The Family Camping Trip – Camp Cooking Without Soaking Your Wallet
Now, on to stoves and cookware. While a good tent does costs money once, a stove does not. In fact, you do not really need a “stove” at all to camp. Most campgrounds have a fold down grill over the campfire pit and, if they do not, a heavy gauge, fold up, campfire grill costs less than $20 at most stores. You can do all of your cooking on this type of grill over the fire without a stove and without costly fuel. Use either firewood or, better yet, the cheapest charcoal you can find and a charcoal lighter chimney. Cook over the bed of charcoal and, when you are done, remove the grill, throw wood on the coals and you have your campfire. You may use frying pans or pots on the grill just as easily as actually grilling meat on it and it is saving you money, for stove fuel, since you were probably going to have a campfire anyway.
The key thing with the grill is to clean it when you are finished using it. Just like any other piece of equipment the grill must be taken care of and not allowed to rust up. A good way to do this is to coat it with a layer of cooking oil or cooking lard while it is still warm and after you have scrubbed it completely clean. This is essential for long-term storage.
As for plates and utensils, you are best off with some cheap enamelware plates, which can be purchased from any of the generic “mart” type stores, and utensils from a dollar store. The alternative, paper plates, have several drawbacks. First is cost, every time you go camping you will have to keep buying the paper plates and plastic utensils. This cost can add up quickly and total more than the cost of enamel ware. Second, you will need a lot of paper plates for a camping trip with a family over several days and these will take up far more storage space than three or four enamelware plates which you can reuse. Third, paper plates create a lot of trash which you are accountable for at the campsite. Dollar store utensils cost you less than a box of plastic or Lexan ones will and you can use them over and over again.
A frying pan, spatula, large spoon and pot from your home kitchen or cheap ones from the dollar store will round out your “camping kitchen” must haves. If you like to bake you may consider a cast iron Dutch oven. Like a tent, these do not come cheap but they will last forever if taken care of. Again, you may cook right in the campfire with a three-legged Dutch oven. A good Dutch oven does cost a bit but you do not have to have one and, once purchased and if properly cared for, it will last for a lifetime.
Most people want a cooler for camping and they buy a great big expensive one. However, it may surprise you to know that some folks have used the same cheap, grocery store bought, Styrofoam cooler for years. They purchased it for a dollar or two and then took care of it. When you think about it the cooler is nothing more than some insulation to keep things cool. You do not have to beat it up and abuse it. Find a spot in your vehicle, put it there and leave it the whole trip. It is actually very simple and you do not need to spend gobs of money on something fancy and expensive.
That is pretty much it for cookware. Food is the really big cost for the family camping trip but that can be done cheaply also. Stick to the simple things and do not buy the fancy, and expensive, freeze-dried “camp food.” If you are not climbing Denali you probably do not need it. Your car can haul hot dogs and canned pork & beans just fine. Personally, I do add a nice red and white checkered table cloth to my families camping kit but that is just me. I like the nostalgia of it.
As the years go by you may add an item or two, such as a propane stove or a hard sided cooler, but these are just luxuries and are not necessary for the family camping trip. Add these things as you can afford too, not out of some false sense of urgency. Remember, the focus is on your family having fun, not on commercialism and you blowing money you do not have. Have fun and check my next article which will be on sleeping gear.
