Outdoor Camping Gear

It doesn't take a lot of outdoor camping gear for you to have a great time camping outdoors.

First, you need a camping tent to protect you from the wind and rain and bugs. Then you need something comfortable beneath you, like a foam pad, camp cot or air bed to give you a soft surface to sleep on. And then you will need a decent-quality sleeping bag to make sure you are warm enough the whole night through.

That takes care of your sleep and shelter, but what about food and comfort for the inner man or woman?

You can buy fancy cooksets and camping stoves, but often you can put together your own cooking and eating gear. If there is a barbecue available where you're going, you can use that.

Food for your outdoor camping adventure is best kept simple, so the cook — whoever that is — can enjoy the outdoors experience and not be just a kitchen hand. But if you love to cook and really do want to feed everyone else then, please, do your own thing. As for me, I just like to keep the meals more simple when I'm camping out.

Breakfast can be porridge (oatmeal) or cereal, a can of baked beans on toast, and/or a fried egg and bacon. Add fruit juice, coffee, tea, milk or hot cocoa and everyone will be full and happy.

You can keep your camping lunches light, and not cook at all. Serve something easy like a cheese and tomato sandwich or some tuna salad. Give the kids a cordial drink or water. The adults may prefer other beverages.

You can save your gastronomic creativity for the evening meal, and can even add a soup or a dessert of some kind.

It takes experience to cook successfully on a wood fire, and many campsites don't allow them. So unless you have cooked food on a wood fire on previous occasions, you will be much better off doing your cooking on propane gas stove.

You will need some way to boil water for beverages and instant soups. Personally I like the little Trangia alcohol stoves. They are well made and you can buy fuel for them just about anywhere. Camping dual fuel stoves are very popular, as are propane gas cookers.

You can buy these stoves quite cheaply from any outdoor camping gear supplier or even at K-Mart. But your local outdoor camping equipment store will almost certainly have somebody knowledgeable who can show you how the camping equipment works and how to put it together properly.

You can get little single-burner stoves for hiking, and two or even three burners for when you're family camping for several days in the one spot.

Folding camp chairs not expensive. You won't use them hiking but you will want some for a standing camp. Buy a few and also a folding camp table that you can use to prepare food and eat from. These will make your life outdoors very much more civilized.

Place a large kettle of water on the stove or cooking fire to heat up the dish washing water while you are eating your meal. Do remember keep an eye on the pot so it doesn't boil over.

You can buy a fancy propane-powered portable hot water heater for camping. These are rather pricey, but they can also be used to give you a hot shower when nothing else is available.

If you need a portable hot shower heater and you have the dough, then buy it. Otherwise it is just another piece of outdoor camping gear to be carted out to some camp site and back home again... Then it gets stored away and forgotten about until your next camping trip.

You will need a few changes of socks and underwear, a warm jacket and pants, a raincoat or other wet weather gear, and a hat. Pick clothing for the time of year and the area you will be camping in. A sun hat won't be much use in snow country.

Do yourself a big favor and buy a good quality folding knife, and a simple, functional flashlight or LED light cor camping outdoors. Each tool only needs to do one function, but it has to be reliable. It is hard to find a replacement once you are miles from the nearest town or shopping center.

That's why you should only buy good-quality outdoor camping gear.