Our camping and backpacking kitchen favorites
I’ve attended many gear workshops… and have tested and owned a few different backpacking stoves. Although the one below is not a “high performance” stove… like the MSR Whisperlite. It’s our favorite because it meets all your basic needs! As long as you don’t need water to boil in seconds or you’re not in extremely high elevation it does the job quite well. We use it for both camping and backpacking!
Terra Hiker 3500 W Camping Gas Stove, Backpack Stove, with Convenient Piezo Ignition, Durable, Portable Burner with Carrying Case
Most of the time we cook over the fire or meals in our small cast iron skillet. Which is why we prefer to have a lightweight kettle (by the way we use this as our kettle at home! No reason why your camp kitchen can’t also function as your home kitchen) instead of a pot set. ALSO, highly necessary to make a good cup of pour over coffee.
Fuel… because you will need that for your stove. Make sure you get it in the cannister form to work with your stove.
MSR Isopro Canister
GSI Lightweight Kettle
Alright, I’ll be honest. This cast iron skillet seldom makes the cut on our backpacking trips. Although, it has come on a few! BUT, for camping we always have this skillet. We’ve mad eggs, bacon, chicken, pancakes… in this skillet over the campfire or the stove. Learning to cook with a backpacking stove + cast iron skillet is a bit of a learning curve. This is what works for us! We like lean systems and prefer this to a larger camp stove and bigger pans/pots.
Backcountry Cast Iron Skillet(6 Inch Small Frying Pan
Absolutely essential. Non negotiable. AND WE USE IT AT HOME! Because we can’t seem to keep a chemex not broken in our home. Please, stop drinking crappy instant coffee while camping. Do you know what I look forward to the MOST when I’m camping? My delicious hot pour over cup of coffee.
GSI Outdoors Ultralight Java Drip for Drip Coffee While Camping and Backpacking
This works quite well with our cast iron skillet for all things cooking!
Pampered Chef Mini-Serving Spatula
I take this on backpacking trips. It’s a splurge item but man, I’m not ready to shell out $100 for a snow peak mug… so until them I’ll pack a few extra ounces to have a wonderfully warm cup of coffee that STAYS warm for a few hours. Mom life… because heaven knows mornings with littles don’t often allow for a sit down and drink your coffee all in one sitting.
YETI Rambler 10 oz Stackable Mug
Alright, so even though i’m not going to buy the snow peak mug… I will say, go ahead and buy their sporks for $10. You see, the plastic ones are $2 and they break every trip. So, in 5 trips you’ve paid for your stainless steel light weight spork.
Snow Peak Titanium Spork
Lastly, plates! For backpacking often we just eat out of our mugs. Or, we eat directly out of the freezer dried meal bag. These are the plates we use at home and we use them for camping as well! And, they are so pretty!
Reusable Brushed Metal 18/8 Dinner Plates
This might be our MOST used item of all… this utility table. It might not be the leanest on the market… but for the price point it will serve you well. We keep it in the back of our vehicle most of the time. It’s our random picnic table, our camp kitchen table (bonus points because it’s high enough to stand while cooking and have hot stoves FAR away from little ones), craft and work table at home… and even sometimes dinner table when we have a larger party. (Um, just in case… this doesn’t make the backpacking list…)
Lifetime Height Adjustable Craft Camping
Lastly….
The grab these items from your kitchen list!
Trash bags
Dish soap
Dish rag
Water bottles
And folks… that is everything you need to have a functioning camp kitchen… and even a few splurge items thrown in! It doesn’t have to be complicated or over the top!