Top 5 must haves for bongo camping?

[Mark Elvin]

Plastic plates & bowls
Proper china mugs for tea
Stainless cutlery
Wine glasses
Stainless BBQ
Lighter
Statula
Slotted spoon
Bog roll
Washing up liquid, sponge & tea towels
Tomato ketchup & burger sauce
Dried cous cous/rice
Torch

[Muzorewa]

From the above I absolutely agree with baby wipes and proper wine glasses - plastic glasses just aren't the same and they're about £1.50 each - get four el cheapo glasses from Asda (or similar) for 88p and get more when you break them

As for emergency toilet - apart from the obvious shovel that any seasoned wild-camper should carry - try these....


Note larger capacity and more secure, I'm guessing they had problems with spillages in the past


The lousy barstewards - for one person's use - I thought sharing was caring


Hmmm, splash-proof


All with NATO stock numbers too - and not for ingestion - you don't say!

[Muzorewa]

Universal Bongo toolkit -
1. WD40, for anything that doesn't move that should do.
2. Gaffa-tape, for anything that moves that shouldn't do.
3. Sledge-hammer, for straightening out errant bumpers etc.
4. Mobile phone, to call your choice of emergency service; AA, Green Flag, RAC, Northern Bongolow etc.
5. Spam, to tuck into while help arrives

[Muzorewa]

Enhanced Universal Bongo toolkit -
1. WD40, for anything that doesn't move that should do.
2. Gaffa-tape, for anything that moves that shouldn't do.
3. XL sledge-hammer, for straightening out properly bent bumpers etc.
4. Mobile phone, to call your choice of emergency service; Mum, Dad, local pizza delivery etc.
5. Spam, to tuck into while help arrives
6. Cable tie
7. Wine for when emergency services can't fix it and you are camping on the M6
8. Corkscrew, in case it’s quality vino and not a screw-cap
9. Sardines, in case you have tree-huggers in your party
10. Torch – wind-up for dependable use
11. Rain mac & survival blanket
12. Soft toy to comfort minors in your party
13. Chocolate to comfort distraught females in your party
14. Brief Relief (?!) disposable urinal bag, new splash-proof design
15. Disposa-John c/w toilet paper and antibacterial wipe :@/
16. Book – Something cultural to read while you wait

[mikeonb4c]

Enhanced Universal Bongo toolkit -
1. WD40, for anything that doesn't move that should do.
2. Gaffa-tape, for anything that moves that shouldn't do.
3. XL sledge-hammer, for straightening out properly bent bumpers etc.
4. Mobile phone, to call your choice of emergency service; Mum, Dad, local pizza delivery etc.
5. Spam, to tuck into while help arrives
6. Cable tie
7. Wine for when emergency services can't fix it and you are camping on the M6
8. Corkscrew, in case it’s quality vino and not a screw-cap
9. Sardines, in case you have tree-huggers in your party
10. Torch – wind-up for dependable use
11. Rain mac & survival blanket
12. Soft toy to comfort minors in your party
13. Chocolate to comfort distraught females in your party
14. Brief Relief (?!) disposable urinal bag, new splash-proof design
15. Disposa-John c/w toilet paper and antibacterial wipe :@/
16. Book – Something cultural to read while you wait

Bizarrely I've just bought a bigger frying pan.
And I do have a habit, when faced with sachets of vinegar etc in places like Wetherspoons of going "ooohh...campervan vinegar!"
Oh, Asda do some good melamine mugs & plates, and I do insist on "proper" cutlery - I'm not in a tent!

Yup. Apart from Bob's femoral artery warning, paper plates blow away. Suitable portable illumination for after dark is a must, waterproofs (including trousers and wellies) for keeping dry, first aid kit including smidge insect repellent, bite soother, ibuprofen. Kettle should be fast boiler with copper coil round the base, and with a cheap single burner suitcase hob and some pot noodles you can always survive.

[Diplomat]

... and with a cheap single burner suitcase hob and some pot noodles you can always survive.

For short trips and single overnighters I don't take the cooker, just a flask of (previously) boiling water and the pot noodles.

