I don't think I would ever cook to that extent inside a tent. Cooking meat whilst oil is spitting everywhere is not something I'd do. I'd much prefer to pre cook something nice and rewarm it on the hill.
Having moved here to the UK from the US a few years ago, it felt really weird at first but also incredibly nice to no longer carry a bear canister or hang a bear bag!
Here in Norway, it has been common to fire up the primus inside a tent during the winter for decades. But most of us mount the burner and fuelbottle to a plate, so you have the option to move everything with one hand if necessary.
Cooked the other week in the tent. Just a waterboil, but still..had the primus omnifiel stove. In other words, alot of things could go wrong... Outside winter storm was raging, so little chance of cooking outside. Cooked in the vestibule of the Hilleberg Akto. I didn't bring a footprint, so I put the stove in the snow and fired up. All went really perfect! Beautiful! Next morning, I was about to make oatmeal for breakfast. Storm subsided so I cooked outside. Alot of things went wrong with the "prefire" of the stove, which resulted in a meter high flame, when starting the kitchen.....Had that happened the night before, in the storm....this might have been another story. Sum of it all. Test your gear. Try your gear. Set your safety details first, before you start cooking. Stay safe!♥️😉
I’ve been following you for years now Paul and I’ve loved the videos, I’ve laughed and I’m not ashamed to say I’ve felt your anxieties as well. You kicked the day job and for me that would be the ultimate goal, you look like your doing ok now mate , but I hope your watching your health and are still doing plenty of walking as well as cooking and eating. Great video again Paul all the best .😊
That's not Coriander Paul, it's Rosemary. Great Video of how to cook in a tent with safety tips, do you chill the flask before, if so how? Also, what were the other frying pans? Thank you.
I always like to take a *fire blanket* along, just in case. Seriously, I can't recommed this enough, they're light and packable so there's really no excuse for not taking one. This _just in case_ attitude has saved my tent (and perhaps my life as well) twice now. 1st time was one of those flameless ration heaters that actually ignited (ironically they give off very flammable gasses) and the 2nd time was accidentally knocking over an alcohol stove...which set the ground on fire so mad-stamping it did nothing...but the fire blanket stopped it. Always make sure it's been certified though to *BS EN 1869: 2019* or is at least *TUV approved* because a cheap knock-off absolutely cannot be trusted when these situations happen. Oh yeah, always replace them after putting out a fire, they only work once no matter how good it looks afterwards. It isn't worth trying to reuse it, just bin it and get another.
Nice one Paul. I am reluctant to fry stuff inside due to the fat spitting on the tent and leaving marks on the fly sheet. Also, if you use bio ethanol, it only gives off carbon dioxide (the stuff you breath out) and h20(water) when burnt so much safer than gas. I'd still have the doors open and keep well away from the fabric of the tent though. Keep safe pal, cheers.
I'm an alcohol stove preferrer too, but I'd say it's less safe than a gas stove to cook inside the tent. No carbon monoxide, it's true, but a much greater fire risk. A gas stove will usually go out if you knock it over and interrupt its flow. An alcohol stove will spill flaming liquid everywhere and that liquid doesn't go out quickly. Personally, I can't stomach the idea of tent cooking at all, I'm just too afraid of the potential consequences. I carry backup food in bar form if the weather truly is too atrocious to cook outside in. Fortunately, my Trangia 27 cooks in driving rain and decent wind (it's called a stormcooker for a reason), so if the weather looks to be bad I'll bring stuff that I'm mostly boiling where a bit of extra water in the pan won't hurt 😅.
I think any stove *can* give off carbon monoxide, if there's an inadequate supply of oxygen, as the combustion won't be complete. Obviously if you have the door open then that shouldn't be a problem.
Thanks for covering this Paul, sometimes it's hard to cook outside of your tent (high winds, driving rain, etc.) and being prepared for it makes sense. Even if only skipping the more complex meal and just boiling water for your spare dehydrated meal. Good advice and tips for us all.
I used to eat the dehydrated meals camping , but now find cooking something decent is much better , something to look forward to and gives you something to kill the hours when it’s dark 👍
Nice one Paul. When cooking inside the tent I usually unclip the Groundsheet (if I bring one) and place the burner on the Gras. Always to worried with the hot burner. Keep on the good work.
