Camping/overlanding gear thread.

[Curious Hound]

For open flame cooking, I prefer a wood fire. I carry charcoal sometimes for convenience in that area.

I'll be camping in northeastern Kentucky this weekend. It's supposed to be 31 degrees when I wake up Friday morning, slightly warmer Saturdayand Sunday. It will be oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, using Coleman fuel to heat the water.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I have a Coleman 2-burner propane stove. It only knows (2) settings. Off & High. I rarely use it because I can't regulate the heat with it.

 

[bilbo]

I have a Coleman 2-burner propane stove. It only knows (2) settings. Off & High. I rarely use it because I can't regulate the heat with it.

This is exactly how mine is. 0-9 is the first cracking of the valve and 9-10 is the remainder of the full turn of the knob. I thought maybe I just got a defective one.

 

[bilbo]

Colorado is 6 hours from me, Wyoming & Montana are right next door so elevation is close by. Cold weather is the biggest downfall of propane though - especially 1lb bottles that freeze up really fast. If you can carry a 5, 10 or 20lb bottle with you then you can draw off a lot more vapor before it freezes up. But that is a pretty large item to make room for. Pros and cons.

I've visited Rapid City and the Black Hills a few times and it's awesome for outdoor opportunity. If I could turn back time I would convince young me to pursue a career path that would make living somewhere like that possible. I also really liked the UP, and would love to live there some day.

 

[Blmpkn]

As for cooking directly over a white gas stove... no... hell no. My dad made toast once... like eating a white gas sandwich.

Thank you. That's pretty much what I was figuring.

We don't cook too much without a pan or at least tin foil, my whole concern was I just wanted to make sure that if by chance we wanted/needed to cook directly over the heat.. it wouldn't come out tasting like crap lol. That and the convinience thing.. Already had propane lanterns and stuff.

Well that AND when I started buying my own gear I was going through a wierd prepper phase.. if the SHTF I wanted my fuel to last forever, was unsure about the shelf life of white gas.

I tend to overthink things that probably don't require over thinking lol.

 

[Blmpkn]

I have a Coleman 2-burner propane stove. It only knows (2) settings. Off & High. I rarely use it because I can't regulate the heat with it.

This is exactly how mine is. 0-9 is the first cracking of the valve and 9-10 is the remainder of the full turn of the knob. I thought maybe I just got a defective one.

You guys definitely got defective ones... or mabey I just got really lucky the adjustability of mine is pretty much just as good as a regular gas stovetop.

My single burner bottle-top unit though... THAT thing absolutely does not go low enough. Definitely seems to start out at med. Part of the problem with that thing as well is that the knob doesn't... infinitely adjust? It 'clicks' as your spinning it. 1-2-3-4 and so on. The dual burner stove doesn't have the stupid clicky knobs so it can be set at 1 or 1.5 or 1.87394 or wherever the hell you want it.

It would also help if the majority of my cookware wasn't aluminum mil-surp crap. It packs up nice and is light... but damn is it near impossible to cook something 'just right' on that stuff.

 

[Blmpkn]

For open flame cooking, I prefer a wood fire. I carry charcoal sometimes for convenience in that area.

I'll be camping in northeastern Kentucky this weekend. It's supposed to be 31 degrees when I wake up Friday morning, slightly warmer Saturdayand Sunday. It will be oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, using Coleman fuel to heat the water.

Bringing a small bag of charcoal along is a good idea.. probably wouldn't of thought of that lol While it's cool sticking something right in the fire to cook it... I really hate eating ashy food lol.

 

[bilbo]

You guys definitely got defective ones... or mabey I just got really lucky the adjustability of mine is pretty much just as good as a regular gas stovetop.

My single burner bottle-top unit though... THAT thing absolutely does not go low enough. Definitely seems to start out at med. Part of the problem with that thing as well is that the knob doesn't... infinitely adjust? It 'clicks' as your spinning it. 1-2-3-4 and so on. The dual burner stove doesn't have the stupid clicky knobs so it can be set at 1 or 1.5 or 1.87394 or wherever the hell you want it.

