Turn beginner camping into experienced glamping with these tips — Part 3

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Part 3 - Cooking gear

I will start this section by saying that if you are overlanding or doing any kind of car camping, you do not need to rush out and buy a bunch of weird camping-specific gimmick gear. You can get into this stuff pretty painlessly if you keep it simple.

Now if you are doing some extreme backpacking or some kind of distance exploration where you really do need lightweight gear and food, then…sure, but I have had this discussion many times and usually after someone has spent tons of money on things they don’t need.

Keep it simple and think about the fact that you are just living as you normally do but at a remote site, meaning you don’t need a $17 freeze dried single serving of scrambled eggs when you can bring a dozen eggs for $3, you don’t need fancy light weight pots and pans or special multi use silverware, etc. I can remember one time in particular that pots and pans found a way to not be included in our packing and we made fried eggs in a stainless steel coffee mug, some of the best eggs I have ever had in the mountains. Be excited to adapt when things don’t go according to plan, because that will happen lots at the start of your outdoor journeys.

There is a good chance you already have access to an old Coleman single- or dual-burner stove from a garage, a hand-me-down, or a cheap marketplace find. Those are still mostly great. Coleman still makes a newer version with the Coleman Triton+, but I still slightly prefer the CampChef Everest because the temperature control and overall build quality feel better.

If you plan to run a larger propane tank with any of these stoves, grab a 6-foot hose adapter. You will thank yourself later.

If you want something smaller and still very versatile, a recent addition as of last season is this little guy -

Gas One GS-3400P

One of my favorite little tools for shorter trips or tighter camp setups where you are not cooking huge meals. It will heat a kettle or cook basic food just fine, and the ability to run propane or butane is a nice bonus. If you want to go even lighter and more compact, a

Jetboil

is not a bad idea either, especially for backup use or the kind of miserable-weather camping moments where you just need fast hot water.

Sticking with the same theme here, if you have old pots in your closet or garage, feel free to start with one or two of those. That is what I did and one we actually still use. Nothing fancy is needed here, just an intermediate size pot that you can store other things in for packing and a moderate to large frying pan are really your two most useful tools.

Something I have had excellent results with for camping is hard anodized cookware such as

Carote Hard Anodized pots & pans set

or this Rachael Ray Cucina cookware set, which I have used for years.

This stuff is lightweight, heats up fast on a camp stove and is a great budget option with a cool feature of removable handles. You won’t need everything from this set, but you will be able to pick and choose after you get out there a few times and see what works for you and what is excess.

If you would prefer a stainless set, Carote also offers this set and it is on sale as of the time this is posted -

Carote Stainless Steel Cookware set

You can do a ton with either set, and my personal loadout includes both depending on what we are cooking.

Make sure a kettle is on your list too. You will use it constantly whether you drink coffee, tea, or just want hot water ready for cleanup.

Pair that with something like this

Big Joe Large Pour Over Coffee Maker

With this, all you need is regular coffee filters and your favorite ground coffee, and you have an easy camp coffee setup every morning with almost no effort.

Related Hueglist guides

• part 4 of the camping list
• camp food guide