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Cool Tricks/Gadgets for Camping

Maybe the posters in here should try and get a pair of balls :flipoff2:

Seriously though, we recently got a camp chef stove then the BBQ and griddle accessories. It's a little large for true trail wheelin, but it's nice to have.

For shorter trips where space is limited, I got this sweet single burner that burns propane or butane. Even has its own ignitor. Was like $30 on Amazon, I'll see if I can find the link.....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HQRD8EO..._zdL6EbFXZT4CM

Worked great last fall when we woke up to a bunch of frost. I am that idiot who is always first up, so I put it on low under my chair while the fire was getting going :laughing:

Depending on my trip, I bring 1 of 3 stoves I have: 2 burner propane (Coleman), single burner propane (like pictured). and then a few years ago a guy on Pirate was selling these cool little white gas stove on pirate for like $25 shipped, so I picked that one up (works great, but can't use large pots or pans on it) It's the size of a s softball.







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This reminds me, we fill those type of tin pans in various sizes with water to make block ice that seems to last well.
I've got several 2l Coke bottles mostly full of ice in the garage freezer. When they thaw in the cooler, they don't get everything soggy.
 
Almost forgot, we also made 20-30 omelets/breakfast burritos for people in several minutes (minus prep).

Prep: chopped up ingredients ahead of time & place in baggies/containers.
Scramble lots of eggs ahead of time & put in jug.

Give people a zip lock and a sharpie to label bag, have them then scoop ingredients into the bag.
We then added 1/2-1 cup of eggs into bag.

Dropped bag in bot of boiling water. Remove with tongs when ready.


EDIT:
I also freeze water bottles and add to cooler.

If we do a long trip, with a cooler of frozen meats and such, I have 2-3 2 quart bottles (from orange juice) that I bring.
Before you freeze them, add 1/2 cup of salt. When they start to thaw, the reaction freezes everything next to them (like making ice cream).
Only draw back is you can't drink the water once thawed.
 
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I HATE doing dishes in camp. we pre-make ALL food for the day/week/month and freeze them in take-out containers. Pull out what you want for breakfast the night before and let it thaw, Same with dinner in the morning. throw them on the grill or stovetop to heat up.

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Great idea! How do they hold up to getting wet in cooler ice/water?


We usually make up chlli and other meals in ziplocks or vacuseal bags which we freeze. Helps keep the cooler cool and we just boil them till ready to eat.

Other thing is to have separate coolers for beverages and foods. That way you are not going into the food cooler every time you need a beer.
 
We camped a couple of weeks and with rain in the forecast. No trees close enough to hang tarps and I didn’t want the fire to ruin the fabric on the eze-up. I removed the original fabric and draped tarps over the bare frame. I lowered the rear legs while leaving front part that faced the fire fully extended. It made the perfect wind/rain/ lean-to shelter And I still have the fabric with no pinholes from sparks.
 
Great idea! How do they hold up to getting wet in cooler ice/water?

They dont. with everything frozen you dont really even need any ice in the food cooler. If you do, then we use frozen water bottles or ice packs. Food cooler rarerly gets opnened more than 2x a day to remove what needs to be thawed.

Drinks get a seperate cooler since you are in and out of it much more and can have ice.
 
I like those chairs and will check them out. We had been wanting the expensive ones from Campworld that you see rich people in RVs relaxing in. They are huge and round and really cozy. I don't mind taking up space with those big ones but they cost like $50 each. Can't find an alternative place to buy them cheap either.
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Road flares will start fires even in the rain, RV with genset that will run AC rocks :grinpimp:
 
Biggest thing for me is prepping food before leaving. Like cutting chicken and veggies for fajitas, then its just cook, season and eat.

My favorite gadget though is my folding kitchen with a pantry, stove rack, lantern rack, basin, prep surfaces, etc. Its not small or very light though. Its the bigger one from Bass Pro
 
Frozen water bottles instead of ice.

Fold down tables on the bumper mounted tire and gas can carriers.
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Shelf with Tupperware containers underneath to hold the smaller items and food.
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LED light strips on rear hatch for cooking, unpacking, etc. All these lights only pull about as much as one incandescent interior bulb.
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35' Class A RV for non-expedition type trips is the best camping gadget of all.
 
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https://shop.bajaracinggear.net/prod...xoCHRYQAvD_BwE

Some people might call me lazy. I don't use these just for racing. I'll roll one on so I don't have to get up from the fire every 30 min to take walk behind a tree. Drag the cooler up next to my chair and do my best to empty it out. Also works great for hanging out in BackDoor / Chocolate Thunder on thursday night when there's thousands of people around and no trees. What they don't know don't hurt em.
 
its big and cumbersome but our 3 burner camp chef is amazing.


Love ours as well, but it's the 2 burner. Flat top and a dutch oven going is awesome.

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Hand warmers are awesome. Refillable, last all evening. Keep the wimmens happy too when the temp drops off too much.
 
Another thing I did the last trip, not out of ingenuity, but just cause wut I got to use :flipoff2:​​​​​​

I have a small yeti (omg, dooooosh, it was a gift :flipoff2:​​​​​​) 20, I put all the meat and perishable food in it with just a few ice packs, then used our other ~40 qt cooler for drinks.

It worked out great because we wernt constantly opening the food cooler, so everything stayed cool, no soggy bacon, because ice packs, beer was ice cold since I didn't feel the need to drain off the water. I think I'll get another doosh style cooler in a 40-50 qt size and keep doing it this way.
 
