My Camping Kitchen Box (With Pictures)

Posted on June 17, 2010 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Organization,Simplification

One of the things that (surprisingly, to me) gets consistent hits on this site is about my camping kitchen box. Put together to make it easy to have all the cooking supplies in one place, it not only makes packing for a camping trip much easier, but it also puts equipment at hand when we have long-term power outages.

This past Memorial Day saw us camping, and I ended up having to clean out the box completely because of the damp and ticks. I took the opportunity to put together a list of what is in my box, and to take some pictures (click on any picture to zoom in):

The Box

The box itself is a big plastic tote with a locking lid. It’s big enough to hold everything, and the locking lid makes it unlikely critters or dirt will get into it.

The Contents

The basic contents of the box are as follows:

A big pot with a cover
A griddle
A nesting cookware set
Paper plate holders
Two sharp knives with sharpener covers
Silverware in a tray
Two cutting boards
A coffee press and insulated mugs
A set of dishes (bowls, plates, small mugs)
An egg case
A pop up toaster
Dish soap
Matches

And not pictured:

A tablecloth
A first aid kit
A clothesline
Towels and dishcloths
Extensible toasting forks
Scissors

Packing the Box

I nest the cooking pots inside the big pot.

This is followed by a bag containing the clothesline, scissors, matches and first aid kit .

The pot then goes into the big box first, and I start packing things around it.

The griddle goes in the back of the box, and leaning against it are the cutting boards, followed by the paper plate holders and the toaster.

On the other side of the box, next to the pots, I lean up the plates and bowls. This leaves room for the mugs, coffee pot and dish soap. I also tuck in a few paper plates.

You’ll notice most things are in zipper bags. There are two reasons for this: they keep things clean, and I can use them if I need to.

After the first layer, I lay in the cutlery tray and the egg container. The egg container doesn’t actually “deploy” in the box: I put it in the cooler. But for storage it goes in there. In its place during deployment are the two knives with covers, which I use in my normal kitchen work.