Fire Discipline

Fire is the oldest part of camping and the part most likely to end badly, either for the landscape or for your right to be in it. In much of southern Europe, Australia and the American west, open fires are banned outright for months at a time, and the bans exist because of people who thought their fire was under control.

First, decide whether to have one at all

The honest answer is often no. In a fire-risk season, on peat, in high wind, above the treeline where wood is scarce and slow-growing, or anywhere a ban is in force, a fire is simply not appropriate and a stove does the job better anyway. A fire is for evenings in wet forest, on gravel or sand, with fallen dead wood in abundance, in a season and a place where it is allowed.

Building one that leaves nothing

Use an existing fire ring if there is one, because concentrating the damage is better than spreading it. If there is not, the best surface is bare mineral soil, gravel or sand, at least three metres from anything that can catch, with nothing overhanging. On vegetation or peat, do not light a ground fire at all: peat can burn underground for weeks. A raised fire pan or a metal tray is the clean solution and is required by regulation in a growing number of places.

Keep it small. A cooking fire the size of two hands gives more usable heat than a bonfire and needs a fraction of the wood. Burn only dead and fallen wood, never standing timber, and never bring firewood across borders, which is how tree diseases travel.

The question is not whether you can light a fire. It is whether anybody will be able to tell, tomorrow, that you did.

Putting it out properly

Let it burn down to ash rather than leaving unburnt logs. Then douse it with water, stir the ash, douse again, and put your hand near it. If you cannot hold your hand just above the ash, it is not out. Scatter the cold ash widely, return any stones you moved, and rake the ground. Every year, fires that were supposedly out restart in wind six hours later.

The stove does most of the work

For everyday cooking, a stove is faster, cleaner, controllable and legal everywhere. The choice is between three types. Gas canisters are simple, clean and ideal in moderate conditions, at the cost of availability in remote countries and poor performance in real cold. Liquid fuel stoves burn petrol or paraffin, work in cold and at altitude and can be refuelled from a jerrycan anywhere in the world, at the cost of maintenance and noise. Diesel cookers built into a vehicle share the vehicle's fuel and are excellent for long-term travel, at the cost of installation and cost.

For a vehicle-based trip in Europe, two burners on gas covers almost everything. For a crossing of somewhere that does not sell your canister fitting, plan liquid fuel and carry the maintenance kit.

Cooking for a group in the field

Field cooking is a logistics exercise. One pot beats three. Ingredients that survive heat and vibration beat ingredients that need a fridge. A menu planned per day, with the components packed together, removes the daily half hour of standing in front of open boxes wondering what to make.

Plan around 3,000 to 4,000 calories per person per day for active travel, higher in cold. Dry staples, tinned protein, hard cheese, cured meat, onions, cabbage, root vegetables, oil and spices will carry a party for weeks and taste far better than freeze-dried packets. Fresh produce lasts longer than people expect if it is bought unripe, kept in the dark and not sealed in plastic.

Water and washing up

Wash up away from any watercourse, using minimal biodegradable soap, and strain the food particles out to carry away rather than tipping them into the ground. In bear or big cat country, the washing-up area, the cooking area and the sleeping area should be well separated, and everything scented goes in a sealed container or a hang.

Questions we get asked

How much gas does a two-burner use?

Roughly 150 to 250 grams a day for two people cooking two meals plus drinks, which is a 2.75 kilogram bottle every two weeks or so. Cold weather and altitude increase it, and a windshield reduces it by a surprising amount.

Are wood-burning camp stoves a good idea?

They are clean, light and use fuel you find on the way, and they are a fire under a regulation regime that usually treats them as one. In a fire ban, they are banned too.

Can I cook inside the vehicle?

Only with real ventilation and never with a naked flame near fabric or fuel. Carbon monoxide from a stove in a closed vehicle is a genuine killer, and it does not smell.