Do you cook inside your tent?

[garlic08]

You just rehydrate them and eat cold?...

Instant mashed potatoes and couscous will hydrate in cold water with a little extra time. Rolled oats you can eat dry or soaked--they're already cooked in processing (parboiled). Ramen is fried before packaging and can be eaten as a large, 300-calorie cracker.

Nothing wrong with cookies for supper, though.

My wife and I are stoveless hikers. We got that way after realizing the food that needed cooking was always the last to be eaten, and was the least appetizing stuff we carried. And clean-up was never worth it. Nor was searching fuel during resupply stops, but that's way off topic.

[evyck da fleet]

I've never thought of cooking in my tent. It seems rather foolish. I have heated water for oatmeal in my vestibule in the morning once or twice, but since that's not idiot proof I've decided to eat my morning snacks and hike until I reach a shelter or the rain stops before cooking breakfast. If it's raining at dinner time, I'm probably already wet and will cook outside if not near a shelter.

[DownEaster]

Rolled oats you can eat dry or soaked--they're already cooked in processing (parboiled).

That's only true for the quick/instant oats. I only eat the "old fashioned" (uncooked) variety.

[grubbster]

Quick oats and old fashioned oats are both parboiled. The difference is that the quick oats are smaller pieces to make them cook faster.

[Zea]

I always thought this scenario was my favorite time to have an ample sized vestibule

[garlic08]

Quick oats and old fashioned oats are both parboiled. The difference is that the quick oats are smaller pieces to make them cook faster.

Yes. Steel cut oats, however, need to be cooked. So do corn grits.

Another possibility for cold water rehydration is instant refried beans, though they're harder to find.

[earlyriser26]

My favorite memories are cooking in the vestibule of my tent in a rain storm. My last long hike was in the wilderness in maine in october. The one day we got into camp before dark I made potato soup in the vestibule. Like a hug from mom.

[Slow Trek]

Since a bear can smell a donut from a quarter mile away,i never cook within a hundred feet of my tent. You,however,are welcome to do so.

[DownEaster]

Quick oats and old fashioned oats are both parboiled.

That's not what my sources say. Old fashioned (rolled) oats are steamed to make them more pliable for rolling. Parboiling (short for partial boiling) requires immersion in boiling water, a different process.

[Odd Man Out]

I only cook at supper time. If weather looks bad I will cook at a shelter and the move on to tent somewhere else. If no shelter then I just eat a no-cook breakfast or lunch. If I were ever in the rain long enough, I might consider cooking in the vestibule (or a hotel room), but I've not gotten to that point yet.

[Turtle-2013]

I find this as interesting question, filled with lots of strong opinions of what is right and wrong, what is smart and not so smart, what is common place, and unthinkable. I think that the thinking has migrated a great deal over the years ... especially among the backpacking community (as compared to the mountaineering community.)

When I started serious back-country backpacking, as opposed to hiking short distances to a campsite and setting up a canvas pup-tent ... it was common to cook in the tent. In fact most of the better tents of the time had a drawstring vent hole above a zippered stove hole in the floor. While I opted for a tent without these features, I did get one that would vent along the ridge-line and carried a small pad for the stove to insulate from the floor. In those days the biggest fear was the spillage of liquid fuel in the tent ... no cartridge stoves were available yet. For those of you who remember the SVEA 123 (still available new), you started it with an eyedropper full of fuel in a "cup" around the "generator". Since the most common time to cook IN the tent was while winter camping, I carried a tube of alcohol gel to use instead ... since it was a safer option. Since someone mentioned it already, I'll add that my night lighting in the tent was from a candle lantern. Like most things both the stove and the lantern required a certain amount of care to maintain a margin of safety. But, it used with care, it was common procedure, and appropriately safe.

Fast forward 40 or 50 years ... I haven't seen a tent with a stove hole or draw-string vent in longer than I can remember ... and the general wisdom seems to say to cook a good distance away from where you are going to sleep. You can still get candle lanterns, but with all of the battery led options that will last longer for the weight... why use them. And I haven't seen a white gas stove on the trail in decades. SO, right or wrong the common wisdom has changed .... mostly with the availability of equipment that wasn't even on the horizon when I started backpacking.

All that said ... I don't use a tent, I use a tarp-tent (of my own design) that is more like a large vestibule than it is anything else. If it is raining, and I'm not at a shel1ter, I don't hesitate to cook under the tarp with the stove (jetboil) on the non-floored part, while setting on the floored section of my tarp-tent. My first choice is always to cook at the table out front of a shelter, or one of the cooking shelves on a shelter (always less than 100' from where people will be sleeping). My second choice is always to find a big rock to setup on a cook dinner while watching the sunset (Blood Mtn was GREAT). But, I would never hesitate to cook "in" the tarp-tent. Anything I did would be much safer that the "old days" ... and I didn't and don't think that was unsafe ... it just required more vigilance and care.

