A dutch oven is a great way to bring more of an at-home feel to your cooking over a campfire. Typically camping dutch ovens are made of cast iron, which is really heavy as far as hiking gear goes. GSI Outdoors makes a great lightweight dutch oven.
GSI Outdoors Dutch Ovens
Both the 12-inch (5 quart) dutch oven and the 10-inch (2 quart) dutch oven are cast aluminum. Cutting weight by up to 66% compared to cast iron dutch ovens. The aluminum is strong enough to perfectly cook your food and handle the hot temperatures (the melting point of aluminum is 1,221°F!). Cast aluminum is also rust-free.
If you are camping alone, you can get away with just the 10-inch dutch oven. It only weighs 4.4 pounds and can be filled with other items to take up less room in your bag. If you are cooking for multiple people in your group, it’s better to get the pair. This will allow you to cook more food all at once. The 12-inch (5 quart) dutch oven weighs 7.8 pounds, but the smaller one does fit inside the larger one so it’s really not that much more room.
Helpful Accessories
If you plan on cooking with coals you should get a stand to prevent burning your food. The stand will also give you somewhere to place your lid without getting it dirty. The Lodge Camp Dutch Oven Lid Stand works perfectly. And, it comes with a lifetime warranty!
For easy clean up it’s a good idea to get some liners for your oven. Lodge parchment paper works as a universal dutch oven liner that is 20 inches in diameter.
Most importantly, your oven will get extremely hot! So make sure that you have a way to safely get it away from the coals. You will also want something to aid in opening the oven when it is time to eat. Lodge makes a lid lifter that is ideal.
Cooking with a dutch oven can be rewarding but it can also be a bit of work. Make sure that you have a couple good recipes and all of the ingredients that you need before heading out.
I want to hear from you
Do you use GSI Outdoors Dutch Ovens while you’re camping? What is your favorite recipe? What size do you prefer? I love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment!