"Budget" Camp Kitchen (No Gear Tunnel)

[C.R. Rivian]

Benchmade knives are made in Oregon, and they recently (last couple of years) came out with some cutlery options. I wanted a fixed blade knife to use as a dedicated camp kitchen knife (no folding mechanism to have to clean) with some decent corrosion resistance. Recently I had been eyeing their “table” knife as a dedicated camping knife for the kitchen, but it’s currently not available. Hence the station knife. I ended up picking CPM 154 for the blade, thinking it would offer better corrosion resistance.

Their station knife is very versatile. It’s been getting a lot of time in our kitchen. Seems to hold an edge well, but we also haven’t been abusing it. Comfortable for both me and my wife’s hands. It sort of feels and looks like a shortened chef knife. For the time being, I think it will be our go-to knife while camping, but it will still spend most of the time in our kitchen at home. Honestly, it’s the nicest kitchen knife I’ve owned and it’s too good to just put in the camping box and ignore during the week.

I’m still waiting for some of the other Benchmade cutlery knives to be available again, and then we’ll consider upgrading our entire set of knives at home.

Thanks, I've got some really great Japanese and German kitchen knives, but well, thinking about it. There is an authorized dealer about 30 minutes from me...maybe I'll see what they have that I can pick up and feel. Thanks...

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[BigSkies]

I bought one of these kitchen organizers and used it for the first time last weekend. It's great for kitchen storage, acts as a small table (although it requires flat ground), and is very portable.

Camp Organizer

 

[miasm]

That camp chef organizer is fairly nice. I find it too short, so doing prep or anything on it really ends up sucking after a bit, but ymmv.

I use water bricks for my water storage. They stack well, and are reasonably sized for carrying around at camp. I can take a 2-4 pack for a weekend trip, or a full up 12-cube stack for a couple of weeks out in the wild.

I use Morakniv knives for camping. Cheap, sharp, durable, nice sheath, big handle to hold onto.

 

[SASSquatch]

Thanks for this! Great write-up. Will definitely be purchasing a few of the options you listed.

Second your comments and I'll raise you a "best profile name/picture ever!"

That made me laugh out loud.

 

[Skyline]

1000W on the stovetop boils water really fast, and I can’t imagine a scenario where I’d go that high for anything else. I don’t think I’ll ever have a need to go above 1.5kw total for both burners at the same time, but honestly haven’t tested what happens if I were to try from the bed of the truck. My guess is that it might still put out 1800W for a while (probably longer than I would want/need to try). Or, maybe I’ll just get some error message from the burner if it doesn’t auto adjust. If it’s a big issue, I’ll just accept that boiling water may take 30 extra seconds.

Regardless, I should just test it out this weekend.

How did the stove work out?

 

[Outdoorsyish]

How did the stove work out?

The stove works great, but I never got around to testing out how fast the different burners boil water when plugged into the Rivian for a comparison to grid power. I’ve found, however, that for my use I probably could have just gone with a single burner and a separate electric kettle for heating water. I can’t recommend an induction cooking surface enough, though, just make sure the cookware is compatible!

 

[kanundrum]

Im at Sub $500 so far but I'm not done yet and I may reinforce the removable legs/table stand with carbon Fiber (R1S)

 

[Outdoorsyish]

Im at Sub $500 so far but I'm not done yet and I may reinforce the removable legs/table stand with carbon Fiber (R1S)

That looks great! I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product.

I’m a bit bummed I’m not taking advantage of the gear tunnel for my R1T, or as dedicated as you are to make my own version.

We now have an R1S also preordered and it will be great to have the transportability to easily move the bin version of my “camp kitchen” back and forth between vehicles. But it doesn’t look nearly as slick as yours.

 

[kanundrum]

That looks great! I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product.

I’m a bit bummed I’m not taking advantage of the gear tunnel for my R1T, or as dedicated as you are to make my own version.

We now have an R1S also preordered and it will be great to have the transportability to easily move the bin version of my “camp kitchen” back and forth between vehicles. But it doesn’t look nearly as slick as yours.

Depending on how it goes I maybe to try do do a few boards if I have a master template. Will see how the wood working goes etc.

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