3 Things we use EVERY time we RV camp - Volume 1

This is the first in a series of posts that we hope will be easily consumable but more importantly, helpful to you the reader. Just as it was when we tent camped, after 10 years we had pretty much everything we needed to be comfortable out there in the wild but it took us awhile to gather all the necessary things. With RV sales going through the roof the last few years, according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, it's no surprise that folks are looking for things to buy that will help them enjoy their camping experience. Our plan is to focus on no more than 3 items within each of these blog posts. Of the three items they will be things that we find useful and we hope that you will too. These are items that we've collected and used time and time again for various reasons. I'll explain those reasons, give you the rundown on the item and if you see fit, you can click the link to the item and pick it up off Amazon. In the interest of transparency, We will make a little bit of money on the transaction. But I hope that it will be a win-win situation as you will get a great product that you will use out of the deal. Of course you could just go straight to Amazon and search, but I sure would appreciate it if you use my links. All right, with that out of the way, let's get to the stuff in Volume 1...

Thing #1 - The Claw

Your awning is a very important part of your RV. It keeps your stuff under cover, keeps you protected from the blaring sun and chilling rain but it also provides a defined space for you outside. We like to think of the space under our awning as our living room since we have a fairly small RV. We spend a LOT of time outside sometimes even when it is raining. The Claw is what allows us to keep the awning under control even in rainy and windy situations.

This is what you get in the package but let me assure you that it is light and easily stows in one of your under carriage compartments. You're getting two claws, 6 spikes, 2 straps and a hammer plus the storage bag. It's about the size of a standard soft sided lunch box and weighs about 8 pounds. The quality of all the items is superb and this stuff is meant to last. All of the parts have held up for the last 2 years (we bought it shortly after getting our Trailer in 2016) and I have no reason to believe they won't continue to last.

As far as setup goes it couldn't get any easier, tie the top of the strap to a corner of your awning frame, pick a spot for the claw, hammer the three spikes in and clip the strap to the claw, then adjust the strap so it is tight. The trick in this thing is that the spikes are going into the ground at an angle towards each other, hence, the claw name. You repeat with the other side and you're done. We've used it at the beach, in the mountains, everywhere we take the trailer and I feel completely comfortable leaving the awning out while the claw is attached when we leave for the day on our adventures. The price is right, the product works and the reviews are great, check out The Claw and get yours before your next trip! Here's a photo of it in use on our last camping trip to West Virginia which you can read about in another post.

Thing #2 - The Foldaway Skillet

We all love cooking outdoors right? I mean, you almost have to if you are into the camping lifestyle. When we camp, I usually bring at least 2 pounds of bacon and one morning I will cook it all up so we can use it for breakfasts, sandwiches, salads, whatever. Cooking all that bacon in the coach, even with the fans cranked up, would give a real hard bacon smell to things for awhile (including our clothes) so with this handy dandy gadget you can do it outside. The Foldaway Skillet is made by Presto and is listed as a 16" skillet. This gives you plenty of room to fry that bacon and whatever else you want. I can get about 10 slices in there at a time. We've also done casseroles, reheated stuff and done grilled cheese! The best part is that it all folds down so you're not using nearly as much storage as a full sized skillet. The base comes off and the legs fold up, they go into the skillet, put the detachable cord in and then flip the top upside down. Very compact and very easy to store. Not much else to say about this one but we use it every single time we camp so it is a perfect fit for the list.

Thing #3 - Slim Fold Camp Cook Station

I simply couldn't put the skillet in this list without mentioning what we put it on when we are camping. We used to use a small roll-up wood top table that was prone to tipping over but we made it work. Now that we have this little gem, I will hopefully never have to go back. This table folds to just a few inches high and slides easily back into the box it comes in and slides right into camper compartment and leaves plenty of room for other stuff. It's easy to set up by one person and is very sturdy and holds a lot of stuff. We set this up and put the skillet on it, paper towels, salt, pepper, other condiments, a toaster and then there is still room for more. It has 4 side shelves, a bottom shelf and then middle main shelf. We post this up right outside the door against the camper and under the awning so we can cook even in the rain. I cannot recommend this table enough. This photo is from our last trip and you can see all the stuff I've got piled up on it and I'm cooking a bunch of bacon!

So, if you're still with me, there are three things that we use every single time we take our camper out into the world. We can secure our awning with The Claw, set up our outdoor kitchen area with the slim fold camp cook station and cook up a mess of anything with our foldaway skillet. I hope you enjoyed reading and I have lots more great gear to talk about as we move along. Please pass this blog on to all of your friends and family and thanks for stopping by!