How do you cook in camp?

[Christophe Noel]

Interesting to see how many camp fires are being used. For every night I lite a camp fire, there are 25 nights I deem a fire inappropriate due to environmental reasons. In Arizona, I have a hard time building fires in most areas as the effects are so damaging. A few years ago I spear headed a project to clean up fire rings in one of our wilderness areas. We mapped 150+ existing fire rings within a 3 square mile area. In one spot there were 17 fire rings visible from one spot. We counted more than 2000 rocks with fire scars. Those rocks will likely be black for a couple hundred years or more.

Fires. Just an interesting element to the camp cooking thing that I've not seen mentioned yet.

 

[Clutch]

We do both gourmet and tin can cooking.

I use both my camp stove and camp fire..(it ain't camping without a campfire). I rather cook on wood fire than anything else. Mainly use the camp stove to boil water, heat up soups, oatmeal, etc.

Never use paper plates, always use my plastic reusable dinnerware, I keep in the chuck box. Never really bothered by cleanup.

Breakfast is usually on the stove, eggs, bacon, toast, coffee...etc. Lunch is sandwiches...dinner is mainly cooked on the camp fire, steaks, chicken, veggies, potatos, etc.....popcorn...

 

[SAR_Squid79]

I'm just starting to get my feet wet in this area, as most of my life I've camped either alone or with one or two friends, and we usually "only survive" off of hotdogs, and ramen noodles.

Just in the last few years have I started to endevour into real camp cooking. Thus far, I've been able to make some pretty decent meals - on par with home cooking.

As I've posted before 99% of the camp cooking I do / have done is over open fire (As I have JUST THIS WEEK purchased a 2-burner camp stove from Scott). Moab (Canyonland Nat. Park) was the 1st place I've ever camped where fires are not permitted. So in Canyonlands my wife and I survived off my Jet Boil. But anyways - as I have always relied on and preferred cooking over an open fire. I have a Weber Hinged Cooking Grid that I carry with me. This is easy to pack, and requires no cleaning. My wife and I each have our own fork and a knife, and I have 1 pot that I take. We always eat off of paper plates, and use paper towels.

When it's clean-up time, at the MOST - all we'll have is our forks & knives, and 1 pot. we usually burn the paper plates, paper towels, and leftover food to cut down on trash.

 

[Tomas Tierra]

My first post, cool site!


8 or 10 briquets and a well seasoned cast iron pan are a great to get that firey taste with no mark on the enviro..not all that nice to sit by, but. Dragging a little weber around is a must for us

I'm with KCOWYO on the ziplock bins full of pre cut goodies..:chowtime:

 

[ken richardson]

fire

When they ban campfires in my neck of the woods for environmental reasons, will be the day I stop camping.

I do understand how a few of the idiot element can make a mess of things in nature but by in large I find fire rings and black rocks less offensive than beer cans and trash.

I suppose we all have different thresholds. :gunt:

 

[Tucson T4R]

When they ban campfires in my neck of the woods for environmental reasons, will be the day I stop camping.

I do understand how a few of the idiot element can make a mess of things in nature but by in large I find fire rings and black rocks less offensive than beer cans and trash.

I suppose we all have different thresholds. :gunt:

:iagree: Running into a back country campsite with a fire ring is very low on my environmental impact concerns. Open trash bothers me a lot more than a pre-used fire ring.

 

[K2RVR]

The balance has always been a struggle for me. I used to bring so much stuff for fancy meals that food storage and cooking gear took much of the space and led to organization issues (personal problem). As I built more experience on multi day trips, I try to keep things easier and create less garbage to haul around and manage. I now try to go easier but not forsake a satisfying meal. Over the last couple years, I have consolidated my cooking and camping gear to one bin. Dry food in another, then the cooler.

Most of my meals are done on my tailgate. I bring 2 backpacking stoves (one incredibly small as a backup) and a Jetboil, one of the backpack stoves is a multi fuel just in case. I try to plan most of my meals as a single pot prep to make it easier. Everything has it's place in the bin.

Breakfast is always easy but warm, oatmeal, egg scramble, etc. I want to have the rig largely packed the night before and a quick prep/clean so we can get on the road.

Lunches are usually sandwiches premade for the first 2 days. Then made each day.

Dinners are usually pre made boil in bag or premade frozen. The frozen meals are nice as they help keep the cooler cold for a few days. A favorite is my wifes Spaghetti or Lasagna saved in a Vac bag that I can boil with no clean up. Just make sure to keep the noodles separate from the sauce for better consistency. Fresher foods are prepared early in the trip. The best meal is usually on the second or third night.

I try to use sugarcane based plates that Biodegrade easy and burn without impact or smell. I try to keep all of my garbage in an ammo can that seals the smell and leaks when travelling. It get's stored near the door and get's emptied whenever I fuel up. Beer cans are used rather than bottles so I can crush them for storage.

The last of the meals are usually the simplest, except for the final dinner and breakfast since I probably don;t have to clean up the dishes until I get home. I always budget time for a good meal at a pub on the way home. It add's that little bit of happiness for a day that is usually a bummer.