It would also help if the majority of my cookware wasn't aluminum mil-surp crap. It packs up nice and is light... but damn is it near impossible to cook something 'just right' on that stuff.

Making coffee is interesting at times. I have a mini-percolator that makes two cups worth at a time. I'm the only one who drinks coffee so it's perfect. But if it gets too much heat it just pukes grounds everywhere. Our last camping trip I got frustrated enough with it I nearly anger-purchased a different one from GSI but lost phone service. By the time I got home I'd calmed down enough I just let it go. It works ok for everything else though, just have to be careful when setting the heat since it's so sensitive.

 

[Blmpkn]

Making coffee is interesting at times. I have a mini-percolator that makes two cups worth at a time. I'm the only one who drinks coffee so it's perfect. But if it gets too much heat it just pukes grounds everywhere. Our last camping trip I got frustrated enough with it I nearly anger-purchased a different one from GSI but lost phone service. By the time I got home I'd calmed down enough I just let it go. It works ok for everything else though, just have to be careful when setting the heat since it's so sensitive.

I'm to the point where I'm considering getting an inverter for the truck and a real coffee pot to be honest lol. Not trying to be a diva or anything but God dammit I just wanna wake up and drink 30+ ounces of liquid happiness right off the bat without having to do the whole percolator/French press rigamarole.

 

[bilbo]

Haha no kidding. If we're in the camper on electric I have a coffeemaker, but I'm up way early and it pisses my wife off if I make a bunch of noise in the camper so I usually just use the perc anyway. The perc really isn't too bad if I have controllable heat. I bought a single burner propane stove that works well, but my small perc doesn't sit on the burner very well.

I recently moved to Florida and was introduced to Cuban coffee. I don't like sugar in my coffee, but even with the sugar it tastes great. They make it in a stovetop device called a moka pot. I'd never seen one before here and ended up buying one. I've been experimenting with it for a couple of months and that's a finicky machine, even on the stovetop in my house. An automatic espresso machine works too, but I'm stubborn and will not accept defeat.

 

[Roert42]

I like my percolator, but I have the same issue. If you get too hot it makes a mess with the grounds. Plus it is hard to get coarse ground coffee in the can. I think a French press is easier honestly. I use to use a French press at the house before the wife moved in, she got tired of that real fast and bought an drip pot.

The main reason I bought the propane is at the time, I felt it was going to be way easier to store a couple of 1lb bottles then a gallon of white gas. They would sit for a long time in the toolbox of the truck without being used, and I didn't want to worry about spilling the gas.

Eventually I would like to get a dual fuel stove, I always carry extra gas when camping, and I have a dual fuel lantern that I really like. So I feel like it would be very convenient to be able to use what I already am carrying around.


The temp on the propane stove seems to work properly, but since I'm normally using a small aluminum pan to cook, it can be sensitive. You really don't need much heat for that, not like cast iron that takes a minute to get hot.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Propane doesn't work so well ice fishing with those small bottles. Once the shanties ambient temp comes up... it works much better.

As for cooking directly over a white gas stove... no... hell no. My dad made toast once... like eating a white gas sandwich.

And what are you cooking without a pan anyway? A hot dog on a stick?

Toast comes out great on mine...

 

[Uncle Gump]

I use to just use instant coffee while camping. But ever since I was introduced to the French press...

 

[Curious Hound]

Bringing a small bag of charcoal along is a good idea.. probably wouldn't of thought of that lol While it's cool sticking something right in the fire to cook it... I really hate eating ashy food lol.

If I put something right in the coals, it's wrapped in foil or in a Dutch oven. Usually, I cook on a grate over the fire. Baked potato, baked apple, hobo dinners or Dutch oven go right in the coals.

 

[sgtsandman]

I typically bring my own wood but I don't often leave the state either. Charcoal is a great idea if you are going out of state and don't want to risk getting in trouble with DNR or Park Rangers. There is a bug issue in some states that others don't want. I've found store bought fire wood to be poorly cured and doesn't burn as it should.