Grub and Cooking
If you really need to bring a cooler full of food, then use the minivan or get a trailer. It is just too easy to stop by a store before setting up camp at night. Not bringing food leaves more room for all your other stuff. There tons of options on the road: get a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly, cold cuts, hot dogs—whatever is easily packed and won’t spoil easily. Cooking is optional but it brings so much pleasure when camping. The best beans or oatmeal in your life are cooked next your bike under the stars or rising sun. Fire and a grill of some sort works, but fires aren’t always permitted and they can be dangerous. It’s never a good idea to leave anywhere, even a campground with dedicated fire pit, with hot coals or fire left behind. It’s just too easy for wind to carry an ember and then Smokey (the bear) will hunt you for the rest of your life. It’s time-consuming too and wood takes up a lot of space and weighs a lot. For fire, it’s best to mooch off of camping neighbors. It’s always good to arrive at other’s campsites with food or drink in hand.
It’s much more fun and space-saving to get a good camping stove. Modern stoves can run on just about any flammable liquid or gas; even gasoline from your bike’s gas tank in a pinch.
Primus ExpressSpider Stove (Weight: 7 ounces; Boil time: 4.5 minutes; $60): This stove is tiny and super effective. A heat exchanger on the bottom makes boiling water about 50 percent faster than lesser quality stoves. It heats up morning coffee ultra-fast in combination with the Primus EtaPower Pot. We went with liquid white gas and a separate fuel bottle, so we also got the ErgoPump ($64) that fits fuel bottles from different manufacturers.
Primus EtaPower 1.0 (Holds: 1 liter; Weight: 38.8 ounces; $60): Primus EtaPower pots are made of hard-anodized aluminum with a multi-layer titanium nonstick surface on the inside. The pots have lids and pot grippers, and are equipped with a heat exchanger on the bottom, which makes your stove approximately 50 percent faster and more efficient. It can be used with most existing LP gas or multi-fuel burners on the market. It comes in a practical net stuff sack. It’s easy to clean with a sturdy non-stick surface that is hard to chip like some cheaper pots
MSR fuel bottle (Holds: 11 ounces; $14.95, Moto-Camp): Why you need it: nothing sucks more than leaking fuel near a hot engine. As stated, one bottle is easily enough for a multi-week trip. It can also be used as an emergency gas container We’ve tried others, and the MSR seems the least likely to leak.
Cook Kit—Non Stick Black Granite—Two Person: ($22.95, Moto-Camp): This compact cook set is only 7¼ inches in diameter and 3½ inches tall when packed. The nested pots, pan, and cup are conveniently stored in the included fishnet bag. The steel construction will last for many seasons, while the non-stick finish makes cooking and cleanup a breeze. Each pot is easy to handle, with swing-out insulated handles on pots and pans. Included are a 1-quart boiling pot with lid, 1½-quart boiling pot with lid, one frying pan, and two plastic measuring/drinking cups.