Greetings from Northern California. Speaking of lamb Paul, in 2019 I did a bus tour of Ireland, the land of my ancestors. We were up in the hills and encountered a flock of sheep with many little lambs and the bus driver had to stop to let them pass. A lady behind me, we were all Americans, said oh look at the cute little lambs and then she asked the bus driver Mr. Murphy if he liked lambs, he said oh yes especially with mint sauce. I don’t think that was the answer she was expecting.
For me wild camping means camp food. I can eat steak and vegetables at home all year round and cook it in comfort and safely. I couldn’t be bothered carrying up frying pans and such like to then spend 30 mins plus preparing and cooking. Maybe I’m just lazy! Another good video Paul. I was watching one of your others where you speak about why you use a quilt which is something I’ve not seen you use for a while now. That got me thinking about a topic where you talk about how your camping equipment and habits have changed over the years. Just a thought.
When pan-frying inside a tent, I always find it best to use a "spatter guard" to save getting grease spots on the tent. I currently use a cheap, (Chinese), heat-diffuser which works very well in either application.
Wow thanks hellfresh for sponsoring this great human being. Put my mind at ease I didn't think I could cook in a tent at all unless the door was fully open so I'm grateful and learned something today
Remember once coming back to the tent from the pub, I was in Glen Nevis campsite, was well below zero and I fancied a hot chocolate before kipping down, in fact, I had two as it was very chilly. I had my Saunders Fellpine which has a good height and large bell, the Trangia was perfectly safe to use inside. Woke up in the morning and the condensation from the boiling water had all frozen on the inside of the outer tent.
Nice video Paul. Despite not much walking/adventuring I can appreciate the effort in creating a video like this with getting all the clips of the various cooking stages with the camera angles and talking. And all done inside a small space while sitting on the ground, you have some proper good patience and attention to detail. I've no issues with cooking in tents.. done it for years. As long as common sense is applied. Cheers Rory
1999 had to bring a guy of the Langdale pikes that had melted the tent all around himself from cooking in his tent. The man had to be stretchered for around an hour in complete agony. Not very nice.
I camped with a co-worker who velcro'd 4 stove jacks on the bottom half of one of his vestibule walls for just such occasions as bad weather or laziness. Then he set up a small fireproof mat to place everything on. Pretty nifty setup. I may follow his lead, once I verify he's survived for a few months of use.
Hope I'm not repeating a previous comment. If possible (depends on your tent...) I would fold the footprint/groundsheet out of the way whilst cooking, you don't really need it and spills no longer matter. I've cooked in a vestibule for years when weather demands, care and concentration always. And no quick movements!
You really should avoid using stoves with heat spreaders inside a tent (like your Jet Boil). The heat spreader generates A LOT more carbon monoxide than a pan with a flat bottom. That said, with good ventilation, cooking inside a tent is not a problem. And here in Norway, it somtimes isn't an option to cook outside your tent during winter.
My method for making tea or cooking in my smallest tent that I can sit up in, is with my low profile cooker connected to gas by its metal 12" pipe which sits flat on aluminium plate resting safely within reach on my legs while I am sitting up and is centred beneath highest part of tent with door open... works perfect...
For the best hot tent setup, get an aluminium fire base and put it in your sleeping bag with a bag of slow burning logs from any garage. Can't beat it, also doubles up as a nice cooking source
Hi Paul thanks for sharing so many good things but can you also please talk about after camping how to clean your utensils as I went to Inverness in Scotland last time and it was so windy that I was not able to understand what to do and how to even open water and pour into utensils … I was using alcohol stove
Paul, You can buy a Teflon pad to put under the stove Or behind it to stop the heat from burning things up ! and for sure, it would give you some assurance the place is not going to go up in Flames ! Mike.
