camping gear, camping outdoorsI seem to be falling into my parents' footsteps when it comes to camping gear by buying serious duty equipment that will last for years and years. We are going to be camping outdoors over spring break and want to be able to keep the food that we cook with our solar ovens hot until dinner, and to that end, I bought four of these stainless steel vacuum bottles to put our stews and soups into after they have finished cooking so they stay piping hot until we eat. These are the GSI 10 oz. Glacier Stainless Steel Vacuum Bottles, and they hold 10 ounces of food which is equal to about a serving apiece for each of us.

When we go camping outdoors, we like to leave a very small footprint, if any, and if the sun is shining, our solar ovens are more than sufficient for cooking anything we want to eat. They are an essential part of our camping gear and use no energy other than the sun's rays. There's no campfire to build, no propane stove to hook up, and best of all, we can go hiking while our dinner is cooking because there is virtually no stirring involved when solar cooking. We have three ovens that we bring along, more than enough to eat anything we want.

Solar cooking when we're camping outdoors gives us a sense of being one with Mother Nature since we're not burning any wood to cook with or putting any hydrocarbons into the atmosphere. The stainless steel vacuum bottles are also reusable, and if my parents' experience is any indicator, will last for decades. They will retain heat or cold for eight hours, plenty of time for eating even the latest dinner. I found these at KE Active Lifestyle at http://kayserenterprises.ispeedway.com/, a great site for camping gear and outdoor sports. They have page after page of camping gear dedicated to making camping outdoors fun and easy.

If the day turns out to be cloudy when we're outdoors camping, we break out the propane stove we bring along in our camping gear. We don't camp that far from civilization in the winter, but we hate to break the spell of being in the great outdoors for days on end, especially to run to town for our camping stove, so we bring it along just in case. Fortunately the long range weather forecasts suggest that we will have lots of sunny weather for our camping trip this spring, so besides the regular camping gear we bring, we'll also toss in extra sunscreen to protect our skin but glory in the abundant sunshine working for us while it cooks up delicious meal after meal.