Camping cooker /stove /bbq recommendations

[talpiog]

Hello, I am going camping in a group of 4 children and 3 adults next week. We are new to camping so would really appreciate recommendations for what to take to cook things on.

I have a fire maple to boil water for coffee / tea / pot noodles but no idea what to take to make actual food on. I have a small BBQ - would that be enough or should I get a camping stove? If so what would you recommend? I went camping once before and the stove was so weak it didn’t even boil water - hence why I ended up with a fire maple.

It depends on what you want to eat and how long you’re going for, and also partly on the weather (whether you’ll be wanting hot meals, or can get by with salads etc…)
In hot weather, you could just boil hot water to soak some packets of ore-flavoured couscous, and add bits like chopped feta, cooked chicken, falafel, cucumber, red pepper, tomato etc..
You can get saucepans for the fire maple, so if you’re not cooking for very many, you could do a pan of pasta and just stir through a jar of sauce and tinned tuna. You might have to do two batches - feed the kids first and the adults second - as I don’t think the saucepans are very big.
Using a bbq and the fire maple together, you could do sausages and beans. If you pre-cook jackets before you go, they won’t take very long to heat through again on the bbq. Add some grated cheese and that’s a proper camping meal!

The most successful camping trips are where you keep it simple. Don’t get things you really don’t need. Do you reckon you’ll eat out at all when you’re away?

I suppose it also depends on whether this will be the first camping trip of many to come, or if this is just a one-off.

That’s a big group for cooking - I would be looking at minimal cooking beyond what goes on the bbq

i go camping with a group and can recommend the camping gaz party grill - it’s quick and easy to use.

You can use it as a grill or as a stove - in terns of baked potatoes we usually chuck in the fire pit for a pre bedttime snack

I think you need to start with what kind of catering you want to do.

For 7 people 1 small BBQ is small. Are none of the other adults bringing a stove or BBQ? Can you get 14 sausages or 7 burgers on your BBQ?

If you want bacon Sandwiches or fried eggs for breakfast you need a stove

If you want anything other than BBQ with bread and salad, you need a stove.

With a stove You can quickly heat microwave rice from pouches in a pan to have with tinned or pre-made and frozen chilli.

we will not be eating out whilst away - two trips of 4 nights, and will be in the North so expect it to be cold and possibly wet! Nobody has any cooking gear yet as we are still looking at what we think is best to bring alongside the BBQ (portable Weber one which has worked well when we’ve used it for bbq food alongside salads at home in terms of cooking as we tend to do kids then adults )

I don't know what a fire maple is, but if you can have fires where you're going you can cook an awful lot on an open fire, and it's a lovely novelty. Jacket potatoes just cook themselves. But anyway, a good complement to a barbecue would be one of those square, single ring gas stoves that run off canisters that you can buy everywhere for about £20-30. They're not the most economical choice if you want to use them longterm, but they're great for occasional use.

We have a Petrol powered Coleman Twin burner stove, works in any weather boils water much quicker than gas. We have a motor home but usually cook outside on this, ours is at least 40 years old and still works fine all bits are still available too. About £200+ new but used £50-100 but only buy one you can see working. Very cheap to run too only use the premium petrol super unleaded not the cheaper E10 stuff.
We bought ours for £10 at car boot sale!
https://www.lrbits.co.uk/coleman-424-unleaded-double-burner-stove

The Campingaz Party Grill is a good flexible option.

These are popular and the gas canisters are widely available, take a few canisters if cooking for 4 days for 7! You are not supposed to use pans big enough to overlap the gas compartment though, which limits the size of frying pan you can use, for example.

I’d also recommend the camping gaz double burner, you’ll need a camping gaz 925 bottle . Which are expensive to buy, but you just swap it over when it’s run out and currently costs £45/50. Lasts for a good year! Depending on how much you use it.

These are great but some sites no longer allow gas canisters as if you put too large of a pan on them the gas cylinder gets hot and they have been known to explode!. They are perfectly safe if used correctly but a bit slow, but what value as you can often get a stove and gas for under £20
http://ramblingandscrambling.co.uk/walking/a-dangerous-exploding-stove-and-how-my-warning-about-it-got-me-my-first-ever-online-ban/

Can’t you cook on a fire maple? I would get one of the cheap canister stoves already recommended. We have one as a backup and it is easy to use and the canisters are easy to get and cheap. The warnings about explosions are valid, but only for the early type with the removable pan support that flipped over for storage. People forgot to flip it over. The ones on sale now, including the Camping Gaz one, have a fixed pan support that allows the gas canister proper ventilation.

Speaking from nearly 50 years experience of owning them, I wouldn’t recommend a petrol stove for a beginner.