Cooking while camping

[daj]

(Sorry Anya, I didn't see your other post about about bathroom visits and I can't delete this message)

I think there's a long post about bathroom visits somewhere here, but my tip is ... a (empty!) hot water bottle in case of emergencies when you can't or don't want to leave the tent! Might not be easy to find in a small supermarket so worth finding space for one in your luggage.

thank you! Good to know, Im really worried about the animals. Funny enough, the animals are what Im super excited about
How do you guys go to bathroom after dark, though

[SANZ]

What?

The mention of Rhino stamping out your fire is from a an amusing cartoon series- fictitious. So no need to worry about Rhino in your camp but there is a current trip report about hippo visiting a campsite and visits from elephant are very common. Both can move surprisingly fast and have been responsible for deaths so keep a respectful distance. Move slowly away if they approach. No need for panic but be respectful- it is their environment. In some places (such as Savuti) elephants have reputation of arriving soon after you do at a campsite (in search of food). Avoid carrying oranges. Be aware of monkeys and baboons. They are notorious for snatching and available food even from your hand and are very quick and sneaky. A catapult is a useful deterrent. Some claim a plastic snake does the same but I wonder if it is true. The primates seem to arrive as you unpack as well. Do not camp under a tree where baboons spend the night. They do not move to use the loo.
Do not leave food out especially overnight. Hyena and honey badgers are frequent visitors to campsites at night. Do not throw chop bones into bush. Place garbage in secure container or use a thin rope and a tree branch to lift it up similar to how you would manage food in bear country.
Do not place any food in your tent. Do not park in an area used by animals as a pathway.
Not trying to scare you. These visits are all part of the experience.
Set up your camp so you sit with back to vehicle facing the fire and place other vehicles or your camp table to create an enclosure. Do your ablutions before dark and use a small container for nocturnal pees. A clearly labeled plastic container (Tupperware type) that seals well is useful
Do not wander beyond the cleared area of your campsite after dark. Take one good torch (1000+lumen) and a head torch each and a small lantern with a magnet base. This can be put on a metal table, the side of your vehicle or hung from awning or in tent. No need to be particularly bright as it will attract bugs and brightness reduces night vision. A yellow cellophane cover can be useful . We use head torches which you to choose different intensities including a red light setting which allows you to prepare your meal, read and preserves your night vision. not good for checking if your food is cooked! (Nightcore HC65 has served us well since at least 2018- it charges via USB (or latest ones are USB C) while driving.
Enjoy the beauty of the Southern night sky. The milky way from a remote campsite is one of the joys of life.
Closed shoes and checking shoes are empty reduces risks of scorpion stings

[PeterS]

Back to the food side of things, we take a lot of tortillas/ wraps. Easy to use for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In their sealed packets they last long and don’t go stale like bread.

At night when cooking dinner we will often add the extra that we want for the next day. Bacon.. breakfast sausages, chicken for lunch wrap etc.

For us, esp if in a game park etc, we like to head off early and have breakfast/brunch on the road.

We have a 60L fridge freezer and that is plenty space for 10 days.

[lekhubu943]

....At night when cooking dinner we will often add the extra that we want for the next day. Bacon.. breakfast sausages, chicken for lunch wrap etc.

Tortillas are a good suggestion and they don't need the fridge.

We also cook enough at night for left overs the next day. Bacon cooks fantastic on the fire.

We like cold meats for lunch and always take a couple of packets. I believe there is a Woolworths food in Maun and their cold meats last well. Botswana's own Senn foods cold meats is generally good quality too.

[Poen]

Do not take any citrus fruit with you. It is known that Elephants have ruined vehicles to get to oranges.

[AnyaB]

We have always rented a vehicle with RTT and the cooking utensils have always included a cast iron pot - did the company give you an inventory of what's included? Could be useful to check.
Sometimes they supply 'tupperware' type boxes, but never enough and never big enough, we found it useful to buy a couple of larger ones for bread, open biscuits etc. The smaller ones for tea, coffee, sugar, spices - stops spillages and deters insects! We give them away to camp staff at the end of our trip. And maybe take a few large zip-lock food bags (and clip food bag fasteners), the bags not only useful for open packets of food but also to keep bits together so you can easily find them - things like your torches, bug sprays etc - so easy to drop and lose these things in the sand as you're preparing to camp, especially as it gets dark so quickly.
We always buy a couple of mugs and drinking glasses (cheap ones from the supermarket)- nicer to drink from than the metal ones they supply - might get broken but not if wrapped up in tea towels or something. If you have space in your luggage an old piece of light cloth is useful for either a tablecloth (sounds daft but nicer and more 'homely' than the metal top of the camping table) or to wrap round anything that's clanking around in the car.
And do you have a beer bread recipe? Very easy to do in a cast iron pot, many recipes online (but basically beer, self-raising flour, a little oil and salt - add cheese/onions for variation).
One of our staple dishes is a bean stew - admittedly towards the end of the trip when fresh stuff is running out. A couple of tins of mixed beans, tinned tomatoes (with onions in case you run out of fresh onions), with potatoes, squash and carrots and any other surviving vegetables plus curry powder. We make enough for 2 days (those tupperware containers come in useful again!)
We tend to base our menu on what facilities the campsite has to offer - if there's a good space to spread out with solid tables to prepare food and sufficient water to wash utensils easily we might do something more ambitious - if not then something like pasta and a pot of bought pasta sauce will do (the pasta sauce can also be useful to flavour a stew).
Hope that's useful and not stating the obvious too much! You'll have a great time!

oh wow! Thank you for the great suggestions! I have a question about the water. Is it safe to wash the dishes in the designated sink and not get sick from water?

