Cooking & Food

What cooking equipment should you take camping?

The types of cooking equipment you take on your camping trip will mainly be determined by its duration, so ask yourself – how long are you going for and how many camping meals will you need? You should then consider the intensity of any activities you’ll be performing while you’re camping. For example, if you are hiking some distance to get to your camp site, you will need your equipment to be lightweight, or alternatively, minimise the amount of it that you pack. As a basic starting point, however, you will want some utensils for preparing your food and eating it with, some sort of cooking set or serving dish, and a camp oven or stove if you aren’t working with an open fire. From here, it all depends on how elaborate you want to get with your camping meals. Whatever your cooking needs, Mountain Designs has a wide range of dinnerware, camp stoves, cooksets, utensils, coffee makers and food to cater for all types of camping adventures.

What meals are great for camping and hiking trips?

The meals you cook on camping trips or while hiking are only really limited by your imagination and the types of cooking equipment and food supplies you take along. If you’re working with camp stoves or a camp oven, the list of camping recipes you can create becomes greater, as you can boil, steam, fry and roast. If you’re hiking, you might want to eat smaller snacks more often rather than saving up for one big meal. This will give you a more consistent stream of energy throughout your hike, which will be better for your physical performance. One option that suits both camping and hiking adventures is dehydrated food. These packs are easy to store in your bag and are simple to prepare with minimal equipment – you just add hot water and wait a few minutes while the food rehydrates and warms up. It also means you can take along a variety of meal choices, rather than being stuck with one flavour or food type. Mountain Designs stocks a wide range of great freeze-dried food from premium brands so you can keep your energy and nutrition up no matter where you’re headed.

What stoves and gas supplies can you find at Mountain Designs?

Camp stoves or camp ovens are all about convenience. Having one in your pack means that when it comes to meal time, you can cook your camp food quickly, easily and safely in a controlled manner, without the need to build an outdoor fire. Mountain Designs offers a wide range of portable camp stoves and gas supplies with varying capacities, functions and output levels. You can choose designs with different ignition types, flame controllers and boil times to suit different needs, but they are all usually constructed with lightweight, durable materials, making them easy to carry and ensuring they will stand up to the test of outdoor life.

How can you make coffee when you are camping?

Technology has improved since campers had to force down a bitter mug of ‘Cowboy’ coffee or instant mix coffee. We’re not saying you can’t go for this easy option but nowadays there are certainly better ways if you want a more refined brew. As a general rule, making coffee depends on how much coffee brewing equipment you want to pack into your camping gear, and how particular you are with your coffee flavour. Portable hand-press coffee makers are great for espresso lovers, and have the advantage of being compact and easy to use. A pressure plunger system, like the Aeropress, is another useful device for a full, flavoursome brew. Other options for the camp site include stove-top espresso makers, one-cup filter/drippers or percolators.

What do cooksets include?

Cooksets refers to any cooking equipment that helps you prepare and serve your camping meals. This generally means pots and pans, but more specifically includes cooking pots and pans for boiling, sauce pans, frying pans, skillets, kettles, steam pots, woks, sauce pans and Dutch ovens to name a few. When it comes to camping cookware, most cooksets are designed to be integrated together so the pots, pans and lids nest within each other. This is great for packability and to minimise packing space. Some cooksets also include dinnerware items such as cups, mugs and plates for serving your camp food and drinks.