Cooking and food

A huge barrier that came up for people when I did a bit of a survey about what their barriers to camping are was around food. It can be intimidating, especially if you’re used to a reasonably full-blown kitchen setup at home, to try to make something with limited resources and no ability to nip to the shops for something you’ve forgotten. Here I want to talk about camping cooking options and their pros and cons

Sections

Utensils, tableware and cookware

This is really a suggestion of stuff that is worth taking with you. While some of the gear I have now is expensive and a luxury item, it’s mostly because I can afford it and I like it. It’s not essential! You can get buy with some very cheap equipment

Utensils

I think you need a set per person and one more set for options/just in case someone’s cutlery takes a tumble into the dirt, but you can absolutely get away with a spork or similar depending on what you’re eating.

After many options just using former kitchen cutlery that had been retired, I’ve moved onto using the Snow Peak titanium cutlery but that’s in part becasue it’s great for hiking too. They formerly sold a set of spoon/knife/fork in one fabric holder but now the only option to get titanium knives is in the 4 person set. I have one of these sets in my Jimny camping gear set.

I also really rate the Snow Peak titanium ‘foons’ which are designed to be more of a fork and less of a spoon compared to a spork. Their biggest awesomeness is actually in the rice to water ratio measurer. I can use this with any straight sided pot to get perfect rice every time.

You will at least want one good knife. A reasonable length pairing knife or a short chef’s knife is sufficient. Mine’s build into my folding cutting board

Speaking of cutting boards, one or two are useful depending on the amount of prep you have to do. I eat direct from mine after bbqing some meat quite often, too, so it can always double as a plate.

Prep and measuring

A cutting board is essential, but they can be pretty big and bulky. Nothing that cutting down a plastic cutting board can’t sort out.

My favourite setup though is my small Snow Peak folding cutting board. The best part is the knife inside the cutting board, so it saves me bringing a knife along too.

Measuring wise for volume I really use three things:

Small measuring spoon
Small hikers cup with measuring marks
Measurement marks inside pots and

Cooking pots and pans

For a large pot, especially for making pasta, I absolutely love my Sea to Summit X-set 31. It’s collapsable and comes with a couple of cups and bowls. I don’t necessarily need the bowls and cups, but the collapsable pot is amazing for space limited places like the Jimny.

Cooking methods

Gas hiking stoves

Alcohol stoves

Camp fires

Pie warmers/12V ovens

Food

This is really a bunch of recipies or food hacks I’ve used over the years that really suit camping. An interesting thing is the 4wd camping food seems to be dominated by overly ‘blokey’ style recipes, which is both good and bad. For new people, especially people for whom that style content doesn’t resonate, it can be a bit off-putting and make people think that’s the only way to cook when camping. Alternatively it’s a great way to get people who aren’t cooks engaged to not be afraid to try stuff. I want to try to straddle that: simple useful stuff that will help newbies out, but also maybe talk about some stuff people with the chuck it in and make it super manly don’t cover quite so much.

Hacks and suggestions

People seem to either overly prepare things or they ignore prep and then try to do everything out at the campsite. Both approaches are problematic in their own ways, so here’s some things I’ve learnt over the years.

Prepare what you can beforehand, to an extent
A lot of the time you can pre-cut ingredients or materials. Cheese is far more cost effective as a block but there is no way I’m dragging out a whole block and hacking bits off or freshly grating it. Do both at home, take just enough grated or sliced cheese as needed.
If it is something you’ll use mostly fresh e.g. garlic or ginger, it can be worthwhile taking and preparing at camp if it is easy enough to do so. The flavour of immediately minced garlic is completely different to a tube of minced garlic, however, don’t let that set your cooking back by making perfect the enemy of good.
Dehydrate your own stuff if you want to go down that path
This is something I’m perhaps newer at, however, a lot of long distance hikers especially dehydrate their own meals. It becomes way cheaper than professionally prepared hiking meals, lasts for ages and is the ultimate hack for a tasty homecooked style meal fast and in the middle of nowhere.
Food dehydrators are cheap, especially bought 2nd hand from Marketplace or Gumtree, and you can do so much. It’s especially great for fruit, but also pre-prepared stuff.
Pre-bought preparations can be incredibly sensible if it’s economic
This is the other side to prepare things first. If you don’t have to prepare it, don’t! For two people it’s actually easier and often the same economically to buy a precut salad as part of the food. You don’t have to go all the way (e.g. I cut steaks from roasts as it ends up cheaper, or portion out chicken from an entire chicken) but some degree of pre-prepared stuff makes sense to reduce stress and the energy required to cook.
Cooking totally from scratch looks great on the ‘gram. Sucks arse when you’re late into camp, everyone’s tired and the only option you have for dinner is a pot roast from entire ingredients…
Repackage to sensible sizes and shapes
One of the biggest things is fitting everything in, especially in the Jimny where things like drawer fridges are more sensible. I put milk into square Nalgene bottles (usually 500 mL ones). They last ages, are super sturdy, and pack better into the fridge. They also wash up great in a dishwasher on the top rack.
Experiment at home first
I think a huge thing is not trying stuff for the first time under the stress/pressure of camping with no other options. It unncessarily raises the stakes when you’d prefer to be braising the steaks. Got a new camping stove? Cook a meal on it at home in the back yard, or down at the local park. Want to refine something like my damper recipe? Fire up the oven and at least get a feel for cooking times etc that way in a controlled environment.
Don’t overcomplicate things
Simple stuff in the bush can taste amazing just because of where you are. An amazing dinner can be as simple as buttering the outside of a cheese and deli meat (e.g. salami) sandwich. Fry it on each side in a frypan and off you go. Don’t even need a toasted sandwich/jaffle maker…
Package-free stores are a fantastic resource for camping supplies
While hiking and camping stores can carry a lot of stuff, an under-utilised resource are package free stores. Nuts, dehydrated fruit and the like definitely are here but also a bunch of other camping staples. Some even have premixed ingredients for meals e.g. all-in-one pastas ready to go in reusable packaging. In Perth I can highly recommend Replenish, especially if you’re kicking off your camping adventures by cruising up into the hills.