[daj]

oh wow! Thank you for the great suggestions! I have a question about the water. Is it safe to wash the dishes in the designated sink and not get sick from water?

We are careful about the water. If there is water available we will wash the very dirty pans in it, but rinse with the water from the vehicle's 60 litre water tank, but after 10 days in the heat I suspect also that water might not be 100% drinking safe. So for breakfast, for example, we usually boil bottled water for coffee and use a little to rinse/wipe round the mugs and dishes we are using - they usually need it anyway because they get so dusty. For cooking pots I think the heat will do the trick and clean them. (And we save a bit of boiled water for cleaning teeth - easy to forget what your toothbrush can be harbouring in the heat) No doubt the locals will scoff at our precautions but the last thing we need on a camping holiday is a dodgy tummy!

[Stranger]

Like has been said, you lot are soft.

Saffers use a well known and trusted mouth wash for brushing our teeth. It is called Three ships.

https://www.ngf.co.za/collections/br...elect-750ml-x1

[TRON]

oh wow! Thank you for the great suggestions! I have a question about the water. Is it safe to wash the dishes in the designated sink and not get sick from water?

Google Aqua Salveo. Three drops per litre is all it takes to purify your water.
And then it’s safe for whatever.

Buy online for best prices it comes in different size bottles.

[Johan H]

Hello fellow campers, I finally made it over here from TA forum. Everyone says this is the best place to get answers.
My husband and I are going to Botswana in August. We will be camping in 4x4 with RTT rental for a total of 10 nights between Chobe, Khwai and Moremi. As excited as Im, Im also freaked out about the cooking part.
We plan to stock up on food in Kasane, we will have both, a fridge and freezer.
What are the quick, easy lunch/dinner recipes we could use?
Im partial to foil cooking, on one side I like that there is no washing dishes, on the other I hate the idea of creating garbage.
Im not sure if we can stock up on 10 days worth of meat for grilling, even with a freezer.

Any ideas, suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

Plan for variety, if you travel you do not need to eat as much and healthy snacks, etc as a between meal option. Fruits etc. Keep it away from wild animals, they smell it from far away. Steak will last, anything with fat like sausage will have to be cooked quickly and consumed quickly. Meat like steak and fillet travels well. Your Tunas, baked beans, etc is nice variety with rusks. Cheese with a bit of rye bread.

[Emmie L]

Like has been said, you lot are soft.

Saffers use a well known and trusted mouth wash for brushing our teeth. It is called Three ships.

https://www.ngf.co.za/collections/br...elect-750ml-x1

LOL. Blegh.

I also use aqua salveo. But please boil all water you consume. Rather paranoid than sorry when one has a finite holiday time.

[algarvedave]

Thank you for the suggestions! Where can we stock up on firewood in Kasane? Our rental vehicle will have space for about 8 bundles.

You will find wood for sale by the side of the road.

[algarvedave]

thank you! Good to know, Im really worried about the animals. Funny enough, the animals are what Im super excited about
How do you guys go to bathroom after dark, though

Don’t worry about the animals, it’s extremely rare to have a problem. Be alert at all times in camp even during the day time. Animals might wander through, if worried get into the car. Never leave food out unattended or out at night and never have any food or sweets in your tent. Baboons are crafty and will steal anything so if they are around be very alert. At night time sit across from each other so you can see all around, not side by side when you won’t be able to see behind you. On the road and need a pee? Well there’s only by the side of the car really, don’t wander off into the bushes. Toilet visits at night are not recommended, pee in a bottle for men and she wee or similar for women. It’s easy once you get used to it. Most animals are very cautious of humans. And remember if faced with an animal don’t run, only food runs. Back off slowly.
Stop worrying, you’ll have a fantastic time.

[AnyaB]

Hi everyone, I wanted to give you an update (although very late) about cooking.
So basically, no cooking was happening except the first day where we grilled burgers.
On the second day (out of 10) our fridge broke and every single piece of meat got bad. Like BAD. We were left with a bag of potatoes, a few cans of veggies, left over burger buns and 6 or 8 pouches of food from Trail Food Company. We’ve decided not to detour to replenish and change the car. And quite frankly we both could loose some weight anyway we survived as you can see, also thanks to those little donut thingys that were OMG! so good! We found them somewhere around Muchenje and then around Khwai (here we stocked up and ate only these for two days )
I can tell you that much: warm gin sucks but it does taste better than a warm beer

PS for those of you who wonder: I lost 5lbs, so Im not complaining

[doodsangel]

Hi everyone, I wanted to give you an update (although very late) about cooking.
So basically, no cooking was happening except the first day where we grilled burgers.
On the second day (out of 10) our fridge broke and every single piece of meat got bad. Like BAD. We were left with a bag of potatoes, a few cans of veggies, left over burger buns and 6 or 8 pouches of food from Trail Food Company. We’ve decided not to detour to replenish and change the car. And quite frankly we both could loose some weight anyway we survived as you can see, also thanks to those little donut thingys that were OMG! so good! We found them somewhere around Muchenje and then around Khwai (here we stocked up and ate only these for two days )
I can tell you that much: warm gin sucks but it does taste better than a warm beer

PS for those of you who wonder: I lost 5lbs, so Im not complaining

So in terms of cooking, we found a magical aid and always carry some these days as a backup, noting your fridge failure dilemma. It is Proactive Foods Freeze dried stuff.

Amazing what you can conjure up with canned and freeze dried ingredients.

We even make Lasagne in a dutch oven (or potjie)!
Lasagne Recipe

Link to Proactive Foods:
https://proactivefoods.co.za/collections/meats