3 burner Camp chef stove with griddle and grill accessories takes camp cooking to another level!\\\\n+1 on the EZ-Up being loaded last, as well as a table. Nice to be able to set these up and have a dry/shaded place to unload the rest of the gear.\\\\n\\\\nA few I haven\\\\\\\'t seen mentioned:\\\\nEggs- crack at home and put into nalgene bottle or any type of sealable container, then into cooler. Even on rough roads, the eggs will remain intact- meaning you can pour out however many you need for each meal, or even pour a single egg out for a fried egg. Elk camp we will put 4 dozen into a large plastic Folgers container and they will be mostly intact when we get to camp, I pour out however many I need for each meal.\\\\n\\\\nCoolers- not going to get into what brand/style is better, but use multiple coolers, each with a purpose, yep, I take 4 coolers: Freezer cooler- all frozen food and only frozen food (plus frozen water container and dry ice)- access once per day. Ice cooler- dedicated cooler for ice- I have a cooler that holds 2 20# bags plus a slab of dry ice. Fridge cooler- all refrigerated food, shouldn\\\\\\\'t need to be accessed too much- couple times a day. Drink cooler- load it up at home and reload as needed- this is probably the most accessed cooler, so if you\\\\\\\'re going to invest in a cooler, invest here!\\\\n\\\\n\\\\nIce and Ice retention- already mentioned- freeze water in various sized sealed containers. Experiment with different containers depending on your cooler size, cooler purpose, etc. I use gallon plastic jugs, sour cream containers, butter containers, etc. Dry ice is also great, especially in your \\\\\\\"freezer\\\\\\\" cooler. Pre-cool your coolers the night before/before you load them up.\\\\n\\\\nSolar landscaping lights- like these- they are really handy to put out around camp, especially around stakes that hold guy-lines.\\\\nhttps://www.amazon.com/Solar-Lights-...s%2C184&sr=8-8\\\\n\\\\nLanterns- I bought one of these before elk camp 2018. I promptly bought another when I returned. Awesome lantern that will run 40 hours on high on a set of batteries. That\\\\\\\'s 5 hours a night for 8 days on high.\\\\nhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1\\\\n\\\\nThis is handiest damn axe/splitter to have around, will easily spilt some good sized logs:\\\\nhttps://www.amazon.com/Estwing-E3-FF...420392&sr=8-16\\\\n\\\\nChairs- invest in some decent chairs that lock. These offer a lot more support and don\\\\\\\'t sag:\\\\nhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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For long trips when I bring my big cooler i freeze gallon jugs of water for ice. Its ice and drinking water as it melts, and it doesn't make anything soggy.
 
For long trips when I bring my big cooler i freeze gallon jugs of water for ice. Its ice and drinking water as it melts, and it doesn't make anything soggy.

Same here, only I use smaller drinking bottles.
 
Dude I ran the Rubicon with had an onboard shower in his Samurai that utilized the trans cooler portion of his radiator. Ran a hose to Loon or wherever we were and blam, a nice hot shower with only one pass through the radiator. He was also at Johnson Valley and had a 50g drum of water on his trailer to do the same thing, what he didn't count on was heating up 80* water instead of 50* water made for some scalding-ass hot water. :laughing:
 
Wall tents with wood stove are nice for those cold elk camp nights. The camp water heater keg is nice too. Just can't let the keg run dry or the copper coil will get fuckered up. Also, don't drag a 10' stump on the fire. That'll damage the coil as well. :homer: The blown over tree stumps are fun. Stand them up on the fire and they burn really damn good!

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Another vote for the campchef stove. have the explorer 2 burner with a grill box, flat top and pizza oven. the other is a turkey fryer. why not eat like kings while camping
 
Dude I ran the Rubicon with had an onboard shower in his Samurai that utilized the trans cooler portion of his radiator. Ran a hose to Loon or wherever we were and blam, a nice hot shower with only one pass through the radiator. He was also at Johnson Valley and had a 50g drum of water on his trailer to do the same thing, what he didn't count on was heating up 80* water instead of 50* water made for some scalding-ass hot water. :laughing:

I've seen showers done a few different ways, that is a new one though, I'm surprised that it heated it that well.

Most any "new" radiator has those as well, that way they don't have to make an auto and manual version. Plus they suck as a trans cooler, so I'd say most people have the ports available.

What did he use for a pump? I'm assuming just an RV water pump?
 
I've seen showers done a few different ways, that is a new one though, I'm surprised that it heated it that well.

Most any "new" radiator has those as well, that way they don't have to make an auto and manual version. Plus they suck as a trans cooler, so I'd say most people have the ports available.

What did he use for a pump? I'm assuming just an RV water pump?

Yeah, some little 12v pump with a ball valve to shut it off.
 
I made an on board shower a few years ago.
12v RV pump & a heat exchanger.

Lots of people try to adjust water temp by flow control.
i just bring a 5 gallon bucket (also used as a toilet with several bags) & cycle the water with engine running until it gets to the desired temp.

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Frozen water bottles instead of ice.

Fold down tables on the bumper mounted tire and gas can carriers.

Shelf with Tupperware containers underneath to hold the smaller items and food.

LED light strips on rear hatch for cooking, unpacking, etc. All these lights only pull about as much as one incandescent interior bulb.

35' Class A RV for non-expedition type trips is the best camping gadget of all.

I tried something similar when I switched to propane but it didn't work out to well.

I ran a T in my propane line with a solenoid & regulator with a line next to my tailgate.
When I'd set up camp, I modified one of those lantern posts that attach to 5lb tanks to attach to my bumper.
Put the lantern on top and ran my stove & bbq off of the little outputs on the post.
Worked out really well. (it did freeze up in cold weather though).

That is, until everyone decided to go night wheeling after dinner.:homer:
 
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