Cooking Mistakes you should avoid. Some of them are off-topic but worth it to know and improve your cooking experience.
I spend a day researching the cooking mistakes you can make while camping. I hope it will help you.
I saw that there is no such article about cooking mistakes while camping. So I planned to make it.
Table of Contents
Taking Too Much Food
Don’t take too much food with you. You may need only 2-3 days of extra food but that doesn’t mean you take a lot of food with you. The weight is also a point which you are looking for and you don’t need that your weight increases for no reason.
If you take too much food with you in the end you will realize that almost food is back home with you. If you know how many calories you need then it’s an opportunity. You can take food on how many calories you need so it will decrease your backpack weight.
Leaving Pot Handles In
Most of the pots that campers use are of titanium and it’s good at absorbing heat. If you left the full handle stick with the pot it will be so hot that it can burn your hand. It’s not good to injure yourself while you are in the backcountry. Also, make sure to not get close to the boiling water.
If it fell on you, you will get injured. The smart thing to do is to turn off the gas and wait for it until the pot gets cold. Or you can find something you can use to pick the without injuring yourself.
Holding The Food Bag When Pouring Hot Water
Big mistake. You don’t want to get injured while you are in the backcountry. Never hold a food bag from the bottom end it will make you injure. The first thing to do is to turn off the stove. Put the bag in a safe place. You can hold the bag from the upside it will not make you injured but be careful. Then pour the water. Always be careful about it because you don’t want to get injured when you are miles away from the city.
Taking A Small Spoon
Most people make this mistake, I am also in them????. People buy a spoon for their adventure which is way too much short. You need a nice long spoon for your trip so it can dig the food from big food bags.
Forgetting Sanitization
This part is important. If you forget sanitization then it can make you sick. I know it’s not possible all the time to wash your hand. In that situation, you should always have a backup. Like camp soap, sanitizer, and instantly usable soap. You can use your leftover water or take some water from the river to wash it off. Then you can eat without any kind of risk.
Water Resistant VS Waterproof
People think it’s the same thing but it’s not. So what are Water Resistance and a Waterproof tent:
1. Water Resistance
-> Hydrostatic Head: Check the hydrostatic Head. It’s, measured in millimeters. They did this to test the nylon. They took a column of water and fill it up at an X value of height. The X could be 1000 or 5000 millimeters.
If the tent is measured at 1000 millimeters of water then the cloth is okay at water resistance. If it’s measured at 5000 millimeters of water then the cloth is good at water resistance. You may not look at it while purchasing a tent but it’s important to look at some points before purchasing a tent.
2. Waterproof
-> Waterproof tents are usually expensive because the material used in them is premium. The reason this is premium is that it’s a special fabric. The fabric that is used in tents is extremely strong and lightweight. If something is waterproof from material doesn’t mean you will not get issues.
Also, make sure that the tent is seam sealed. Some manufacturers seal the crossings some of them don’t, so always have an eye on them. And everything you are wearing should have waterproofness in bad weather conditions.
Not Using Guy Lines
Guy lines are the ropes attached to the tent to give it more stability in inclement weather. Some tents have it some don’t. If your tent doesn’t have a guy line buy it from somewhere and attach it to your tent. It helps in windy conditions. Don’t fit it super tight.
Make it a little bit loose which makes a slack. The reason to do this is that if it is tight it can ruin your set-up. So so make sure to attach the guy lines to the ground to help you stay up in bad weather conditions. Also, make sure to attach the guy lines to the ground at night to have a great sleep.
Ground Protection
Another mistake the camper make is not using ground protection. ground protection is vital while you are sleeping or if you have a dog with you. You can also check out our article on how to go camping with a dog. Ground protection also relies on your tent to keep it dry. If your tent is having leakage of water then it will affect your ground protection.
Also, make sure that where you put the ground protection the place is dry or it will make the ground protection wet. If your tent is expensive still do not trust its ground cloth. Put something under the ground cloth of your tent. To make sure you will not get a bit under the bad weather condition. Not only ground protection protects you from the weather.
But it also protects you from rocks Thrones and other stuff. Also, make sure that the ground cloth is not much bigger as compared to the tent cloth. The reason for this is, if your cloth is bigger then it will seep the water between the protection and tent cloth. Because of that, it will become a horrible night for you.
Lookup
Most of the campers make the mistake of looking at the shelter. They look for shelter underneath the tree. But they forget that it can fall on them.
Forgetting A Backpack Liner
Don’t forget it. It will help you to keep your important gears dry. A budget hack if you don’t have money to get a bag for yourself. Take a backpacking bag and garbage bag then put the garbage bag inside the backpacking bag. Now it’s waterproof, you can put all the gears you don’t want to get wet.
Conclusion
I know some of the points are off-topic, but improving your cooking while camping is also useful. So take the information and put it in place and it will improve the experience of your camping.
What To Do Next?
If you have read the full article, I will guarantee it will help you. Also, Check out the mistakes to avoid while camping.