 

[kcowyo]

My first post, cool site!

Hey Tomas! Welcome to ExPo! :beer:

I hope I sent you a link to this site awhile ago. If I didn't, forgive me. I can almost guarantee you'll like what you find here.

I hope you'll share some of your great photos and impressions from your trips south of the border. Good to see ya!

 

[Scott Brady]

Some great suggestions all.

I am slowly migrating my camp cooking equipment from old, household pots and pans to all new Snow Peak goodies.

On my truck, with the water heater and high-pressure shower head, I can clean dishes pretty quickly. I use a little camp sink (fold up style) and have a wash and a rinse cycle. Still use too much water.

So, my new kit is this: Merry Christmas to me

Iron Grill Table-

Which houses-

Dual burner stove

BBQ Box

And a Bamboo insert

Complimenting the above is a full set of titanium plates, bowls, utensils, etc., The Java press and milk frother too

And the uber cool Field Cooker set

To address Christophe's concerns with fire, I use the new Fire System

I buy most of my Snow Peak stuff from Expedition Exchange

Looking forward to the next meal!

 

[Scott Brady]

Oh, and I must say that my aunt Linda is one of the most impressive camp cooks I have seen. She pre-cooks most of it from home and then seals the meals in with a sealer and stores in the fridge. Then, she heats a pot of water and warms the (always awesome) food. Very little clean-up.

Her cooking is pretty stellar!

 

[Dave Bennett]

Yeah, Ive been perusing that Snow Peak kitchen setup since I saw the ad for Snow Peak in OJ.

Someday... :chowtime:

 

[Tucson T4R]

Sweet Snow Peak kitchen set up Scott. Looks great. I always liked the Snow Peak products.

 

[Wanderlusty]

I try to plan an easy breakfast and lunch, say, oatmeal in the Jet Boil, lunch of lunchmeat sandwiches and chips.

Dinner, when the day is done, I try to get a bit fancier. Usually some kind of meat is involved, and some kind of vegetable on the side.

I try to design all meals to leave as little waste as possible. I don't use disposable plates or utensils. Durning lunch, a paper towel serves as a plate.

During supper, what dishes are dirtied in the cooking and eating process, we take the time to clean. As early as we often settle for the night, it isn't like there is a rush. Taking a little more time for a properly prepared and tasty meal always seems worth it.

As for cleaning, the pots and pans usually are given a little water, then put back on the burner and brought to a boil or close to, and that often loosens everything up enough that a light scrubbing gets them clean. The plates and utensils, I don't have a sink, but I will usually heat some water in the biggest pan I have, and use it as a sink to clean the plates, then clean it out.

For me, I consider the extra hassle of cleaning dishes worth it for the better meal, and the lower trash impact.

What little waste that is left over is either dumped at the next fuel stop, or if it is safe to burn (paper towels, some food scraps) it will hit the fire.

I don't like having to haul trash around, so I try to plan where minimal trash will be left over, so what I do have to haul is compact and hopefully not offensive to the nose.

This system has worked pretty well so far.

On the subject of fire rings, we are not prohibited from having fires or constructiong fire rings (unless fire risk is high, which is usually well publicized) in the two NF's in Arkansas, but we are encouraged to seek primitive sites where one already exists when possible.]

I always like having a fire when camping. It is part of the charm. I won't go so far as to say I would stop camping if prohibited, but it would be a bummer. Fire rings don't bother me, personally. Most around here are constructed of native rocks, and it would take all of 10 minutes, a shovel and some rock moving to all but erase any sign a fire ring ever existed. There are a lot of worse things in my book, like litter, wildcat trails, and trails closed because of abuse by irresponsible ORV'ers.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Some great suggestions all.

I am slowly migrating my camp cooking equipment from old, household pots and pans to all new Snow Peak goodies.

To address Christophe's concerns with fire, I use the new Fire System

I buy most of my Snow Peak stuff from Expedition Exchange

About 10 years ago I started using Snow Peak stoves, cooksets and of course, $40 titanium and bamboo folding chop sticks. Awesome stuff.

That folding fire system is great. I bought one of those a year ago. I love a camp fire and in certain places like coastal Alaska, didn't hesitate to light a monster. However, for more arid areas, that folding fire widget has been great. I promised my hippy mountaineer dad when I was 10 that I would NEVER build a fire ring, but use well placed existing rings if I had to. Promise kept. While some see litter as ugly, I feel the same about someone's monster fire ring. Leave no trace is leave no trace. If it wasn't there when you arrived....

I've only used our Fire system twice, but both times we commented on how supperior it was to a ground fire. I do need a good system for packing out the ashes and dead coals.

By the way - those are my practices. I respect anyone else's fire practices, what ever they are...short of burning down the woods.

 

[lx450landcruiser]

I havent started the water project yet but have most of it planned out
as for the cooking, i use a miele km406 wok burner which is the most efficient stove i have ever owned. the table-box is a military spec aluminum medical unit. both sides of the box come off and flip into tables. its totally waterproof and dust proof.