How To Pack For An RV Trip

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Over-Preparation Is The Best Preparation

Trying to anticipate problems before they happen can save you time, frustration, and money, especially when it comes to a family trip. We recommend over-preparing in every way you can without sacrificing other necessities, especially if you’re traveling with kids. Pack more clothes than you think you can wear, plan for any and all weather changes, and be ready for dirt. Make sure you’ve got a fully-stocked first aid kit with fever and cough medication, painkillers (like baby aspirin), ointments, bandages, aloe vera, sunscreen, bug spray, and a few extra doses of any regular medications you and yours take.

Keep Space In Mind

As good as over-preparing can be, remember that your RV has limited storage space. Being prepared for any likely situation doesn’t necessarily mean packing everything you can think of onboard. Fortunately, there’s a compromise. Find ways to minimize your supplies, like utilizing a nearby laundromat to lower the necessary amount of clothes, or packing items with multiple uses. Travel-sized supplies are easy to find and convenient, as well as designed to have as much as you need without being too bulky. Also try buying some supplies after you arrive at your destination, like firewood.

Entertainment

Especially when traveling with kids, long drives can get boring — and if you don’t have enough to do at the campground, long days can get boring too. The modern age, luckily, provides plenty of resources for fun and easily-packed entertainment. Tablets, laptops, game consoles, and, of course, phones are flexible and jam-packed with gaming opportunities, both single- and multi-player. Manage and monitor electronics usage like you might at home, but it doesn’t hurt to direct your kids to a learning game or two. There are also coloring book and puzzle apps that encourage creativity and problem-solving, and plenty of games for siblings and even whole families to collaborate on. The added bonus, of course, is cutting down on the are-we-there-yet’s.

If you’re not comfortable with electronics, there are plenty of board games, card games, and road trip games that can keep everyone entertained and out of one another’s hair. Packing a few books may also be a good solution for some more quiet time.

Food

Obviously one of the biggest focal points for any family gathering or trip will be food. From day to day, you’re going to need to have a decent number of meals planned down to the last detail, especially with a bigger family that includes children. On top of that, with your RV’s limited storage space and the possibility of grocery stores being few and far between at your destination, you’ll want to make sure you have everything you need without running out of room. Perishables will be particularly tricky.

Start with a full meal plan for every day of your trip. This includes every breakfast, lunch, and dinner for every day you’re not home. Planning for the same meals you might at home won’t work with your limited space, so you’ll have to get creative. Find strategies or recipes that can either make lots of leftovers, or that can make full meals with few ingredients. Chilis, meats baked or grilled on their own, and large portions of vegetables can all be cooked up in batches and combined in varying ways for a wide selection of meal choices.

Involve your kids in meal-prep to help them feel like they’re part of the action and make sure they’ll be willing to eat what you make. Cooking up their favorite meal at home, freezing it, and reheating it on the road or at the campsite can also give them something to look forward to. Let them get involved with preparation like shucking corn to get them further involved and invested.

Kids can be notoriously picky eaters, especially in unfamiliar or exciting environments, so bring along healthy bite-sized meals to avoid buying too many processed foods at rest stops along the way. Apples and peanut butter, granola bars with milk, cheese, and crackers, yogurt-coated raisins, gummy fruit snacks, mixed nuts, and more can all be healthy, nutritious snacks on short notice.

Taking your family on the road and resting comfortably in nature with your RV can be an absolute blast, so long as you’ve got everything you need. If you want more advice, or you’re for an RV for sale, stop by Lone Star RV in Houston, Texas! Our friendly and expert staff will work with you to make sure you get exactly what you need, when and how you need it.