I love my Opinel 08 too but it's absolutely a slicing knife, not a chopping knife. Absolutely amazing for cutting slices of apple or chunks off a baguette, but less good for chopping onion safely. I've nearly taken out a fingertip a few too many times for it to be my primary cooking knife now, as beautiful as it is. (nerdy knife details: it's got a really shallow blade, and a really fine bevel, which make it super sharp and navigable for say, slicing into a piece of fruit towards your fingers, or peeling something. But that same shallow blade makes it a liability for chopping, where you want to raise and lower it quickly keeping it flat against your knuckles as a guide. Without blade depth, it's liable to follow the contour of your fingers as it goes up and down, and bite into your fingertips at the end. I mean, you can use any sharp knife for any purpose, and you can just be more careful and chop very slowly, but still.) Still looking for a primary camp cooking knife, to be honest. In the interim, my Victorinox Ranger is doing a weirdly good job. The blade is deep enough I can chop without losing a finger, and I can keep it sharp enough to be safe.
I work on the principle that if I can't cook outside I don't cook. It is not beyond me to eat breakfast for dinner and have dinner the next morning for breakfast. I certainly haven't faded away this far.
That coriander looks just like the rosemary I use in my kitchen. Tip for achieving a good caramelised crust on food is not to stir or move the food. Looked like a nice bit of snap.
Bioethanol in an alcohol stove (Trangia) doesn't produce carbon monoxide. Downside is you can knock it over spilling fuel everywhere. I've never done it but it's definitely possible. Best to cook outside but with a tarp over the tent.
Cool, now just get passed the ads. Better. I cook in the vestibule with the door half open and enjoying the crusader over the trangia. I'll have to get a couple of outdoor videos up soon. Good stuff Paul.
Oh maaaaan, that lamb dish!!! 🥰 I’ve an MSR Hubba Hubba NX. I’ve cooked in my tent porches for 30+ years. Have an escape route plan if things go pear shaped, cook with a door half open or other generous ventilation. We’re not idiots - just pay attention to what you’re doing. I currently have a tiny cookset set up (hot drinks and pot noodles) but you’re leaning me towards taking the Minimo and Skillet again, damn you Mr Messner! The devil is at my shoulder seeing your meals … 🤣
I use a plumbers mat to protect the foot print/ ground from heat radiated from the stove or hot pans when I'm hunkered down in the tent. Mind you I've still managed to set fire to my tent when it was dark and I didn't notice I had left the clear cup on the bottom of the pan directly on the stove. Flames, excitement, thrown stove, rapid exit, broken pole, damaged inner, intact fly, surprisingly flammable winter heather, much stamping.
I love Hello Fresh meals - absolutely delicious, but the amount of plastic waste is shocking. I keep the recipe cards and buy the ingredients in the supermarket. But I never thought of taking them camping!
If I have to “cook” in my tent (it’s only a boil in the bag meal) I always have my stove on something solid so it won’t tip over. I use an Alpkit table or a small piece of plywood.
Yeah as some of the comments already touched upon, cooking in tent or near tent even is dependent on the wild critters around who might get attracted to the tent. Here in Australia, having food around the tent guarantees mice, rats, possums, etc. will come around, possibly damaging gear and tearing holes into tents and packs in the middle of the night, looking for food.
I don't usually bother with what people do, but I don't think it should be encouraged at all to be cooking in an enclosed tent. Am I crazy? surely I can't be the only 1 thinking this 🤣
Camping Masterchef! Paul where did you get the gas hose and stand for the Jetboil? Also can you put the Tindheim through some weather testing? Many Thanks
I'm most concerned about lighting the stove as dependnig on your timing, there might already be some gas that when ignited creates quite a large flame, which I worry if it would touch teh fly, might set it on fire. Am I exagerating? Can this risk be mitigated?
my angle on the carbon monoxide is.... 1-3 person tents usually approx 1.6 cubic metres to 2.5 cubic metres of volume. when carmon monoxide gets to about 1% of the volume you have a problem. BBQ's are the most noxious even after they went out, but based on everything I can find in t'internet - a 5-15 minute burn won't be an issue on a butane gas stove if you have ventilation. the danger is putting it on as a heater - and layng down to relax and then falling asleep - at around an hour and beyond there's a 50/50 chance and rising you'll be chatting to Peter and Paul at the pearly gates and trying to blend off that time you went on a business trip and tapped a stripper........;-)
Bri g's back memories of some campers many years ago being 'shrink wrapped' just before their tent caught fire. From memory they were using their stove to warm the tent, rather than cooking.
