Camping with the Braai Baas Range: Gear That Earns Its Space in the Boot

Camping braais are unforgiving. You get one grid, whatever wood you can find, no kitchen sink and usually a stiff breeze. The trick is packing gear that does more than one job — and gear that can be cleaned without a garden hose.

The camping braai checklist

How to braai well on a campsite

1. Burn your wood down properly. Camp fires tempt you to cook over flames — wait for coals with a light grey ash coating.
2. Build a two-zone fire: hot coals on one side, a cooler holding zone on the other. On a small camp fire this is the difference between dinner and charcoal.
3. Clean the campsite grid before you cook, not after. You don't know what the last group left behind.
4. Use a windbreak — your vehicle, a chair, or a purpose-made screen. Wind is the biggest enemy of even cooking.
5. Cook meat that handles heat swings: wors, chops, chicken pieces, sosaties.
6. Keep a lid or a sheet of foil handy to trap heat when the fire drops.
7. Never leave the fire unattended and never cook inside a tent or awning.

Three camp recipes that need almost no kit

Camp potjie: beef and vegetable

• 1 kg stewing beef, cubed
• 2 onions, sliced; 3 carrots, thick coins; 4 potatoes, quartered
• 2 tbsp oil, 1 packet brown onion soup, 500 ml beef stock or water
• 2 bay leaves, salt and black pepper

1. Heat oil in the potjie over hot coals and brown the beef in batches. Remove.
2. Fry the onions until soft, return the beef, add stock, bay leaves and seasoning.
3. Move to gentle coals, lid on, and simmer 2 hours without stirring.
4. Layer carrots then potatoes on top, lid on, cook a further 45 minutes.
5. Stir the soup powder through the liquid at the end, cook 5 minutes and serve with bread or pap.

Foil-pack braai vegetables

• 2 potatoes, 1 onion, 1 pepper, 1 courgette, all sliced
• 2 tbsp butter, 1 crushed garlic clove, salt, pepper, sprig of rosemary

1. Pile the vegetables onto a double layer of heavy foil.
2. Dot with butter, add garlic and herbs, season well and seal into a parcel.
3. Bury at the edge of the coals for 30–35 minutes, turning once.

Campfire roosterkoek

• 500 g bread flour, 10 g instant yeast, 10 g salt, 15 g sugar
• 300 ml lukewarm water, 2 tbsp oil

1. Mix dry ingredients, add water and oil, knead 8 minutes until smooth.
2. Cover and prove 45–60 minutes until doubled — a warm spot near the fire works.
3. Shape into 10 balls, flatten slightly, rest 15 minutes.
4. Braai over medium-low coals 6–8 minutes per side until hollow-sounding. Serve hot with butter and apricot jam.

Cleaning up when there is no tap

This is where a cordless electric grid brush changes camping. Run it over the grid while it is still warm and the residue lifts off dry — no bucket, no washing-up, no fat down a campsite drain. Charge it in the car or off a power bank and it lasts an entire long weekend. Wipe the grid with a lightly oiled paper towel afterwards so it does not rust in the boot on the way home.

Pack light, braai well, leave the campsite cleaner than you found it.

Build your camping kit

Our cleaning and maintenance range, tools and smoking accessories are all sized for a boot or a drawer system. Start with the electric grid brush and add the pieces that match how you camp. Everything carries a 30-day money-back guarantee and ships in 10–20 business days.