What do you cook on?

[lavenderhoney]

I'm a camping novice ( don't count festivals)

I have a tent which I haven't used for 2 years and then it was in the desert. Hasn't been unpacked since. I have blow up mattresses and a thing for doing so via the car. I have a cool box.

I have 2 dc aged 7 and 5, one who wets beds occasionally.

What do I need? I have no idea what it need to cook on, I'm terrified of gas bottles and I'm very impractical. Anyone near me will be hysterical with laughter. Its just me and the dc.

I would like to camp in Devon or Cornwall for a week or so, near a beach if possible and lots of kids about. Ds might like to learn to surf:)

[pictish]

You're going to have to get over your fear of gas bottles.

I have a petrol stove, but as you are new to this, I recommend one of these. They run on readily available gas canisters that are easy to insert.
Keep the stove low and put a stove guard here.

If you decide you like camping, you can always move onto something a bit more heavy duty later on, but those little stoves will boil your kettle and heat up your beans up a treat.

[lavenderhoney]

Thanks - I think I'm really worried about feeding the dc! They normally have a full English, decent lunch, and a roast with pudding. How do you cook? Or do you go out? I don't want to, I want to do it myself and enjoy it.

I've never done a barbecue either (!) Is there a camping cookbook?

We will love camping, I'm sure, but I'm so nervous of " mummy I'm hungry...."

[yellowdinosauragain]

Lavender you need a Cobb Bbq

You can cook all the meals you said for your kids and no scary gas either! ££££ though but, imho, worth every penny.

I also have a single and double gas burner, a tripod bbq for Campfire cooking or with fire pit, Dutch oven for Campfire cooking and a honey stove which is a small portable backpacking bbq/multistove.

[yellowdinosauragain]

honey stove

[yellowdinosauragain]

I don't take all of these on every trip by the way. Depends on whether the site allows fires and what kind of camping we're doing as to what we take.

[Needadvice5]

I have one of those little single burners that pictish linked and it definitely does the job, ours was a fiver from Aldi.

I had great fun trying to cook a full English last weekend on ours!

The gas cannisters are really cheap too, £3.99 for 4 from B&M.

I noted some really fancy looking gadgets last weekend but we managed just fine!

[freckleonear]

I use a single gas stove and a trangia. The gas stove is very easy to use, you just take the cap off the canister, insert it and then lock it into place. The trangia is also very simple, you pour a bit of meths (or bio-ethanol) into the burner and light it.

[Middleagedmotheroftwo]

I'd get a two ringed camping gaz stove. I've cooked some fantastic one pot meals in tents, fried breakfasts etc. You could easily make something like a chicken stew on a gas stove, with veg and mash.

[17leftfeet]

I cook on open fire because I like to act like a caveman when I camp

Have cooked alsorts including a roast

[thean]

We take a camping stove for kettle and bits throughout day and a firepit for evenings. We cook curries and all sorts on it then can sit round the fire after we've come back from watching the sunset. I highly recommend crackington haven in Cornwall, more commonly known as paradise in our house.

[pictish]

Oh - when I say 'keep the stove low' I mean low to the ground, not on a low burner setting...otherwise your kettle will take ages to boil!
Gas stoves don't like a breeze of any kind - it's usually less windy lower down.

Or as these ladies say. you can light a fire and cook on that, which we do too. Depends what we're having.

[lavenderhoney]

A open fire? with rocks and stuff? I'm quite confident with new stuff - my mantra is " how hard can this be? Other people manage" ( separated, doing things alone) unfortunately it turns out harder than I thought!

Omg, what I need a camping consultant to come with me or be there to stand over me. I'd go with others but I don't know anyone as I've been abroad for years plus its all couples at school and they all zoom off to exotic places.

I'll look up crackinton haven, thanks:) the dc will be ok, I'm good at pretending everything is fine and its an adventure.

Is there a camping bible or cookbook?

