10 Essential Items for Camping and Hiking
We love food. That’s what makes us foodies. So what do we do when it’s time to leave home and all its comforts for a bit of time spent in the great outdoors? We don’t settle for dried trail food, that’s for sure. We might scale down our normal cooking to accommodate life on the trail, but we still eat food that makes the pallet sing.
Being a foodie in the great outdoors just means taking a few necessary items. We have compiled a top ten list of our own, to which you can add your own essential items.
10. A Cooler
The opposite of eating dried trail food is eating fresh. But in order to eat fresh, you must keep your food in a cooler. Choose the size of your cooler based on the length of your trip. A single-day hike calls for a small, soft-shell cooler that you can throw over your shoulder. A trip of several days will require a larger, hard-shell cooler.
9. Cooking Fuel
One of the secrets to eating well outdoors is to continue to cook. You could gather firewood or, as an easier alternative, carry some cooking fuel with you. Cooking fuel can be in the form of charcoal, propane, or solid canister fuel that can be ignited with a match.
8. Cooking Utensils
Make sure you take with you at least a basic set of cooking utensils including tongs, a spoon and spatula, and perhaps a multi-purpose knife. A small cutting board could also come in handy.
7. Oven Mitts
Oven mitts are indispensable for cooking over a fire. Make sure yours are made from a fire-resistant material for an extra measure of safety. Silicone oven mitts are perhaps your best bet.
6. Dutch Oven
A Dutch oven is impractical for short hiking trips, but it can be a life-saver on longer camping trips. The Dutch oven is to camping what the crock pot is to home-based cooking. You can use a Dutch oven to prepare just about anything. Furthermore, a good quality oven can be used over both a fire or a propane stove.
5. Dish Detergent
You are still going to need a way to clean your dishes and utensils in the wilderness, so carry a bit of organic dish detergent with you. A little water and detergent goes a long way toward preventing camping-related illnesses.
4. Coffee Pot
Camping and sporting goods stores are known to carry purpose-made coffee pots for campers and hikers. These are usually smaller pots that make only a cup or two, but they work very well in the outdoors.
3. A Few Spices
Foodies often do not realize how much they value spices until they have to cook without them. So take a few spices with you. They are certainly very portable. Think sea salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, and maybe a little parsley and oregano.
2. Bottle Opener
If you are planning to take a bottle of wine on your trip, make sure you bring a bottle opener as well. Nothing is worse than pulling back the foil only to discover your wine is capped with a genuine cork requiring a genuine corkscrew, only to find you left your bottle opener at home.
1. Dishes and Utensils
Lastly, even the best trail cook cannot serve his or her food to a hungry crew if they don’t have dishes to put it on. Bring with you a selection of plates, bowls, etc. If you’re going to go disposable, remember that a lot of campgrounds and nature areas are designated carry-in/carry-out.