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We are campers (tent) we do have a fridge and shop about every two to three days.  We also do have a cadac. This is our key, with a cadac you can cook just about anything, the paella pan and skottle are eceptionally useful though of course it does BBQ too.  We cook just about anything we would eat at home.  We usually take along some basics, I have a plastic box which holds around 14 spice bottles and they are filled with all of the most relevant spices and herbs most used at home not to mention of course salt and pepper and an assortment of stock cubes, add a bottle of cooking oil and thats about as far as we go.  With my box of tricks we are then able to purchase just fresh produce, we cook quite a lot of rice dishes pasta and of course one pot dishes, pealle is extremely easy with the cadac and serves around 8 at a time.  I once catered for a family of 9 with just a small burner the type which comes in a box and a double burner.  We had rice, meat curry lentils and a lovely yoghurt salad. Soups stuffed with fresh vegetables are easy and tasty and warm, served with a large fresh loaf and a piece of cheddar they are yummy. However I disagree with the posts which suggest that near by take aways are good, we are camping for a reason, it is to enjoy a different experience camping is just like playing house and believe me as long as you are close to a water tap I would say there is very little you are unable to cook while camping! What i would say though is that I don't bother with the camping cooking pan sets, some of them are only capable of warming a can of beans, far better to take one large pan and one small pan along with your favorite frying pan, a seive as this acts as a seive and a collander, a few plastic bowls which can be used for serving as well as preperation. Remember to be as adventurous as possible you are camping and anything you cook will be fun, especially if it goes wrong!  Have fun! 

We take a cool box with freeze blocks and frozen water in it. With a premade spag bol to heat and eat, and stuff for breakfast.  After that we visit local shops, butcher or even good old Tesco for the stuff for the rest of trip.  

BBQs are a favourite, but even beans on toast is possible on a burner or two.

We have the pyramid toaster thingy, we find thick, squat bread works best for it.

Quote: Originally posted by poppetmandy on 29/4/2009

We are campers (tent) we do have a fridge and shop about every two to three days.  We also do have a cadac. This is our key, with a cadac you can cook just about anything, the paella pan and skottle are eceptionally useful though of course it does BBQ too.  We cook just about anything we would eat at home.  We usually take along some basics, I have a plastic box which holds around 14 spice bottles and they are filled with all of the most relevant spices and herbs most used at home not to mention of course salt and pepper and an assortment of stock cubes, add a bottle of cooking oil and thats about as far as we go.  With my box of tricks we are then able to purchase just fresh produce, we cook quite a lot of rice dishes pasta and of course one pot dishes, pealle is extremely easy with the cadac and serves around 8 at a time.  I once catered for a family of 9 with just a small burner the type which comes in a box and a double burner.  We had rice, meat curry lentils and a lovely yoghurt salad. Soups stuffed with fresh vegetables are easy and tasty and warm, served with a large fresh loaf and a piece of cheddar they are yummy. However I disagree with the posts which suggest that near by take aways are good, we are camping for a reason, it is to enjoy a different experience camping is just like playing house and believe me as long as you are close to a water tap I would say there is very little you are unable to cook while camping! What i would say though is that I don't bother with the camping cooking pan sets, some of them are only capable of warming a can of beans, far better to take one large pan and one small pan along with your favorite frying pan, a seive as this acts as a seive and a collander, a few plastic bowls which can be used for serving as well as preperation. Remember to be as adventurous as possible you are camping and anything you cook will be fun, especially if it goes wrong!  Have fun! 

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 Another couple of small bits of advice,

if you're using a cool box, only open and close it at meal times, keep the cool air inside. If the kids are looking for cold drinks (or cold beer for adults) use a separate box.

As recommended on previous posts, start a camping box now, every time you go shopping buy an extra couple of tins,soup, beans, pasta sauce etc. Saves a fair bit of money nearer the time, also helps with the anticipation ! 

Will you have electric hook up - if so you can get a good mini oven from Argos for around £15 only uses 1300w on full.

We have a mini oven, bbq & suitcase oven at the mo - we want a cadac or cobb but can't agree between us which we want so will probably fight it out for next year.

A very simple delicious dish we have when camping all done on the hob is

Chicken Noodle

Pouch of Knorr Chicken stock
4 tblspns Soy Sauce
Rosti or Cooked whole chicken or breast, diced
Cup of peas
Cup of sweetcorn
2 packs of straight to wok amoy thread noodles

Basically chuck everything in the pan and heat through adding the noodles with a minute or so to go & serve - so simple & quick and everyone loves it!

Classic Camping Recipe -

Tin of mince in gravy

Your choice of tinned veg

Tin of new potatoes

Throw all of the above into a pan and heat up. Serve with chunks of bread.

When at home, we cook from fresh but camp cooking is a different matter entirely. That recipe has been going since camping as a child.

We don't cook much  whebn camping, we have a calor gas double burner with a griddle you can put on top, so its great for sausages burgers, bacon, ect,ect, so normally for breakfast it's  usually a full cooked english and cereal, for the bread i spray it lightly  with oil that i use in a spray bottle and  put that on the griddle comes out  really nicejust like fried bread but with hardly any fat, for lunch were off site so its a pack lunch  and then in the evening its usually hot dogs/burgers, and the girls  like noodles, on outr very first camping trip we only had a tiny little suitcase  thing and  i think it was pot noodles and sandwiches all weekend!! lol

To be honest i say to my lot  its only  a few days werre away and  they can live without a proper cooked meal for that lenght of time, they wont go hungry!!!