Camp Cooking In Cold Weather

Camp cooking in cold weather can present a few challenges. With the outside air dropping to frigid, it will take longer to achieve the same results. Some creativity may come into play, but it is still absolutely feasible to have a fantastic meal cooked at camp in cold weather.

My last cold weather camping trip I had brought along two things I regularly used to cook with in warm weather: a stove top camp oven, and a stove top smoker box. Both took an unusually long time to finish cooking. Neither are insulated from the outside, and I was fighting 20 degree temps. They eventually worked with a higher heat, but the results weren't as good. Leave behind anything you think the cold weather will hamper.

What did work best was my camp pots and pans that had lids. You wouldn't think there would be as much difference in the pot with a lid and a camp oven, but there really was. My chili cooked in roughly the same time as summer, but the smoked salmon took more than twice the regular time. 

For cold weather camp cooking, sticking with foil packs placed right over the fire, or things that can be cooked in a pan with a lid is probably the best option. The heat tends to be higher, and being offset less with the cold air. Cold weather camping always takes a little more planning and foresight, and cooking is no different.

All camp cooking in cold weather should be done outside. Not in tents, not in an enclosed area. Camp cook stoves and fires still put off carbon monoxide, a very real danger in cold weather.