Camping - which cooking set-up?

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caffynz

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#310441 19-Oct-2023 12:33

My family are going camping in a tent for the first time (we've stayed in cabins previously, and made use of either the kitchenette or the campground's communal kitchen).

Looking at our options for cooking food/boiling water if we decide not to use the communal kitchen.
There's either a gas cooker/burner thingy (using LPG bottled gas), or an electrical stovetop/hot plate - we have booked a powered site.

Right now, leaning towards an electrical stovetop: we'd not run out of gas. Nor would the wind affect the gas flame. And we wouldn't need to bring a 9kg gas bottle, saving on space. Are there any cons that I'm not aware of?

Those who have more experience camping in tents on powered sites, which type have you gone for?

TIA.

CokemonZ

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#3150094 19-Oct-2023 12:52

For your first time I'd recommend cheap and cheerful.

We still take and love a couple of these basic burners: Gasmate Portable BBQ Butane Stove With Dual Safety - Bunnings New Zealand

Love these because of the portability - take them to the beach for a sausage sizzle, picnic table for noodles and back to the tent for dinner. Also how cheap they are, and how little space it all takes.

Then you can investigate bigger options - we have a 2 burner which runs off an lpg bottle as well.

Senecio

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#3150095 19-Oct-2023 12:52

We just use two of these for camping. Cheap, cheerful and do the job fine.

Gasmate Portable Butane Stove

robjg63

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#3150184 19-Oct-2023 15:11

If you have access to electricity and have steel cookware (High iron content), then how about a portable induction cooker?

This one https://www.kmart.co.nz/product/induction-cooker-black-42715863/ is $65 from Kmart.

They are hugely faster boing water than gas and are very light and don't get physically get very hot.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

caffynz

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#3150196 19-Oct-2023 15:48

How long does a can of butane last for? Camping 5 nights, what's a good number of butane cans to take?

I'd not thought of an induction cooker - thanks for that suggestion.

tweake

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#3150210 19-Oct-2023 16:35

caffynz:

How long does a can of butane last for? Camping 5 nights, what's a good number of butane cans to take?

I'd not thought of an induction cooker - thanks for that suggestion.

by mem we used to go through a couple in a week. but that depends on how many people etc. just take a pack of them.

you can also get the small lpg bottle multi burner cookers, their big advantage is built in shield for the wind.

the other thing is where you plan to cook. very risky cooking in a tent and risky using power out in the wet.

Stu1

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#3150220 19-Oct-2023 17:28

The beauty of a butane cooker is you can use it on day trips as well . We often take it over to the coast for a bbq picnic. If we are going away 5 nights normally just take the small lpg bottle you can get adapters and swap between bottle and cans . The companion cookers from Dwight’s are good still going 5 years so far

https://dwights.co.nz/products/companion-high-output-2-burner?currency=NZD&variant=29682068553806&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&stkn=6de34267da04&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp8fr36KBggMVlNcWBR2GOw0jEAQYASABEgKHefD_BwE

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tweake

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#3150229 19-Oct-2023 17:46

Stu1: The beauty of a butane cooker is you can use it on day trips as well . We often take it over to the coast for a bbq picnic. If we are going away 5 nights normally just take the small lpg bottle you can get adapters and swap between bottle and cans . The companion cookers from Dwight’s are good still going 5 years so far

https://dwights.co.nz/products/companion-high-output-2-burner?currency=NZD&variant=29682068553806&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&stkn=6de34267da04&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp8fr36KBggMVlNcWBR2GOw0jEAQYASABEgKHefD_BwE

to add, my camping cooker is my emergency backup cooker. even at work we have those cheap Bunnings cookers (as previously mentioned) as a spare cooker. cheap, easy to have a packet of cans for them.

Stu1

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#3150235 19-Oct-2023 18:17

tweake:
Stu1: The beauty of a butane cooker is you can use it on day trips as well . We often take it over to the coast for a bbq picnic. If we are going away 5 nights normally just take the small lpg bottle you can get adapters and swap between bottle and cans . The companion cookers from Dwight’s are good still going 5 years so far

https://dwights.co.nz/products/companion-high-output-2-burner?currency=NZD&variant=29682068553806&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&stkn=6de34267da04&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp8fr36KBggMVlNcWBR2GOw0jEAQYASABEgKHefD_BwE

to add, my camping cooker is my emergency backup cooker. even at work we have those cheap Bunnings cookers (as previously mentioned) as a spare cooker. cheap, easy to have a packet of cans for them.

We do as well have packet of cans for emergencies. its great for boiling my beer hops as well :) I’m often banned from boiling them inside

Senecio

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#3150237 19-Oct-2023 18:22

tweake:

to add, my camping cooker is my emergency backup cooker. even at work we have those cheap Bunnings cookers (as previously mentioned) as a spare cooker. cheap, easy to have a packet of cans for them.

Very handy for that. We had the power out at our place for over 48hrs earlier in the year. We just cooked using the Butane stoves from our camping gear for that time.

gzt

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#3150238 19-Oct-2023 18:23

Cooking on the ground is so tedious and you may have kids running around to watch for. Avoid that if you can. A decent size table is the way to go and handy for prep and sandwiches.

MattEast

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#3150246 19-Oct-2023 18:42

Weber Baby Q for cooking everything (except boiling water, it would take a long time on one of those…if it boiled the water at all). But you can pick up a Jetboil system pretty cheap that uses the butane canisters…and boils water in around one minute.

Matt East

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MattEast

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#3151415 23-Oct-2023 11:53

Got this offer through this morning on Marine Deals, pretty cheap cooker that will grill and boil water using cheap easily available consisters.

https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/rv-and-motorhomes/campmaster-single-burner-butane-stove-with-hotplate

Matt East

caffynz

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#3151542 23-Oct-2023 16:07

MattEast:

Got this offer through this morning on Marine Deals, pretty cheap cooker that will grill and boil water using cheap easily available consisters.

https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/rv-and-motorhomes/campmaster-single-burner-butane-stove-with-hotplate

This looks good! Do you know if the hot plate can be removed, so I could have a pot/pan over the flame?

MattEast

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#3151544 23-Oct-2023 16:27

Yeah, it looks like it’s removable…be hard to clean otherwise (and they state easy clean), it looks like the hot plate is an accessory bundled with it, so you’ll be able to use is as a standard burner for pots/kettles etc.

Matt East