Hi, we usually stay at campsites where fires are allowed. Does anyone else cook over their campfire and if so what grill do you use?
Previously when we camped at Forgewood we hired their camping grills like this to cook on which were good: http://www.campfirecookinggrill.co.uk/
However they are about £60 to buy.
Last year at Wowo they provided little metal grills which you could put over the fire to grill the food which were great.
However the site we are staying at this year doesn't have any grills so I need to get one. I ordered one of these online: Landmann Tripod
However I am returning it as I wasn't happy with it - it's fiddly to put together, much bulkier than I imagined, and space is really a premium in our car so I need something that is more compact. It also didn't feel that strong to me. (I was surprised, as most camping equipment you buy is designed with travel in mind - the way it slots together, clips for the legs etc - but this tripod was a load of poles with no bag, and the whole thing didn't pack down very compactly at all. Fine if you have a trailer or van perhaps...).
So I wondered about one of the Coghlan's grills as they seem quite compact and simple to use, but then the reviews on Amazon aren't that good: Coghlan's Heavy Duty grill
I am now thinking I might just have to fork out for one of the £60 Campfire Cooking Grills, but before I do does anyone else have any advice / suggestions? We do a big BBQ for the whole group on one of the evenings so I need something a decent size and reliable.
Bumping this as I'm also looking for something. We stayed at a campsite last week where we hired a grill similar to the Coghlan's one. It was simple and robust and we'd like to source something similar.
As Jane mentions, the Coghlan one gets pretty bad reviews for being flimsy and similar models on other sites are listed as being out of stock. I did find one, but it said that it wasn't suitable for having food placed directly on it, due to the fact that the mesh is painted. That seems a bit nuts to me as surely one of the main purposes would be to BBQ on it.
There are some stainless steel folding grills available but they look like very cheap wire things that wouldn't last long. In the US, a brand called Teksport sells the heavy duty ones really cheaply but they aren't available here. Seems like an obvious camping solution to me so why are they so hard to find?
The problem is, cooking over a fire, whilst on a campsite, just isn't that common over here..and if a site allows fires at all, it's not uncommon for them to be "communal".
We just haven't got that big of an, "out-in-the-wilds", Woodsman, type of market in the UK...so what kit there is, will probably be either cheap, flimsy tat from China/India..
or...
...seemingly expensive, heavy(quality!), possibly bespoke bits of kit, supplying the Albion Canvas, bell tent, yurt, "glamping" types.....
I'd probably look at making something from a BBQ racking or oven shelf...
I've finally seen one that looks like you can cook on it directly and is a reasonable price - http://www.greenmanbushcraft.co.uk/outdoor-kitchen/stoves-grills/heavy-duty-steel-campfire-grill.htm.
Interesting observations pepe63 on why this style of grill is less common here. I'm a camping returner, and this is the first season I've camped in 14 years. Last time was with a backpacking tent and sleeping bag in the south of France, so we weren't concerned with the intricacies of BBQs and camping stoves! This time, we are older and like our home comforts more :-). As a result, this forum has been hugely helpful in researching equipment.
We've booked to stay on 5 campsites this season, 4 of which allow fires. It hadn't occurred to me that this wasn't common - I guess because we deliberately sought out sites that allow them. We also have a Campingaz Chef stove so the BBQ is a 'nice to have'. At the first site we stayed at, we just had a fire but didn't cook on it (apart from toasted marshmallows!). However, last weekend, we hired a grill at the campsite - exactly like the one in the link I shared. It worked really well and seemed sensible to throw our meat on the BBQ when we were having a bonfire anyway.
Of course, every setup is different - some allow on-ground fires, some you need a firepit, some you can only BBQ so I'm not sure we'll find one solution that works for all occasions.
It looks okay (..and annoyingly, something that could probably be knocked together during a break-time, if you knew the right folk...)
Just to add...although it's probably how these are routinely used, personally I'd be inclined to not place food directly on them but to use a second s/steel grill/mesh(..and even then, only once the grill had been well and truly used/fired...)
The reason being, many years ago I worked for a company who imported and sold solid fuel based stuff(fire grates, wood burning stoves, spares- heat resistant paints, fire bricks etc etc.)..and they started importing(from India/China?) these cast chimineas (years before they became popular),and these were painted in the same brand and spec' of HT paint that the stoves were painted in and what they also sold in aerosols(...as "spares")..
BUT this paint was banned in several US states!..and even our aerosols had "Irreversible effects" on the label!
We had to open up the boxes and remove the "BBQ grills" from the chimineas that were equipped as such, to send them off to get the paint removed.....
The above may sound OTT and may have little or no bearing on the grill you're looking at....but personally, I wouldn't trust using anything of this type, that was "painted"...
Thanks for the heads up. We did actually take the steel grill off our home bbq last week to put on top of the folding grill we hired. That was more because I wasn't sure how clean it would be, but sounds like it was a good move. Interesting that these things aren't really made to be cooked directly on.
Anyway, having read nearly every thread on this forum, I'm now completely confused about what to buy. I'm even considering getting a Weber Go Anywhere as we can't have a fire at the place we are staying at next week.
Yes, I suppose there is such a thing as too much research and too much "feedback"....
I didn't intend to dissuade you from purchasing the grill that you'd linked to, as once well used/"seasoned"..and in the right location, it'd probably be just the job...
But as you're already finding, sometimes a simple BBQ will be just as handy...?
So after I returned the Landman tripod back to Amazon, I ended up getting one of the campfire cooking grills
http://www.campfirecookinggrill.co.uk/
One of the reasons I chose it was that they are made specifically to cook directly onto from stainless steel so there's no worry about paint peeling off onto food. Also they are easy to pack into the car, nice and flat. Because the ground was very dry, we did have to hammer the stake in with a camping hammer, but apart from that it was very easy to use. It was quite expensive at £60 but it's sturdy and well-made and should last a long time. However it wouldn't be any good for sites that only allow fires raised off the ground, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!
A lot more sites have firepits now, so there is definitely a market for these sorts of grills.
Look at some of the overland travel sites eg overland4x4. It is normal kit to us when travelling and is available here from companies dealing in that travel mode.
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Topic: Cooking over a fire - best grill?
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