Camp food does not have to be bland and boring. Almost everything that you can make at home you can make while camping making cooking while camping easier than you thought! Here are some hints and tips for a great culinary experience on your next camping adventure.
Cooking While Camping
The Essentials
- Cooler: A cooler is probably the most important camp food essential. This will keep your food from perishing. If you are bringing meat with you a good tip is to freeze the meat before placing in the cooler to keep it fresher for longer.
- Folding table: This will come in handy for food preparation and for eating at. It is also easy to fit in the boot of your car.
- Camp stove: These are compact and much more convenient to take with you than a BBQ.
- Ice packs and ice: Add these to your cooler to keep food fresh.
- Pots and pans: Organise what to bring based on what you’re planning on cooking. The essentials will usually be a frying pan, pot and grill pan.
- Utensils: You will need an egg flip, a wooden spoon and some tongs.
- Can opener: If you are bringing along canned food.
- Heat resistant gloves: You will be getting close to the campfire so these are a must.
- Bottle opener: Imagine how devastating it will be if you can’t open the drinks you were looking forward to cracking open.
- Knives: For food prep, and other instances where you need something sharp.
- Cutting board: You might want to consider getting two of these. One for meat and one for everything else. Make sure these are portable and not bulky.
- plates/bowls/cutlery/drinkware: You can bring disposable ones but for a more environmentally friendly option you can bring some plastic dinnerware from home, but don’t bring too many, just bring enough for everyone on your camping trip.
- Aluminium foil/Glad wrap: For food storage and cooking. Aluminium foil can be good for wrapping around food that you want to throw into the fire to cook.
- Drink bottles: You want to make sure you have plenty of clean drinking water available.
- Camp kettle: If you can’t go without your morning coffee.
- Makeshift sink: To ensure you don’t run out of clean dishes.
- Cleaning equipment: Make sure you have detergent and sponges.
- Oil: You will be using this with pretty much every meal so make sure you have enough.
Tips for Cooking
- Prepare vegetables before you leave: Cut your veggies to save time before you leave.
- Cut and marinate the meat before leaving: If your meat is already marinated and prepared it will save you a lot of time and will save you from needing to bring along extra ingredients like spices and marinades.
- Crack eggs and keep in a plastic bottle: This will save you from bringing a whole carton of fragile eggs. When you’re making something that requires an egg simply squeeze out of the bottle.
- Prepare what you will eat before you go: If you know what you will be eating you will know exactly what to bring. See below for the best foods to eat while camping.
Best things to eat while camping
Just because you don’t have an oven or a microwave it doesn’t mean that you can’t make some great meals. Here are some camp food favourites:
- Baked potatoes: Pierce the potatoes with a fork, add some butter and salt, wrap in foil and place on fire for 30-60 minutes until soft. You can add whatever toppings you like.
- Burgers/Sausages/Kebabs: These are the perfect BBQ essentials that are easy to make.
- Bacon and scrambled eggs: This is where keeping your eggs in a bottle comes in handy. This is an easy breakfast that you can prepare over the campfire.
- Omelettes: You can even prepare these before you go. Before you leave whisk the eggs and place in a ziplock bag with some cheese and whatever other ingredients you want.
To sum it all up you do not have to miss out on an enjoyable meal just because you’re camping. There’s not much that you cannot cook while camping. There are many things that you can bring with you to recreate a kitchen environment outdoors.
