Common sense applies when you're cooking at a campsite, but it's not necessarily the same common sense you'd use when cooking at home. You don't have a garbage disposal to get rid of food scraps, and any garbage you create must be packed out with you. But as long as you follow a few rules, you'll quickly learn the dos and don'ts of an outdoor kitchen.
Help Out
Do your share of the work. If you don't want to inflict your cooking skills--or lack thereof--on your camping buddies, offer to do the dishes afterward.
Go Outside
Never cook inside your tent. The tent fabric might melt or catch fire, and carbon monoxide could build up inside the tent and kill you. Most stoves and tent manufacturers recommend against using a camp stove inside the tent vestibule, too.
Pay Attention
Never leave a camp stove or campfire unattended. Never let children play within 3 feet of the cooking area, which will reduce the risk of an accidental burn or other injury.
Hygiene
Always wash your hands before preparing food. If you're dealing with raw meat, use separate tools for handling raw meat and other foods, including cooked meat.
Temperature
Follow the U.S. Department of Agriculture's advice to "keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold." Also, eat foods immediately after cooking. Bacteria can reach dangerous levels on foods between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit within two hours. Consider investing in a meat thermometer to make sure any raw meat you prepare in camp is, in fact, fully cooked.
Distance
Cook your food at least 100 yards away from your tent. This helps reduce the risk of a curious or hungry bear, drawn by food odors, wandering into the middle of your camp.
Conserve
Cook only as much food as you can eat. This reduces leftovers, which you won't be able to store properly, and food scraps that might attract unwanted wildlife to your cooking site.
Clean Up
Wash all your dishes and cookware immediately after eating. The Appalachian Bear Center recommends dumping gray water at least 100 yards away from your campsite, while Leave No Trace standards require scattering any gray water at least 200 feet away from a water source.
Dish Soap
Instead of using a dish soap that contains potential pollutants, try the Leave No Trace dish-washing method: Swish some water around in your dirty pot, heat the water to help loosen debris, then scrub the pot with a sponge, gravel or sand until all the food debris is removed. Strain the food particles out of the dirty water and dispose of the gray water as described above. Pack the food particles out with your garbage.
Clothing
The Appalachian Bear Center recommends against sleeping in the clothes you cook in. Instead, change into clean clothes and store your cooking clothes, which likely carries food odors, with your food or garbage.
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