Cooking in the great outdoors isn’t that much different than cooking in your kitchen at home. You just need the right equipment and some preparation ahead of time. An outdoor grill or camp stove is a necessity on your camping checklist, along with the proper cookware and utensils; once you have all these things together, all you need to do is a little planning and some preparation before you leave home and you will be eating very well on your camping trip.
Camping Stove
The basic equipment you need for cooking at the campsite is a camp stove or one of the many quality portable grills available, appropriate cookware and some utensils. The cookware you take with you should be made of a material that can stand direct heat; cast iron is a good choice. Try to choose items that can serve more than one purpose, to conserve space. For example, a deep skillet can be used to fry bacon or make pancakes for breakfast and then be used to fry chicken for dinner. Utensils should have long handles so that hands are kept a good distance from the heat and don’t forget to bring along an oven mitt or two.
Make a list of all the meals you want to prepare on your camping trip and try to do some of the preparation before you leave. It is much easier to do this prep work at home in your kitchen than trying to do it all at the campsite. You can pre-cut vegetables and place them in heavy-duty aluminum foil; they can then be placed directly on the grill and cooked easily. Don’t forget to either butter or oil the inside of the foil so the veggies won’t stick. It is much easier to make hamburger patties at home and store them in a plastic container in a cooler than it is to make the patties at the campsite.
Prepackage single servings of foods in Ziploc bags; things like cereal and chips. This keeps food from going stale or being wasted if the box gets spilled. Pre-cutting carrot and celery sticks makes a handy snack for children and prepackaging salad will allow you to have a nice crunchy tossed salad with your steak.
Keeping camping cooking basics together in storage makes it much easier to get ready for a trip. If everything is all together then you are less likely to forget something. Keep a camping supply box that has all your cookware, utensils and basic supplies like aluminum foil and paper towels with you camping supplies and all you’ll have to do is grab it and go. With just a bit of planning and preparation you will be able to enjoy the same delicious food camping as you do at home.