When the noodles are finished it's time to dip a tea bag in the noodle pot after replenishing the water level. That's either a lunch or evening meal. For breakfast, I pre-soften a couple of weetabix with water and adorn them with tinned rice pudding. If I think I might need some assistance with 'going' at the coffee time supermarket toilet stop, I will add tinned peaches to the breakfast mix but not if I'm going to be stuck in a kayak for the day.

Camp eating should be fun, I don't get this obsession with frying, unless one never has that at home. You can pop into a cafe for that sort of thing and let them deal with the fumes. Besides, you'd never find water moistened weetabix with tinned rice and peaches on the breakfast menu in a cafe!

Muz mentioned sardines. Nice mashed up with a fork preloaded with a dollop of marmite. A somewhat tight friend of mine took a tin of sardines to a singles club barbecue as his contribution and still goes on about the frosty reception he got.

Add me to the list of those who uses the washing up bowl as storage for the Gaz cooker, whistling kettle, tin opener, corkscrew, cutlery, matches etc. Take another temporary container for these things so they don't get lost during the washing up. Oh, and you can minimise the washing up by cooking and eating everything with one spoon which gets degreased by stirring that cup of tea.

Turn camping into fun.


Frank

[seventiesboy]

I might have missed this but has anyone mentioned the obligatory bottle of wine, beer, whisky, etc??

What can be better than a wild camp, a bbq and a glass of something soothing while watching the sun go down..............or if it's this country sitting inside the van watching the rain lashing against the windows.

So a bottle of booze it is then.

[Muzorewa]

I might have missed this but has anyone mentioned the obligatory bottle of wine, beer, whisky, etc??

What can be better than a wild camp, a bbq and a glass of something soothing while watching the sun go down..............or if it's this country sitting inside the van watching the rain lashing against the windows.

So a bottle of booze it is then.

It's in the enhanced Universal Bongo toolkit above

[seventiesboy]

I might have missed this but has anyone mentioned the obligatory bottle of wine, beer, whisky, etc??

What can be better than a wild camp, a bbq and a glass of something soothing while watching the sun go down..............or if it's this country sitting inside the van watching the rain lashing against the windows.

So a bottle of booze it is then.

It's in the enhanced Universal Bongo toolkit above

Check.

It should probably be in the "Basic Bongo Service Kit" though

[roosmith]

Best accessory I bought for the Bongo was the trailer, as I'd never fit it all in!

[cavey]

Best accessory for our Bongo is this ridiculously named barbecue. It's not cheap but it's amazing! You can be cooking on it in 15 mins from parking up, and you can put it away soon after finishing eating even if there's still coals lit, but the best bit is the lack of mess.

http://www.portablebbq.org.uk/grilletto-son-of-hibachi/

[Mark Elvin]

Best accessory for our Bongo is this ridiculously named barbecue. It's not cheap but it's amazing! You can be cooking on it in 15 mins from parking up, and you can put it away soon after finishing eating even if there's still coals lit, but the best bit is the lack of mess.

http://www.portablebbq.org.uk/grilletto-son-of-hibachi/

I never knew I needed one of those!!!!!

Just cost me £60, cheers.

[helen&tony]

Hi
Hi
The even more basic kit for 1 night (per person):
1 Long Baguette, with bacon, cold omelette, pepper salami, marmite and cheese, wrapped in clingfilm
3 litres of Diamond White
2 litres of diet coke
Also:
1 looroll
1 pack handwipes
1 folding spade
Evening:
To the accompaniment of fine music eat half of baguette and drink Diamond White
Morning:
Eat other half of baguette, and drink diet coke!
Surely I don't need to explain the spade and loo roll
Cheers
Helen

[cavey]

Best accessory for our Bongo is this ridiculously named barbecue. It's not cheap but it's amazing! You can be cooking on it in 15 mins from parking up, and you can put it away soon after finishing eating even if there's still coals lit, but the best bit is the lack of mess.

http://www.portablebbq.org.uk/grilletto-son-of-hibachi/

I never knew I needed one of those!!!!!

Just cost me £60, cheers.

Seriously, you won't regret it.

[seventiesboy]

Tip: if you use paper plates on your lap don't use steel cutlery, it will do a number on the femoral artery.

You could always patch it up with the gaffa tape.................man up