It’s November, and that means it’s time for a few RV tips for Thanksgiving. This amazing holiday will be here before we know it, so let’s talk about how to have Thanksgiving in your RV with style.
RV Tip for Thanksgiving #1: Make Smaller Portion
How many people will you be celebrating with this year? 15? 20?
...probably not. When people spend Thanksgiving in their RV, they’re usually expecting a relatively small crowd. That’s a great thing because cooking in RVs is a bit different than when you have a full kitchen!
We highly recommend getting a small turkey this year. The small turkey is more likely to fit in your oven and will cook faster, giving you more oven time to heat up other things.
Don’t go to the extreme of thinking you need to get tiny cornish hens or something. That’s not necessary. Get a turkey so you can still experience the real thing, but lean towards the smaller side.
What do you make as side dishes to go with your small turkey? Small servings of all of the other favorites! Green bean casserole, bread rolls, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, etc. Making small servings will help the preparation go a little faster and make everything more manageable.
RVing Tip for Thanksgiving #2: Use Everything You’ve Got
Part of RV living is being resourceful. You’re living in a very small home where you don’t get the luxuries of a giant shower, huge kitchen or massive movie theater for watching TV. You learn to get by with what you have.
The same goes with cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Consider using appliances like an instant pot, air fryer, crockpot or toaster oven. If you have a deep fryer, that makes for a tasty turkey, but be safe! Frying turkeys can be dangerous if you aren’t careful. Set up space outside on a table for food prep since you have limited counter space.
Don’t feel confined to using your oven for everything. A lot can be done on the stove or using these other appliances. The best part about living in 2021 is the internet makes it super easy to find recipes for just about any appliance and food you can think of!
RV Cooking Thanksgiving Tip #3: Cook Things Ahead of Time
While it’d be great if you could cook every single thing the day of, it’s also a good way for you to stress yourself out. You may have heard of these women who wake up at 5 am to start cooking Thanksgiving for their families. To each their own, but we’re guessing you don’t want to do that.
One of the best RV tips for Thanksgiving we can give you is to start preparing food the day before Thanksgiving. Some things will keep great in the fridge for a day. Stuffing, casseroles, pies, etc.
Do as much heavy lifting as you can on Wednesday so on Thanksgiving you just have to heat these things up.
RV Tips for Thanksgiving #4: Clean Out Your Fridge
Even when you have a full-sized fridge at home, it usually gets full of food for Thanksgiving. When you have so much food around, it just comes with the territory.
RVing is the same way. The problem is your fridge is small, so you’ll need every square inch of fridge space you can get. That’s why we recommend trying to clear space in your fridge at the beginning of Thanksgiving week. Eat everything in there so you have room for the Thanksgiving food!
RVing Tip #5: Keep Things Simple
If you love to cook elaborate recipes, this may be a challenge for you but we still need to say it. RVing is about enjoying the simple things, and sometimes a simple recipe is the best.
For example - do you need to make those mashed potatoes with a ton of ingredients? Or would instant mashed potatoes work for Thanksgiving in your RV? Do you need those home-cooked pies? Or can you just get a frozen one from the grocery store?
It’s ultimately up to you, but RV cooking can be challenging. Think about ways you can keep the meal simple.
RV Tip for Thanksgiving #6: Enjoy Yourself
Last but not least - make sure you enjoy yourself. Thanksgiving is about being thankful for the blessings we have in life. Don’t stress yourself out too much - the RV lifestyle is about enjoying life!
