Camp oven

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

I'm wanting to get a small camp oven that would suit 2 people, maybe 3 at the most to cook meals while trekking/back packing.

This is for real practical use, I want to take it hunting with me while I'm in the mountains so I can cook up bread and little stews with game we shoot etc.

I figure the folks here through re-enactment might be able to steer me in the right direction as to what is practical and what the best size is? I'm torn between 2 quart being nice and compact but maybe not big enough and 4.5 being a good size but maybe heavy and bulky for backpacking in.

Appreciate any real world advice for this.

 

[Red Owl]

Well, weight is all important. In the Spanish food sections of a lot of supermarkets they have an aluminum "Dutch oven" using the term loosely- and it would work okay.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

trekking /back packing is the killer. any size it too heavy to haul around. I get a kick out of old westerns when two buddies are on the trail with just their horses, but their camp for the night includes a spit, fair size skillet, a huge coffee pot, and lots of blankets.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I'm wanting to get a small camp oven that would suit 2 people, maybe 3 at the most to cook meals while trekking/back packing.

This is for real practical use, I want to take it hunting with me while I'm in the mountains so I can cook up bread and little stews with game we shoot etc.

I figure the folks here through re-enactment might be able to steer me in the right direction as to what is practical and what the best size is? I'm torn between 2 quart being nice and compact but maybe not big enough and 4.5 being a good size but maybe heavy and bulky for backpacking in.

Appreciate any real world advice for this.

So for bread, you're options are a reflector oven, or an in-the-pan-over-the-fire bannock.
Folding Reflector Oven

The drawback is they use up a lot of fuel. You will need to practice with them before going out, and they aren't going to allow you to make "stews" and such. The good thing is that if you also take a pot or kettle, you can cook that over the top of the fire while these are on the side.

in-the-pan-over-the-fire bannock is where the dough is put into a skillet suspended over the fire for a while for it to bake, and then it's propped up facing the fire similar to a reflector oven to finish the top. The trick is to learn how far above the fire it must be (usually suspended from a chain and tripod) because it tends to need to be quite a bit higher than a grill or an S hook will hold it to keep the skillet side from burning.

For a purist, one might try baking bread as one would steam a pudding. A Sea Pie is a savory meat pie that was done aboard ship (hence the name) by putting the "pie" into a lidded container, tied closed, and immersed in boiling water. I think this would work even if the water did not cover the lid the same way it did when steaming instead of boiling a Christmas pudding came about. One would have to experiment because the temp is limited to the a little above 212 degrees of the boiling water turned to steam. The advantages would be you only need a lidded container for the bake and a bucket with a lid to steam it in, which can be purposed to a lot of other duties when not baking. The disadvantages would be the need for a good amount of water (a canoe trek solves that) and a good amount of time as this would be a rather slow bake, I'd imagine. One would really need some practice with this.
Townsends Sea Pie Video

LD

 

[Brokennock]

One doesn't need an oven for bread.
Wrap dough around a stick you've removed the bark from and smoothed, I toast it in the fire a bit then rub it with a coarse cloth. Rotate bread twist above coals until dark golden brown and delicious.
Reflector ovens work, lots of fuel though. Depending on an area's geology, a small stone oven can be made with large flat rocks.

One doesn't need bread anyway. Go a month without bread and grain and tell me you don't just generally feel better.

 

[Red Owl]

If you want some kind of "bread" another option is one pot with a stew and throw in some dumplings.

 

[windini]

Just a thought, but if bread is desireable and weight is a factor, wouldn't it be easier & lighter to bake a few just-right sized loaves at home, divide them among the trekkers for carrying, then heating or toasting them (in whole or rough slices with camp knife) each evening?

EDIT: A follow-up idea: if making "pot pie" dishes, like stew with a bread crust cap, you could bring premade piecrust or filo dough for those. Or you could roll out homemade dough at home, pre-bake it, then finish it off over the campfire.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

If you are not all about period correctness, a stainless pot with a bail, about 2 quart, with a small grate that can fit in it for use on its side, serves as a reflector oven or pot. It is pretty versatile. A pot like this

https://www.selfrelianceoutfitters....eel-bush-pot-lid-set-64oz?variant=38538709121
Might work for you with a group. Bake or stew in it, carry water back to camp in it, a pot like this gives options at much less weight than an iron Dutch oven.

 

[David Y. Snellen]

Dear Sir,
There are some stainless steel reproductions sold by Blockade runner sutler and Crazt Crow that look right (HC) but have the benefit of stainless.
David

 

[Dale Lilly]

I'm wanting to get a small camp oven that would suit 2 people, maybe 3 at the most to cook meals while trekking/back packing.

