Before retirement, before downsizing, before adopting my nomadic lifestyle, I was the self-proclaimed Queen of the Small Appliance. I owned a food processor, blender, electric deep fat fryer, heavy-duty dehydrator, Kitchen-Aid, electric yogurt maker, electric steamer, and many other electric and non-electric cooking tools. I used them all, some, like my dehydrator, I use seasonally. Clearly, I love to cook; also, I gardened extensively and then canned, dried, and froze my produce.

When I decided to live simply and travel in my 21-foot RV I had to make serious and life-changing choices about which appliances would travel with me. I dedicated the storage space under a dinette seat to appliances and kitchen stuff, and then I started the winnowing process by figuring out the must-haves. Everything had to fit in the designated space. This was especially difficult because I used all my kitchen helpers! Those appliances that made the cut:

• Dehydrator- no room to freeze or store canned goods, but drying yields light-weight product
• Food processor (let it go eventually)
• Hand mixer
• Kitchen-Aid
• Small coffee pot
• Yogurt maker
• Non-kitchen small appliances: small space heater, sewing machine.  During my travels, I added a small dehumidifier (Alabama) and a humidifier in the (New Mexico)

The deep fryer did not make the cut because I could not justify keeping it for the one time a year I used it: making fresh jalapeno poppers in the late summer. The immersion blender could perform some of the blender tasks. I was sad to let the food processor go, but I used it mostly to prep vegetables for freezing and didn’t need it, even though I loved my sweet red processor. I decided I would rather have the Kitchen-Aid to process tomatoes and fruits.

Fast forward to this fall. I am in NE Washington apple country and plan to dehydrate fruit. I already have some prune plums nearly ready to dehydrate. In a few days, I hope to have lots of apples too. Time to bring out the dehydrator. Nights have been chilly so, when I accessed the storage bin I decided to also pull out the small heater (no need in wasting energy to heat the place) and the dehumidifier. I have learned once again that I cannot do everything in a small living space, but I can do some of the things that bring me joy and contribute to my healthy lifestyle.