Camp cooking basics: stoves, fuel, carbon monoxide safety and easy meals

Types of stove

• Gas canister stoves screw onto a canister of butane and propane mix (sometimes with isobutane). They are light, clean and simple, and suit most campers. They work less well in the cold, as the gas pressure drops.
• Two-burner camping stoves run on larger canisters or bottles. Heavy, but ideal for car camping and cooking for a family.
• Liquid-fuel stoves burn fuels such as white gas (Coleman fuel) and some burn other liquids too. They work well in cold weather and at altitude, but need priming and more care.
• Alcohol (meths) stoves are simple and very light, but slower and harder to control. The flame can be almost invisible in daylight.
• Solid fuel tablets are tiny and light, useful for emergencies or boiling small amounts of water.

Carbon monoxide: never cook inside a tent

• Never use a stove, barbecue or heater inside a tent or awning, and never bring one inside to keep warm.
• A barbecue that looks cold can still give off carbon monoxide for hours. Fire services warn people every year after deaths from bringing barbecues into tents. Leave it outside, well away from the tent, until the next day.
• Early symptoms include headache, dizziness, nausea and drowsiness, which are easy to mistake for tiredness or a hangover. If anyone feels unwell, get them into fresh air and get help.
• Fire is the other danger: tent fabric burns fast. Cook well away from your tent and anything else that burns.
• In bad weather, cook under a separate open-sided shelter or wait. A cold dinner is far better than the alternative.

Stove safety

• Set the stove on flat, stable ground, out of the wind, and use a windshield where the maker allows it.
• Check connections for leaks before lighting.
• Never leave a lit stove unattended, and keep children well away.
• Let it cool before packing it.

Easy meal ideas

• Porridge or instant oats with dried fruit and nuts.
• Bacon or eggs and bread in a frying pan, if you have a cool box.
• Granola with powdered or long-life milk.

• Wraps with cheese, cured meat, hummus or peanut butter. Wraps survive in a bag better than bread.
• Crackers, cheese, fruit and nuts.

• One-pot pasta: cook pasta, then add a jar of sauce and some vegetables or tinned fish.
• Noodles with an egg and spring onions.
• Couscous, which only needs boiling water poured over and a lid on for a few minutes.
• Pre-cooked chilli or curry made at home, frozen, and reheated on the first night; it doubles as an ice block.
• Dehydrated meals for backpacking.

• Hot chocolate, toasted marshmallows where fires are allowed, a bar of chocolate for cold nights.

Food storage and wildlife

• Keep food sealed and out of the tent overnight: in the car, a locked box or a hung bag, as local rules advise. Even in places without large animals, foxes, birds, mice and gulls will raid food left out.
• In bear country, follow local rules exactly. Many areas require approved containers or lockers and set distances between where you cook, eat and sleep.
• Never feed wildlife, including birds at the campsite.
• Keep raw meat cold and separate. Check your cool box regularly; once the ice has melted, it is just a box.
• Wash up away from streams and lakes, scrape scraps into your rubbish rather than onto the ground, and take all waste home.

Water