People are always asking about gear they’ll need to live or travel in their vehicle. Until now my lists were geared to people with Priuses, but today I’m compiling a list anyone can use. It was difficult to narrow down to 10 items, but I love each one of these and I know you will too!
1. Insulated Camping Pad – These camping pads are worth their weight in gold, and then some! I’ve purchased about half a dozen of them over the course of 10 years. They are lightweight, and compact down to the size of a large yoga mat if you take the air out of them. They have memory foam inside them that insulates the air to keep it away from you, so you never feel cold the way you would with an air mattress. The foam also provides a comfortable cushion for your body to sink into, but the air inside doesn’t let you sink so far that your bones hit the boards or seat back that it’s laying on. They’re self inflating so you just need to open the valves and let the air go in gradually, then finish it off by blowing a little air into it. Be sure to leave the valves open if you’re going up or down in an area with high elevations, otherwise there’s a very small chance it could burst. That’s never happened to me yet but I do notice that the air expands sometimes and the mattress feels harder. Paired with a down sleeping bag, you have comfort that takes very little space!
2. Portable Power Station – If you’re going to power anything electric when you aren’t driving, you’ll need a power station. Depending on the storage capacity and wattage output of your power station, you can use it for charging your phone, running your fridge, making coffee, cooking burgers, staying warm at night, or even drying your hair. Even the smallest electric appliances require about 300w to run, so I recommend a power station that outputs 300w or more, and has a storage capacity of 300Wh (Wh=Watt hours) or more. A fridge or electric throw draws about 50w per hour, so you could power either one for about 6hrs with 300Wh. My favorite power station is the EcoFlow River Pro which has a storage capacity of 720Wh, and outputs 600w if you use the 110v outlets. It can even run appliances that draw more than 600w, by reducing the amount of power sent to them, to 600w. I use it regularly with my 800w electric kettle. This unit charges very quickly when plugged into wall power, about 80% in an hour, so that was also a big draw for me.
3. Car Refrigerator – If you want to carry fresh meat and veggies with you, and don’t want to bother buying ice all the time, you’ll need a refrigerator. The portable ones run on 12v and can be powered by your vehicle when you drive. When your vehicle is off, you can power them with a power station. Be sure to get a compressor refrigerator and not an electric cooler. The compressor uses refrigerant gas, just like a home refrigerator. It also has a thermostat that determines when the compressor needs to run so it’s very energy-efficient. Electric coolers are cheap, but they won’t cool your food on hot days and use lots of electricity. A 12v fridge with a 26qt capacity draws less than 50w, if running constantly. It will use even less power in cold weather, because it doesn’t have to work as hard to keep things cold. If you have a large vehicle, you can get a giant one with separate compartments for refrigerator and freezer. For a car, I recommend one between 20 and 30 quart capacity.
4. Electric Kettle – This is the appliance I use most. If you can boil water without having to break out a stove, you can make coffee, soup, or even boil eggs in the privacy and comfort of your vehicle. Full-size electric kettles draw a lot of power, but there are smaller ones that draw about 800w and can boil water for about 2 cups of water. If you have a power station that outputs 800w, or the EcoFlow River Pro which can lower the output to 600w, you can boil water in about 3 minutes. If your power station only outputs 300w, check out the Spardar kettle below.
Alternate kettle – The Spardar 300w kettle looks like a thermos and fits about 12oz. It will heat up your water to the temperature you choose, up to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and then turns itself off. This temperature is hot enough that even if you add cold milk to your hot coffee, it will actually still be hot, not lukewarm. And you don’t have to settle for instant coffee with either of these kettles. You can do pour-over or French press coffee with real coffee grounds. I use a K-cup mug that uses a coffee basket or K-cup pods.
5. Hot Logic Cooker – This simple cooker is nothing more than a hot plate inside an insulated lunch bag. It heats everything slowly to 160 degrees and keeps it at that temperature. You can put cooked, cold or even frozen food in it! The colder the food, the longer it takes, but it’s nice to be able to cook even raw meats by doing nothing more than cutting up ingredients and placing them inside. Note that the temperature is not hot enough to boil water, so you can’t cook rice or pasta in it. There is a 12v and a 110v version, so you can cook with your vehicle’s 12v outlet if you don’t have a power station, but keep in mind that it can take a couple hours and your vehicle has to be on the entire time. They draw about 50w.