Awwww Paul…..that was rosemary , not coriander 😱 I agree with some of the other comments, I use a small pice of fire blanket and where possible use a windshield between the stove and the tent outer. I like the idea of the hellofresh meals, good for a posh camping night 🏴🥃🏴🥾🥾
hi Paul can you recommend the tent for someone 195 cm /6'5 feet tall? my Hilleberg nallo is tapering at the ends down and im tired of a wet sleeping bag by my feet because of the sloped walls
I've been cooking inside on my recent trips. It's cold haha. Most I've done was boil water or heat food inside with a closed vestibule. Great video. I want to try more elaborate meals now that I have a pack that can handle a lot more weight.
We used hello fresh for several year but now use gousto. The latter has even better flavours in my opinion - and lower calories too. Spicy and quite hot which is great as well. Definitely worth a try. I find the menus easier to read and follow too.
Good to see you know how to pitch a tunnel tent now cool .. got to admit i never seen anyone stake 4 pegs down on a tunnel tent then try to put poles in lol all good we live and learn .was glad you kept that in in your other video
Not something I'd do right now, but your channel is great for back pocket ideas I might try in the future for something new! I sometimes come back to your vids when I find myself thinking "how did he do that again...?"
It is no fun trying to cook outside a tent in Alberta wind. It is impossible in winter wind. There are 102 posts on the internet advising backpackers, “no cooking in your tent.” Therefore most backpackers are at home waiting for good enough weather so they could endure cooking outside. This cooking outside the shelter idea must have come from California, not from the indigenous people of Alberta who cooked inside their tipi for 1000’s of years. It is easy to carry a 12oz chimney . Burning a tiny bit of wood in a tiny stove. With a chimney backpacking is enjoyable any day of the year. For a trial, those who forbid brewing coffee in a tent should brew it outside the tent everyday for a few weeks In winter, even summer. They maybe think some days, chimney inside. If a bear comes to visit while you are cooking and eating, the safest place to be is inside your tent watching the bear through a peek vent you have on each side. It is best if your shelter sides are not connected to a floor so you can raise any side to cool off or spray a bear. While he sleeps a backpacker should have a trip string surrounding his camp connected to a tiny very loud battery powered alarm. To keep a packers bedding on his sleep pad and dry and free from invading rodents he could use a waterproof tarp 5’x9.5’. Gather each end and hang it from something above. This gives him a bag with 20” sides. He may want to reduce the side height.
When the conditions are rough enough there is a simple choice between a small risk or no hot food or drinks whatsoever. Which is potentially more life threatening from hypothermia than a fire risk! That tent is HUGE! I’ve cooked in tents half that height and lived to tell the tail! I must be charmed as I’ve been getting away with it for nearly 50 years!
Really delicious video! One worry, what about animals? Wouldn’t they be attracted to your campsite due to the cooked food scent? I guess you could cook moments before breaking your campsite down and leaving. But if this is dinner, wouldn’t animals chew through your tent wall to get to where the scent is coming from?
Where did you get the stove line for the jet boil burner? That would come in handy for cold nights and lower level cooking! Not the biggest fan of how tall the jet boil stands originally
It’s called the MSR lowdown. Got mine here. valleyandpeak.co.uk/products/msr-lowdown-remote-stove-adaptor I have a discount code with V&P which is MESSNER5
Well that was a fourteen minute advert for Hello Fresh but we all have to make a living so I watched it. I think you should have recommended that campers invest in a carbon monoxide detector/alarm as they cost less than twenty pounds and will help to keep you safe in your tent when using naked flames.
No, its not safe to cook in a tent in any way, you're more likely to end up cooking yourself. Those that have gotten away with it for years have just been lucky so far - but each to their own. I've enjoyed your content, advice and reviews over the years Paul, but this is a big no from me, its just not worth the risk.
When the conditions are rough enough there is a simple choice between a small risk or no hot food or drinks whatsoever. That tent is HUGE! I’ve cooked in tents half that height and lived to tell the tail! I must be charmed as I’ve been getting away with it for nearly 50 years!
