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A big part of camping fun is cooking and eating out of doors. You can use a campfire for cooking or a specially made camping stove or barbecue.
If you choose a campfire a heavy duty grill can be used to place the food on. They are usually made from steel with top of wire mesh and legs that fold away. The grill can sit over the camp fire for your to place a kettle, cooking pots, frying pans or food directly on the grill.
Camping Stoves
Most Camp Stoves use a fuel cartridge beneath a single, double or triple burner. They are lightweight and compact to be portable and easy to transport in your backpack. They give a high heat output and quickly cook small amounts of food or boil water. If you are cooking for several people a double or triple stove would be easier as you can place more than one cooking pot or pan on the burners at the same time.
Some points to consider when buying a camping stove
- If the gas cylinder is not supplied with the stove make sure the cylinder you purchase is compatible.
- Choose a stove with detachable legs is you don’t plan to use a table. They stand at a convenient height and are easier to transport with the legs removed
- A wind guard is very useful especially if you are camping in the winter or when weather conditions are poor.
Camp Ovens
A camp oven, often called a Dutch oven, is usually made from cast iron or aluminium and may have short legs so that it can be placed over the camp fire or a hook to hang above the fire. They are particularly useful if you like to prepare food in advance and leave it to cook slowly while you do other things. In a camp oven you can roast, steam, bake, stew, boil or fry the food and you can use more than one oven over the coals to speed up the cooking of different dishes.
Keeping Food Cold
When camping in warmer weather you will need some means of keeping food cold. A good quality cooler will enable you to keep food cold once it has been chilled in the refrigerator before you set out. Blocks of ice kept in the cooler will last a very long time especially if kept in a shady place. Food should be put into watertight plastic bags in the cooler so as not to mix in the melting ice water. It is also a good idea to keep one cooler for drinks and one for food so that you do not need to keep opening the one with food. Freeze drinks and food at home before you set out will allow them to remain cooler longer and ready prepared meals can be easily defrosted and heated up at the campsite.
Dry food storage
Dry food is much easier to store but it must be kept out of reach of pests and animals. Containers with tight fitting lids and sealed plastic bags can be used and a large plastic box can be used for cooking utensils and to keep the sealed bags of dried food. keep any rubbish out of the reach of pests and animals too.
Water Safety
All water used from natural sources must be purified before use. You can do this in several ways.
- Boil vigorously for 8-10 minutes
- Use a 2% solution of Iodine. 20 drops should be added to clear water, 40 drops to cloudy water then let it stand for at least thirty minutes.
- Chlorine bleach can be added at the rate of eight drops per gallon of water or sixteen drops to cloudy water. Allow to stand for at least thirty minutes
- Add commercially prepared water purification tablets at the dosage indicated on the label.
- Filter the water with a commercial filter that removes protozoa, bacteria, viruses and chemicals.
It will improve the taste if you aerate it by pouring it from one container to another. Carefully store any purified water in a clean containers.
Dispose Sensibly
After you have finished with cooking or washing water dispose of it sensibly. If you are near natural water sources make sure you pour it onto the ground at least 200 feet from the water. Use biodegradable washing powder or soaps.
Image by by JelleS
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