6. 12 volt Rice Cooker – I absolutely love having a rice cooker! It plugs into the 12v outlet, drawing about 100w, so it’s faster than the Hot Logic, and can be used to cook rice, soup, oatmeal, hot cocoa or even eggs. It locks closed and the vent for the steam is very small, so even if it tipped over while you were driving, it wouldn’t make a giant mess. It has a very tiny tray so you can steam meat and vegetables separately, but the tray is so small I only used it once. Like most rice cookers, it will switch itself to warm when it’s done cooking, which is really nice.
7. MyMini Electric Skillet – If you’re going to live in your vehicle full time, you probably want a skillet. This tiny duo has a cooking surface and a skillet, so you can make burgers, pancakes or eggs on the flat surface, and cook liquids in the skillet. The pot is pretty small, so it only fits about 8oz, but if you want to cook an entire can of soup, you can put a metal camping mug on the hot plate. It works like a charm and easily fits 16oz.
8. USB Water Dispenser – This little gadget, while not necessary, can make your life much easier. It lets you carry a large container of water in your vehicle without having to lift or tip it over every time you want some water. I keep a 3 gallon water container in my car and dispense water as I need for cooking or washing. When I need to refill it, I take the container into a store that sells water by the gallon, or occasionally buy a gallon of water and dump it in, then toss the gallon container. The battery in the unit has a micro-USB port, and lasts about a week without charging.
9. USB Shower Pump – If you spend a lot of time camping in the wilderness, you’re going to want an easy way to bathe beyond wet wipes. This awesome slower will pump water up from a bucket (or even a river), onto you. If the weather is cold, you might want to heat your water with a stove or electric bucket heater (I use a 1000w electric coil to heat my water). If the weather is warm, you can get by with those black vinyl bags that you lay out in the sun. The battery pack of the pump has an on-off switch so you aren’t running the water constantly.
10. Roof Cargo Box – sometimes you buy a bunch of gear and then need to use the inside of your vehicle for other purposes like package delivery or passengers. If you’re suddenly wondering where all your stuff is going to fit, this box is a great solution. It’s a way to keep your clothes and gear out of sight, but in easy reach. You’ll also need roof bars if you don’t have any, but companies like Sportrack have inexpensive bars for under $200. Download the compatibility guide and check which model fits your vehicle. Alternatively, you could use a rack behind your vehicle, but your gear will be in easy reach of everyone.
Things I find (mostly) unnecessary:
- A toilet – People constantly ask, “where do you go to the toilet?” Well, most places I go have them. Stores, cafes, rest stops, national parks. Even some of the National Forest and BLM sites have them. On those rare occasions where there’s no toilet near me, I get up early and drive to one. And if you absolutely have to pee during the night and squatting in the woods isn’t an option, you just need a plastic container with a lid so that you can dump it later without worrying about spills in your car.
- A privacy tent – I do own one, and I set it up once. Yes, exactly ONE time. But since I stopped carrying a toilet, and I use campgrounds and rest stops for showers, I haven’t needed it. If you absolutely need some coverage when using your toilet or showering, you can open two doors of your vehicle and clamp a small tarp, even a sheet onto both doors.
- A camping tent – This has come in handy a couple times as a place to put extra stuff in when I packed too much in my car. And twice I went camping with another person and set the tent up to give them their own space. I’ve thought about leaving it at home but decided to keep it in my roof box in case I ever end up in a place that doesn’t allow sleeping in the car. It’s also useful for those times when I want to save my spot in the wild, without leaving my car at camp. But if I was going cross-country and planned to stay exclusively at rest stops, I’d leave it at home.
- A camping chair – Since I travel alone, I don’t often sit around camp with other people. When I’m eating meals, I sit inside the car, and when I’m chilling on a sunny day, I sit in the back hatch, with my feet on the rear cargo rack. I do have a folding stool that I keep under the mattress. I use it when I need to get into the roof box, and that’s what I’ve used as a chair whenever I meet a group of people.
- A table – This became unnecessary when I added my rear cargo rack and cargo box. The height of the box is about counter height, so I cook on it, and use it as a bar where I blend frozen cocktails in warm weather. On those occasions when I travel without the rear cargo rack, I cook on top of the refrigerator or on a wooden cutting board on top of the bed.
I could list more items I find essential, but we’d be here a very long time, and I’ve mentioned them in other posts. If you’re looking for something specific to cooking, or camping, or staying clean, please consult the index and you’ll find it there. Happy travels!
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Tiny Prius Travel 