15 Must-Have Manual Household Gadgets for RV Boondocking

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Do you love boondocking and dry camping? Me too. The only problem with dry camping (not being connected to mains) is that your battery power is limited and you won’t be able to use all your electric appliances on your RV. Let’s have a look what other possibilities there are to get around this!

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Kitchen & Cleaning Appliances

The good old kettle. There are some electric kettles you can use without power inverter, but they are extremely slow. With an old fashioned whistling kettle, you boil your water quickly on a hob or a campfire. No need to sacrifice on style either, as there are so many design options available.

There are multiple options for a coffee lover to make coffee without electricity. “Pour-over” coffee maker works the same as the electric one, except you heat your water separately in a kettle and then manually pour-over. In French Press, you put the coffee on the bottom, pour the hot water over, and then you push the filter down. For a more espresso-like coffee, there is the Italian Stove Top Coffee Maker. Another espresso maker sworn by van lifers is AeroPress Coffee and Espresso maker.

For a super crisp toast, swap the electric one to a stove top toaster. Easy to see when it’s brown enough for your taste and fantastic for camping. Remember to keep on eye on it though, it’s quick!

What would camping be without some yummy waffles with this waffle maker?
For some inspiration, see this recipe here.

The same goes for sandwiches and panini makers. I love these too much, luckily RV life can be pretty active……. Find the sandwich maker here.

For making that pancake mix, how about this manual hand mixer? I have one and it’s surprisingly effective!

This compact little manual food chopper is great for chopping, preparing, blending, and pureeing ingredients. For making salsa you’ll only have to pull 5 times and for a smoothie no more than 12 pulls. And no electricity needed!

This one is a great option if you need a bigger one. With two different blades, you can whether chop vegetables, fruits, nuts & herbs with a few pushes of the handle, or mix eggs, flour, soup, cream with equal ease.

If you don’t have a gas oven in your rig, there are other ways to have a little oven, other than those small electric ones. They are really good, but require a lot of power – hence these little stovetop ovens solve the problem surprisingly well. Omnia oven is a Swedish design and extremely popular in Europe, where RVs don’t usually have built-in ovens. Coleman Camp Oven is a good alternative.

If you like cooking with a pressure cooker, an old fashioned pressure pot works well too. Cook chicken, meat, fish, vegetables, and desserts, fast and easy.

This “manual vacuum cleaner” works on carpets, rugs, and hard floors and with dual rotating brush rolls, it picks up large and small debris on forward and return passes. Just roll on and empty later.

For bigger loads, a proper launderette may be needed, but for smaller items or for a small load this handy little washer dryer works just fine. And gives you a workout at the same time.

Read more about different laundry options in an RV here.

Lights and Entertainment

Even if you have a good battery system and a solar set in your RV or a van, it always helps the more energy you have. The solar lights have improved significantly over the last few years, and even on a cloudy day they let you enjoy a few hours of light.

Instead of energy-consuming TV, how about a little projector you can connect to your phone, laptop, or SD card? It has a built-in battery but you can also use a power bank with it, which increases the watching time up to 6 hours with one charge.

Lastly but most importantly, do you have a flashlight for emergencies? Have a look at this solar-powered flashlight with a little hand crank. One minute’s crank gives you 10 minutes of light. I didn’t believe it first but these really work and wouldn’t go anywhere without one anymore.

What other household appliances do you miss when boondocking?

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► 27 FANTASTIC SPACE SAVING WAYS TO ORGANIZE YOUR RV OR A CAMPER (THAT REALLY WORK!)
►80 INCREDIBLE RV KITCHEN RENOVATIONS

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