How to Pack for Your Fall Canoe Trip Like a Pro (Part 3: Camp Kitchen) + Free Printable Checklist!
- Catherine van Warmerdam
- Oct 14, 2018
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2018
Hello happy campers,
Thanksgiving weekend has just passed here in Canada. We usually head to Muskoka for part of the weekend to enjoy fall colours, the cranberry harvest, my husband’s family, and his Oma and Opa’s lovely cottage. Then we join my family in Durham for turkey dinner and good conversation. We hope you had as lovely a Thanksgiving weekend as we did!
In the spirit of food, here is a list of things we bring with us to cook with when we camp. I won’t be covering the food menu itself here, as I am planning on giving you a full post on that later.
Don't forget to check out Part 1: Shelter, Part 2: Safety, Part 4: Personal Gear , Part 5: Fun & Adventure, and Part 6: Dog Items by clicking the links provided. You can also grab a copy of our free printable checklist.
So here you are, Part 3 of our Fall Canoe Trip Packing Series, Camp Kitchen!
- Catherine
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Part 3 of 6: Camp Kitchen
Stove
When we camp, we tend to cook over an open fire. I suspect this is mostly due to the fact that my husband is both a firefighter and a firelover…anyone who knows a firefighter can probably attest to this. When my hubby and his crew part ways, they are always sure to say “See you at the Big One”, meaning, the big fire that they all look forward to fighting one day. I certainly don’t mind having Matthew take over fire-making and fire-tending duties around camp; I just provide the firewood!
Anyway, sometimes fire pits are missing grates, or all of the wood is wet, or you are hungry nowhere near a fire pit or wood. In this case, it is great to have a camp stove with you. We have used several stoves on trips, including my Father-In-Law’s trusty old kerosene Coleman stove (here's a link to a newer version: Coleman Guide Series Compact Duel Fuel Stove), and my best friend’s more modern MSR Whisperlite Camp Stove.
NOTE: I can't vouch for either of these stoves as I haven't used them much - I know the old Coleman has been in use for many, many years, and that the MSR tends to create fireballs when it gets started - so use the above links with caution. We are actually on the market for a camp stove of our own. I will be sure to update this section of the series when we find one worth recommending to our readers.
Fuel
If you are bringing a stove, don’t forget the fuel! I’m guilty on this account, having forgot the naptha fuel for our tabletop Coleman stove recently. There are many types of liquid fuels for camp stoves, including propane, kerosene, naptha, and more. Be sure to use the proper fuel for the stove that you own! Fuel should be stored in a sealed and labeled container, and protected from sunlight, fire, or punctures. We use the MSR 30oz Fuel Bottle.
We have an interesting little camp stove that doesn’t actually use liquid fuel. It is a foldable metal stove known as the FireBox Folding Camp Stove. I was gifted this nifty little piece of equipment – my Brother-In-Law, Peter, makes a great Secret Santa, thanks Peter! This little stove runs on twigs! I use it often to make a quick afternoon tea, or I pack it along for daytrips to make a hot lunch such as Kraft Dinner. It does go through a surprising amount of twigs, so prep work in collecting them pays off when you don’t have to scramble for them to keep the stove lit.
Tin Foil
I have become a big fan of ‘foil pack’ meals. Whether it is cooking onions, potatoes, and mushrooms for a side, or making panzerottis, foil pack cooking is easy-peasy (and there are no dishes!!!). Just be sure to pack out your garbage with you when you leave!
Garbage Bag
…which brings us to garbage bags! Ontario Parks usually provides a bright yellow bag to campers, which also has all sorts of great camping tips on it. We also bring a few small kitchen bags with us, which are useful when something starts to leak in the barrel. Into the bag it goes, and a knot is tied. Leak contained!
Please keep our beautiful wild places free of garbage and litter – take only pictures, leave only footprints!
Ziplocs
I like to have a few empty Ziplocs of various sizes in our barrel for storing leftover food or leaking containers. They also house the toilet paper and fire-starting materials to keep them dry. I also throw a few empty nalgene or tupperware containers in for the same reason.
Pots & Pans
We have a great lightweight set that includes two pots with lids, a pan, and a kettle. They all nest inside of each other and fit in a mesh bag, which is great for saving space. We liked the idea of the folding silicone handles, but have since melted some of it off…probably happening in the picture above... Our set is from Outbound, however, they seem to be out of stock. Here is a comparable set (also made of hard-anionized aluminum with silicone handles): One Earth Designs Camping Cookware Set.
Coffee Percolator
Gotta have that cup of Joe in the morning (this is especially funny when you are camping on Joe Lake in Algonquin Park!) We have two coffee percolators – one is an ‘old school’ metal perker that I found at a yard sale, and one is a collapsible ‘pour over’ percolator that sits on top of a mug. We have the GSI Outdoors Collapsible Java Drip and love it. I tend to bring the metal one car camping and the collapsible one for canoe camping. If you are going the pour-over route, don’t forget to bring coffee filters with you!
Dishes & Cutlery
We have a bright red Coleman 24-Piece Enamel Dinnerware Set. It is a four-person set, including a fork, knife, spoon, mug, bowl, and plate for each person. We usually forgo the bowls when canoe camping and simply use the mugs as bowls. We love this set and haven’t had any problems with it!
Biodegradable Soap
Speaking of dishes, they have to be washed! After dinner, we usually fill the largest pot with lakewater and heat it over the fire. We wash all of our dishes using this pot as a sink. We use Camp Suds for washing up. This is a biodegradable soap, but, as we recently learned, it is only meant to biodegrade in soil, not water. Dispose of your soapy dishwater either in your fire pit, the privy, or well away from lakes, rivers, or creeks.
Washcloth
Sometimes a pinecone won’t do it. We often use the mesh bag from the pot set to wash dishes, but it doesn’t hurt to toss a cloth inside the kettle (empty space in there anyway!) I love to crochet, so I think I will whip a dishcloth up just for camping J
Wine Bladder
It’s important to remember that metal cans and glass bottles aren’t allowed in many of the Ontario Parks backcountry sites (note, in the picture above, we were camping on Crown Land). We like to bring a tetrapak of red wine along with us – we aren’t ones to turn our noses up at boxed wine! Alternatively, you can actually get specialized wine bladders for camping. We were gifted two for our wedding, along with some lovely stainless steel wine glasses.
We also have a flask to carry whiskey for making hot toddies or apple cider if it is cold. Mmmmm.
Food Barrel with harness
I wrote a bit about our food barrel in Part 2 of the series, Shelter. This is a blue plastic drum with a lid that seals. We store all of our food and camp kitchen gear in the barrel. We hang it in a tree at night or when we leave the campsite to avoid confrontation with bears. So far, we haven’t had a bear encounter, so I think it works!
Food (more on that later!)
Stay tuned for a campfire cooking and camp menu post! Just remember to pack enough food for your trip!
Don't forget to check out Part 1: Shelter, Part 2: Safety, Part 4: Personal Gear , Part 5: Fun & Adventure, and Part 6: Dog Items by clicking the links provided. You can also grab a copy of our free printable checklist.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions or gear recommendations, we would love to hear from you. I'd also love to hear your favourite camp foods!
Cheers,
Catherine
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