Camping Essentials Buying Guide

Whether it’s with friends, family, or all on your own, camping constitutes quite the fun and inexpensive trip. You get to enjoy nature and escape from some time from urban life and its daily amounts of stress and troubles. For a successful camping trip though, you’ll have to be thoroughly prepared. That means you’ll have to get all the essentials, for adults and for the younger ones in case you’re going with family. All there remains to do then is to choose a camping environment, there are many different types to choose from!

1- The Tent

First thing you should consider is obviously the tent. Naturally, you’ll have to take into account the number of persons with you when choosing a tent. In mild weather, you don’t need to buy something too expensive and big, a medium priced tent will do just fine. It’s when the weather is in more serious conditions that you will need to invest in a top notch tent that is durable. So you’ll have to consider your region’s weather conditions. In terms of size, if your children are small, you can just keep to a small pup tents that’ll fit perfectly four of you. If you are with friends or the children are older you’d need a tent with separated sleeping quarters.

Furthermore, there are two tent parts that are often neglected and yet are important to know about:

Rainfly: It is a cover you put on the top of the tent. A separate piece, the rainfly will protect your tent from getting wet against the rain and even against heavy dew.  If not, you can substitute the rainfly with tarp, it works just as well.

Footprint: You got the top covered, you’ll need then to cover the bottom from wet ground. That’s where you need  a footprint that’ll prevent water from reaching the inside of the tent. Tarp is again, an alternative.

Last but not least, you should know about tent flaps too. The majority of tent flaps have two layers, one of netting and the other of material. It is recommended to keep one closed at all times so as to prevent mosquitoes from entering and accompany you all night.

2- Sleeping Gear

There are 3 main sleeping furnitures for camping. Apart from that, make sure to have enough blankets and pillows (having extras is also not a bad idea).

Sleeping Bags:  This is the way to go when in mild weather, it’ll keep you warm and safe.

Air Mattress: If you feel safer and more comfortable being off ground, your preferences will go to an air mattress. Combined with blankets and sheets, you’ll have no problem with it.

Cots: This is yet another alternative, you can find it for one or 2 persons, there are even cots in bunk bed style. Standing cots can protect you from a cold ground. Another alternative yet are hammocks.

3- Lighting

It’s better to have a flashlight for each person as it can get very dark without any electricity. It’s a good idea to have one with clips so you could keep it with you at all times. What is a better yet idea is to take one with kinetic cranks or pumps as an energy source in case the battery empties out without any electrical source at hand. Other lighting equipment for camping include hanging light and lanterns, perfect for inside the tent and cooking areas.

4- Food Equipment

Light card tables work very well in camping sites. You won’t have to put items off the ground and they will work both as drink and eating tables as well as kitchen counters. You can also coolers as tables too. Speaking of coolers, they are quite important. They’ll preserve your food if you had prepared them beforehand. It can work as an ice block too. It’s great if you can have 2 coolers, one for food and the other for ice and drinks.

One last important tip, you need to be very careful with your leftovers as they attract trouble, animals and insects alike. Don’t let trash off the ground and throw them as far from the campsite as possible.