I think the general sense of safety consciousness has changed over the years throughout society, and this has affected the backpacking community as it has every other aspect of society. So ... in my humble opinion ... cook in your tent or not ... but either way be smart about it and you will be fine. Do unwise, or stupid things ... and you are likely to eventually suffer the consequences. Ultimately, YOU need to be the judge of what is smart, what is safe ... and what will get you into trouble.

Happy hiking ... and Happy trail cooking : )

[Dogwood]

Rarely inside an opened tent or under a vestibule. It has always been when it's raining hard. Common for myself tp boil water using a canister stove under a tarp pitched in A frame config. I'm much more leery about using an alchy stove which always seems to be more of a hazard of spilling something or burning down the house or gear.

I too will bring along at least one night's dinner and bfast in every 6 days food supply that is no cook. During the warm months I'm mostly consuming a no cook "bfast."

[OkeefenokeeJoe]

I can imagine a backpacker setting up his tent after a wet day on the trail, climbing inside out of the rain, putting on warm dry clothing, then cooking dinner as the rain pitter-pats on the tent fly. But, I read that meals should be cooked/eaten away from the tent so the food smells will not attract wildlife. Do you cook inside your tent?

Darwinism on parade right there, boys.

NEVER cook inside your tent.

For such times that you need to prepare food inside your tent look no further than Vienna Sausage, crackers, and Little Debbie cakes. Cold weenies work too.

[KDogg]

I cooked in my vestibule pretty much any time there was bad weather on the trail and sometimes just because. Never stored food and cooking gear in my tent except in the 100 mile where those freaky aggressive red squirrels got into anything you left outside your tent, including properly hung bear bags. Many of the shelters had attached cooking areas that we used as well and they didn't have any problems with bears either. I've always kind of taken issue with the whole food scent thing. I assume everything I had was coated with food odors, how could it not be? Even the outside of my food bag and my pack. I also assume that bears must be able to smell the difference between a food bag full of food and me and all my gear covered with food scent. And I also assume that they can smell that there is a stinky human in the tent that they'd rather not bother with either.

[egilbe]

Darwinism on parade right there, boys.

NEVER cook inside your tent.

For such times that you need to prepare food inside your tent look no further than Vienna Sausage, crackers, and Little Debbie cakes. Cold weenies work too.

Its amazing that not everyone who cooked in their tent throught history died, isnt it?

I've cooked in a tent before, but I was aware of the risks and took steps to minimize them. Its not optimal, but you won't automatically remove yourself from the gene pool if you do. Sometimes, you have to cook in a shelter, because cooking outside the shelter is a greater risk.

[Sarcasm the elf]

I cooked in my vestibule pretty much any time there was bad weather on the trail and sometimes just because. Never stored food and cooking gear in my tent except in the 100 mile where those freaky aggressive red squirrels got into anything you left outside your tent, including properly hung bear bags. Many of the shelters had attached cooking areas that we used as well and they didn't have any problems with bears either. I've always kind of taken issue with the whole food scent thing. I assume everything I had was coated with food odors, how could it not be? Even the outside of my food bag and my pack. I also assume that bears must be able to smell the difference between a food bag full of food and me and all my gear covered with food scent. And I also assume that they can smell that there is a stinky human in the tent that they'd rather not bother with either.

If you have facebook, you may enjoy this article written by a triple crowner:

https://m.facebook.com/notes/shane-o...3076469754659/

[Turtle-2013]

THANKS ... that is great ... I use bear boxes where they are provided, I use cables and poles where they are provided, otherwise I sleep with my food as well for many of the reasons he gives in his post. HOWEVER, I MIGHT do different in grizzly country ... but not around black bears.

If you have facebook, you may enjoy this article written by a triple crowner:

https://m.facebook.com/notes/shane-o...3076469754659/

ALSO I take issue with cooking in your tent being "Darwinism" ... people have been cooking in their tent for far more years than this sense of hyper-caution has taken hold.....

[Highmiler]

I always cook (heat water) in my vestibule. every morning I make 2 cups of coffee worth of hot water without getting out of my sleeping bag. Sleep with all my food in the tent too. use a 1 gallon zip lock for all food trash till I can find a trash can. Been doing this for many years with no problems this is an individual choice, but the ease of bringing everything in the tent with me at night is just what I do. Hiked from Fontana to Lincoln NH march to mid May this year on a big push.

[theinfamousj]

I don't cook in my tent or my vestibule, but then again I don't like to cook at all even at home, so I will take any excuse not to cook.

Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[Bansko]

I never cook inside a tent. In a larger car-camping tents I have used propane heaters inside, with adequate ventilation, of course. I have cooked in backpacking tent vestibules though. When I do, I always have an exit plan and a knife handy.