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You either love camping or you hate it, but whenever it’s time to break out the tents and prepare for a vacation in nature, it’s sometimes nice to take along modern conveniences. While it’s difficult to take your kitchen cabinets, stove, and refrigerator along with you, here are five simple camping cooking hacks that will likely make your camping experience easier.
1. Use a Hanging Organizer to Hold Cooking Utensils
You can find vinyl caddies or shoe organizers at most stores. Just hang one from a tree, and you have plenty of pockets for storing utensils, dish towels, and more. It clears up valuable table space while also keeping your cooking equipment out of the dirt.
2. Hang Pots and Pans With Carabiners and Some Rope
Caddies and shoe organizers are generally not large enough to accommodate camping pots and pans. You can still keep these items off the table and the ground when not in use by hanging some rope or a belt around a tree and attaching carabiners or hooks. Just hang the pots and pans from the hooks or carabiners, and you’re set.
3. Put Pancake Mix or Scrambled Eggs in a Squeeze Bottle
Make your pancake mix and scrambled eggs ahead of time and put them in a squeeze bottle or other easy-to-access container. When you’re ready to make them, just squeeze them onto the griddle or into the skillet. You can even make markings on the side beforehand to measure out and track your servings as you go.
4. Make a Swedish Torch for Cooking With Pots
A Swedish torch is made by cutting two or three slots into a round piece of firewood. The slots should go about three-quarters down the log. Place kindling on top and light a fire, slowly burning away the middle portion while leaving the outer. The slots suck the heat down into it making for a makeshift camping stove. You can use the outer portions of the log to hold your pan or pot.
5. Use Cooling Racks in Coolers to Separate Wet and Dry Foods
If you use a single cooler to hold all of your camping food, it can be difficult to separate the drinks and wet goods from the dry. Place the wetter items at the bottom of the cooler and a cooling rack over them for the dry goods.