Kit
Nothing here is a ranking and nothing is a "best buy". Each entry names a product chosen on its published specification, against the thing that entry says matters: the absolute pore size on a filter, the output rating on a battery, whether a tablet is chlorine or chlorine dioxide. That is the part that is easy to get wrong and hard to find out. It is not the same as having cooked with it, and where the right answer depends on kit you already own, such as the fitting your stove takes, we point at the category instead.
Where to start
If you are starting from nothing
The shortest list that makes everything on this site cookable.
- 1. Single-burner stove
- 2. Gas canisters
- 3. One-pan cookset
- 4. Tin opener
- 5. Water containers
Cooking on electricity
The only group that produces no carbon monoxide, and the only one that needs a power budget.
Making one burner cook properly
The gap between shelf-stable ballast and a good dinner is mostly these four.
Washing up away from a tap
Handwashing is food safety. The standard advice assumes a sink; this is the substitute.
A cupboard that lasts years
Decanting is the single change that buys the most time on dry goods.
Cooking without mains
Five ways to make heat, and they divide into the ones that burn something and the ones that do not.
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Carbon monoxide alarm
Put it where you sleep. This is not optional kit.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Carbon steel or cast iron pan
Holds heat, takes a crust, and is the pan induction will actually heat.
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Cast iron casserole
Heavy, and the only thing that cooks properly over embers.
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Charcoal barbecue (portable)
The most heat for the least money, and the one that has killed people indoors.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Cook's knife and guard
One sharp knife beats three blunt ones, and the guard is the point.
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Electric barbecue or grill
The one hot surface with no combustion, so no carbon monoxide.
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Flexible chopping board
Rolls up, and gives you a separate surface for raw and ready-to-eat.
Read first: raw flour
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Folding grill grate
Turns a fire into a hob, and packs flat.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Gas barbecue (portable)
Charcoal's heat with a stove's control, at the cost of carrying the gas.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Heat diffuser plate
Turns a camping burner that only roars into one that can simmer.
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Kelly kettle
Boils water on sticks, which makes fuel weight somebody else's problem.
Read first: carbon monoxide , water treatment
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Long-handled tongs
The distance between your hand and a charcoal fire.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Microwave (low wattage)
Absurd off grid, until you count the watt-hours rather than the watts.
Read first: cooked rice
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One-pan cookset
A pan with a lid that fits, and a handle that does not melt.
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Portable induction hob
Hob-grade control with no flame, if you can supply the watts.
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Pressure cooker (stovetop)
The biggest fuel saving available on dried pulses and grains.
Read first: pulses pha , pulse rehydration
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Probe thermometer
Replaces guessing with a number, on the two things worth not guessing about.
Read first: cooling cooked food
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Single-burner stove
The constraint every recipe here is written around.
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Stainless camping cutlery
Real cutlery weighs almost nothing and does not flex in a bowl of dal.
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Stainless nesting bowls
Where the dough gets made and the washing up happens.
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Stainless steel saucepan
The pan for everything wet, and the one that survives being scoured.
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Stainless steel utensil set
A turner, a spoon and tongs that will not melt, stain or snap.
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Stovetop kettle
Boils faster than a pan, and keeps tea out of the dinner pan.
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Tin opener
On a site built on tins, worth more than one of.
Read first: damaged tins
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Windshield
The cheapest way to make your gas last longer.
Read first: carbon monoxide
Fuel and fire lighting
Consumables planned by quantity rather than tools bought once. Moisture content is the specification that matters for wood, and fitting is the one that matters for gas.
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Charcoal and briquettes
Lumpwood burns hotter and briefly; briquettes burn steadier and longer.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Charcoal chimney starter
Lights charcoal with newspaper in fifteen minutes and no lighter fluid.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Ferrocerium rod
Never runs out, works wet, and needs practice before you rely on it.
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Gas canisters
Work out what you need before you go, not when you run out.
Read first: pulse rehydration , water treatment
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Kiln-dried logs
Moisture content is the only specification that matters.
Read first: carbon monoxide
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Natural firelighters
Wood wool and wax, so the food does not taste of paraffin.
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Storm matches
Relight in wind and after being dropped in water.
Power
Cooking is the heaviest thing most people ask a battery to do. Buy on the output rating, not the capacity.
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Folding solar panel
Replaces the battery slowly, and in British weather more slowly than the badge says.
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Plug-in energy monitor
Tells you what an appliance actually draws, which is not what the box says.
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Portable power station
The thing that decides whether any electric cooking kit works at all.
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Pure sine wave inverter
For a leisure battery you already have, rather than a box with sockets on it.
Water
The heaviest thing you carry, and the one that decides whether dried food is a saving or a cost.
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Chlorine dioxide tablets
Chlorine dioxide, not ordinary chlorine. The distinction is the point.
Read first: water treatment
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Collapsible water carrier
For refills, not for the main store.
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Gravity water filter
Filters while you do something else, which suits a base camp or a kitchen tap.
Read first: water treatment
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Water containers
Rigid jerrycans for the bulk, and know what they weigh.
Read first: pulse rehydration
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Water filter
Check the absolute pore size, not the marketing.
Read first: water treatment
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Water storage barrel
For the household case, where the question is days rather than litres carried.
Read first: water treatment
Washing and hygiene
Handwashing is food safety, and every safety page here assumes a tap. Hand gel does nothing against norovirus, so this is equipment rather than an afterthought.
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Biodegradable soap
One bottle for hands, dishes and you, because carrying three is why people carry none.
Read first: water treatment
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Brush, scourer and cloth
The bit of the kit that gets forgotten, and the bit that harbours the most bacteria.
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Collapsible washing-up bowl
Makes washing up possible with two litres instead of a running tap.
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Food-safe surface sanitiser
Cleaning and disinfecting are two different jobs, in a fixed order.
Read first: raw flour
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Hand sanitiser
Useful, and specifically useless against the bug most likely to ruin a trip.
Read first: raw flour
Storage
Keeping dry things dry. Most of what goes wrong in a long-life cupboard is moisture, light or air.
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Airtight food containers
Square, stackable, genuinely airtight.
Read first: pulse rehydration
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Clip-top jars
Glass jars with a rubber gasket, for the things you reach for constantly.
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Desiccant sachets
Not the same thing as an oxygen absorber, and used in the same place for a different reason.
Read first: vacuum packed
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Dry box
A sealed crate for the food that must not get wet.
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Food-grade buckets
The container the gamma lids screw onto, and the base of any bulk store.
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Fridge thermometer
The cheapest genuinely important thing on this page.
Read first: cooling cooked food
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Gamma seal lids
Screw-top lids that convert a bucket into something you can open daily.
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Hygrometer
Tells you whether the place you are storing food is dry, which is the one storage condition nobody can judge by feel.
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Impulse bag sealer
The tool that closes a Mylar bag properly, instead of an iron and hope.
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Labels and a marker
Rotation is a filing problem, and an unlabelled container cannot be filed.
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Mylar bags
Light-proof and moisture-proof long-term storage for dried goods.
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Oxygen absorbers
Sachets that pull the air out of a sealed bag.
Read first: vacuum packed
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Spice tin
The difference between carrying spices and actually using them.
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Vacuum sealer
Useful, and not what most people think it is.
Read first: vacuum packed
Prices, availability and specifications change constantly and we do not track them. Check the specification on the listing rather than trusting that a search result matches what is described here.