RV Appliances: Must haves for living the good life

Consider making the switch to a composting toilet. Installing a composting toilet means

• no more black tank dumps, clogs, and odor
• longer boondocking options, because your grey tank storage is greatly increased
• easier dumping

Depending on where you're staying and the products you use, there are camp managers who will appreciate you emptying your grey tanks into the soil before you get on the road. This means that you can travel lighter, not have to find a dump site, and can more easily and quickly store your RV.

Whenever possible, work with 12V appliances. Most RV power is already available in 12v; switching over to 110 means waste. Invest in a 12v coffeepot, a lunchbox oven, and a 12v crockpot. Your batteries will thank you.

If you don't like to cook over an open fire and your campsite doesn't include grills, having a foldable butane stove that you can set on a picnic table is a great option. These little stoves are easy to light, quick to respond and very stable. Take care when cooking around kids or in full sunlight; it can be hard to see when your butane stove is fired up. They cook pretty quickly, so there's not a lot of subtlety to this style of cuisine, but if you're just heating up a can of something or cooking burgers, this little stove can free up room in the RV and cut down on propane use.