RE: Indoor Cooking

[sandykayak]

 TG1956
<<Not using the indoor stove is sorta like keeping plastic on your lamp shades or your carpet. What s the point of having something if you don t use it? >>
 
 AMEN
 
 
 

[KeithS]

 TG1956
Cooking in a pop up isn t a bad thing, per se. But as said here before, the issue of food odors could cause, say, a black bear (those are the dinky ones in the east that will climb a tree to get you. the grizzlies out west just knock the tree over) to mistake you coleman/jayco/whatever for an attempt by the mcdonald s corporation to expand their ursine (bear) customer base. Cooking outside the pop up doesn t have these downsides.

[topcat7736]

 TG1956
We cook over the campfire and outdoors on the little propane grill. But, when using the stove, we do it in the trailer. As Tracy said, Coleman s sunbrella tenting breathes & gets rid of any odors very quickly. Although I have Coleman s Dual Fuel & Propane stoves, I don t carry them along anymore. Just more stuff to tow around.
 
 We also are cooking our meals in densely populated black bear territory. While I don t want them crawling around outside the popup, I m not going to quit living because of them. Late spring, summer and early fall provides a multitude of the grubs, berries, small animals and other junk they like to eat. They typically won t bother trailers. Keeping food & beverages covered up in your tow vehicle and dumping your garbage after eating is normally enough. But, if you are worried about them, follow the basic rules:
 
 1) Human food and beverages, horse feeds, dog food, etc. either in possession or left unattended, must be kept unavailable to bears unless being consumed, prepared for consumption or transported.
 2) When departing an area, remove all food and refuse from any bear resistant containers left in the area.
 3) Keep, cook and consume all foods and beverages a minimum of 100 yards from your campsite.
 4) Change clothes after eating. Put the removed clothing into a container and store it inside your vehicle under a cover.
 5) Do not sleep in the same clothes that you handled game or cooked in.
 6) Keep sleeping bags, tents and sleeping area free of food and beverage odors.
 7) Keep bear pepper spray and a 30.06 or 12-guage shotgun with sabots readily available. []

[MtnCamper]

 topcat7736

 

ORIGINAL:  topcat7736
 
 We also are cooking our meals in densely populated black bear territory. While I don t want them crawling around outside the popup, I m not going to quit living because of them. Late spring, summer and early fall provides a multitude of the grubs, berries, small animals and other junk they like to eat. They typically won t bother trailers. Keeping food & beverages covered up in your tow vehicle and dumping your garbage after eating is normally enough. But, if you are worried about them, follow the basic rules:
 

We do the same thing, Even if you cooked anything in the camper in the last 6 months a bear could smell it. So our habits don t change. I did have one (black bear) knocking on my truck window one night. He was looking for a cooler. But my dog scared him off. Let s see, the truck was backed up, close to the front of the camper, I sleep just inside the tenting, so I was about 4 feet from this guy. But they are interested in easy picking, and don t want to be seen. If there had been a cooler in my truck, and he had seen it, I would probably have had to buy a new topper. If you do leave a cooler there, cover it up with a blanket or coat, so it doesn t look like a cooler. They got that figured out.

[MommaMia]

 TG1956
I m not so sure I am buying the bear reasons for not cooking in the camper.  Even if you cook outside, all those yummy food smells are on You!  I can somewhat see the point in avoiding sleeping in those clothes that you cooked in, but the smells are still in your hair, on your skin... all over you.  You mean to tell me that every one of you who cooks outside to avoid attracting a bear into your trailer takes a shower every evening after you finish cooking?  And even if you DO shower, you mean to tell me that none of you use that nice fresh smelling soap and pretty smelling deodorant that smells just like flowers and yummy berries to a hungry bear?  
 
 And it s not like these bears have never seen a camper before.  They pretty much try to get an easy meal and avoid contact.  An easy meal is NOT had by entering your camper, especially while you are there.  And trust me, they know you are there!  If there is no actual yummy stuff sitting outside your camper they will tend to move off to another site where someone HAS left food or goodies out.  
 
 Some people would say... " Well the bear tried to get into the backseat of my car or cab of my truck to get at the cooler, so it s not just that the bear is attracted to stuff sitting outside of the camper!" ... Campground bears know what a cooler is for and recognize one when they see it.  If they see it, they will try to get it!  Therefore it is a better idea to store your cooler out of view in your trunk.
 Of course, do what you can to avoid a confrontation.
 
 IMHO I don t think banning cooking in the camper is necessary.  If the stove is there, it s meant to be used.  However,  if I were camping in a very remote " bear area"  where there isn t a lot of traditional camping activity or I were camping in a campground were there was reported to be a nuisance bear, I would then temporarily avoid cooking in the camper.

[wssfetch]

 TG1956
I usually cook outside becaue I have the microwave sitting inside where the strove is supposed to go and its more like camping to cook outside anyway.  Plus if the grill is in use and/or everyone else is sitting around drinking adult beverages I want to be part of the fun!!!!!