Best Dishes for RVs, Campers and Boats

If you’re looking for the best RV dishes for your motorhome or camper, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the selections on the market. And, because RVs don’t have much space nor can afford extra weight, you’ll need to be conscious in finding dinnerware that is lightweight yet serve their purpose. 

When we first started RVing, we thought we could just take some of our dishes from our house and put them in our RV. However, we ran into several issues. Our dinnerware was heavy ceramic, chipped easily, and really wasn’t conducive to our mobile lifestyle. Plus, vineyard-themed colors of purple and olive green didn’t really coordinate with our RV interior.

We set out to find the best dinner dishes, lunch plates and breakfast bowls that are more in line with our RV living. What we found though is these dinner ware sets we found aren’t just for RVs and campers but can be used for cruising too!

So, let’s see what we learned and share what dinnerware sets are perfect for your motorhome, camper or boat!

This article contains affiliate links. Full disclosure here.

Best Dishes for RVs, Campers and Boats

Before we see which dishes and dinnerware we’ve selected, let’s first see the different types of dishes and whether or not they are appropriate for RV living.

Type of Dishes and Dinnerware

Plastic Dishes

You can find plastic dishes everywhere; from big box stores to boutiques. Plastic dishes are lightweight and are perfect for RV living and camping outdoors, They are great for families because they are unbreakable and inexpensive. When plastic dishes are unserviceable, they can just be tossed into recycling (verify that!).

However, plastic dishes may not be the best suggestion should you want to reheat your leftovers or thaw out foods. Certain plastics and other chemicals used in the manufacturing process may leach toxins into food. Plus, using sharp utensils can scratch or gouge leaving unsightly marks that may collect food particles and not wash as easily.

So, if you’re going to opt for plastic dinnerware plates, bowls and cups, stick to serving only refrigerated foods such as salads and sandwiches just to err on the side of caution.

Melamine Dishes

Melamine products are the best quality plastic for serving food. It too, is lightweight, durable and easy to clean. We also learned that melamine dishes have antibacterial properties. And today’s dinnerware market, manufacturers of melamine serving ware products are becoming more stylish and colorful.

We’ve found that they are a better alternative to glass and ceramic without having to sacrifice attractiveness. The downside of melamine plates and bowls is they are not microwavable or oven safe.

Bamboo Dishes

Bamboo dinnerware has become quite popular as they are fashionable and considered hip. They are processed by special high-tech technology to extract cellulose in bamboo, and is made of mixed plant fiber.

However, we share important safety information about some bamboo tableware products because we care about our readers.

According to Bioplastics News, “Fashionable but not trivial, bamboo-based cookware or tableware could release toxic substances into your food.” While you may think bamboo plates, bowls and cups may be safe because they are considered natural you may want to think twice, not necessarily if you’ll use them but how you’ll use them.

Some bamboo dinnerware manufacturers (not all) may use a plastic melamine-formaldehyde resin (melamine) as a binder to the natural bamboo fibers. Melamine is normally harmless. However, in poor quality products and if heated, it may release toxic components into food. And, that’s why most bamboo dinner pieces are not microwavable or oven safe.

First, they may crack or split due to high heat. But, more importantly, they may leach toxins into your cooked food. I’m not ever saying you shouldn’t buy bamboo dinnerware. But I am just giving you a heads up on product usage.

And since I personally love bamboo tableware, I’d opt to use them for cold foods such as salads, cold sandwiches and refrigerated desserts. All of that said, I will include a few reputable bamboo tableware manufacturers dish sets. Just, buyers be aware. As with any product we recommend or write about in our blog, read the manufacturing specs to ensure you’re getting a safe product.

Wheat Straw Fiber Dishes

Wheat straw fiber dishes are fairly new to the market. These dishes are made of natural organic wheat straw fiber, 100% BPA free, non-toxic, odorless and are environmentally friendly. The bowls and dinner plates are made with durable and light material that protects the plate when dropped. So, no worry that it may break once falling.

