single onion.
Instead of a bowl I use a dinner plate and heap the ingredients separately.
With rare exceptions I use only two knives when I cook (which is all the time, it’s my favorite hobby): an 8″ chef and a 3″ paring. Other knives that are really useful are a Granton slicer (aka ham knife, it has flat serrations and is good for hard wet things like meat or cheese) and a serrated bread knife which can double as a tomato knife.
I use my paring knife to cut butter.
I use flexible plastic cutting “boards” on top of my real cutting board. They can be used to pour the cut item and are faster to rinse off than the real cutting board. First I cut everything but the meat, rinsing the flexible board between chopping if necessary. Then I use the real board for the meat, to avoid cross contamination.
Posted by gypsy packer - 01/21/2011
I used cheap enameled “sizzler” pans while on the road. They’re stackable, double as wok, skillet, and serving plate for one. Keep a scrubber soaped up and clean an item as I finish it, so that it’s air-dried by the time the meal is finished. For meat, I love good sharp scissors, and cut the meat directly into the pan. Same technique works with one-pot meals.
Posted by Terry - 01/25/2011
I’ve been reading & exploring the idea of full-timing. Tired of home ownership and being tied down to the house.
Would love to hear about your full time adventures.
Thanks for the great post!
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