Camping

Image by Graham Ballantyne via Flickr

What’s For Dinner . . . We’re Hungry . . .

“The wonderful world of home appliances now makes it possible to cook indoors with charcoal and outdoors with gas.”  -
Bill Vaughan 

Camping is a very relaxing experience for all the family . . . yeah right! Well, it can be very relaxing just so long as there’s a little organization in the camping kitchen for the starving masses at the end of  a long, hard day of fresh air and exercise. There’s nothing like hiking, swimming, climbing or simply exploring the great outdoors for building an appetite, so when it comes to the camp kitchen, cooking is a very serious business.

Camp kitchens these days have the potential to be a real home away from home, there’s even a kitchen sink! We’ll look at specific pieces of kitchen equipment designed for camping on other pages, but right now I thought it would be a good idea to give you a sort of checklist . . . you know the sorts of things which you really shouldn’t leave home without!

How posh is that? I know it’s not really what we’re talking about but I thought you might like to see it anyway, awesome!

Camping Kitchen – Preparing The Food

Food doesn’t just prepare itself and jump into the cooking pots, you’ve got to peel it, chop it, wash it, open the packet, and that sort of thing needs certain bits of equipment must be included on your kitchen checklist before you go camping.

• Bottle opener – don’t leave home without it, even if you’re not going on a camping trip, just in case you get the chance!
• Corkscrew – ditto! Food preparation is so much more enjoyable after you’ve opened the wine!
• Cutting surface or board – somewhere to chop
• Paring knife – something to peel and chop with, on your somewhere to chop
• Whisk – in case you fancy whipping up some pancakes or scrambled eggs . . . all good camping breakfast food
• Cooler – you’ll need one of these to keep the food in, so pack lots of coolers with plenty of delicious food in preparation for your camping trip. Do not, however, take up too much valuable cool beer space.

Did I forget to mention that the weather can have a real impact on your camping trip . . .
Camping Kitchen – Cooking the Food

Now it’s all prepared, you need to think about how you’re gonna cook the food and the camping equipment you’ll need.

• Bottle Opener- this needs to be on all lists to make absolutely sure that there are plenty kicking around the camping kitchen.
• Camping Stove – there are some great camping stoves available, almost like home from home. Burners, grills . . . you can quickly rustle up some tasty food in your camping kitchen with a just couple of burners . . . trust me!
• Fuel for the camping stove – make sure that you’re well stocked up on the fuel of your choice, it’ll be so annoying if your flame flickers out on day 2 before you’ve even got the coffee on!
• Lighter or matches – you need something to light your camping stove with don’t you . . . .
• Frying pan – the cooking pot of choice for many camping trips. Frying pans are just perfect for camping, I can almost smell the bacon sizzling!
• Other Cooking pots – you can’t live on fried foods alone, even if you find the idea appealing. Your arteries wouldn’t thank you for it, so take a selection of other cooking pots too.
• Water containers – containing water.  Actually I should have probably included this in the food preparation section, but just so long as you take plenty of water containers with you on our camping trip you can use it for all sorts of reasons.

That’s more like the sort of camping we’re talking about, breakfast sure looks good . . .

Camping Kitchen – Eating the Food

It’s almost time to start tasting the campsite food . . . so you’re going to need a few bits and pieces of camping equipment to enable you to do just that.

• Bottle opener – just in case you’ve forgotten . . .
• Camping plates and bowls – unbreakable camping plates and bowls are great because it doesn’t matter if you drop them.
• Cutlery – I know that eating with your fingers can seem like a great idea, but what about your oatmeal! Better have a knife, fork and spoon available for when necessary.
• Cups, mugs and glasses – well, plastic glasses, so I suppose they should be called “plastics” really, but anyway, you need something to drink out for the children, and somewhere to put the wine . . . beer bottles and cans successfully by-pass the need to make any more washing up, another bonus!

Camping Kitchen – Clearing Up After The Food

I know it’s a horrid thought but it’s really important that you keep your camp kitchen clean, tidy and organized, so now’s the time to set about it. You’ll need:

• Bottle opener – it really does help to have an endless supply of these, you never know when you might need one.
• Camp sink – yes, the dreaded washing up.
• Drying cloths and towels
• Trash bags – resealable ones are best. Remember, keep everywhere tidy and organized.

Don’t Feed the Bears

If you’re lucky enough to be camping in bear country, there are even more good reasons why you need to keep your camping kitchen clean, tidy and food free . . . you really don’t want hungry bears sniffing around for any leftovers, so don’t feed the bears, either intentionally or unintentionally. Some locations actually make it mandatory for you to use bear canisters (which can also come in quite handy as a table or a stool).