Kitchen Essentials for Full-Time Travellers

All our kitchen essentials for Airbnb living

Before we started traveling full time, our experience of staying in Airbnbs was limited. We would stay at most a few nights at a time before hopping to our next destination. We certainly had never made a home in an Airbnb for a full month, unpacking our worldly possessions,  stocking the fridge and settling in.

A full year into our full time travels, we are now experts in long-term stays at Airbnbs.

And what we’ve discovered is that, no matter how stylish and well equipped, every Airbnb is missing something when it comes to the kitchen. 

We stayed at an Airbnb in Ukraine that was missing a cutting board and, even more importantly, lacked any means to make coffee. We stayed at an Airbnb in Italy which had only two mismatched cups to cover any and all coffee and tea-drinking needs throughout the day. We stayed at another in Canada where the only frying pan provided was just large enough to cook a single egg and nothing else. We’ve cooked oatmeal for two in a soup pot large enough to feed a crowd.

When we set out on our journey, we knew we should pack a few kitchen essentials of our own, like a travel coffee filter and a decent chef’s knife. Little did we realise that our collection of must-haves would grow to become an entire portable kitchen. While our list of kitchen essentials may seem long, each item was carefully considered and has proven its value along the way. And fortunately the whole lot packs up quite compactly.

These items may not fill every gap in an Airbnb — see the aforementioned tiny frying pan in Toronto — but they go a long way to ensuring that every random apartment we stay in has a functional kitchen.

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Tea Infuser and Loose Leaf Green Tea

Let’s start with our morning routine. We like to start each day with a little green tea and meditation. While most Airbnbs do offer some type of tea in the bag format, we prefer the taste and environmentally friendliness of loose leaf, brewed using our own tea balls. Green tea is preferred but we also enjoy picking up a  local blend in whatever country we’re visiting. A blend of green tea with rose petals was a happy discovery in Turkey.

Travel Coffee Filter

One of the first and most important additions to our portable kitchen set. This little beauty ensures that we get our daily dose of caffeine. Prior to starting our journey, I had questioned this purchase. I said to Gillian, surely every Airbnb will offer a way to brew coffee. I was wrong. But instead of facing the day scrambling to find the nearest cafe, we can always pull out this handy pour-over filter. 

Knife Set

For anyone serious about cooking — and we make most of our meals at home — the most critical tool in the kitchen is, of course, a decent set of knives. Again, just because an AirBnB is described as “fully equipped”, don’t be fooled into thinking that a sharp knife of the perfect length will be waiting for you in the kitchen. Of course, these particular items are not suitable for carry-on luggage. Since we travel with checked luggage, we’re comfortable to slide these babies in an edge guard and safely stow them in our suitcases.    

Cutting Board

With a knife comes a need for a cutting surface. Again, we assumed that such basics as a cutting board would certainly be provided at every Airbnb. Again, see above entry for Airbnb for Lviv, Ukraine. After spending many an evening gingerly cubing raw carrots and potatoes on a dinner plate, we gave in and purchased this handy cutting board. Slim and light enough to fit into our luggage but with ample cutting surface.

Vegetable Peeler

Our knife set was a great addition to the portable kitchen but didn’t quite cut it (see what we did there) when it came to the job of peeling our veggies. A peeler can be considered a tertiary item in an AirBnB; not as essential as a coffee pot but a happy addition when available — especially if you like a stew simmering away on a chilly winter night in Italy.

Mini Grater

After many months of chopping parmesan cheese into tiny, unsatisfactory pieces, we finally gave in and bought a grater. This size won’t help out for making vast quantities of coleslaw but is certainly a worthwhile purchase if you’re a fan of freshly grated cheese on top of pasta or scrambled eggs.

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Warning: Now we’re getting into the kitchen items that are only necessary for precision nerds. We like to follow the prescribed measurements, especially when trying new recipes. Without our handy measurers, we would rely on eyeballing volumes for baking bread in Italy or experimenting with borek in Croatia.

Food Containers

Once the meal is done and the leftovers are ready to pack up, we pull out our handy set of three food containers. We’ve experimented with a few types but these were the winners. Metal bottoms for durability and longevity; plastic tops for a good seal against leaks. These have served us well for both at-home use and on-the-go. We’re fans of packing a full day’s worth of eating when we’re in transit between countries (never rely on an airline for your caloric intake) or off hiking the nearest mountain.

Bamboo Cutlery

The necessary and environmentally sound accompaniment to the bento box: a set of bamboo fork, knife and spoon. Again, these come with us on every travel day and every expedition. You never know when you’ll need to spear a morsel of roasted chicken or slice off a piece of cheese while on a plane, a train or perched on the side of a mountain.

Cloth Bags

A true kitchen essential: cloth bags in multiple sizes. These are perfect for buying fruits and veggies at the local market or acting as a lunch bag for our bento boxes and cutlery. They can even double as stuff snacks for odds and ends when we’re packing up or work as a laundry bag in a pinch, but we’ll save that discussion for our packing essentials list.

Cloth Napkins 

The final item in our portable kitchen are a set of four cloth napkins. These can work as both napkin and tablecloth for on-the-go lunches and even as a tea towel if it’s lacking in our Airbnb.

There you have it: the complete contents of our portable kitchen.

If you’re traveling long term and want to make yourself at home in random Airbnbs, these items will go a long way to addressing any shortcomings in those not-so-fully-equipped kitchens.