The Contents of My Camping Kitchen Box

After my last article on simplified camping (Five Ways to Simplify Camping), I received a request for what I keep in my kitchen box.

Here are the contents as of the last time I used it.

Contents of My Camping Kitchen Box

• A set of plastic (reusable) cutlery in a tray; I also keep a wooden spoon, a spatula, a manual can opener and a paring knife in this tray, which fits into a gallon zipper bag.
• Four small plastic mugs, plates and bowls
• A gallon zipper bag containing three dish towels, three dish cloths and an abrasive scouring pad
• A travel clothesline with clips
• A small bottle of dish detergent
• A flexible cutting board
• A coffee percolator
• A roll of paper towels and a quart zipper bag filled with napkins
• A vinyl tablecloth with clips for holding it on a picnic table
• A set of matches, fire starters and a lighter
• A small trivet for hot pots
• A set of camping cookware that nests
• Paper plates and plastic “rims” to hold them, stored in a gallon zipper bag
• A set of camping salt-and-pepper shakers
• An assortment of garbage and plastic shopping bags

After this last camping trip, there will be some things I will be adding:

• A small ladle. Useful for getting sauce out of pans, as well as pouring out pancake batter.
• A cooking fork. Bacon plus plastic fork = melted plastic. Need I say more?
• A camp stove griddle. Cooking pancakes in a small pan does not work well.
• A different coffee maker. My percolator has a tendency to spew coffee grounds and hot coffee out of the spout. Other campers with me, knowing how to use a percolator, declared it was the coffee pot and not me that was defective.

Photo by Daniel Greene