Camping- how do you cook when it's raining?

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

We're setting off for our holiday on Friday night, first day of holiday is Saturday and the weather has forecast rain for the first week at least

This is our first time going camping, we assumed it wouldn't really be safe cooking inside the tent but what else are we meant to do if it's going to be raining so much?!

@MyFoofIsAloof
At B & Q they cut the plywood to size. All you need do is screw five bits of wood together.

It does mean that we can use every mm of our boot for packing.

What made you decide to go from a static caravan to a tent?

Threads like this just confirm to me why I'll never camp again (did a few festivals when I was young and childless. Hated it even in an alcoholic stupor so wouldn't dream of doing it with 3 kids!!)

@Crunchymum the first time we stayed in a static was a joint holiday with MIL and BIL, we all chipped in which made it much cheaper. The second time MIL had booked a week away for herself and FIL but she ended up kicking FIL out and getting a job, that meant she couldn't go on the holiday so she gifted it to us.

That second time was 5 years ago and we haven't holidayed since!

We went camping the other week and had torrential down pours. Just held a large brolly on one hand and cooked with the other

Things I have learned from camping-
-I will never take doors for granted again, 5 bastard zips to undo just to get out of bed to go to the loo!!
-Zips are thunderously loud in the dead of night
-It's apparently acceptable to play cricket with screaming children in a 'No ball games' area at 10pm at night.
-People are absolute animals when they don't have to clean the toilet themselves
-Parents seem to allow their offspring to run feral and not teach them that it's deeply impolite to just wander willy nilly into someone elses tent and stare at them while they are taking a nap.
-It's terrifying trying to sleep in a flimsy canvas tent in 60mph winds.
-Everything outside (people talking/screaming/shouting/playing Uno) sounds so loud it might as well be inside.
-It is fecking cold at night.

I'm already wondering if we can afford a caravan...

Lol OP!!!
Did you also learn that rain against in tent all night can send some adults/ DC to sleep but keeps you (& maybe one DC) awake listenning to the owls and foxes groaning in background?!
-You'll sleep the next night anyway.
-You realise how often you need to pee in the night

• you wish your DC didn't have to pee so much in the night, little ratb*gs. (Or if you have boys... tell hubbie that he needs to take the boys to mens toile in the night. Fair's fair 😬😉😏)

-It's very bonding when none of you have phones nor TV, and you can just cook, wash up and spend so much time together on basics. It slows and quietens you all down.

Sounds like you went to the wrong campsite. Pick another one next year . We use Pitch up website/app, and look carefully at the reviews. Some are quieter than others but it's always a risk with noise as no double glazing if you have noisy neighbours.

The night of the 60mph winds, 15mo DS slept solidly 8pm-8am neither DH or I got any sleep and DD slept until about 2am when the wind woke her up and frightened her half to death.

I love the sound of rain! Weirdly enough I don't recall hearing any owls or foxes at all! Seagulls, yes, plenty. And we had a very friendly blackbird that liked to duck under our porch walls to scavenge any stray crumbs. The rabbits on the site were also very bold, I have a photo of DH sitting in a chair outside with a rabbit sitting a few feet behind him underneath a bush.

Funnily enough OP, my DH spent half our camping holiday this year researching caravans! We’ve camped a lot, but the strong winds etc really drive him to distraction this year (as well as seeing a neighbouring tent get destroyed in the middle of the night).

Chip shop is a classic camping meal. Or by a jet boil, takes 90 secs to boil your water for your survival pouch or pot noodle