These microwave safe dinnerware pieces are very easy to clean to either hand wash or dishwasher. They work great in microwaves without getting too hot. The manufacturer recommends the heating temperature of the microwave oven should not exceed 230° F.

The downside of wheat straw fiber dishes is they’ve not been on the market long. Therefore human and environmental impact isn’t well known at the moment. These natural fiber dishes and bowls are not oven safe.

But, these dishes are great for desserts, snacks, salads, pastas and fruits, or as dinner plates. And the bowls are deep enough for cereal, soups, rice and noodles.

Corelle®

Corelle® tableware products have been popular since the 1980’s. They are made of a thermally-bonded tempered glass called Vitrelle. Their dishes, bows and cups are scratch, chip and break resistant. The material used in making Corelle dinnerware is safe for microwave use and in pre-heated conventional ovens up to 350° F (176° C).

Personally, I love Corelle® because they are classy yet affordable, simple and practical as well as durable. This glass tableware is perfect for RVs, campers and boats because the plates are not thick like ceramic. They stack thinly so they don’t take up much space.

However, there are downsides of Corelle® is they are breakable. Trust me when I say, when they break, you’ll know it. They will shatter in a million pieces.

And, while Corelle® has been successfully marketing for fifty years, we highly recommend not serving or eating food off any Corelle® products manufactured prior to 2005 as they used to contain lead as the primary substance. I’ve found that Lead Safe Mama goes into depth on these findings.

But, like anything we use, we encourage you to just use good discretion on what products and how you use them according to manufacturer’s recommendations and orders.

Ceramic Dishes

Most dishes we are all familiar with are ceramic dinnerware. Ceramic dishes are typical of what most homeowners use in their kitchens and on their tables. You can get most any color, pattern, shape and design in ceramic dinnerware.

However, the downside is that ceramic dinnerware can be easily chipped or broken. And lastly and most importantly, ceramic dinnerware is very heavy which is not conducive to RV living. Those extra pounds count against your RV’s GVWR. If you’re driving a tag axel big rig motorhome where weight isn’t that much of an issue, then you can enjoy your ceramic dishes.

But, for the lighter weight smaller motorhomes and towable RVs of all sizes, weight is critical. So, you may want to forgo ceramic dinnerware all together and look into any of the other dish types mentioned above. In fact, in this article, I didn’t include it in any of our selections.

So, now that we’ve set the table showing you all the different types of dishes, let’s see which place settings are perfect for your RV, boat and camping picnic table!

Plastic Dishes and Dinnerware Sets

Kid’s Dishes and Dinnerware Sets

Melamine Dishes and Dinnerware Sets

Corelle Dishes and Dinnerware Sets

Bamboo Dishes and Dinnerware Sets

Wheat Straw Fiber Dishes and Dinnerware Sets

Metal Dishes and Dinnerware

Perhaps we should have included metal dishes above in our descriptions. But, we certainly didn’t want to leave out this traditional speckled metal dinnerware set that screams ‘let’s go camping’!

Drinkware

Pair any of your dishes with high quality, double wall, stainless steel 8 oz. tumblers or low ball tumblers for your favorite cold beverages.

And for you coffee and tea drinkers, double-wall stainless steel mugs that will keep your hot toddy, coffee and tea at a comfortable hot temperature much longer than ceramic or plastic mugs.

All are indestructible, shatterproof and will last a lifetime. And, these tumblers and mugs will look great on any table, around the campfire and in your hands!

Check out our product review: Best Unbreakable Coffee Mug for RV or Camper

That’s a wrap on RV dishes!

So, this wraps up this article on our Best Dishes for RVs, Campers and Boats that are also great for camping, cottages and cabins! Because they are all lightweight and virtually maintenance-free, there’s no worry of going over your RV’s weight limit. Lastly, because they’re all economical, they won’t break your wallet; leaving you more money for your culinary creations.

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