cant decide on cooking equipment

Julie,
we had the same decision last year before our 10 mth trip. We ended up taking a 10inch furphy oven,(seeing as though we would have fires quite often) and a fold up bbq plate for the fire and also a Coleman fold up oven. We decided to leave the Cobb at home on that trip.


Unc

Hello Jules
We're planning for a Canberra to CSR trip this year and decided to re-think our cooking equipment as we're not taking our camper trailer. After a bit of thought, we bought a Cobb, the Cobb teflon frying pan and the Cobb wok. We also bought a 4qt Dutch oven (camp oven) which fits inside the Cobb with the Cobb lid on. (We needed to angle grind a tiny bit from the lugs to get the Cobb lid over the whole lot nicely.)

We've been practicing cooking our dinner on it here at home most nights. So far we're impressed. We'll be supplementing it with two $20 gas canister stoves. We realise we'll have to sleep with our canisters to keep them warm enough to use first thing in the morning.

So all that means that we are not taking gas cylinders (weight and awkward to pack), nor the Coleman collapsible oven (it lacks flexibility), and we can cook without needing to use timber - although we will do so at times using the camp oven.

Hope that helps.
Megan

Hi Julie

I have had many a meal out of alfoil on the coals. You can place almost any variety of vegies in foil spray with cooking spray or add a little butter. Double wrap your individual parcels in foil and cook on coals turning occasionally . Can also cook various meats that way too. Drum sticks, shanks are particularily nice but the snag is OK too.

Have a great trip and my biggest hint is convince the "other" half that he is a great campfire cook and guess what you wont be able to drag him away from the "fun".

Di

A couple of jaffle irons are mandatory . Bacon and an egg toasted in the jaffle iron in the morning . yum yum .

Julie,

You choice of cooking gear will also depend on considerations like -

What do you prefer to eat while you are camping - BBQs, roasts, heated up preprepared meals, something out of a tin etc?

How do you travel - do you stop mid afternoon so you can get a fire or heat beads going, or do you prefer to drive until after dark, in which case a gas stove might be better?

How long will you go between trips to the supermarket? If you have a big gap between shops you will most likely be using different types of food (dried, basic veges, cans etc), but if you can stock up every few days more fresh stuff is possible for things like stir fries.

How much space do you have?

FWIW we use a gas stove for heating water, cooking veges, rice pasta. We use a cast iron frying pan for meat. When we are able to have a (small cooking) fire we use a small folding BBQ for meat and eggs and occasionally a camp oven for bread/damper, roast or stew.

A jaffle iron and a toasting fork adds variety.

Hope that helps, cheers,

Val.

Val.

We (specially the teen boys) love a campfire so we cook on the coals and in the campoven. We also take the cobb along when we can as backup when there is no firewood.

We never used the cobb much until one camp when it rained a lot, and no firewood was available, We would have been lost without the cobb. It was so easy - light the brickettes and 30 mins later with no attention it is ready for bread, roasts, you name it.

Yes, in answer to an earlier question, it takes a little time but no more than a fire. BUT it is hassle free, and needs no attention, and you can have it at your table or in your camp

Hi Julie,
Have you thought about a dream pot. We like this because you can cook your meal while you are away from camp. Spend the whole day away and get home at tea time and it is already cooked. We have done roasts, bread, cakes ,stews, pretty much what ever.
We also have a Hillbilly camfire set and it is great. We did have camp ovens but they are very heavy. The Hillbilly camp oven is light and cooks a great roast. On the open fire you don't need as many coals to get it hot as you do for the old dutch ovens. Hillbilly have a bbq plate, fry pans, wok and billy hangers so ever kind of meal is covered. Has worked great for us.

Josh

When I travel I mostly use these for anything I want to cook quickly or where an open fire is limited. They are a great source of easily stored heat and if you need to boil a billy or drive your camp oven they do the job. The canisters are available anywhere. This was my main cooking source across the Simpson. Yes, they do suffer from the cold but this is easily rectified.

Hello Julie,
My advice is to travel light.

When my wife and I went to the Cape in 2007 we took our trusty 30-year-old folding Companion gas stove, a gas ring to screw onto a small gas bottle for "boiling the billy for a cuppa" (the gas bottle fitted neatly into a plastic bucket), a mid-sized camp oven (it was also our frypan) and a homemade, lightweight campfire grill made out of weldmesh and four 250mmm bolts. We also took a couple of small billies - one fitting inside the other.

We used all of our items on many occasions. Folk we travelled with used some of their larger, heavier equipment - such as the Cobb Cooker - so that it would qualify to be included on the next trip.

I would reserve your equipment such as the Cobb for when you go to camp in the one spot for a few days. When touring, take less and/or take multipurpose cooking equipment.

Enjoy the trip.
Netnut

Hi Julie,

One of the most practical pieces of camp cooking ware is the humble camp oven. Some people swear by the cast iron camp oven but they are both heavy in comparison to the spun steel type oven and are brittle if dropped.

A good quality spun steel oven is light and if treated correctly will not rust. A film of cooking oil rubbed over the surfaces after washing and drying will preserve the surfaces and after a period of continued use and no scouring when washing, it will develop a smooth black surface that is what you should be aiming for, rather than a "squeaky clean" looking oven.

The camp oven can be used with coals from the fire, or heatbeads which provide a consistent cooking temperature. It is also a pot in its own right so you don't need anything else. You can roast, bake, simply heat, or if you have a good one, the lid not only keeps ash out of the food, but may double as a fry pan.

My personal favourite is the Hillbilly Camp oven and its myriad of accessories and other cookware, but any brand of camp oven will surfice.

I have used a camp oven for years, but after buying and reading the new Hillbilly cookbook, I need to reinvent the way I cook.
I used to place heatbeads or coals both underneath and on top of the camp oven, but the book instructs that most dishes should be cooked with the heat applied to the top only to stop the food from burning on the bottom.

Ah!, always learning.

I also have a Cobb Oven and the advantage of this great piece of cookware is that you only need seven or eight heatbeads to cook up a roast, or bake a loaf of bread.

Bill

Julie,

We are in the same delema with what to take, so about 5 weeks ago i went out and bought the Hillbilly camp oven set, the lot with gas coversion. The first weekend i dug a hole in the back yard a got the fire going, yes you don't need as near as much coals as a normal camp oven. 2.5kg roast took about 2hrs and it was magnificent. Last weekend we tried the gas conversion for a stew/casserole and that took about 3/4 of an hour. The actual oven weighs about 3kg. You can see them, they are in Belgrave, worth the drive.

cheers,

Lance