Safety should be a priority when making plans for campfire cooking, and a first aid kit with supplies to treat burns should be the first things you pack before heading to the campgrounds. Seriously, many factors involved in campfire cooking improve the fun and excitement of preparing meals over an open fire. Additionally, successfully preparing a meal over the campfire may make it enjoyable enough to try it again.

For many years, campfire cooking was considered a natural thing to do when on a camping trip but several changes have occurred regarding safety such as where the campfire can be built, the proximity to other campers as well as dried brush in surrounding areas. The availability of firewood has also diminished in recent years with many campsites requiring campers to bring their own to the camp.

There are some instances in which campfire cooking is simply out of the question. If surrounding brush is extremely dry for instance, and a wind is blowing. Sparks from the campfire could ignite a brush fire ruining your camping trip, along with that of many others. The fire itself should be made with clean, dry wood. Clipping a few branches from nearby trees will not get the job done. If the fire actually gets burning, it will be smoky and the smell of the burning green wood may take over the taste of the food.

If the campground lacks burning rings, a fire for campfire cooking should be built on bare earth, with no vegetation covering which can possible start a ground fire. Build a U-shaped fire pit of stones with one larger stone, at three times the height of the side stones to act as chimney. Smoke will naturally go towards that end and be lifted above the campfire.

If there are not enough stones to line the spot for campfire cooking, green logs can be used but they should be watered down occasionally to prevent them from being dried by the fire and disappearing in a column of smoke.

Hopefully, there is access to a metal grid to place across the fire on which to rest a pot for boiling water, frying pan and other cooking utensils. If no grate is available, steel tripods can be set over the fire to hold a pot for boiling water, making stew or any one of many one-pot campfire cooking recipes you can find. When done cooking and bedding down for the night, the fire must be completely out. If built on the ground it may take more than bucket of water, but lugging two or three buckets of water can be better than finding flames in the campground in the middle of the night.