Cooking assistance in Beach

[hirsty]

As above I have a two-ring butane cartridge cooker in my Beach - I like one for pasta/rice & another for chilli etc ... We try to cook outside wherever possible though & prefer sites near pubs

Tiny 240v electric kettle for when on hookup.

Latest novelty is a BioLite stove, fries a pack of bacon & boils a kettle off a surprisingly small amount of dry wood!

http://www.bioliteenergy.com/

 

[Trebor]

We use a single Tefal induction hob and their stacking induction pans inside and outside van when we are hooked up to electric . Works great .

 

[soulstyledevon]

We have a couple of Jetboils which are used for all sorts - even for heating hot dogs at kids' parties! However a new player has now produced a very similar product at half the price. https://www.alpkit.com/products/brukit-wolf

Never seen the alpkit. But amazing value against jetboil prices. Would definitely have a look at this stuff going forward.

 

[MattBW]

I've been planning a test of a few different stove types for the speed to boil an amount of water.

Friend is loaning me a jet boil for the test. Will be interesting to see the difference.


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[Grey one]

I've been planning a test of a few different stove types for the speed to boil an amount of water.

Friend is loaning me a jet boil for the test. Will be interesting to see the difference.


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Depending on the model and cup size, I think it can boil in under 2 minutes. Those who have used it keep talking about the fact the flame and heat does not weaken as the gas is used up. Ordered a Sumo and bowls that fit into the cup using the club discount at Cotswold. Look forward to your 'roadtest'.

 

[soulstyledevon]

I've been planning a test of a few different stove types for the speed to boil an amount of water.

Friend is loaning me a jet boil for the test. Will be interesting to see the difference.


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Hey Matt,
Someone has already done a test. Just watched one on my PC. Both stoves took just 3 mins to boil the same amount of water. Nothing in it, except the jetboil costs about £60 more.
That's enough to sway me towards the alpkit and try it out.

 

[MattBW]

That video says what I suspected before I even tried it to be honest.

I'm going to do a similar test but with a few different style of stove my Cadac, a Jetboil, an alcohol based stove, a regular smev type setup and an aerosol based Campgaz bistro . Maybe anything else I can get my hands on too.

 

[jamesclarke]

I have never cooked inside- I did get a small electric kettle for when on hook up but never used that either. We have 2 x Campingaz Bistro cooker that take CP250 gas cartridges. This gives flexibility on the 2 or 1 burner issue. These cookers are flat and stable so you can use decent sized pans if you need to. We put the cooker/s on a low camping table under the wind out awning. We also have a mini windbreak to go round the cooker if its windy (small aluminium panels with hinges go on table top). Works well for us.

 

[Max-Felix]

I would not bother with anything other than a pair of cartridge cookers - super easy to clean, powerful, compact etc, perfect to use inside (with good ventilation) or outside. The Decathlon ones around £10 each are fantastic and so cheap to replace if they get really grotty or something breaks.

Stick to the proper Camping Gaz cartridges though buying bulk at £20 for 20 delivered* [edit - see later post] via Amazon. Don't let anyone tell you carts work out expensive - it's cheaper than nearly anything, certainly 907 refills let alone buying the 907 cylinder or similar in the first place and the carts are so easy to store in all the nooks and crannies in a Beach.

All this is speaking from experience of using this set up for years out the back of a Land Rover and for a continuous month long trip last summer in our Beach - worked brilliantly for a family of four - the pair of cookers used around 15 carts over that four weeks including all evening meals for four, toasting breakfast and lunch and tea/coffee about 3 times a day.

Oh, and I highly recommend the folding kettle - good deals online and they are really efficient to boil and easy to store.

And the folding tables from Decathlon, a pair is a fantastic set up - very stable, well made, compact and easy to clean/store:

 

[Max-Felix]

Just to add I don't want to put down the more wildcampy options - I've been into bush craft with my son for years and made many Coke can alcohol stoves, double bean can gasifer wood burners, Ikea Hobo stoves (still my favourite option by far for a foraging wood burner when 'playing' in the woods), numerous home made pot stands, wind breaks, I've used Trangias, Swedish Army mess kits etc etc but at the end of a long day in the camper when the family wants a nice meal then nothing beats the reliability, power, stability and convenience of these cartridge cookers.

 

[Amarillo]

Don't let anyone tell you carts work out expensive

13Kg propane is £32 at RRP.

