How Do You Keep Your RV Fridge Contained on Travel Days?

You’re taking your RV out for your very first camping trip. You can hardly contain your excitement as you pack things into the fridge. 

But then, a few thoughts come to mind. How will these items stay in the fridge while we’re driving? Is the fridge door going to remain closed? Is my jar of pickles going to end up in a mess on the RV floor when we arrive? 

Now you’re worried. But don’t be! We have simple solutions to keep your RV fridge contained and protect loose items in cabinets and on countertops. Let’s learn more!

Why Do You Need to Secure Items on Travel Days?

Travel days can feel hectic and stressful. You want to do everything you can to prevent disasters, like ensuring your tires get properly inflated and tightening the lug nuts. But you also want to do everything possible to avoid disaster inside the RV. 

Opening the door to a pile of spaghetti on the floor may not be as disastrous, but opening the door to glass shards strewn all over the camper will make setting up harder.

This is why securing items inside the RV on travel days is so important. Some say that driving down the road towing an RV is like an earthquake inside the RV. 

Things rattle, things move, and you’ll likely find something not in the right place when you arrive. You want to do your best to prevent things from breaking, falling onto the floor, and creating a mess.

How Do You Keep RV Fridge Items Contained on Travel Days?

One particular point of emphasis is the refrigerator. You want to clear off items on the counters and make sure things won’t fall off shelves, but you also need to take time to secure the food in your fridge so that when you open the door, jars, bottles, and containers don’t fall out.

Use Tension Rods or Fridge Braces

RV fridges come in all different sizes. Depending on the size of your space, you may want to use either tension rods or fridge braces to keep bottles and containers in place. 

You certainly don’t want them falling out of the fridge, but you also don’t want them falling over and making a mess inside.

Use the fridge drawers for any items that might roll around, like fruit and vegetables, and then use tension rods and fridge braces to keep things from sliding from side to side during the drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwF8t3vZCIY&t=232s

Install an RV Fridge Door Lock

It’s essential to install an RV fridge door lock. You can’t trust that the fridge will remain closed during your trip. A sharp turn or a large bump can cause the door to swing open. 

Should this happen, you can have spoiled food and a mess on the floor that could take hours to clean up. Carpet can get stained, food can get underneath a slide, and liquids can seep into your RV’s tiny cracks. 

Thus, find a lock that you can put on your fridge door to make sure the food stays inside on travel days.

Use Refrigerator Bins

Inside the fridge, you’ll want some kind of system to keep your food in place. It’s a good idea not to put glass bottles next to glass bottles because they’ll knock against one another and perhaps break. Put plastic bottles or plastic containers in between them. 

Refrigerator bins are very helpful when organizing food. Your bottles may not fit in the door shelves, so you’ll need to secure them in bins.

If you’ve chopped up vegetables and divided them into small containers, put them in bins, so they don’t slide around. Some foods, like a pack of hot dogs or a head of lettuce, can sit on their own. But focus on smaller items that could roll around, break, and come open.

Tips to Keep Other Items Secure on Travel Days

But the RV fridge isn’t the only place you want to keep items secured. Go through the cabinets and ensure nothing will come flying out of the cabinet with a sudden stop. Here are some tips to help you with this task.

Use Bins Inside Cabinets

There are so many different kinds of bins that you can use inside cabinets, from hard-sided, woven, or canvas. Some people like the canvas because it can squish to fit into different sized cabinets.

 Others like the plastic hard-sided options because you can grab them easier with one hand.

 Use bins to secure loose items in cabinets, regardless of which style you prefer. From food to toys to tools, you want it all in a secure place so nothing ends up in a mess on the floor.

Use Tension Rods in Medicine Cabinets

Sometimes tension rods work and sometimes they don’t. But they’re worth buying and putting in your medicine cabinets. 

Shampoo bottles, medicines, and body wash can easily fall out of these cabinets in the bathroom. If a bottle of lotion falls out and bursts open, you could have a gooey mess to clean up. 

If a bottle of Robitussin falls out and the bottle cracks, you might find liquid all over your RV when you arrive at your destination. So use tension rods to keep these loose items in place inside medicine cabinets.

Use Soft Items for Cushioning

You can also use items you already have to help create cushioning for breakable items like wine glasses, jars, and coffee mugs. 

Stuff soft items, like socks, towels, and pot holders, between them for protection. This way, you don’t have to buy anything, and you won’t have to find a place to store extra travel gear like bins or tension rods. 

If you have a cabinet of coffee mugs, stick socks in between them or wind a towel through them so they won’t clank against each other and break.

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Use Museum Putty for Counter Items

You can’t remove all items from the countertops. If you have a few small plants, you can use museum putty to secure them to the counters. Then you don’t have to spend time moving them on travel days. 

Other common items like pictures or an Instant Pot should also remain secure with museum putty.

Use Shelf Liners

Besides using bins and towels to protect items stored inside cabinets, it’s important to install shelf liners to prevent movement. 

This inexpensive product can make a huge difference in whether or not your plates end up on the floor. 

Measure your shelves and cut the liner to size. Now you don’t have to worry about pans sliding around while driving.

Use Bungee Cords to Secure Free-Standing Furniture

Most RV furniture has straps to secure the pieces to the floor or wall. But if you’ve remodeled or replaced the standard furniture with your own, you can use bungee cords to secure them. 

Try installing hooks to the wall and wrap a bungee cord around dinette chairs or underneath an ottoman to ensure they don’t move around. A sharp turn could cause a chair to fall over, which could knock a hole through a piece of wood or do further damage.

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Add Wood Strips to Cabinets

Finally, another tip to prevent items in cabinets from falling out and onto the floor is adding wood strips. 

If a tall can of beans hits the cabinet door during a turn, the force could possibly knock the cabinet door open. This could lead to more items falling out when in transit. 

Wood strips added to the bottom of cabinets will prevent items from hitting the cabinet door and knocking it open. They act as a small brace to keep things from tipping over.

Avoid a Disaster on Travel Days, Properly Secure All Items

Travel days are stressful enough, worrying about everything that could go wrong and dealing with traffic and other drivers. 

Secure the inside of your RV by using a fridge lock, tension rods, shelf liners, and bungee cords to keep items in place. 

Once you arrive at your destination, you want to set up and unpack. You don’t want to clean up a mess for hours or go to the nearest home improvement store for repairs.

Do you have any other tips or tricks to share about how you properly secure items on travel days?

Last update on 2024-04-22 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API