What and how do you cook while on a camping trip?  What do you consider the
minimal type and number of pots and pans, dishes, dishwashing equipment?
Do you take along all the food you will need or travel around and purchase
it along the way?  (Or camp someplace with a store, or in a friend's yard,
or in your own yard?)  Do you eat the same sorts of things at home and while
camping?  Do you get hungrier while camping?  Do you cook over a fire or a
stove, and if a stove, what kind?  

23 responses total.

I just got out of the library a 1970s book on canoe camping, 90% of which is
now completely out of date.  For instance they suggest carrying along a 20
lb large canvas tent (weight does not matter in a canoe, they say, except when
portaging) and make their own tent poles at each site.  For those who feel
bad about stripping spruce boughs to make their bed, you can restrain yourself
to just using those boughs from the saplings that you cut down every night
for tent poles (which are apparently too heavy to carry in the canoe).

The list of pots and pans required is pretty similar to what Consumer Reports
suggests for a well equipped kitchen - three pots, a coffee pot, a large pot
for boiling dishwater, at least two frying pans, slotted spoon, plate and cup
and utensils for each person plus some for cooking and serving.  All cooking
is over a fire.  You should bake bread or cake or pies each day.  Date pie
- one cup dates, one cup sugar - is said to be 'rich'.  The recipe for baked
beans calls for 2 cups beans, 1 cup sugar.  (It is not rich).  Bacon for
breakfast every morning and save the grease for cooking with.  Bring lots of
ham and salt pork.  And canned beef stew and beef chow mein and beef......
Dessert obligatory twice a day.  Four people require 1 pound of salt per week
(what do they do with it all?).  When you are done with your cans, do not
throw them into the water, take them out to the middle in your canoe or
dig a hole and bury them.

Latrine - constructed of 'a log'.  I figured out that somehow you are supposed
to sit on the log.  No mention of a hole.  When you leave the site put moss
over the latrine.  I have not figured out any way to sit on a log that would
also allow me to use the 'latrine'.  

Jim found a section in there about how to stay on a moose - hold onto the
antlers or ears.  They did not say how to get there in the first place.

There is a photo of two people sitting in the middle of an enormous pile of
cans and bags putting things into bags.

You can drink any water you find in the wilderness.  You should take baths
in the river with plenty of soap.  You should rinse all your dishes in the
river.  If you cook more food than you want, do not throw it in the river,
bury it.  

If you cannot convince the children to drink coffee or tea for breakfast, you
will need to bring instant cocoa for them.  No mention of beer or wine or
potato chips, but bring lots of ketchup and mustard.

Plan on 6-8 oz of meat per person for supper, somewhat less for breakfast and
lunch.  Breakfast can be bacon and eggs and fish.  Pancakes need syrup.  Make
sure to take along icing sugar for making frosting.  This was 30 years ago
before most all Americans were overweight, surprisingly.

Bring lots of canned vegetables - wax beans, green beans, French beans,
sauerkraut.  Lots of dried soups and canned stews.  (And they still want a
pound of salt!).

Given the state of the art of food preservation 30 years ago, those
recommendations make sense.  Now, with the advances in freeze-drying, a lot
more food can be carried in a lot less volume and mass.

When exercising, we lose a lot of salt to sweating.  If you don't make that
salt up, you face various heat-related injuries.

We have a camp-cooking kit: the pots nest.  A large pot, a smaller pot, a
coffee pot and a skillet.  It came with four plastic plates and four plastic
cups, too.

We have a propane stove (although I've also cooked on a white-gas stove). 
Recently, I was given _The Magic of Fire_, an open-fire cookbook.  I've not
yet had an opportunity to try it's recipes, but it is fun to read.  However,
I have cooked over a campfire, rather than on a stove.  If you don't have a
lot of practice with fire, you'll find it easier to control the heat on a
stove.

I take my wok, a large pot for soups and stews, and a camp coffeepot or
teakettle for cooking in.  The wok does basically everything that a frying
pan does and can be used as a saucepan as well.  The large pot does duty for
dish washing when not being used for soup or stew.  I have used a Coleman
stove, but prefer the open fire.  The wok fits right down in the coals and
I used to have a grid with feet on it so that it could be set over the coals
for coffepot/teapot and large pot.

Those are the kinds of things described and required in _The Magic of Fire_

We cooked over fire for a month in the far west (Colorado, Montana, Arizona).
Jim would alway manage to find some dead wood on a tree somewhere.  Our
pan/pot was always filthy black.  We smelled hickory smoked the whole trip.
The grill that we needed to carry along weighed more than a stove would have.
You needed protection to remove the pan from the fire - not with a stove. 
Since then Jim has acquired three camping stoves for use in various types of
weather.  He refills a medium-size propane canister for one that he modified,
rather than buying expensive fuel.

We have also taken a wok along camping, plus a pressure cooker.  Wok for
vegetables or oatmeal, pressure cooker for grain mixed with bean.  Start the
grain first and while the pressure comes down cook the vegetables.

No dishpan needed.  Put a bit of detergent on a sponge, pour a couple spoons
of water in the wok and pressure cooker (and bowl if you do luxury camping)
and wash, pour into the next thing to be washed.  Rinse the same way.  No hot
water needed as we don't do bacon and eggs.  We carry along a quart or two
of water and refill as needed (on bikes).  One trip Jim took a bag of dried
'shrimp chips' and fried them in the wok.  They puff up.  People on the
Appalachian Trail were impressed.  But they were really more grateful when
we shared our fresh potatoes.  There tend not to be stores on the trail.  Some
people had their friend mail them food packages.

Have never yet baked a cake while camping, or pies, or cookies.  We eat pretty
much the same while camping as the rest of the time, with maybe less variety.
One trip Jim bought a watermelon and finished it in a day.

We don't cook with salt.  We don't bring prepared salty foods.  I brought a
couple ounces of soy sauce.  We get plenty of exercise and don't have heat
related problems, though Jim has gotten too much sun going through treeless
areas.  They used to force us to swallow salt pills at summer camp.  We don't
bring pepper, ginger, mustard, ketchup, pancake mix, canned hamburgers (sic).
I find it hard to believe people actually ate like that - practically solid
sugar.

I own four camping stoves. One burns butane, one burns propane, one 
burns white gas and the other burns wood (it has a battery that powers 
a fan that blows on the wood to make it burn hot). I prefer the butane 
stove for backpacking and the propane double burner stove for car 
camping. 

When I am backpacking, I typically only take one pot which doubles as 
my dish/bowl/whatever. I dont need a dishpan. I just soap it up and 
rinse although I have to confess that I sometimes forget the soap and 
have successfully cleaned that pot with sand. 

When backpacking, I get pretty lazy about cooking so most of my meals 
involve boiling something. Usually, I take a big bag of rice and also a 
big bag of noodles and base all my dinners around those two things. I 
pack  some olive oil, soy sauce, powdered garlic, salt, pepper, beef 
jerky, chicken jerky, canned black olives, parmesan cheese (which does 
pretty well without refrigeration although this is still best to use on 
the first day), dried vegitables (which one can get at a camping 
store), etc. 

Breakfasts are usually instant oatmeal with raisens or some other dried 
fruit or instant cream of wheat. I also like to drink tea so I make 
sure to have a few cups of that too, usually with powdered milk and 
sugar. 

Lunch on the trail is either a long thing where I get out the stove and 
cook something but usually I dont bother and just eat GORP or granola 
bars or crackers. 

I have gone on backpacking trips though where the eating was much 
better. Usually because I was bullied into carrying extra weight by 
someone I was camping with. I have a friend who has an "outback oven" 
which bakes things on a camping stove. When I used to camp with him a 
lot, we would have scones, fresh bread, brownies, pizza, cookies, etc. 

I've got a little white gas backpacking stove, but it's somewhat anemic and
I pretty much car camp all the time anyway.  Probably I should just get a
cheapo propane stove for next trip.

Butane is supposed to work better in cold weather.  What is the advantage of
using white gas rather than propane, is it cheaper or does it take up less
space?  