 

[T6 CFO]

Just to add I don't want to put down the more wildcampy options - I've been into bush craft with my son for years and made many Coke can alcohol stoves, double bean can gasifer wood burners, Ikea Hobo stoves (still my favourite option by far for a foraging wood burner when 'playing' in the woods), numerous home made pot stands, wind breaks, I've used Trangias, Swedish Army mess kits etc etc but at the end of a long day in the camper when the family wants a nice meal then nothing beats the reliability, power, stability and convenience of these cartridge cookers.

I'm liking the simplicity of this:-

One of these I presume

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/camping...gclid=CKTXv97W6dECFUqT7QodN90OMA&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'm still looking at cooking options for outside. Have an Ocean but want to cook outside when possible. Seems a more disposable option to the Cadac safari 2 but I have not tried one yet.


Mike

 

[Max-Felix]

13Kg propane is £32 at RRP.

And you carry a 13Kg Propane cylinder in your Beach??

Very handy, very practical!

Presuming that £32 includes the cost of purchasing the cylinder in the first place??



Yes, OK purchasing gas in small cans in obviously more expensive relatively speaking than huge blooming cylinders or your gas supply at home or direct from OPEC etc...

But how much is a 907 refill for 2.75 kg gas? In carts it's 11 cans = £11 to £15. Plus you need to buy the cylinder in the first place. So, yet compared to other (practical methods of carrying gas in a small campervan) and compared to dedicated small proprietary cans (Coleman etc) it is relatively cheap.

 

[Max-Felix]

I'm liking the simplicity of this:-

One of these I presume

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/camping...gclid=CKTXv97W6dECFUqT7QodN90OMA&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'm still looking at cooking options for outside. Have an Ocean but want to cook outside when possible. Seems a more disposable option to the Cadac safari 2 but I have not tried one yet.


Mike

Hi Mike, yes they are pretty ubiquitous and available all over the place - stay away from the really cheap market stall ones as some are better made than others and as I say the Decathlon ones are well made - usually cheaper than below in the summer and sometimes in a pack with four cans at around £10 or £12:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/1-burner-camping-stove-id_8342644.html

I have to come clean on the Gaz prices, blame the £-Euro I guess as the pack of 24 I purchased last July at £24.46 is now £33.70:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EAR31SM/?tag=vwcalifornia-21

You can get cheaper can though still under £1 each but the 'official' CG cans have a full 250g gas each and many people believe that last longer than the cheaper ones:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CBIDE1Q/?tag=vwcalifornia-21

 

[RoB5urf]

When camping we started with a cartridge cooker, progressed to a dual-burner stove with 4.5kg refillable bottle, and then reverted to the cartridge cooker. We found no real benefit from the larger, more complicated setup and, since we had no spare bottle, running out of gas was sometimes a concern (I remember shaking the bottle trying to figure out if we had enough left!). Yes we could have forked out for a spare but they're quite bulky....

Only thing I don't like about cartridges is that, once empty, you chuck them away and can't refill them....so not very green.

 

[WelshGas]

And you carry a 13Kg Propane cylinder in your Beach??

Very handy, very practical!

Presuming that £32 includes the cost of purchasing the cylinder in the first place??



Yes, OK purchasing gas in small cans in obviously more expensive relatively speaking than huge blooming cylinders or your gas supply at home or direct from OPEC etc...

But how much is a 907 refill for 2.75 kg gas? In carts it's 11 cans = £11 to £15. Plus you need to buy the cylinder in the first place. So, yet compared to other (practical methods of carrying gas in a small campervan) and compared to dedicated small proprietary cans (Coleman etc) it is relatively cheap.

So some people comment on carrying a 907 in a purpose built gas container, unplugging it to travel etc: Etc:and even unplugging when away from the van and here you are loading up a vehicle with 20 odd gas cartridges tucked here and there in all those little spaces not designed to carry thin walled gas containers and that's safe?
Please let us know what vehicle and colour your driving so I can avoid driving in close proximity.

 

[Max-Felix]

...here you are loading up a vehicle with 20 odd gas cartridges tucked here and there in all those little spaces not designed to carry thin walled gas containers and that's safe?
Please let us know what vehicle and colour your driving so I can avoid driving in close proximity.

Oh come on!

 

[RoB5urf]

So some people comment on carrying a 907 in a purpose built gas container, unplugging it to travel etc: Etc:and even unplugging when away from the van and here you are loading up a vehicle with 20 odd gas cartridges tucked here and there in all those little spaces not designed to carry thin walled gas containers and that's safe?
Please let us know what vehicle and colour your driving so I can avoid driving in close proximity.

