Essentials: Base Camp Cooking

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Setting up shop in the great outdoors is an excellent way to forget about the stresses of your life back in the city. But preparing your meals in the bush is much different than microwave cooking a store-bought meal back at your apartment. Here are eight hand-picked essentials for cooking your grub at the campsite this season. Just make sure your ruck sack is big enough to carry it all.

Biolite Camp Stove ($130)
The Biolite Campstove is a lightweight wood-burning camp stove that converts the fire’s heat into electricity that can charge your electronic devices via USB. It not only boils water in less than five minutes, but can also grill food on site when coupled with the BioLite Portable Grill.

Biolite Kettle Pot ($50)
Working in conjunction with the BioLite Campstove, the company’s stainless steel Kettle Pot is offered as a grab-and-go system on the campground for boiling water, making coffee, and preparing meals. It also doubles as a carrying case for your Biolite Campstove.

Stanley Mountain Vacuum Food System ($48)
An all in one modular cooking system that brings the comfort of cooking at home to the campsite. It features a 20 ounce stainless steel, a BPA-free jar that keeps food warm for up to 13 hours or cold for 11, an integrated cooking pot that nests inside the jar when not in use, a top that doubles as a bowl, and an included spork for eating halfway civilized when you’re miles from civilization.

Biolite Portable Grill ($60)
The BioLite Portable Grill provides a simple yet effective way to grill your burgers, dogs, or squirrel at camp. It works in conjunction with the Biolite Camp Stove mentioned above, which requires you to have no propane or charcoal on hand.

Coleman Enamelware Coffee Mug ($7)
Enamel mugs have become an iconic staple in outdoor living. They’re lightweight, simple to clean, and perfect for sipping coffee, whiskey, or a delicious mixture of the two while sitting in front of the camp fire.

MSR Flex 4 Cook System ($140)
More campers means more food. This modular cooking system by MSR features a pair of nonstick aluminum pots, strainer lids, four deep dish plates, and insulated drinking mugs. The entire system nests inside the largest pot for easy packing and cleanup.

Field and Stream Cast Iron Skillet ($25)
Some camp foods are best prepared in an iron skillet, such as eggs, bacon, and fish. The Cast Iron Skillet by Field and Stream is 10 inches wide, foundry-seasoned, and ready to use straight out of the box.

Yeti Tundra 45 Quart Cooler ($65)
Unless its well below freezing where you choose to set up camp, you’ll somewhere cold to store your meals. Yeti’s Tundra 45 Cooler is a field-tested and approved option. Its outfitted with a ColdLock Gasket and Yeti’s pressure-injected permafrost insulation that retains cold air and ice like no other cooler on the market.

You may also want to check out these winter camping essentials.

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