Propane - RV And Camping

Posted on February 16, 2021February 10, 2023 by Fred

Campground Cooking: Not beans again!

A employee birthday party at Lake Piru in 2016

When you imagine campground cooking, the chuckwagon food that was prepared for cowboys in the old west comes to mind. I can imagine hearing cowboys saying, “Not beans again”. I can remember many campouts where we prepared baked beans with freshly made biscuits, yum. Also, doesn’t chuckwagon stew sound good?

Although baked beans are great with barbeque, it is not necessary for every camping trip. The food that you plan for your camping trip does not have to be the same old fare that you prepare at home or take to a picnic. It is your choice, but I personally try to stay with an outdoors style menu. There are dozens of campground cooking books available at your local bookstore or on Amazon. The following are six different outdoor cooking style ideas:

Dutch oven- Campground stew, take hamburger, potatoes, carrots, onions, and a package of stew mix, and simmer on the camp stove or firepit until done.

Dig a hole, prepare coals with firewood or charcoal, when you have a good bed of coals, put the Dutch oven in the center of the coal, mix a cobbler or cake mix, pour contents into the Dutch oven, put the lid on and cover with coals. Bury the Dutch oven with dirt. Cook for two hours.

Campfire– Our family likes to do the in-foil dinners. Get some good coals going, take tin foil and double wrap hamburger, chicken, or pork, with green peppers, onions, potatoes, and carrots. Coat with Worchester sauce. Put into a bed of coals or even on top of the grill. Turn frequently with tongs. Serve in the foil or put on a paper plate.
Camp stove– Skillet dinners cooked in a cast iron skillet, love it. Bacon frying in a pan on a camping trip is about the most delightful aroma I can imagine. I love campground breakfast.
Charcoal Barbeque- I personally do not use charcoal, it takes time to get the coals ready to cook over, and you cannot control the heat. Barbeque fare is mostly what you will cook over charcoal and you get the charcoal flavor.
Propane Barbeque- Although I believe this is more of a picnic fare; steaks, ribs, chicken, hot dogs, and hamburgers, are always a welcome cookout fare for camping.
Solar oven- Most of us do not use a solar oven, but they are sold at sporting goods stores. Making a solar oven yourself does not take a lot of time. The only issue you will run across is controlling the heat and cooking time. Most outdoor cooking fare can be cooked in a solar oven.

Various Issues with Each Cooking Method

Your campground cookout does not have to be the same old fare that you prepare at home or take to a picnic. Get a good outdoor cookbook and try something new. The Dutch oven does not have to be buried, it can be used on campfire, stove top, or on the barbeque, most campgrounds will not allow the hole in the ground style of cooking.

When you cook over a campfire, you cannot control the flame, you get soot on the bottom of the pan or skillet, and cooking times will vary greatly. Charcoal takes time to get hot, you can’t control the heat, and you get the taste of charcoal. A camp stove is the most popular camp cooking method, and my favorite camp stove is the Camp Chef brand. The Camp Chef camp stove has large burners, this helps when you are at a high altitude where the air is thinner.

Posted on January 30, 2021February 11, 2023 by Fred — 1 Comment

11 Do’s and Do Not of Campsite Set Up

This image depicts campers doing crafts at Ventura KOA

When you Arrive at the Campground

You have searched out the best place to take your family for your weekend adventure, you arrive at the campground, now you need to layout your camp site. You maybe saying to yourself that it isn’t a big deal, just set up your tent and your good to go. Yet there are 11 do’s and don’t considerations that must be planned out as you are setting up. You should survey whether you are camped on flat land or a mountainside. What direction is the wind blowing? Where are the restrooms? Is there a water source nearby? Are there trees in the campsite?

If you are camping in a campground that has a table and fire pit, you likely will not have full control of how the campsite is laid out. But if you are camping on BLM land, disperse camping, or on vacant land that you own, there will be considerations that you must plan out for your safety and enjoyment. The best way to explain how to plan your campsite set up to put the Do’s and Do Nots in list form.

The Do’s and Do Nots of campsite set up

Do set your tent up on high ground away from any gullies. Make sure fire pit smoke will not blow toward your tent.

Do pile your firewood no less than ten feet from your camp-fire location.

Do set your kitchen and clean up area well away from firepit and tent site.

Do use wide web straps if you plan to hang a hammock on a tree, ropes will damage the bark.

Do store axes and hatchets safely in their sheathes and away from any walking path

Do make sure your latrine is set up well away from your main campsite, check for poisonous plants and water sources. You do not want to pollute a river, stream, or lake with sewage.