I find HF too much of a faff at home, let alone camping! But it made for a good video. I find the bioethanol in my Trangia is a bit wild for indoor cooking. Meths seemed to be less exciting, so would probably be okay indoors.
Great looking meal Paul but I think your coriander is actually rosemary. Coriander has a flat leaf similar to flat leaf parsley. Did have a laugh though mate
Please take this as constructive criticism. As a Hello Fresh subscriber, I assure you viewers that is not one portion. Rather misleading as was the title of the vid, sorry Paul.
Is it safe could be reframed as "Can it be made reasonably safe" or even better "Yes...but is it wise?" Sure you "can" but of course there's the "safety" aspect....flare ups and carbon monoxide etc. These can be mitigated with some minor adjustments.....but I had an incredible cringe when that steak hit the oil and I saw all that splatter making its way to an otherwise pristine ground sheet/tent floor. First there's the simple matter of taking care of one's kit. I'm not sure a huge grease ring is the best thing one can do to prolong the life of one's tent floor or ground sheet. Cooking like that belongs outside or at a bare minimum, inside the the vestibule with any footprint fabric rolled back so as to avoid that particular problem. I've never seen anyone injured in a burning tent....but I've seen several that were rendered unusable by a flare up or a bit of inattention. Similarly, I think it's uncommon, but true stories exist of even supposedly experienced tenters who lost their lives to carbon monoxide poisoning. So it seems like something which, if encouraged at all, should come with some heavy cautions and "at your own risk" warnings?? Where I live and camp bears are of some (albeit minor) concern and thus I generally cook well away from the tent, and store food well away as well, unless it's just impossible or wintertime when bears are hibernating and thus not a concern. Even then I confine myself to nothing more elaborate than boiling water to rehydrate a prepared meal. Living in North America (a.k.a. ursa-country) it's generally not a great idea to make one's tent smell like, and ultimately taste like, a slab of bacon. :-) Watching that steak splatter like that made me want to go grab a bottle of 409 and clean my kitchen! LOL.
@@bradleydavisson True enough and I take your point. But of course there wasn't really a need to make it since I basically made it myself at the outset by saying some awareness and adjustments can make cooking inside the vestibule acceptably safe. In any case it wasn't the "fire safety" aspect that induced my comment.....it was the god awful grease splatter on the footprint that triggered me LOL!! Not only because clean gear is longer lived gear....but where I live....a bacon scented tent is an invitation to unwanted critters both large and small.
I have seen a few videos of people buying mylar bags and making their own boil in the bag meals. It seems like a good idea but im not sure how long they would stay fresh for.
@@davidsykes5635 Mylar bags are the types used by wayfeyrer and on British Army ORP's. I was hoping to put in a stew or curry so not dehydrated meals. the bags are food safe but if you put milk in one for example it would still go sour. but the army rations have a 3 year shelf life for example. I only need them to last 2-3 weeks so I can prep meals the week before I go camping. The bags are not expensive so Im trying some out but I dont want to make myself ill either
Great review. I would only add that your quick comment that some stoves emit more carbon monoxide than others is true. I have a CO tester that is of high quality, but I learned this from articles that I have read related to the scientific testing of stoves. It is something like a factor of 50X the best and worst CO emitters from what I have read - canister stoves. Also, these articles seem to state that burning on high sometimes emits less CO than simmer. Do your own research, I am an armchair observer of this, but I was surprised by the results. I always cook outside in practice, although I think an open vestibule would be fine.
Modern tents have a s$*(load of fire retardants… it may not be as bad as you think….might be a reaallly fun video…. Does that spark any interest? (Pun intended).. And yeah, in Canada, I cook in the vestibule (porch) only in winter when the bears are hibernating. Any other time it’s a bad idea.
I remember watching the 999 program that came on in the 1990s. I always remember the one of a guy that was cooking in his tent and when the fumes built up his tent caught fire and melted into his skin I didn't even like watching the reconstruction they made of it. So I never cook in a tent always outside.
They are flammable. You’re not an idiot - don’t set fire to your tent. I’ve been cooking in tent porches for more than 3O years - it’s perfectly safe if you pay attention to what you’re doing 👍🏻
