Cook your better half a romantic meal by the campfire for well under $100 – plus the view is free!

There isn’t too much, your other half would appreciate more than, if you roll up your sleeves and get dinner sorted… (and do the washing up afterwards too!)

So here are some good ideas to earn some brownie points from the other half, whilst saving a pretty penny as well!

First thing is first, you will need to convince the other half to get out of the house and go camping, if done right, with the correct follow through you will have a much easier time convincing them to come with you next time. After all who doesn’t like sharing a quality camping experience with the other half!

With an Adventure Kings Big Daddy Deluxe Double Swag, you can easily impress your better half, they set up in just a minute or two, and include a massively thick 70mm mattress which isn’t only comfortable, but offers incredible insulation from the cold ground during the winter months.

To add to the Adventure Kings Big Daddy Deluxe, you can include a pair of Adventure Kings Premium Sleeping bags, if you get a left handed and right handed model, they easily zip together and provide excellent insulation from just about anything mother nature can throw at you, and being able to snuggle up and keep warm even on those cold nights, you wont have to do too much convincing to head out bush again!

Now that the other half is more than likely on board, you have to plan your meals, there are a handful of options for eating on the tracks, if you were heading out with the boys, you can easily get away with a simple sausage sandwich and bacon and eggs cooked on an Adventure Kings BBQ hotplate, but if you are looking for an efficient setup that provide plenty of cooking options you can get your hands on a Bedourie camp oven.

Built from spun steel, these are not your ordinary camp ovens, they are built to cop abuse on the tracks, they are lighter than cast iron, whilst offering excellent heat transfer from the hot coals of your fire place. Using one of these versatile campsite cooking systems, you can cook up your favorite roasts on the trackside!

When you get to camp, your first step is to unroll the Adventure Kings Awning, this is the perfect shade from rain hail or even if you are lucky, a bit of sunshine, and then get the chairs setup so the other half can relax, whilst you build a toasty warm fire!

If there is an existing fireplace this is the best spot to start your fire, there is no point in creating your own fireplace 2m from the last one, if everyone did this you would have nowhere to unroll your swag!

To create the perfect fire for cooking on, leave the accelerants and fire starters at home! You can easily start a campfire using natural materials, and can even get this done by splitting your firewood down into kindling.

Using a small amount of twigs and sticks formed in a tee pee shape around your tinder bundle, you can then place your larger logs parallel to one another on either side of the tinder, keep a handful of pinky finger sized sticks to place over the top of your fire when the kindling starts to catch.

After your fire has been burning for around 20-30 minutes, you can start to add some logs ready to steal some hot coals for cooking. Simply take a shovel load of hot coals and set them to one side with your oiled bedourie camp oven on top to preheat, after about 10 mins or so, you can add your meat, our favorite is lamb, others choose chicken, but you can cook just about anything in your bedourie.

Our rule of thumb is approximately 1hr per kilogram, and approximately 30 mins for roast veggies!

Give your leg of lamb a dash of oil to prevent it sticking to the bottom, then place it carefully in the bedourie oven. Cover with a dash of Italian herbs and spices, salt and pepper to taste and if you have a bit of rosemary, chuck it in for good measure! Cover the bedourie with the lid and cover the lid with another shovel of hot coals to keep it cranking along!

After approximately 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of your leg of lamb) you can crack the lid (watch for steam) it’s now time to add your veggies, we like to coat our potatoes with cooking oil and give a good coating of salt for flavor, chuck these all around your leg of lamb  same goes for any pumpkin or sweet potato you might want to add!

Cover with the lid and add more coals!
After another half an hour or so, you’ll find that your veggies are just about ready, and your lamb should be done, using a good set of tongs, plate everything up. Don’t throw out the fat at the bottom, simply add about 2 tablespoons of plain flour and a bit of water to the mix and stir to make the gravy!
Serve with a nice glass of port or red wine and you’ll earn some serious brownie points for later!

Simply rinse your bedourie and give a quick scrub to your plates, and washup is done… how’s that for simple.. don’t worry you can thank us later, all that’s left to do is kick back and watch the stars!!