I have always cooked inside my tents. It didn't enter my head not to until i joined this forum. like everyne else who cooks inside I have a proper camp kitchen with a large splash guard and the vents are always open. Meat and chicken are generally BBQ so this is done outside anyway. My mum always cooked inside as well and never had any problems.
We have cooked inside a frame tent, where there is a special window for ventilation etc., but would not do so inside a synthetic fabric tent, but then ours did not have a porch area and so don't know if that makes a difference?
Quote: Originally posted by Sammi-Jay on 01/5/2006
If you were to get fumes from a gas cooker if used in a tent, would that mean that it is not a good idea to use gas heaters or lamps inside the tent also? Im trying to get my lot into camping but am just confusing myself!!!!
The 'fumes' that are talked about here are carbon monoxide. This is only produced when a fuel is not given enough oxygen to burn properly to carbon dioxide. In a domestic house a gas appliance requires that there is some form of ventilation in the room, e.g. an air-brick. In my experience, the ventilation in a tent is way more than this!!
Where the use of heaters etc becomes dangerous is when you are in a very small tent, desperate to keep warm and so seal up any possible ventilation, ... and then keep the heater running all night. There was a tragic case a while back where a couple did just this, not with gas, but with the embers left over from a disposable BBQ. The tent was small and they had sealed every possible draft to keep warm, then fell asleep ... never to wake up.
I am personally nervous of gas because of the naked flames, and so we use mostly electric for cooking, lighting and heating ... but then that could start another equally long and contravertial thread about the dangers of electricity when camping!!!!
I think the advice here is "know and understand the dangers", do your own risk assessment, and make your own decision. Let's face it, we are all in far more danger on the roads driving to the campsite ... and yet we quite happily take that risk!!
Thanks B Chrystie, that was a lengthy but clear answer. I have decided that as I have 6 kids (ages 11 years - 17 months) that it would be safer and easier to take extra covers to wrap up in if its cold! At the rate my pack list was going, I'd be better off taking the whole house...lol!! I think I'd lost sight of the fun to be had in camping and how its not all mod-cons and is about a fair old amount of roughing it!!
It's true what you say about the daily risks we run, but life is there once and once only huh, so lets try and have a good one!
How about running a Gas fridge? Our Mobicool was in our tent (Vango 700) over the weekend and have to say I didn't like the smell so next time its relegated to the porch!
I must be a real scaredy cat, I've just come back from a weekend away and wouldn't even put a gas lantern inside the tent - let alone cook anything.... I was shocked when I noticed my neighbour had a gas ring on inside his tent, I didn't realise that people did this? I think the idea of a fisherman's shelter to cook in sounds great. Ohmigod another item to squeeze into the back of my micra.....
As a rule tent manufacturers will cover themselves by saying DON'T COOK inside a tent BUT and it is a big but as long as the cooker is away from the side of the tent and you are careful and if you want to, fold out of the way the porch groundsheetyou'll be fine.
Most tents now have a flame retardent coating on them to slow down any flame.
I've just spent 20 minutes reading this thread and quite frankly most of what i have read is BOL***KS!
We have been camping for over 20 years and never cooked outside the tent and wer'e still here to tell the tale.
We have never been poisoned by fumes, never burnt an hole in the canvas/nylon and never burnt a tent down!
I thought the whole idea of having a tent was to sleep, eat, drink and LIVE in it! If you are going to cook outside then why bother with a tent in the first place.
AH! yes, we'll use a GAZEBO..Then you get the flack from the anti gazebo brigade, they blow over in a whiff of wind you know, and damage other peoples tents and caravans.(Yawn!)
SERIOUSLY though, Provided you take reasonable precautions and care then cooking in a tent is NO PROBLEM.
Like they say the choice is YOURS and YOURS alone.
Happy Camping Frank & Kathy
I thought camping was about sitting outside the tent, enjoying a few drinks, bbq's etc. Don't you get a bit bored inside the tent all the time? Sounds like you might as well be at home if you like to stay inside?
Yeah cooking in the tent entirely depends on you tent
We do it if we have to with vents open etc. and lets face it you don't want to be flambeing a steak or anything just heating up soup, pasta and stuff I don't think your likely to be showered with molten nylon by boiling a kettle or heating a pan of beans in large tent
It's a lot of palava over a very common sense issue!
I cook/warm things inside a Coleman Cobra2, between the fly and the (rolled back) inner.
My main precautions are to stand the stove on a spare plate/lid so it is completely stable, and use an aluminium windshield between the fly and the stove.
Sometimes the weather is not up to cooking outside!
As posted above, with a sensible amount of care, it should not be a problem.
On our first trip in our Khyam Espace, I carelessly set fire to a frying pan with some oil in (to fry onions). Got distracted talking to friends. The flames were licking at the ceiling. I managed to put out the fire and the only damage to the tent was a 50p size hole in the ventilation net. I felt extremely lucky that the tent was still in one piece and that no one was injured.
I still cook in the tent but make sure I stay at the cooker. The kitchen is set up in a very large porch and the children know to keep away. There is plenty of ventilation from two full height side windows and the door is left open in dry weather.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Cooking inside a tent.....
inside a Coleman Cobra2, between the fly and the (rolled back) inner.