Recipes

Rice

I’m putting this in because people seem incredibly scared of cooking rice at the campfire, when in fact it can be one of the best things you can do. A great life hack here is the foons (a predominant fork combo with a spoon, vs. a spork that’s mostly a spoon) I use have markings on the back for rice and water ratios for straight-sided cooking vessels. Dump in rice up to one line, and then add water till you hit the corresponding W line.

Simmer this for 12-15 minutes, make sure it’s soft, fluff it up and leave the lid off for a few minutes and you’ve got yourself some excellent field rice as a base for lots of food.

Couscous

Another underrated carb source, this is perfect to do camping. Take some stock cubes to add to the water you boil for it, add the water as per the couscous preparation instructions you have, and off you go.

With the added flavour from stock in the water, people are surprised at just how good this simple staple can be. Since it’s also different and not at all what people are used to having in

Sliced potatoes

Super great alternative to chips to go with the classic chips and salad with a steak. Cut up a potato – this one’s simple enough at the camp site & they travel better – and fry it up in a bit of oil or butter. It sounds super simple and it is, but so many people I’ve done this for are amazed at just how good it is.

Salad dressings/vinaigrette

This is a place where you can actually hugely make your camp food shine and surprise everyone. It’s simple to prepare at home and adds so much flavour. Some herbs, an acid and then a bit of fat in the form of an oil really cover off a lot of the things that make people perceive food as good; made up just before you go and nice and fresh it’s both cheap but also incredible flavour-wise. It’s also super fast to make: not much more time than detouring down the salad dressing aisle, and way cheaper.

The basic ratio of any dressing is about 3 parts of oil to 1 part vinegar. If you have that, and add some herbs plus some other flavourings (e.g. lime, or mustard) and you pretty much are there. I make these up in small Nalgene bottles to take with me.

Damper

Damper is a classic camp bread in Australia, but the art of preparing one seems to have been lost. I love making one and having it either with dinner or as a breakfast food along with the classic bacon, eggs and coffee. I premake and mix the dry ingedients before going on a trip so it’s ready to go.

Ingredients

Covers a generous serve for 2 people

Self raising flour: 2 cups
Icing sugar: 2 teaspoons
Milk powder: 2 teaspoons
Salt: generous pinch
Water: as required

Preparation and cooking

Mix dry ingredients.
Using a knife, cut in water to the dough until it becomes a slightly shaggy dry dough.
Form dough into a round heaped loaf that matches the camp oven
Score loaf to enable the loaf to split as it rises.
Place in a camp oven over light coals, with more coals on top (approximately 75% on top).
Cook 30-45 minutes depending on coal temperature: bread is done when no dough sticks to a skewer or knife placed through the top.

Spicy teriyaki sauce

Another absolute classic that is a winner as a base for any protein you’ll take with you. I like to prepare this ahead of time but only marinade ingredients in it slightly ahead of time.

Ingredients

(marinade to suit 4 serves of protein and vegetables)

Soy sauce or tamari: 1/2 cup
Rice wine vinegar or mirin: 1/4 cup
Water: 1/4 cup
Brown sugar: 1/4 cup
Honey: 1 tablespoon
Garlic, minced: 1 teaspoon
Ginger, minced: 1 1/2 teaspoons
Chilli paste: 2 teaspoons (or more, or less depending on spice tolerance)
Cornflour: 3 teaspoons

Preparation and cooking

Mix cornflour and water together.
Mix all ingredients together in saucepan
Bring to a boil, and simmer for 4 minutes to thicken.
Allow to cool before using as marinade.

Camp nachos

Another absolute winner that surprises people is preparing a *super* simple nachos setup and using some form of a camp oven to melt the cheese with some coals from the camp fire.

Ingredients