Camp cooking

Flank steak with potatoes, onions and mushrooms at the Mendenhall Campground in Juneau.

There is a time and place for free-dried meals—camping on a beach is not one of them. If one can drive or boat to the campsite, the proper meal is a real meal. Visit the grocery store, bring some cookware and eat well. A hearty, satisfying meal will prevent the pain of a 3 hot dog, 7 s’more, bag of potato chips evening. The best part is, the best camp cooking set up is not expensive and doesn’t require modern tech.

Cook the sides first then the steak, or at the same time if you have a second cast iron skillet and enough flat rocks. Throwing an onion next to the fire or in aluminum foil also works.

When you are not limited by space or weight, the minimalist approach to cookware is a set of skewers or even sharpened sticks. But heavy kabobs require sturdy skewers.

Cold/rainy weather at a Forest Service cabin calls for a Coleman 2-burner camping stove. Shrimp meat releases easier from the shell a day after being picked. They are still excellent fresh but don’t try to shell them before cooking.

Recommendations:
Lodge Cast Iron Skillet - $49.95
GSI Camping Knife Set - $39.95
Coleman Triton 2-burner Cooking Stove - $109 (If fires are not permitted, firewood is limited or you’re cooking on the boat or tailgate.)

You’ll need a set of tongs and some silverware, but a skillet and knives will open up so many doors to quality campfire cooking. Don’t buy a bunch of stuff you don’t need. Get the basics and add purposefully. Having a camping set that you keep in a camping-specific Action Packer will prevent you from forgetting things or splitting up household items.