First time I ever heard of anyone taking canned olives backpacking ;)
But we may be the only ones to go camping with dried lily flowers and shiitake
mushrooms and other dried things from the Chinese food store.  The Chinese
dry persimmons and sweet potatoes and jujubes and tofu (skins) and these are
a lot cheaper than what you find in camping stores.

Butane doesnt work very well in cold weather. I once took my butane 
stove winter camping and had to warm up the fuel canister before I 
could get the stove to work. It was about 10F though so most folks 
wouldnt need a stove for those conditions. 

White gas is cheaper than butane or propane. Some people think the 
white gas stoves work better. *shrug* 

Ah. It never would have occured to me to go to the Chinese food store 
for dried goods. If I ever go on another backpacking trip, I will have 
to look into that. 

We always have dried things from the Asian food store.  Wouldn't be without
them either at home or while camping.  I cook mostly the same camping as I
do at home.

It happens I just got back from a weekend camping trip with my son.  I 
have a collection of camping gear I've acquired over the years; steel 
plates and pans, a coffee pot (which I never use), a Coleman propane 
stove and a Coleman lantern, and so on.  I don't care how much space 
it takes; I don't carry it anywhere anyway.  I load up my pickup truck.

I have a few years supply of propane because I got a 6 pack of the 
small bottles as part of my Y2K preparations.  I knew I'd wind up 
using it.  Eventually.

My son likes pancakes for breakfast.  We took Bisquik.  This also 
became breading for the fish we ate today.  You can also put a hot dog 
on a stick, cover it with Bisquik mix, and cook it over a campfire 
into... well, I don't know what you'd call it, but kids like it.

We took Jiffy cornbread mix, and sort of made cornbread.  (I forgot to 
oil the pan, and it didn't come out very well.)

We made tinfoil dinners.  Take heavy-duty aluminum foil, add chunks of 
carrots, onions, and potatoes, add salt, pepper, and butter, include 
stew meat or hamburger or whatever, seal it very well, and toss it in 
the campfire for a half hour.  

I recall at day camp making something out of Bisquick and the few wild
blueberries which we picked without eating along the way.  You put it onto
a stick (there was a list of sticks not to use because they were poisonous)
and then held it over the fire until the outside turned black, then ate the
gooey mess on the inside.  Does the hot dog with Bisquick actually get cooked?

Do people still burn marshmallows on sticks and put them into graham crackers
with melted chocolate?  Or was it bananas.  

How did you bake the Jiffy mix?  Do you have an oven?

Yes, people still eat 'smores (marhmallows, chocolate and graham crackers).
The hot dog is already cooked, so it just needs to get warm, which it will.

my favorite thing when I was a kid was to take those cast iron pie 
makers and then to put white bread in them with pie filling. You stick 
them in the fire and they end up making "pies". we called them "pudgie 
pies" for some reason. You can make pot pies with them too.

We usually bought bakery bread.  About once a year we got hold of white bread
(when I was about 10) and had contests to see how many times you could flatten
in (remove the crust first) and fold it in half.  It ended up as a cube about
1/2" or less across.  What else can one do with wonderbread, as a creative
kid?  Do kids still go to daycamp in the woods, or is it just computer camp,
sports camp, etc.?  We used to ride the camp bus there every day singing songs
with 100 verses.  I remember rotten orange mountain ash berries and a very
muddy pond and lots of raw Bisquick.  They must have fed us something else
as well.

Well, it's been years since I did any real camping, but I've done some 
backcountry camping that required those small propane stoves.  They 
just consisted of a small propane canister and a switch with metal 
prongs to hold your pot.  Because you have to pack your way into these 
areas, you have to pack light anyway, so bringing say, a water 
purifier/filter and dried food was best.  Pasta, dried stew, Tang, 
cocoa, all seemed to work well.

If weight is not a concern and you can pack a bag of charcoal 
briquettes, then there is dutch oven cooking, and I understand there's 
a lot of material on that.  Fruit cobblers seem to cook well in these 
cast iron pots.

