CICO 2012 Attendee Tips: The Galley

So CICO 2012 is over (for me anyway, have to work tomorrow, some lucky people are staying longer) but part of my personal "mission" <grin> while I was there was to ask anyone I met what accessory or tip they have to suggest. Everyone had wonderful suggestions. Almost all of them are already covered on this forum in other threads, but I'm going to mention them again.

There were so many wonderful tips I'm going to break them up into groupings, from the inside out. So here's CICO 2012 Attendee Tips: the Galley. The Galley had by far the most suggestions.

- Collapsable bucket Lots of choices in a web search ; the reason is you may be in a location where the potable water is far from your actual site; and you want to save the water (if you have the kitchen sink option) for coffee/brushing teeth; but you need to do the dishes.

- Coffee Percolator from Campmor http://www.amazon.com/Stansport-277-Aluminum-Camper-Feets-Percolator/dp/B001DC5HG6

- Hot Water pot (fire) This is the one I found online:http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-20-Quart-Hot-Pot/dp/B0032X0M0A , but the one I saw at CICI was narrower (so I believe would fit on the stove better, AND it had a spray hose attachment for the lid. Maybe that is no longer made, but it sure looked great.

- Hot Water pot (electric) - either an electric kettle, or one of those 30-cup coffee maker--you can usually find them at Goodwill for cheap.

- 10" dutch ovenhttp://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-Classic-10-Inch-Seasoned/dp/B004S3LJFU

- 2 cast iron skillets: one shallow, one deep; but the same diameter so they share the lid.

- Round wood Cutting Board -- make sure you size it to double as a trivet for your dutch oven

- Hard anodized nesting potshttp://www.amazon.com/Chinook-Trekker-Anodized-Piece-Cookset/dp/B001J60TRS light weight and nesting, and easy to clean. (note just a possible type, there are lots of types of hard anodized camping cook sets)

- There were lots of different types of "stuff" corrals for the top shelves--anything ranging from simply using rubber matting to reduce bounce and drift of "stuff", to custom made dividers that matched the woodwork and was perfectly sized to that person's stuff; exactly fitted to their teapot, their coffee mugs, etc.

- Galley Bin organizers. Lots of choices here, too; from custom made dividers (there are other threads on here with lots of different pictures) to simply getting plastic bins from a local store to organize.

- Collapsable Bowls, Teapots, Dish Tub . There a lots of choices now for collapsable things. I think the philosophy is "if you can collapse it, that's better than nesting". You see... nesting means that if you want that middle bowl, you have to move the top small bowl out of the way first. If you have your 3 collapsable bowls of difference sizes, if you have them vertically in your galley bin, you can grab the middle one without moving around the others.
Tea Kettle:http://www.amazon.com/Better-Houseware-Collapsible-Kettle-Green/dp/B008IA4N3Y
8 oz Bowl:http://www.amazon.com/Sea-to-Summit-102-8-X-Bowl/dp/B004BKNIPY
3 quart Bowl:http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-Quart-Collapsible-White/dp/B0014JUN44
3 quart Colander:http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-Collapsible-Colander-White/dp/B000ORV6OS
Dishpan:http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-CDT-1-Collapsible-Tub/dp/B003QP30S0/

- Furniture Coasters under your Dometic (or cooler), when you need to slide that out, there's other threads on this forum about wrapping a towel around it; not only for insulation but also to assist in sliding it out. One camper uses furniture coasters.

- Washcloth holder from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I don't see the specific one on the online store (the one where the wood accent perfect matched),http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/3/over-the-door-towel but if that 'perfect' one isn't available at your local store anymore, perhaps the "Axis Over-the-Cabinet 9" one might be an acceptable compromise.

- Rubber Matting - this is the stuff you get in any xyz-Mart type store, the stuff used to line your kitchen drawers. It has multiple uses, non-slip pad on the counter, and in the top shelves used as bounce-around reducers for your 'stuff' if you haven't done a divider customization.

- Drawer lights - Jenn has a some of these:http://www.amazon.com/Fulcrum-LED-2-Pack-Drawer-Lights/dp/B000R7JVE2/ small, and easy lights, just scattered around to help find stuff in the galley without turning on the main light.

- Spice Holdershttp://www.handyhausfrau.com/2010/03/portable-spice-kit-for-camping-or.html , if you are a weekender so don't need a full complement of spices, that's a quick way to have your favorites in a handy package.

- speaker dock for your ipod , I didn't write done the exact type, but someone mentioned a good ipod speaker docking station for your tunes.

- paper towel holder , there's several threads on here about getting / installing/ tweaking the perfect paper towel holder, so I won't mention any here, but they were certainly popular.

- If you dislike cold coffee and don't drink it super fast, a Stainless Steel Insulated coffee press