There’s something magical about camping, especially with good friends or family members. It could just be the fresh air, maybe just kicking back and enjoying the outdoors… or maybe because most of the time you don’t have cell phone reception! Either way camping is great, and so is the food. For whatever reason camp food just seems to taste better. Depending on what type of camping you’ll be doing, you’ll need to consider what outdoor cooking equipment you are going to bring.
If you’re going to base camp (one location) and you’re just driving to your location, then you’ll have a lot of options to choose from and you don’t need to worry as much about space and weight. The larger cooking stoves that use gas or propane are ideal for this type of situation. The greatest advantage of bringing this type of stove is because of their portability. Using a large BBQ at home is great but difficult or impossible to bring camping. You’ll also need to bring cooking and eating utensils as well, and it’s recommended if you can afford to buy extra sets that you buy some specifically for camping. The reason for this is because cooking outdoors is typically harder on outdoor cooking equipment than in your kitchen. Campfires, if you’re cooking on them, are much rougher on the material your equipment is made of. Things have a tendency to get lost as well, or bent/damaged, so you won’t want to use the more expensive stuff you keep in your kitchen.
If you plan on backpacking, hiking or canoeing to your campsite then you’ll want to consider lighter and smaller outdoor cooking equipment for your trip. A large Coleman stove is great however if you have to lug it everywhere you’re going then you’ll want to find something smaller and lighter that won’t take up so much room in your pack. You’ll also want to consider bringing equipment and accessories that can be used for more than one job (use a pot as a frying pan, etc). I’ve covered some of this under Camping Cooking Equipment. Small and light is key, and if you don’t need it, don’t bring it. As they say, “less is more” when you are backpacking.
