I’ve covered everything I know about tents and now it’s time to think about what you’re going to eat. Welcome to Camp Cooking for Beginners!
What should I cook on?
You’re spoiled for choice on that these days. Let me give you a rundown of your main options. Others exist but these four are the big ones. Don’t cook inside your tent, it’s a major fire hazard and in the case of barbecues in particular, an almost guaranteed carbon monoxide death. If the weather’s appalling and the site doesn’t provide a cooking room or hut, cut your losses, save your life and find a pub or takeaway for dinner.
- Gas stove
This is my personal choice. Gas stoves come from a simple tiny burner that screws onto the top of a gas canister right the way up to something that might not look out of place in your kitchen and which attaches by hose to a canister the size of a small pony with up to four burners. I use the simple basic variety; we use double burners on camp and my Rangers have the kind with a gas can that slots in down the side which fit into “briefcases”. The Jetboil systems are a variant on the most simple basic kind and they’re very popular with the real backpacker types because they boil quickly. I don’t really understand them and unless gas is at an absolute premium, there’s nothing wrong with your Vango/Eurohike type like my little cheap one. Gas stoves are by far the quickest and easiest way to cook anything and even if you’re determined to cook over a woodfire all week, take a gas stove to boil the water for your morning cup of tea.
- Trangia
AKA the spirit burning all-in-one cookset. They come as a series of stackable aluminium pots, two of which form the base and the sides and then you put a little pot of meths or gel in the middle, pop your pots and pans on the struts and cook. They’re pretty stable, they’re probably more windproof than your average gas canister and all the cookware is tucked away inside the bundle. Sounds good – but you can’t adjust the heat and you can’t turn them off – I mean, you can drop the lid onto the burner but you may miss and you’ll probably burn out the seal if you don’t. I’ve not used one myself but I believe there’s now a kit available to convert them to gas canister. Liquid fuel can be better at low temperatures or high altitude but if you’re reading this, you’re more than likely looking into camping from your car in the summer, in which case it doesn’t make enough difference to matter.
- Barbecue
Not all campsites allow barbecues, so look into this before you base your entire menu on it. You all know barbecues. You might have one at home. If your campsite provides a barbecue, it’s probably the charcoal variety but you may get the gas powered variety or you might be able to take it with you. Number one rule of barbecuing while camping: do not take the barbecue inside the tent. Not only is this a major fire hazard, it’s also almost guaranteed to kill you via carbon monoxide poisoning. Every year, two or three cases of this appear in the national news and yet it still happens. When you’ve finished barbecuing, make sure your charcoal is well and truly cold before you dispose of it somewhere suitable. Campsites rarely provide fuel, not for free, so check that out first and be ready to either take your own or buy some from the owner.
- Campfire
I’ve never really mastered cooking anything more complex than a marshmallow over a campfire. Again, check with the campsite whether they’re allowed. Campfires are even more likely than barbecues to get out of control and cause a county-wide wildfire. If they are permitted, chances are it’s only in a designated campfire spot or in a brazier raised off the ground. Never ever light a campfire on grass or near hedges, tents or vehicles, don’t cut turf for it unless you’ve been explicitly told that’s how it works here and have a bucket of water nearby. (I don’t even need to tell you not to light a campfire inside a tent, right?) Make sure it’s thoroughly and absolutely out and cold before you either leave it or go to bed. Again, your campsite owner probably doesn’t provide firewood for free and almost certainly won’t appreciate you cutting your own from his trees and hedges, so take wood with you or buy it from reception. As for cooking, you can either wrap the food in foil and place it among the white-hot embers or you can put a grill or tripod over the fire.
What cooking equipment do I need?
Matches. Spare matches. A waterproof container for the matches – even on a fine dry summer night, there’s a good chance your matches will be too damp to use by morning. If your stove has a piezo electric ignition, expect it to fail and take matches anyway.
Cookware will depend on what you’re using to cook. If you’re using a Trangia, you’ve probably got everything you need apart from the fuel. If you’re using a barbecue, it should already have a grid to cook on but you might need to take your favourite tongs and forks and other barbecue tools. Foil and a grill or tripod for a campfire, along with fireproof pots and pans and maybe a suspendable kettle.
But gas is what I know. You’ll need pots and pans that fit your burner, so mine are pretty small. I have a cookset with a couple of pans, a frying pan that they sit inside, a lid and a removable handle. If you’ve got one of the big double burners like the Guides have, you can use full-size pans – I’d keep them as camping-specific rather than borrow them from your own kitchen, if possible. If you have a removable handle, either take something to hold it with or remember to take it off whenever you’re not using it – those things are metal and they get hot. Take a camping kettle – the kind that sits on a flame, not the kind that plugs in.
Then there’s all the other extras. The grater for the cheese, the wooden spoons, the tongs, the whisk. Think through what you’re planning to cook and try to think of what you’d use if you were cooking it at home. You can use the edge of the lid to strain pasta if you’re careful but it’s easier and safer to take a colander. That sort of thing. I think I talked about my cooking equipment in this post from last year.
You’ll want something to eat from and with – plates, bowls, cutlery etc. China is a terrible idea. Plastic and enamel are good but enamel gets hot, so bear that in mind if you’re planning to eat off your lap while wearing shorts, or if you’re handing hot chocolate to small children. As with the pots, it’s probably best to keep this stuff for camping, so don’t take your grandmother’s best silver. Buy a packet of the really cheap basic cutlery from Argos or Ikea. Plastic cutlery is ok but the knives aren’t very sharp and the forks always break. Sporks are honestly not as good as just taking a knife and a fork. You’re probably not backpacking. You don’t need to save 10g when you’re loading everything into the car. Take enough for everyone and a couple of spares – you don’t want to play “pass the fork” while your food is getting cold. Take mugs for hot drinks and you may want plastic wine glasses or something similar for the evening. If you haven’t already seen it, I did a post about my plate bag once.