[lavenderhoney]

And I did think you meant low flame, not low to the ground!

[Stengor]

Will you have an electrical hook up? If so, you could use an electric hot plate, mini oven, electric grill or microwave.

[lavenderhoney]

I have no idea! I thought camping meant you just found a pitch in a field and got on with it. I wasn't worried about doing my hair or anything.

Is it a plug at the pitch? I am completely clueless I'm so sorry:(

[Middleagedmotheroftwo]

Some sites offer electric hook ups, where you can plug electric lights etc in. but you don't really need one - and they cost more anyway. You'll need some gas lights.

[stihlhere]

Second the stove that pictish linked to. I brought mine in Millets last week for £10 plus six canisters of gas for £10 and a couple of mess tins. We have just had a three night camping trip and it was fine for making cups of tea and bacon and sausage sandwiches. Cooking for five and only used two canisters

[stihlhere]

Also Sainsbury have four solar lights for three pounds. They were great for around the tent

[momb]

Keep the cooking as simple as possible: camping is about the outdoor experience not having home from home (especially with kids) so: single burner gas canister stove as linked above. Frying pan for bacon or sausages or eggs, served in baps in kitchen paper for breakfast. Full english really not necessary; remember to pack ketchup! wipe out pan with more paper and get ye to the beach!
Lunch: fish and chips/burger/seafood off the front, fruit.
Dinner: one saucepan dinner: could be corned beef hash, or pasta with tuna, or stew. The point is it's unusual enough that it's special.

My brood's favourite camp breakfast involves a pan of boiling water and lots of boiling bags: each child gets a bag with a splash of milk in it. We crack in an egg or two each, some salt and pepper, and they squish it up in the bags until well mixed. You can add snipped up ham or spring onion or cheese at this stage too. The bags are sealed well and put into or dangled into the water for about 5 mins, the egg is then eaten with a fork direct from the bag in kitchen paper. If ham isn't added you may have a mini-peperami in your other hand! Egg in a bag is essential on every one of our family camping holidays and you can make tea with the boiling water before rinsing the forks in the last of it.


If you have the energy/a clean enough area to make sandwiches for lunch on one of the days you coudl do a barbceue for tea one night: a disposable for 2 from a bargain shop will do thin burgers, hot dog sausages and bacon for you and two DCs. Also disposable barbecue excellent for the beach if they are allowed (depends on beach rules).

[Takver]

I've got one of these campinggaz little cookers which works a treat, its very easy & quick to cook on. (Mine was a lot less than 35 quid though - can't remember how much but I'm sure more like £15 or less or I wouldn't have bought it as I only use it when I can't be bothered to have a proper fire.)

[lavenderhoney]

Right, I can see camping is one of those activities which looks effortless but actually you have to be tremendously organised for it to be fun and effortless when you get there.

Thanks for all the help! One last question- can you park next to the tent?:)

[yellowdinosauragain]

Loving egg in a bag momb! What bags do you use?

I love cooking and find great satisfaction in cooking things in a field that you wouldn't expect to be possible so I cook much more complicated stuff than some of the things mentioned here. Not essential at all though, just my thing that I find relaxing! There is loads you can cook in one pot on a single burner. Good luck...

[momb]

I used to use ziplocks before someone told me I was poisoning the kids slowly (gah!!), so now I use boil in the bag bags from lakeland.

If you want more 'camping' type food and aren't at a gas cookers only site, baked potatoes, pita pizzas, cakes cooked in orange skins (use the bags for mixing/squishing like egg in a bag), sausages on sticks, s'mores are all guide camp favourites that my children love. But then we camp for the camping rather than the destination.

[momb]

Whether or not you park next to the tent is dependent on site, but genrally at a family campsite yes, yes you can.

[momb]

I agree yellow, there is something enormously satisfying about eating a falling apart roast chicken and oroast veggies from a dutch oven nestling in coals: I was just trying to keep it simple for someone with two smalls and a single gas ring:-D