I had a book called "Roughing It Easy" but it suggested using a lot of 
tinfoil which I thought was a REAL waste.

The utensils I like or liked to take with me on camping trips were a 
double-pronged stick (yes, I bought it) for cooking hot dogs and the 
like, and a set of knife, large spoon, and fork.  If I could find a 
large metal spork, I'd take that.  I did have a set of pots and pans 
that fit into each other and were belted together.

When corn (maize) comes into season, I have always loved just getting 
them from the store with all the husk on and cooking them straight on 
the coals.  When most of the husks were charred off, the corn was 
ready.  The only treat I've missed was living or being on a farm to 
pick it fresh enough so it could be cooked quickly to stay sweet.

re resp:14: We call them "pudgie pies" too.

   I returned from my annual camping trip on Monday.  I was car camping,
not backpacking, so saving a lot of room wasn't a huge consideration,
but I still repackaged a lot of the food I took with me because I
generally can't eat an entire package at a time.

   Like slynne, I have a woodburning camping stove.  It's called a
Sierra Zip Stove (http://www.zzstove.com/sierra.html) and I love it.
The most efficient fuel I have found for it so far is charcoal from
other people's camp fires.  Charcoal briquettes don't work at all well
in it, so I use either sticks and pinecones or camp fire charcoal. 
I have also found that if I cover the outsides of the pots I use on it
with a thin layer of dish soap before cooking, the soot washes right
off the pots during cleanup.  Given the nature of the stove, I have
learned to cook one-pot meals when I'm camping, though I also bring
stuff I can eat for side dishes with little or no preparation.

   Using coolers to keep food cold when camping is something that I
consider to be a waste of ice (though we do keep a five-gallon beverage
cooler in camp and put ice in it for ice-cold drinking water), so I
never bring any food which requires refrigeration.  I don't bring
anything that I can't find in a grocery store, either.  Once again,
this year I took more food than I ate, but it was nice to have some
variety in camp.

   Breakfasts consisted of canned fruit, a couple of granola bars or
untoasted Pop-Tarts, and coffee.  Other food I brought included a stick
of pepperoni, a bag of hamburger I had dehydrated at home, some
Zatarain's black beans & rice mix, some Near East couscous and stuff
mixes, some tubular pasta, a couple cans of tomato paste and envelopes
of spaghetti sauce mix for one-pot camp spaghetti, some Health Valley
instant soup mixes, a can of kippers, some crackers, some peanut
butter, some raisins, some olive oil, some Lipton noodle & sauce mixes,
and probably a couple of items I'm forgetting.  Most of the mixes were
taken out of their original packaging, divided in half, and repacked
in Ziploc bags with cooking directions written on the bags, since I
can rarely eat an entire store package of that stuff.

   Cooking pots consist of the ones which came with the stove and a
one-liter MSR teakettle which fits the stove top nicely and fills my
insulated coffee press.  I also have the remnants of four camping
knife-fork-spoon sets, each set missing at least one utensil, a set
of measuring spoons, a measuring cup, a dishpan and dish rack, and two
folding tables on which my cooking gear and the ice-water cooler and
the everything-else water container rest when camp is set up.  Food
lives in a big Rubbermaid tote next to the tables once everything is
set up.  I also usually bring some plates and bowls in case I have
dinner guest(s), but most of the time I eat straight from the cooking
pot.

That is sweet!  Wish I had known about it when I camped more.

The soap thing?  I learned it in Boy Scouts, a long time ago.  It really
helps over a smoky fire.

Yeah, void told me about the soap thing some time ago and I have liked 
my zip stove a lot more since then. 

No, sillies, the Sierra stove.  That is tres cool!  The soap thing 
will likely come in handy, though.  The titanium one looks nice 
although I doubt I could have used it on the backcountry trips I did.

   Mine is just a regular non-titanium Zip stove.  It seems to be
holding up fairly well, but I only go camping once or twice a year.
OTOH, I've been told that Zip stoves are popular among AT hikers, so
I'd guess they're pretty durable.

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