Saturday, January 3, 2015

Whats in my kitchen...


Small RV kitchen means few pans and little space for leftovers...  so I have been working through my recipes to make them work for our family of 6, with my selection of pans and small oven.  I thought a post of what I now consider my essentials would be fun!  

My cast iron pans are my favorites!!  I haven't used others for a very long time ( like years).  We use 3 on a regular basis.

My 10" fits enough meat to feed us all, fits in the oven for baking corn bread and crisp as well.  I even use it for making scalloped potatoes.  It is by far my most used pan. We havent cooked much on the fire with it this time around, but thats a great use as well.  (I actually have 3 with me, the others are stored in a tote and pulled out when needed, like at Thanksgiving).  
~The 7" is our scrambled egg pan. It is the least used of the 3 but used often enough to leave out.
~My flat cast iron has been my egg pan for a while.  It is great for grilled sandwiches too.  It is used almost as often as my large one.  These sit on my stove top with my sauce pans when not in use.

I own 3 sauce pans, well I think technically only 2 are 'sauce' pans and 1 is a stock pot.  The stock pot has made many, many batches of jam, holds enough stew to feed us and is wearing out lol.  It is starting to peel inside, I am considering stainless next.  The sauce pans are the last pieces of a set we bought a long time ago (the dings on the sides prove it lol)... I gave the fry pans from it away and wore the original stock pot from it out a few years ago.  I like to hang on to what works. I don't need fancy, just efficient, healthy and good quality!

I love my stones!!! LOVE my stones!!  I was soo bummed when I realized most of the ones I loved didnt fit in our oven... But I do have a few and they get their use.  I believe in investing in good quality so all my stones are Pampered Chef brand.  This rectangle has seen many scones, bisquits, cookies, burritos, pizzas and more in its time!  I store it in the oven so it doesnt get broke. The small bar pan is my back up for bisquits and also for bacon MMMmmmmm

This one was a pan that only came along because my glass one didnt fit in the oven, I'm not even sure where it came from lol.  But it is my cake pan, crisp, corn bread etc!  Its pretty popular.  Nothing special.. I refuse to ever use a non stick cake pan again, the last one I got peeled and left it in my food.  I used strictly glass, cast iron or stones in our home with a large oven.  This one is perfect for our RV.  


I have a few other pans as well but they stay put away under the table seat unless I need them... Which isnt that often.  

My other items are electrical appliances but I still concider them essentials.

First of course is my crock pot, I even have a favorite cookbook to go with it.  I love making my beans in the crock!  When its hot out, it can sit outside.. When cold, it can help warm up the RV ;-)


I LOVE waffles!! And so do my kids lol.  So I have my waffle iron handy.  We use it for waffles but also for bisquits and all sorts of other fun things to eat.

When we are not having waffles, pancakes are a favorite.  This is our electric pan for making them.  Its the only way I make pancakes.  Its made many many breakfast and we had to bring it along.

My coffee pot is a given!!!!  We did have to give up our beloved Bunn and this one is perfect!  It even fits in the cabinet if we need counter space.  Hubby uses the timer for his morning coffee too.  And yea, I think the vintage look fits right in!

Considering the size kitchen we had before, I think we have done pretty well in the downsize department.  It's a lot about perspective!!

What is your most used kitchen cooking item?

1 comment:

Kristina said...

In our RV, we use an electric skillet for most of our cooking. Our toaster oven also sees a lot of use. We don't use our gas top or gas oven because they get too hot to have with my little ones around. I do miss my pots and pans, though! :)