Please help me choose which cooking equipment I need please!!

[WonderIfThingsWillChange]

Well, the time has come to get another stove for camping as our single ring burner has served us well but restricts us now we are cooking for more people. So after doing lots of research on different cookers I'm still none the wiser - one minute the cadac is in the lead, then I want a cobb to cook a roast! My DH doesn't want either - he thinks a double stove and grill is better. I'm leaning towards a cobb as I would prefer not to need gas cylinder but if it would be better then I'm happy to change my mind!
So, if I gave you a rough list of things I wanted to cook when we go away for a week, would you be able to tell me which one would suit us best please?

Breakfasts are usually brioche, pancakes, bacon sarnies or a full breakfast.
We normally go out most days so take a packed lunch with us in the day (I think roasting a chicken in the cobb then filling baguettes with leftover chicken would be great!)
Dinners I would like to have would be BBQ (obligatory), pizza, fajitas, steak and grilled/roasted veg, baked potatoes or something similar....I can't think of others right now!

Which of the 3 options would you buy based on the list above? Of is there something better I haven't thought of?!

Thanks for reading

[Kahlua4me]

Have the cadac safari chef and I love it. We are a family of 4 and it is plenty big enough. I looked at the Cobb but then realised that I am not likely to want to cook a roast dinner as too busy relaxing.

I use the paella pan for everything really as it makes washing up much easier! We tend to eat very simply when camping, full breakfast, stir fries, quick curry, fajitas, steak etc. We also take charcoal BBQ.

[profpoopsnagle]

Errrrr, we have a double burner with grill, cobb and usually take a slow cooker as well

In our defence we do camp for around 40 days per year.

[workJack]

We had a Cobb for about 3 months. I ended up putting it on eBay as I just couldn't get on with it! Our issue was that I am really tight so didn't want to fork out for the cobblestones. But that meant that we used other bricks which took an age to cook anything. We did get some cobblestones in the end but then I always put off using them as it wasn't worth it just for cooking for example sausages.

We replaced it with a safari chef which I love. We can use it to cook anything and it is much more convenient. The only problem is having to store the gas bottle. And the price of the bottle was extortionate so factor that in in terms of cost.

We still also use our single burner stove and sometimes I do wonder whether it's all a bit of a con and a double burner would be perfectly fine.

Don't let me put you off the Cobb though!

[WonderIfThingsWillChange]

Ah! We had not considered getting more than one! Think DH would take a lot of persuading, he's still convinced our single ring stove will be more than enough!

I suppose I like the idea of food cooking slowly in the cobb and that I could take it anywhere without having to take a gas canister with me. I reality though the tent will be pitched for a week so I won't be going anywhere else!

I'm so torn between them! At this rate we will end up going with our little stove again this year

[WonderIfThingsWillChange]

Thanks for that, it's really useful to read your experiences of both!

[Blu]

You will still need at least a single burner gas ring, though, won't you? For morning tea / coffee?

I do stove and then one other thing (well, OK , often I take more than one other thing...) such as BBQ - the Weber Go Anywhere, which is supposed to have a slow cook function with the lid on but I have not mastered this yet, or the Campfire grill and cook over the fire, and now I am hankering after a Pioneer Stove.

A Cobb is quite massive to pack, isn' it?

[Blu]

I have a campingaz 'chef' double burner stove and I hate it's rattly fiddlyness. I am too mean to buy the new model which folds up easily(because I have a fully functioning old model) , and I am considering getting another cheap single burner (yes, I have one of those , too) because I reckon 2 'briefcase' stoves will take up less space than the stove and gas bottle.

[Kahlua4me]

blu we put the kettle straight onto the cadac. Boils very quickly.

[Blu]

Oh, yes, sorry I meant with a Cobb a burner of some kind would be needed.

Also I mean frontier stove , not pioneer . (And I'm not getting one!)

[travailtotravel]

We have a Coleman fold n go, and take the weber. One year we didn't even use the stove, if you can't BBQ it, its not for tea!

[WonderIfThingsWillChange]

Good point about just getting another single ring stove -perhaps that is a good option with a charcoal BBQ too.

I want them all!

So things to consider for me are speed of cooking (sometimes leisurely is ok other times we will need food a bit quicker) the price as the gas fueled options seem expensive to run and I guess space will be important too. This is too hard a decision!

[workJack]

I liked the idea of sitting by the Cobb with a glass of wine in hand, waiting for things to cook slowly. But the reality is that we get back after a day out and need food now. I guess it depends on what type of camper you are.

Also Have another think about what food you actually would eat camping. So if you want to do pasta in 1 pan, how are you going to cook something to go with it?

I agree it's a hard hard decision!

[workJack]

Whoops! Just realised you have already posted what food you would like to cook!

[Sarahwhizz]

I've had Weber bbqs all my life, they really are made to last and once you've got the hang of them you'll be cooking all sorts on them. I did a sunday roast on mine the other week!
The Weber Go-Anywhere, Weber Smokey Joe and Weber Jumbo Joe are all good options for camping bbqs.

Hope that helps

[winewolfhowls]

We have a double burner and grill campinggaz . Grill is shit . Burners good . Box it came in knackered by second trip as it is just cardboard

[lavendersun]

We have tried lots of different combinations over the years and still have them all here in storage! We have never had/wanted EHU.

Favourite for the last few years is a trangia (the bigger diameter one - called a 25 maybe?) and a small rectangular weber bbq (warm weather camping only).

You can get a billy can (4.5l) for the trangia, the stove and pan set fits inside the billy which means you have 1 pan with a stove, three pans and a kettle inside it, takes no room at all and only a fraction of what our other gear takes. Then you just need a couple of bottles of meths.

I take a pressure cooker for cold weather camping.

We also have a heat pal to heat our tent than we can cook on (just a massive trangia really).

[CampingClaire]

On the continent we use a double burner with a grill but use a Frontier Stove or a Horizon stove in this country if speed is of the essence! The Frontier is great for cooking as it can fit two pots at once (DH calls it the camping AGA) but the Horizon is fab for woks or large one pot meals as it heats up really quickly.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Trangia + camp fire. We intend to burn grill everything apart from cups of tea.

[UptoapointLordCopper]