Do not set up a campfire on the ground unless you have cleared the ground ten feet around the camp-fire location and made sure that you are not under a tree or low hanging branches.

Do not hang any ropes from trees in your chosen camp site area

Do not put nails in trees to hang anything, learn how to lash a hanger with rope to the tree.

Do not ever have a gas or propane lantern hanging against a tree, the tree may start on fire.

Do not have any wood hanging out of a fire pit, ever.

Do not use freshly cut wood in a fire pit, it will produce flying embers and excessive smoke.

When you are breaking down camp

When you are getting ready to leave a camp site, make sure that you Leave No Trace of your being there. Clean all trash that may have fallen, clean up cigarette butts, and bottle caps, if you made a fire ring then clean up the ashes and distribute the rocks, if you dug trenches around your tent then rake them out, and definitely do not leave a camp fire burning unattended at any time during your adventure.

Posted on January 9, 2020February 11, 2023 by Fred

What Is The Ultimate Camping Stove

The Ultimate Camp Stove

Have you ever wondered what the ultimate camp stove would be? The ultimate camp stove is the campground fire pit, I’m sure you will agree. But there are issues using the fire pit for your cooking needs. First, you can not control the flame like you are used to with a home stove, and secondly you get burned pots and pan bottoms from the flame. Every weekend, I see cooking pots and pans in the trash because they were used on a campfire and the camper did not want to clean the soot off the bottom of their cookware.

Emulate Your Home Stove

The stove in your kitchen at home burns fuel at a measurement of 7,000 to 12,000 BTUs. (BTU) stands for British Thermal Unit and is the measurement of the amount of energy which is needed to raise one pound of water by one-degree Fahrenheit. Most home stoves use natural gas, electricity, or propane in order to produce the energy needed to achieve this.

The camp stove you choose needs to emulate your home stove so you can cook efficiently while enjoying nature. There are many different styles of camp stoves and fuel types to operate them. Let’s examine the different types of fuel:

Kerosene- Kerosene is an incombustible hydrocarbon liquid made from petroleum, it is widely used in Asia. You will find it in blue containers, some states require blue containers, in fact, gasoline is stored in red containers and diesel is stored in yellow.
Coleman or White Gas- White gas is naphtha or Coleman gas. It is highly flammable but is refined to be purer than standard gasoline, which produces a higher heat output from this type of fuel. A draw back to using white gas, is that it can be messy when camping because you need a funnel, and at night it can be tricky to pour it in a stove or a lantern without spilling it all over.
Charcoal- Charcoal is a black carbon product produced by removing water and other materials from it. You can effectively use it safely in a grill or in a firepit. Cooking over it can be effective, but you will not achieve 7,000 to 12,000 BTU consistently from charcoal. As the coals begin to become ash, the heating principles will diminish.
Butane- Butane often is sold in canisters, it is lightweight, can be used for special made lanterns, backpacking stoves, and some camping stoves.
Solar- Solar stoves are relatively easy for anyone to make as a source for cooking, and the sun is readily available.
Sterno- Sterno is a jellied fuel made from denatured alcohol. It is made to be burned directly in it’s can. It can be used for warming food, certain types of stoves, and for emergency heating. As a fuel for camping though, I do not recommend it because it does not burn hot enough and you can not control the flame.
Propane- Propane is the best fuel for camping, it is a by-product of natural gas and in its compressed liquid form, it highly transportable. There is a wide choice of propane stoves in the marketplace, and you can control the flame. Having the right camp stove, like a Camp Chef brand stove, can come close to emulating your home stove. I had a Camp Chef stove, and I can tell you, they are bulky and heavy.

Propane is Easiest to Use

Propane stoves are the easiest to set up, they are the least messy because you do not have to pour fuel into them, and they give off heat that is like your home stove. There are many makes and manufacturers of propane ready camp stoves. I personally have used most brands, but my personal recommendation is the Camp Chef brand. This stove costs a little more than the Coleman brand, but it gives off a larger more adjustable flame. Could call it the ultimate camp stove.

How do You Plan to Use a Camping Stove?

Types of camp stoves vary according to your individual use. Do you backpack? Do you camp? Do you use it on your boat? Backpacking stoves are usually low cost, but not as useful for tent camping trips. Tent camping camp stoves are too bulky for backpacking trips. Looking into how you will use your stove will help you to decide which type of stove to buy. Budget can be a factor, however, if you are going to spend the money anyway, get the stove that will work for you, but don’t forget to factor in the altitude that you will be using the camp stove at, this too will determine the type of fuel to use.