11 Essential CAMP or Vanlife KITCHEN Deals on Amazon
We have to admit to it: a lot of our rig’s kitchen goods have been bought on Amazon. It’s hard to ignore the convenience of being able to scroll through hundreds (if not thousands) of variations of different things you want to look for from the comfort of your screen of choice. It sure beats taking the time to drive to the mall, or brick and mortar store, to look at things with maybe five different options to choose from.
Oh, you’re looking for a wooden cooking spoon? Here’s 375 different types of wooden cooking spoons to choose from but 200 of them are roughly the same since they come from the same manufacturing plant but with different branding.
To save you that hassle of endlessly scrolling and reading reviews on Amazon, here’s 11 different camp kitchen items we actually use on a day-to-day basis whenever we’re traveling our of our Land Cruiser Troopy.
11. Mini Rice Cooker
Of all the things in our travel kitchen, the rice cooker sees the most action. It’s pretty much used everyday when we’re on the road. This little 1L cooker makes just enough rice for one meal for the two of us.
It uses about 300W of power for around the 15-20 minutes it takes to cook rice. So if you have a small solar generator/power station, you can run this rice cooker and enjoy all the sensations of having freshly made rice while traveling.
If you grew up eating rice everyday, the smell of rice cooking should be a very nostalgic one. And the second you smell rice cooking from this rice cooker at camp is the minute you know you’re home for the evening.
10. The Everything Rub
Everyone and the mamma has a spice seasoning they use on anything. This one is ours. We prefer the Mexican forward notes and toss it over pretty much everything.
We mix it into a can of refried beans to umph it up. We mix it into a container of sour cream to use as a dip with chips. We mix it into our guacamole. We toss it on fire roasted corn. We sauté green beans with it. Sprinkle some over some smoked salmon on a cream cheese bagel. It’s our lazy carne asada seasoning.
It’s literally used for everything. And because we use it for everything, its gone QUICK.
We can’t recommended it enough.
9. Buy-it-for-life Peeler
Do you know of a old family member that has a vegetable peeler they’ve been using for the past few decades and wish you had one too?
Well, now you can. Spend the money, get an all metal peeler, and cherish it for the rest of your life.
We have one that’s almost 10 years old, and the patina build up would make any immigrant grandmother cry tears of happiness.
8. Chinese Cleaver
There’s a reason why the oldest continuous civilization in the world has been using one type of knife for the past 5,000 years. They use nothing else. Just a cleaver. They’re used to butcher, break bones, but also can be used to expertly julienne delicate vegetables.
Let me sell it to you like this: Have you ever cut up veggies to be transfer into a pot, so you bust out the dough scraper to scoop it all up in one shot? Well, the Chinese have invented a device that does both —one of these bad boys.
Also, watch this video of Martin Yan.
Once you go cleaver, you never leave her.
7. Collapsible Whisk
It’s a whisk.
It collapses down flat.
Thus, it fits in WAY better places, and doesn’t potentially get stuck when you try to open a drawer.
What more do you want??
6. Grater & Slicer Set
Small enough to pack into a small drawer in a van, or a camp pantry container, yet useful pretty much all the time. It’s part mandolin, part grater, an part julienne-r. You can use the mandolin to slice cucumbers to make a quick cucumber kimchi, grater to grate cheese over pasta, and julienne various veggies to make a quick slaw.
Having versatility in your camp pantry to make whatever you want at anytime is a super power we all didn’t know we need until it’s presented to you.
And, well, here it is: your new super power.
5. Folding Toaster
Having freshly toasted bread in the morning is a luxury at camp that never gets old. You’re far away from home, but you’re still able to enjoy that one simple pleasure in life.
Though, aside from making toast, this is also a multi-function kitchen apparatus. We use this to roast vegetables to make for fresh salsas or browning aromatics for making broths or, well, in our case, Vietnamese soups.
The day-to-day usage will always and forever be toast. And well, just that single thing makes this thing worth its weight in gold.
4. Tiny Can Opener
There’s not much to say here. It’s a can opener. It opens cans well. It’s compact enough to be thrown into any camp draw pantry, or camp bin, that you have without taking much space. Hell, leave it in your home kitchen as well!
This is one of those buy-it-for-life items. Buy it once, and it’ll take care of you for a very, very long time.
Just don’t misplace or lose it!
3. Short Tongs
If you love the repetition of food prep, a good pair of tongs to clack-clack together every so often is a must have. This pair in particular is a favorite. The Rubberized grips give it a bit of luxury feel to it, and the hinge doesn’t wiggle around like cheaper sets of tongs.
Love a good tong? Then treat yourself to these bad boys!
2. Crystalized Lemon & Lime
My food rule of thumb is this: If you’re cooking and tasting but realize that it needs something but you don’t know what? Nine out of ten times it needs an acid. The more the merrier.
A dash of vinegar or a slice of citrus can make a meal that tastes okay, to something with so much more pizazz! But when you’re traveling or camping, sometimes a fresh citrus acid is harder to come across, or you just plain forgot to get some, these crystalized lemon and limes does the trick. Forgot limes for your guacamole? Shake in some lime. Don’t have fresh lemons to make ponzu sauce? Shake in some lemon. In a pinch, and even not a pinch, these things will very much do the job.
1. Two-Burner Stove
The stove is the quintessential cornerstone of any camp kitchen.
And this particular stove from Camp Chef is the one you want. Don’t be fooled by cheaper, or more aesthetically pleasing stoves, but also don’t be turned off by the incredibly masculine red and black colors. Those burners won’t even hold a candle to these 20,000 BTU suckers. Getting a cast iron pan up to temp to sear a steak takes no time with the Kodiak stove. But, at the same time, the stove’s knobs are sensitive enough to bring the flame down to a gentle simmer.
To save you that hassle of endlessly scrolling and reading reviews on Amazon, here’s 11 different camp kitchen items we actually use on a day-to-day basis whenever we’re traveling our of our Land Cruiser Troopy.