What can I cook?
Camp cooking isn’t as hard as you might think. As a general rule, anything you can cook on a stovetop you can cook at camp. If it needs to go in the oven, you’re probably going to need a full-on touring caravan with a real kitchen and that’s not what we’re talking about here. A frozen pizza can probably go on a campfire or even a barbecue but it’s not going to be possible to cook it on a gas stove or a Trangia. Get yourself a camp cookbook and experiment.
But pasta, that’s a camping classic. Fried breakfast made in a pan or two, classic. Anything you can fry or boil is good. Don’t take dehydrated camp food unless you’re backpacking across mountains and really trying to save weight. By all means, take shortcuts with pasta sauce in jars or packets and ready-made salad but dehydrated camp food just isn’t tasty and you’re off camping to enjoy yourself. One of my “one day…” dreams is to write my own camp cookbook but if I haven’t managed a thin self-printed one for Guide camp yet, it’s very unlikely I’ll manage a real one. There’s absolutely nothing revolutionary here but let me try to give you a few recipes tried and tested on Guide camp:
- Eggy bread
A breakfast favourite. A few eggs and a slosh of milk in a bowl, whisk them together, soak a piece of bread in it and fry in oil. Repeat until all the mix is used up and you have to make some more. Camp is not a time to be precise with weighing scales or measuring jugs, by the way.
- Smores
Toast a marshmallow on a stick over the embers of your campfire, a candle or your gas burner. I prefer them to be gently golden-white with a gooey inside; Pixie likes to set them on fire. When it’s cooked to your liking, sandwich it between two biscuits. Either use chocolate biscuits or sandwich it between plain biscuits and add chocolate buttons. Chocolate buttons give it a pleasing crunch and it means any non-chocolate-lovers (apparently these people exist?) can opt out of the chocolate.
- Hotdogs
Ready-made hotdogs are so easy. They’re already cooked so when you boil them, all you’re really doing is heating them up. Fry some onions as well and put in a finger bun with your favourite sauce. So easy on your first night when you haven’t found all the real food yet and you just want something quick, lazy and tasty.
- Campfire pizzas
Split open pitta breads and fill with tomato sauce, cheese, ham, pineapple, sweetcorn and/or whatever other pizza toppings take your fancy. Wrap them up well in two layers of foil and place among the campfire embers. Turn them over after five or ten minutes and then unwrap very carefully and eat. If you’re doing this with more than a couple of people, it might not be a terrible idea to write their names on them in Sharpie before putting them in the foil.
- Fried potatoes & chorizo
This one went down well with the adults one camp but not so much with the children, mostly because it was served for breakfast. Dice the potatoes and boil them. While they’re boiling, start to fry the chorizo. Add some chopped chillies and when the potatoes are done, drain them well and add to the pan. Fry them together until everything’s done, tip onto a plate and serve.
How do I keep the food safe?
Some campsites provide fridges and freezers for use of campers. Ask when you book, unless you’re taking chances and just turning up a campsite. Some campsites provide freezer blocks or freezers to re-freeze your own blocks. If you’re on a campsite that provides neither, I’d recommend a good solid coolbox packed with ice blocks and to freeze a big bottle of milk. As it melts, you can drink it but while it’s solid, it’s keeping the rest of your food cool.
I’d then suggest that if you’re bringing anything that needs to be kept cool, like fresh meat, that you eat it first. Have your sausages & bacon on the first morning, eggy bread on the second and then cereal, unless you go into local shops to top up your supplies. Keep the longlife jars of sauce for later in the trip and do the steaks over the barbecue nice and early.
Usual food hygiene applies, otherwise. If your food thaws in the coolbox, don’t refreeze it. Don’t let meat juices drip over anything. Clean your work surfaces – yes, you’ll need to take some cleaning supplies. You know, the usual that you’d do at home. A kitchen is a kitchen, whether it’s a white marble confection with a built-in boiling water tap or a patch of grass with a food bag and a gas stove sitting on it.
One more thing about food safety – make sure animals can’t get in. I assume you’re camping in the UK, so you don’t have to worry about raids by brown bears, but squirrels, badgers and foxes crossing a field will all grab an easy bite (and I know from experience that a determined greedy squirrel used to dining out on campsites can get the lid off a tub of Quality Street!). If temperatures and logistics allow, it’s not a terrible idea to keep the food in the car. Don’t leave too many crumbs or too many dropped bits and pieces around the tent to tempt any visitors.
What else do I need to think about?
Washing up! A lot of campsites have a sink for washing up but that’s about it. Take some washing up liquid, any clothes/sponges/brushes and a cloth to dry with. Even better, take a washing up bowl and then when you discover that the sink only has cold water, you can top it up carefully with hot water from your kettle. If you’ve got a few hours on your hands, make a ludicrously overengineered washing up bag like mine (don’t do that. It’s an awesome thing but absolutely unnecessary).
And finally, disposal. Most campsites have some kind of rubbish system with various recycling bins. Follow those instructions, take your rubbish home if there isn’t anywhere to dispose of it on site, don’t leave anything behind, tidy up after yourself. No food waste in the grass, no hot ashes left in the firepit, no plastic waste blowing around the field. Leave no waste and all that.
And I think that covers everything you need to know about cooking on camp. Leave me a comment if you have any other questions!