What do you do when its raining? - Get wet.
A lid over your pans will stop your food from spoiling and your stove should continue to work in all but the most hostile of weather (depending on model and fuel).
A sheltered location or a windshield would improve your chances - had you thought about a Trangia system either burning meths or multi fuel powered.
Never connect up or change gas bottles in the tent. Do it in the rain if you have to.
Cook in the porch or under a tarp if you have to, remembering the heat comes out of the stove around 360' and will melt and set fire to fabrics in any direction. Pushing the stove up against a tent wall is a bad idea.
Before lighting the stove check that you and everyone else in the tent can get out in a hurry.
When planning a weeks camp plan in an evening meal in a local eatery where you can indulge in the local culture. If you have been stuck in your tent watching the rain all day this is the ideal opportunity for that restaurant visit.
If it's still raining the following morning consider a visit to the local indoor swimming pool, this is also an opportunity to visit obscure museums and brocantes antiquites (broken antiques).
Usually cook in open porch but depends on which tent I use - if it's the small pop-up I'll either take the tarp or the fishing brolly with sides and the wind will determine which.
------------- " When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"
I'm not one for cooking in the tent generally. Under a tarp if it's raining.
Make sure you've got something which can be done quickly, e.g. canned cassoulet or sausages with lentils if you're in France. A damp family that's watching you faff about preparing a three course meal from scratch is unlikely to be a happy family.
Under the porch with the stove well away from the sides of the porch.
I did try an electric hob but found that the entire thing got so hot that it was dangerous in the tent.
To be honest I think you will find most backpackers will cook in the porch making sure they have decent ventilation.
As spiritburner said, if its to small to cook in then its too small a tent.
If they didn't they would starve, get soaked through, blown away etc..etc given the UK weather, its not always summer
------------- It is a wise man who has something to say.
It is a fool who has to say something.
Cooking with kids running about is a totally different matter to cooking solo.
I have cooked in the porch of a two person tent but never cooked inside a family tent if there was no door between the cooker and other people on the tent. And I had the fiercest draconian rules about behaviour in the tent during cooking: no throwing, tussling, running, anything! Also quick risk assessment : will anything snag the gas hose, don’t let fat or oil splatter etc.
Usually I cook under a tarp in rain. But we cook over the fire a lot anyway.
You need to consider- Fire, Ventilation, Condensation
Cooking away from the main tent will always the safest option, though that's not always possible given some of the more commercial sites pack you in and don't allow tarps, or gazebo etc. and if it's raining hard you really want the hot meal!
Fire
Is it a spirit stove that could be knocked over, a suitcase stove (higher risk)? Is the stove close to material either to the sides or above especially in tents that aren't full height, could fats, oils catch fire. Do you have a good gas connection. Never change a gas canister in the tent!
Ventilation
Never use a solid fuel (charcoal) barbacue etc. in a tent or even under tent canopy etc. They produce a lot of carbon monoxide which is heavier than air so acts a little like water in filling up from the bottom. CO can easily build up in a tent and builds up at the floor which is where you or your children usually have your face when sleeping hence why it is so dangerous. It only takes an inch!
If using gas you need good ventilation so a decent opening in the door near where you are cooking, especialy for powerful cookers with multiple gas burners. A well set up gas burner produces mainly Carbon Dioxide and water, Carbon dioxide rapidly causes issues when the concentration is 2% or above so make sure you have good floor to ceiling ventilation and that its open for a while after you cook. Using gas in a near sealed tent will rapidly decrease oxygent levels and increase CO2 to the point your body can't breath it out. I.e. your lungs no longer work effectively which is rapidly fatal. Hence why you can't use a gas heater inside at tent or other confined space. Note a Carbon monoxide alarm will not protect you form this. Your tent is basically a big, mostly air tight bag with some ventilation flaps designed for habitation not burning gas so you need to make sure you have the right ventilation, i.e. an open door.
Condensation.
Buring gas or heating food causes a lot of condensaton, this can quickly make a sythethic tent very damp and even impact a poly cotton or cotten tent. Anything that prolongs cooking such as boiling rice or potatoes etc. should be avoided in the tent as everything rapidly becomes 'damp' with condensation dripping off internal surfaces.
Personally, I have a dual gas hob with a three side wind shield. I do use this in the tent canopy on a table with the door open to quickly boil a kettle, heat beans, hotdogs, canned streak etc. For anything more significant the hob is moved outside. When in the tent there is at least 4ft above and the windshield is no closer than 1ft from any fabric. I've 'hand' tested and the windshields barely get warm when the stove is in use so they are effective in directing the heat.
I also use an electric teppanyaki grill but even this makes a lot of condensation so when used to cook in the rain, it's under the canopy with the door to the main tent shut and the the door to outside open for lots of ventilation.
My tent has side exits for the family and the stove is never left unattended.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Cooking when it`s raining
via mobile 25/7/2019 at 1:02pm
