Please recommend mats, sleeping bags & cooking stuff!

[evelynj]

Hi all,

I'm going camping for a weekend with dh, dc ages 4&1 & bil. We have tent but none of the above. Liked the look of those trangia cooking sets & possibly sim but may be happy with foam. I like to be comfy in bed but am a larger lady so the thought of a blow up type mat concerns me.

Also would like to buy a decent sleeping bag-love my pure down duvets but not sure whether expense is worth it & don't think we could justify the cost.

As small as possible would be good. Any other recs gratefully received also :)

Trangias are cool but of course you only have one flame to cook on. Great for basic camping or backpacking. For family camping a two ring stove that runs on gas is handier. All the camping shops will offer a decent gas stove. Or you may want to plunge straight into cooking over a fire. Always a great option, though we still have a back up gas ring for quick(ish) cups of tea and bad weather! As for sleeping bags, I wouldn't bother with a down one unless you are planning to be hardcore and camp in cold weather. A mid range 3 season sleeping bag is more than adequate for uk summer camping. Also plenty of people just take their duvets, depends if you can fit them in. My advice is always pack for sleep first, it is the most important thing when camping. With a good nights sleeps you can handle anything, but when tired and achy the smallest problem can seem like a huge disaster!
As for sleeping on something, it is personal really. Sims are comfy, the thicker the more comfy, they have a foam type core so you don't get the rolling around problem you get on airbeds which are in my opinion cold and uncomfortable (but others like them). But the thicker the sim the bulkier it is. It's up to you really. Is there any one you could borrow some from to test out before investing?
In terms of brands there aren't any I would particularly steer clear of. You can spend a fortune but mid range is usually perfectly adequate and if you get addicted you can start upgrading and refing your kit to suit yourselves! Have fun!

I love our trangia, it's very easy to use and packs down really small. You can put the frying pan on top of the sauce pans to cook two things at once. My favourite cooking combination is a trangia and a cheap one ring gas stove (£10 from Home Bargains or similar), which still takes up a lot less room than a double gas stove and gas bottle.

Thanks for the replies. We'll probably just do weekends normally so thinking smaller is fine as we'll eat mostly cold stuff & go out for a hot meal somewhere cheap. If the trangia is good, what size is best?

May go to the nearish camping place & try stuff out. So exciting-going for 2 nights in 3 weeks-need sleeping bags as small car with 5 people & all camping stuff, aargh!

The trangia 25 is for 3/4 people and the trangia 27 is for 1/2 people.