There's a purpose built gas container on a Beach??

 

[Amarillo]

Presuming that £32 includes the cost of purchasing the cylinder in the first place??

I already have three cylinders used for home BBQ, 3 way camping fridge and double stove with grill.

And you carry a 13Kg Propane cylinder in your Beach??

I am still unsure how things will pack into the van, and will not know until it arrives, but I would have thought that a 13KG cylinder will take up less space than the equivalent 52 x 250g cartridges.

 

[Max-Felix]

How will you fit a 13kg Propane cylinder into a sealed gas locker in your factory conversion T6 (when it comes)? (not sure if you are waiting a Beach or a SE/Ocean/full-fat etc)

And why would you need to carry that much quantity of gas around in a tiny campervan?

The OP wants a neat simple solution to cook in/out of his Beach - lugging around a great big 13kg gas bottle is hardly practical?

The 20 odd gas carts we carried are super easy to store in the storage areas or in our case in the kitchen pod or in boxes under the rear seat and dare I say it (WG) I would indeed feel a lot safer travelling like this than with a huge (and IME more prone to leaks) single gas cylinder with all it's inherent weight, bulk, retention, safety issues etc. And that must be installed in a sealed gas chamber with drop out to floor.

 

[T6 CFO]

Hi Mike, yes they are pretty ubiquitous and available all over the place - stay away from the really cheap market stall ones as some are better made than others and as I say the Decathlon ones are well made - usually cheaper than below in the summer and sometimes in a pack with four cans at around £10 or £12:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/1-burner-camping-stove-id_8342644.html

I have to come clean on the Gaz prices, blame the £-Euro I guess as the pack of 24 I purchased last July at £24.46 is now £33.70:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EAR31SM/?tag=vwcalifornia-21

You can get cheaper can though still under £1 each but the 'official' CG cans have a full 250g gas each and many people believe that last longer than the cheaper ones:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CBIDE1Q/?tag=vwcalifornia-21

Thanks Max

Mike

 

[MattBW]

I just bit the bullet and went for this but the Cadac and bistro will still get some use I'm sure

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[Amarillo]

How will you fit a 13kg Propane cylinder into a sealed gas locker in your factory conversion T6 (when it comes)? (not sure if you are waiting a Beach or a SE/Ocean/full-fat etc)

Awaiting a Beach. We have in the past taken 2 x 13Kg bottles away camping with us. Just put them in the boot.

And why on earth would you need to carry that much quantity of gas around in a tiny campervan?

We are planning two back to back trips:
#1 three months in Scandinavia, followed by, after a 2 week break in the UK,
#2 nine months in Iberia, southern Europe and the eastern Balkans.

The OP simply wants a neat simple solution to cook in/out of his Beach - lugging around a blooming great 13kg gas bottle is hardly practical?

I was responding to your specific claim about 250ml gas bottles being the cheapest solution, and not to the OP.

I am still unsure what the best solution for us will be. We do have a cartridge cooker, and also a double burner and 3-way fridge. I'm keeping my options open and no decision has been made, not even about the fridge.

 

[Grey one]

Just to add I don't want to put down the more wildcampy options - I've been into bush craft with my son for years and made many Coke can alcohol stoves, double bean can gasifer wood burners, Ikea Hobo stoves (still my favourite option by far for a foraging wood burner when 'playing' in the woods), numerous home made pot stands, wind breaks, I've used Trangias, Swedish Army mess kits etc etc but at the end of a long day in the camper when the family wants a nice meal then nothing beats the reliability, power, stability and convenience of these cartridge cookers.

Thanks MF, really useful. I was after something which will essentially be inside a Beach. I note you mention inside and out. I will visit Decathlon but before I do, would you think in your opinion they are OK for primarily indoor use?

 

[Max-Felix]

@Tom c.

Well, for those lengths of trips and for ease of use, least worry, safety, cheap and easy refills etc you could maybe consider investing in a properly installed under vehicle refillable tank. I still have to repeat though cartridge cookers are so easy and cheap/convenient - we were away through the summer and every single use of a cooker bar a handful for quick brews on the journey/aires were outside. I'd still consider them for a 3 month trip or more. The fridge is another issue - we had a small portable Waeco 12v model that worked great for four.