This is for real practical use, I want to take it hunting with me while I'm in the mountains so I can cook up bread and little stews with game we shoot etc.

I figure the folks here through re-enactment might be able to steer me in the right direction as to what is practical and what the best size is? I'm torn between 2 quart being nice and compact but maybe not big enough and 4.5 being a good size but maybe heavy and bulky for backpacking in.

Appreciate any real world advice for this.

What is wrong with a camp fire? I have spent a lot of nights [from the time I was fourteen] and days without any stove. Firewood, cut branches for hangers and a simple stew pot [small] will suffice. Three pounds weighs twenty when you are climbing a mountain. Just my 2 cents and years of experience.

 

[Capnball]

Just a thought, but if bread is desireable and weight is a factor, wouldn't it be easier & lighter to bake a few just-right sized loaves at home, divide them among the trekkers for carrying, then heating or toasting them (in whole or rough slices with camp knife) each evening?

EDIT: A follow-up idea: if making "pot pie" dishes, like stew with a bread crust cap, you could bring premade piecrust or filo dough for those. Or you could roll out homemade dough at home, pre-bake it, then finish it off over the campfire.

I used to make a pile of fresh biscuits right before a weekend camp trip and put them in Pringles cans. They weigh alot less then an oven and they warm right up on a hotdog fork.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

Had a thought this morning @GoodRabbitPilgrim concerning a reflector oven. You can find a number of collapsible and light versions on the market that will work. What came to mind was the lesson of making a reflector wall. If I build a fire and set my reflector oven to one side, I should build a reflector wall on the opposite side of the fire. Pile logs or rocks, hang a mylar sheet, it doesn't matter, you just want something to bounce that heat back to increase the efficiency of your radiant oven.
Best of luck.

 

[tenngun]

Most Dutch I’ve seen seen today are not of the style of cast iron in eighteenth and early nineteenth century. When you find one that’s right it tends to be pricey. But such were used in the past and we have a Canadian lady from the 18302 who speaks lovingly of bread from such an oven
Boiled breads such as the ships pie mentioned above are very tasty, and while you need practice it before it’s not to hard.
Look up recipes for Boston brown bread. This is very easy to make in camp but any boiled bread is time consuming as it need boil three to four hours
Made a simple bread at Ft Charter winter rendezvous with this set up. Dough in the small pot, 3/4 full then in to the big, boiled from noon to about four
You can do it in a cloth bag. Suet make the best binder but I’ve found butter and lard works well and cheaper and easier to find then

suet

 

[tenngun]

trekking /back packing is the killer. any size it too heavy to haul around. I get a kick out of old westerns when two buddies are on the trail with just their horses, but their camp for the night includes a spit, fair size skillet, a huge coffee pot, and lots of blankets.

Joseph Plumb-Martin told about having to carry a iron pot for his mess. A different messmate would be assigned every day to lug it. They ‘lost it’ by dumping it in a gully they marched by one day
Hot Dipped tin, Backwoods tin and Copper, crazy Crow, Townsend’s, Avolon Forge all sell tin pots. Townsend and Avolon forge sell in stainless steel that’s easer to care for and after first use looks just like tin
I get my pots from Turkey foot traders llc out of Missouri and available on line
I’m two years older then dirt and can tell you a 8oz tin pot is a lot nicer then a four pound iron.

 

[Hawken]

"It ain't the stove that bothers me so much, it's that darn sack 'a flour bangin' around inside that throws my balance off."

 

[smo]

I’m two years older then dirt and can tell you a 8oz tin pot is a lot nicer then a four pound iron.

I’m not that old….. I just got high mileage.

 

[Capnball]

I do all kinds of camping. Backpack (although not so much of that these days) Motorcycle camping, (still love that) and most recently RV camping (My Mrs doesn't do tents anymore) we do bring cast iron in the truck but I don't think I've ever brought cast iron with me on any other type of camping. But we do like that dutch oven for just about everything when we take the camper out.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Got one of these 20 odd years ago. The medium woman bakes all kinds of stuff in it.

Made by Coleman, folds up into a case (when its cool) and carries easy. We do not trek with it, we use in in the modern camp area at rondies.

Coleman folding camp oven

 

[Brokennock]

...The medium woman...

Wow! There is a brave and risky statement. Lol

I remember some people having one of those when we used to camp at various campgrounds every summer for vacation when I was a kid. And someone else in boyscouts having one.
Pretty cool device.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Well she aint small, and she aint big, she is just right