Cooking at camp is mostly about what you did before you left the house. I read that on Swords Camping Supplies and it took me several trips to believe it, but it is true.

So I prepare at home. Vegetables chopped and bagged, cheese cut, pasta weighed out, spices mixed in one small pot rather than five. It costs me half an hour the day before and saves me the worst part of camp cooking, which is doing the boring work in the wind while everything gets dark.

One pot dishes, mostly. Rice with beans and a spoon of something spicy. Noodles with vegetables thrown in at the last minute. Soup that is really just stock, potatoes and whatever is left. Fewer pans means fewer things to wash and less to carry.

Cleaning as I go is the other half. I rinse the pot while the food is still warm and eat from a bowl, not from the pan. If I leave it, it gets cold, then it gets dark, then it gets left. Warm rinse, quick wipe, done. The whole thing takes a minute and the pot is ready for the morning coffee.

Food stays out of reach of animals. Everything in a bag, hung from a branch or locked in the car, nothing left in the tent and nothing left on the table overnight. Small creatures are quick and they are not shy.

Hot drinks matter more than they sound. Coffee in the morning, something warm after dinner, and the stove is doing exactly what it needs to do. I boil water, fill two cups, and the whole evening slows down.