Building a camp kitchen you will actually use

The test of a camp kitchen is not what it can do. It is whether you use it on the fourth night, when you have driven four hundred kilometres of corrugations, arrived later than intended, and would rather eat something out of a packet.

Setups that pass that test share one property: the number of actions between stopping and cooking is small.

The stove

Two burners is the sweet spot for two to four people. One burner means everything happens sequentially and dinner takes an hour. Three is usually one more than gets used.

Fuel, and the choice is narrower than the marketing suggests:

• LPG from a refillable cylinder is the standard for vehicle-based touring. Cheap fuel, widely available, works in the cold, and a 4kg bottle lasts a long time. It is bulky and it is the one thing you cannot improvise if you run out in the wrong place.
• Butane canisters are compact and convenient and get expensive quickly. They also perform poorly in genuine cold, which is a real limitation inland in winter.
• Liquid fuel stoves are for weight-constrained walking rather than vehicle touring.

For a vehicle, LPG, with a butane stove as a backup if you like redundancy.

Wind protection is the accessory that changes cooking more than any other. An unshielded burner in a breeze wastes most of its heat and takes three times as long. A simple windbreak is cheap and it works.

The fridge

A 12V compressor fridge is the largest single upgrade to eating well in the bush, and it is expensive enough to be worth thinking about properly.

Compressor, not thermoelectric. Thermoelectric coolers only achieve a fixed differential below ambient, which in an Australian summer means they keep things slightly less hot. A compressor fridge holds a set temperature regardless.

Size. Roughly 40 litres suits a pair for a week. 60 to 75 litres suits a family or longer stints between resupply. Bigger costs more to run and takes more space, and the temptation to fill it is unhelpful given weight.

Dual zone models run as fridge and freezer simultaneously. Genuinely useful on long remote trips where you are carrying meat, largely unnecessary for a weekend.

Insulate and shade it. A fridge cover and keeping it out of direct sun measurably reduce consumption, which flows straight back to how much battery and solar you need. See dual battery and 12V systems for sizing that side.

A slide is not a luxury. A fridge you cannot open without unloading the vehicle is a fridge you stop opening.

Water at the kitchen

A tap you can operate with one hand, at a sensible height, changes cooking and washing up more than most gear.

The simple version is a jerry can on a tilting bracket. The better version is a pump and a tap plumbed to the main tank. Either beats lifting a 20-litre container every time you need half a litre.

Storage that survives corrugations

Everything in a touring vehicle is being shaken, continuously, for days. That drives the design more than convenience does.

Hard-sided boxes over soft bags for anything breakable. Separate the food from the tools, because diesel and dust get into everything otherwise. Restrain it all, because unsecured cargo is a projectile in an accident.

A drawer system is the expensive answer and it does solve the real problem: access without unpacking. Whether it is worth it depends on how long your trips are. For a weekend, boxes are fine. For three weeks, drawers repay themselves in daily annoyance avoided.

The list that actually gets used

After a few trips most kitchens converge on something like:

• Two-burner LPG stove and windbreak
• One good pan, one pot with a lid
• A kettle
• A sharp knife and a board
• Tongs, a spatula, a wooden spoon
• Enamel or melamine plates, bowls, mugs
• A washing-up tub, biodegradable detergent, a tea towel
• A folding table, if the setup does not include one
• A head torch per person

The things that quietly do not get used: specialised single-purpose gadgets, oversized cookware sets, anything needing a flat clean bench, and the third burner.

Fire

Cooking on a fire is the point for a lot of people, and it needs the check that goes with it: fire restrictions vary by state, by park and by day, and total fire bans are absolute regardless of how careful you intend to be. Many parks prohibit ground fires entirely, and some prohibit collecting firewood.

Where fires are permitted, a fire pit or a raised tray leaves less trace and is required in a number of places.

Buying it

The failure mode with camp kitchens is buying the complete setup before the first trip, then discovering half of it does not suit how you actually camp.

Start with the stove, a fridge if the budget stretches, and basic storage. Add after you have identified an actual annoyance rather than an anticipated one.

On the cooking side specifically, Campaquip (opens in a new tab) carry the Weber Q range along with charcoal and gas barbecues and cast iron, which covers the two setups most touring kitchens end up built around: a compact gas unit for everyday cooking, and something for coals when you have the time and the fire restrictions allow it.