Camping Pots and Pans
When it comes to cooking outdoors, you probably don’t want to use your nice pots and pans on an open fire. Who knows if they will get dented or scolded under the high heats of the fire, not to mention they may get lost along your travels. What to use then? You can try to use foil as a pan, but that will only get you so far. If you want a serious meal while you are camping, you should probably invest in some cookware that is built for the purpose
There are primarily two types. You can either buy cheap pots and pans that will survive a few camping trips, but aren’t going to be the best to cook with or of the highest quality. The other option is spending some more significant scratch and picking up some high quality pots and pans.
The Coleman Aluminum mess kit comes with an eight ounce cup, a six inch deep dish plate, a 7.5 inch frying pan and a 16 ounce pot. For easy transport, they all stack and fit together as to not take up too much space in your pack, car, trailer or RV. Some criticisms with reviews are that the handles are not strong enough and bend under too much weight. The other criticism is that the handles get too hot, which is never a nice surprise. Kits like this also tend to be more difficult to clean.
Texsport Black Ice The Scouter Hard Anodized Cook Set
The other option comes from more durable sources, such as this set from Texsport. The Scouter Black Ice Anodized Cook Set retails for about three times that of the cheap aluminum sets, but has much higher reviews from its users and is much more durable than its aluminum competitors. Its also better suited for high temperatures. It is these reasons that make it much more popular with users, along with having higher ratings. It has a seven inch frying pan, a one quart pot, and a one and a half quart pot. There aren’t as many pieces as the Coleman set, but it’s much higher quality and has stay cool handles. These are also non-stick, making them much easier to clean.
A Classic: The Dutch Oven
A dutch oven is basically a cast iron pan that has been considered the “must have” for cooking over a fire for many generations. While dutch ovens are very heavy to tote around (not for the backpacker or hiker!) – they do provide a ton of different options for cooking! We like the Lodge Logic 8-Quart Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Camp Dutch Oven as shown here but there are also countless different types of cast iron pans that might better suit your needs. They make for great cooking over the fire!
There are lots of different choices out there, so, depending on what you want, you can decide which set is better for your needs. If it’s a one time use, you may as well go for the cheaper units and just keep in mind to be careful with the heat. If you plan on using your cooking set for a long period of time, the extra money is worth the ease of cleaning and the ease of use concerning heat. Both will be sure to help you prepare better meals than aluminum foil, though!
You may also want to check out our posts on Camping Kitchen Boxes for some ideas on storing your pots and pans!
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Category: Camping Gear, Cooking
