cooking gear for UK camping..who needs it ?

On my first camping tour of the Lake District and Scotland ( many years ago ) I found that cooking gear was not worth the space/weight ... stove/fuel/pans/oil/seasoning/cutlery/extra water/ingredients etc.

In the UK we are never far away from a hot meal, often cheaper and more substantial than one small stove can muster, especially if butane is being used.

I never took the cooking gear again and I have since been to most parts of the UK and a few parts of Europe. The only thing I sometimes missed was a brew in the morning ( but I managed to cadge one on many occasions !! ). A cafe or pub meal once or twice a day supplemented by sandwiches/fruit etc always did me just fine, and it gave me a chance to meet the locals.

It would be interesting to hear your arguments for and against taking cooking gear, especially in the UK.

We picked up a mains cable and for usually around £3 per night, we can take the microwave, lamps, kettle, toaster, mobile and laptop chargers..
Though it did help that until recently we had a Chrysler Voyager to lug it all around in, though we did pick up a trailer now we've down graded.

Personally I'd be happy in a two man tent with a little stove and a pan / kettle but with kids and a mrs who's not keen on roughing it, I put up with it

It depends where I am going and what time of year. In the summer I'm perfectly happy to eat cold food most of the time so it's no problem.

On the other hand, I'll be riding round northern Scotland in June, and it's remote enough (and cold enough) for me to consider taking a small gas stove and a cooking pot. The reasoning behind this is allowing me to completely detatch from any sort of timetable while I'm on tour if i want to. With the gear i don't need to worry about when the cafe/pub/cake shop shuts.

I never leave home without the means to make a cup of coffee much less go on a cycle tour without having the gear to cook.

true there are always places you can get a meal as you go along - however not when I want it, not what i want, not the quality i want nor the quantatity i want.

I find it so much better and more convienient to buy good stuff as i go along during the day and cook a good satisfying meal in the evening when i stop

for more of my rationale see below page 18

Yes, but the question is would you be happy in a two man tent without a stove/pan/kettle ?

I'm quite happy to cook at home with all the equipment I might need to hand, but scuttering around trying to cook on a camp site is just a pia to me. I think it is good to get indoors and relax on a proper chair at a table to enjoy an evening meal after a day on the bike.
I always take the basics to make a cup of tea and breakfast, and when in more isolated places carry sufficient food to cook a basic meal if there is no alternative.

Good article there psmiffy, I find it difficult to see how I can cook a satisfying meal with just a camping stove though.. surely the meats gone cold by the time your veg is done ?

Technique and timing is the key - most meals I can cook a couple of veg with meat of some sort on the single stove - if I am doing a proper job then i have a spare stove - generaly in half the time it takes to get something from the local cafe

Ah, so its TWO stoves now !! My argument for weight/space is looking a bit stronger.

no argument about weight/space - I read somewhere else "weight on a bike is not critical" the standard sort of riposte came back "it is critical - its physics" - weight is not a problem - its a simple trade off - do you want it enough to carry it - Ive often loaded up the front panniers with the evening meal, a couple of litres of orange juice, wine whatevever and found that there is a 400m hill between where i am and the campsite - bit of an ironic grumble to myself that maybe I should have risked it for buscuit that there would be a shop open on the other side - but in reality ive not really noticed the extra weight - and doubly happy that i made the right decision and shopped there and then - tired but happy

Space though is another thing - where to pack the extra bread I bought because "it looked nice" - easily solved - tie it on on the outside

and dont forget the three pans - 4 gas cylinders

After wild camping up on Kinder (shhh!) with what me and the mrs could fit in our back packs? No.. I'd have been much happier with a nice hot cup of coffee in the morning!

Make a penny stove with a couple of coke cans, a penny, a bit of wire and some meths. Lightweight cheap and will do for a brew.

i would sooner leave the bike at home than go without my stove

Please go into more detail..sounds good but I,ve no idea what your on about.

this

Wow, impressive. To think of all those times I went without my morning brew...never again.

Wise words. I was applying the ultralight philosophy last tour, no cooking gear, but I did buy a big heavy melon one day in some hot weather. I hit the bubblewrap landscape shortly after and had doubts about the wisdom of that melon purchase. It must've been 2 kilograms. But at the top of a hill, where I found a picnic bench under a shading tree, along with a water pump to rinse my hands, it seemed like the best two kilograms ever!

Of course, once you eat it the weight doesn't count.

I've not bothered with it (yet), seems too much faff. Personally, after being out all day I either like to go out for a hot meal and a few pints, a wander into town and grab kebab, whatever. If I'm gonna end up somewhere more remote/the weather is nice/no money, I'd get some bread and cheese, a bottle of wine etc. Outside the UK I'll like to try out all the local stuff anyway. I'll will admit it's not great in the morning, packing up without a cup of tea and maybe having to do a few miles before getting breakfast and a cuppa...but you can't have everything.

I bought cooking gear for my first trip, sold it on Ebay when I got back. The minimalist touring guy's site has a lot to answer for, for me it was weight and space, plus I have found that I have no need/desire for hot food or a hot drink in the morning.