The freezer bag method is a fantastic way to cook an omelet and doesn’t dirty up your camp cookware. Read more about freezer bag cooking here. And once you’ve had a freezer bag omelet, you will never want to dirty a pan again. Obviously this is not the best cooking method for a lot of dishes, but it can be a great approach for a lot of egg, fish, and vegetable recipes. If you’ve never heard of freezer bag cooking and are tired of scrubbing pots, get ready to get your mind blown! Basically, instead of cooking your meal directly in the pot, you put the ingredients into a Ziploc freezer bag and boil your meal in water. It works like a charm and will save you a lot of elbow grease and frustration. When you go to wash your pot, the soap will dissolve in water taking the fire filth with it.Ī huge thanks to my good friend Ian at for sharing this tip with me. The soap cooks into the pot and creates a barrier against soot and tar. Before cooking, lightly coat the outside of your pot with dish soap. If you do cook over an open fire, this is one of the best tricks you will ever learn for keeping the outside of your titanium pots and pans clean. All woods will leave a tarry residue on your pot, but pine can be especially bad. Once dinner is done, then throw those pine logs on the fire. When gathering wood, separate out the hardwoods and use those for cooking. The buildup of tar and soot on the bottom of a 750 ml titanium cook pot from a weekend of cooking over a campfire. Wood like pine that is heavy in resins will actually leave a layer of black tar on the outside of your pot. But you should also be cognizant of the wood you are using. If you cook over a bushbox or campfire, the same rule above applies to keeping tabs on that flame to make sure the fire doesn’t get too hot beneath your pot. In the end, being a vigilant and methodical camp chef makes for tastier food and an easier clean up. Even when I’m a bit hangry after a long hike, I try to resist the urge to hurry through the cooking process. I’ve also learned to slow down when cooking in camp. Paying close attention to the flame intensity of your camp stove and stirring the contents of your cook pot often goes a long way to keeping that pot clean. But the reality for me is that the only way I can avoid doing this is to be very cognizant of what I am doing when I am cooking. As silly as it sounds, taking that moment to reflect before putting your pot on an open flame can make a huge difference. Before you start cooking, take a moment to reflect on what a pain it is to clean a burnt up pot, and then be more methodical in your camp cooking using the tips below. I know this sounds like a real smart ass tip, but bear with me on this. Avoiding Getting Your Pot Nasty in the First Place Do NOT use any of these methods on Teflon-coated or similar non-stick surfaces!Įven the most stubborn campfire soot and tar will scrub off with a little elbow grease and the methods outlined here. But I should make it clear that all of the methods outlined here are for pots and pans that are not coated with anything. Let’s dive in deeper into some titanium cleaning tricks that will get your pot looking like new again and keep you from being tempted to turn to harsher, possibly dangerous cleaning methods. Resorting to stronger chemicals and solvents can damage your pot or make it unsafe for cooking. The key to cleaning badly burnt titanium camping cookware is to soften the burnt material by boiling water in the pot or pan, then use the right blend of abrasion, soap, and elbow grease to bring back that intriguing grey titanium luster that we all love so much. But if you’ve ever cooked in a thin-walled titanium backpacking pot or frying pan, you know how easy it is to burn food – and how hard it is to clean. Despite weighing a fraction of what a stainless pot would weigh, titanium is strong enough to handle the rigors of the outdoors.

When it comes to ultralight outdoor cookware, titanium is hard to beat.

Campfire cookware pocket camp