Prepare at home

Some aspects of cooking are often easier to prepare at home, if you have the chance.

Dressings
Mix up dressings and marinades at home, pick them up in jars and they're ready to be mixed with - or drizzled over - whatever you’re cooking outdoors.

Spice blender
Cooking a lentil stew with several spices? Blend the spice mix at home!

Bread
Planning on making thin bread or toast sticks? Knead the dough at home.

Chopping
Another way to make things simple is to chop up the ingredients you are going to cook into big pieces. But surely there is also a charm in sitting on a rock by the sea, or on amoss-covered mountain in the middle of the forest and chopping. Let the occasion decide how much you want to prep beforehand!

Measure exact amounts
By preparing and packing precise quantities of, for example, lentils and grains (quinoa, oats, etc.) at home, you don't have to sit in nature and read recipes; instead it's more or less just throwing together what you have with you! Planning to have roasted nuts in a dish? Bring just as much as you need instead of a whole pack and you'll also save extra weight.

Cook at home - heat up during the trip!
For those who want to minimise cooking in the woods - but still want an element of outdoor cooking - it's a good idea to cook stews or pre-cooked plant-based steaks. This makes outdoor cooking really quick because all you have to do is heat up the food - but you still get the feeling of freshly cooked food.

Energy efficient
Once you’ve started cooking outdoors, one tip is to always put lids on things that are going to boil - both when boiling water but also when boiling soups, for example, it makes a big difference for efficient cooking. In addition, you’ll save gas (if you ae using a gas stove) because less is needed when you put on a lid.

Drinkable freezing blocks
Do you have raw ingredients that need to be refrigerated? Keep them cool in your bag with frozen drink bottles - filled with water - which you can then drink as they melt!