0003 - I got gadgets and doodads a-plenty

Weight is important in a fifth wheel... but so are having the conveniences of home, and sometimes the two seem diametrically opposed. I've found a lot of really cool gadgets, but only time will tell if we actually needed them or not. At this point I'm a newbie, so I'm sure in later posts I'll start to contradict much of what I've said early on. That won't make me a hypocrite will it?

One thing I'm completely enamored of are all the collapsible kitchen tools because they're lightweight and can be flattened out for storage. So far I've only purchased a collapsible dish drainer, which I think will be very handy because it sets up over the sink - no nasty dish mat to contend with and doesn't make the counter look cluttered (I hate clutter). But I'm also eyeing the collapsible salad spinner... it's just too pricey to tempt me into buying it at this point. I've gotten so used to paying half price for everything that, unless I can find something on sale, I pretty much put it on a wishlist and let it sit. I do love my salad spinner though. I go through salad eating phases, and not having watery lettuce may be worth it in the end.

Mike has a full-sized Keurig. He loves him some Keurig. I came across a single-serve version which has a smaller footprint and weighs less. We're looking into things like that as well... smaller versions of items we use on a daily basis. Upcoming Black Friday sales will probably supply us with a few inexpensive duplicates in miniature so I won't feel bad about having one for the RV and one for home use.

I'm thinking it's better to use electricity when possible, rather than draining the propane tanks, so I'm going to bring a crockpot and toaster oven along for cooking. Most of the time it will just be Mike and I, so our meals will be small anyway, and my toaster oven is also a convection oven and rotisserie. Also trying bring along the multi-taskers... food processor, stand mixer and attachments, instead of blender, hand mixer, pasta roller, etc.

That said, there may be times when we are boondocked and I will use the oven since electricity won't be available (until Mike installs solar panels and/or we get a generator). During those times we would also need to conserve water, so I found a good deal at PaperGoods.com and bought some paper plates and tinfoil cooking pans (they even have tinfoil muffin pans!).

I'm trying to think ahead as much as possible, but not having done this before it's hard to think of everything. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery? Things to avoid... sanity savers...?