How to Cook Outdoors While Wild Camping in the UK

Cooking a hot meal after a long day on the hill is one of the most satisfying experiences wild camping has to offer. Whether you have just descended a ridgeline in the Cairngorms, crossed a boggy plateau in Snowdonia, or found a sheltered hollow on Dartmoor, the act of preparing food in the open air — with nothing but your kit and your surroundings — is central to the wild camping experience. Done well, outdoor cooking is efficient, safe, and genuinely enjoyable. Done poorly, it can be dangerous, leave a damaging mark on the landscape, or result in a cold, miserable meal that saps morale.

This guide covers everything you need to know about cooking outdoors whilst wild camping in the UK: the legal and ethical context, stove types, fuel considerations, water sourcing and treatment, fire safety and Leave No Trace principles, meal planning, and region-specific advice for Scotland, Wales, and England.

Understanding the Legal Context Before You Cook

Before discussing kit and technique, it is worth understanding where you stand legally, because the law directly affects how and where you can cook outdoors.

Scotland: The Most Permissive Framework

Scotland operates under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which gives the public a statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water. This includes the right to wild camp — and by extension, to cook — on unenclosed land, provided you act in accordance with the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, published by NatureScot (formerly Scottish Natural Heritage). The Code stipulates that campfires should only be lit where there is no risk of damage to vegetation or soil, and that any fire must be properly extinguished. Scotland’s framework is the gold standard for wild campers in the UK, and it is why areas such as the Cairngorms National Park, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, the Galloway Hills, and the Fisherfield wilderness attract campers from across the country.

It is important to note that Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park introduced byelaws in 2017 under the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000, creating specific zones where camping — including cooking fires — requires a permit between 1 March and 30 September. These zones cover the eastern shores of Loch Lomond and parts of Loch Chon and Loch Lubnaig. Outside those zones and those dates, the general access rights apply.

England and Wales: A More Restricted Position

In England and Wales, there is no general right to wild camp. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW Act) grants access to open country — mountains, moors, heaths, and downs — for walking and certain other activities, but camping is not included in that right. Wild camping in England and Wales is therefore technically only lawful with the landowner’s permission, or on specific parcels of land where a permissive right exists.

In practice, wild camping has long been tolerated in many upland areas, particularly on Dartmoor National Park land, where a High Court ruling in January 2023 initially threatened to remove that tolerated right before the Court of Appeal reinstated it in July 2023, affirming that Dartmoor’s byelaws do permit wild camping. Dartmoor National Park Authority manages approximately 954 square kilometres of open moorland, and wild camping — and by extension outdoor cooking — remains possible there, provided campers follow the authority’s guidance on fire safety and low-impact practice.

In Wales, the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog), Snowdonia (Eryri National Park), and the Cambrian Mountains are popular wild camping destinations where landowner tolerance is generally high, but no statutory right exists. Eryri National Park Authority actively encourages responsible wild camping as part of its visitor management strategy.

Choosing the Right Stove for UK Wild Camping

The UK’s unpredictable weather — particularly the wind that hammers exposed ridges in the Highlands, the Lake District, and the Brecon Beacons — makes stove selection a serious consideration. There is no single best stove; the right choice depends on your trip length, group size, altitude, season, and whether you are travelling ultralight or comfortable.

Gas Canister Stoves

Gas canister stoves burning a butane-propane or isobutane-propane blend are the most popular choice among UK wild campers. Brands such as MSR, Jetboil, Primus, and the British brand Alpkit offer a wide range of options. The key advantages are ease of use, fast boil times, and precise flame control. The key disadvantage is performance in cold conditions: butane-heavy mixes struggle significantly below 5°C, which is a real concern on Scottish winter trips or high-altitude nights in the Cairngorms, where temperatures regularly drop below freezing even in May.

Isobutane-propane blends — sold under names such as MSR IsoPro and Jetboil Jetpower — perform meaningfully better in the cold, though they still degrade at temperatures well below -10°C. For serious winter use, keeping the canister in your sleeping bag overnight and warming it in your hands before use are well-established techniques.

Gas canisters must be carried out with you. They cannot be recycled in standard UK kerbside collections, though specialist facilities exist. Alpkit operates a canister recycling scheme at its stores, and MSR sells a canister puncturing tool so that empty canisters can be safely recycled as scrap metal. This is an important consideration given the Leave No Trace principles that underpin responsible wild camping across the UK.

Liquid Fuel Stoves

Stoves running on white gas (also sold in the UK as Coleman Fuel or Primus PowerFuel) perform reliably in extreme cold and at altitude, making them the preferred choice for mountaineers and those planning extended winter expeditions in the Scottish Highlands. The MSR WhisperLite International and Primus OmniLite Ti are widely used. Liquid fuel stoves are heavier and require more maintenance than canister stoves, but the fuel is widely available, performs consistently in sub-zero temperatures, and is less expensive per unit of energy than canister gas.

Multi-fuel stoves capable of burning unleaded petrol and kerosene are particularly useful for international trips or remote expeditions, though for UK wild camping they are largely overkill unless you are planning a high-altitude winter traverse.

Alcohol Stoves

Methylated spirit (meths) stoves — sometimes called spirit stoves — have a devoted following among ultralight hikers on routes such as the Cape Wrath Trail, the South West Coast Path, and the Pennine Way. They are exceptionally simple, virtually silent, and have no moving parts to break. The Trangia system, made in Sweden but enormously popular in the UK, is the most recognised example, and its windshield design makes it notably effective in breezy conditions.

Methylated spirit is widely available at outdoor shops, hardware shops, and some supermarkets across the UK. The disadvantages are a slower boil time compared to gas and significantly reduced performance in cold, wet weather. For a solo wild camper primarily boiling water for a dehydrated meal, an alcohol stove is often entirely adequate. For a group needing to cook a substantial meal after a long day, it may frustrate.

Solid Fuel Tablets

Hexamine (Hexi) tablets are a useful emergency backup and are standard issue in British Army 24-hour ration packs. They are cheap, light, and reliable but slow, produce soot, and leave a residue. They are best treated as a backup option rather than a primary cooking system for any trip longer than a day.

Wood-Burning Stoves

Small titanium wood-burning stoves such as the Solo Stove Lite or Firebox Nano have grown in popularity, particularly among those who want to reduce their reliance on purchased fuel. In practice, their suitability for UK wild camping is limited. Many wild camping environments in Scotland, England, and Wales are above the tree line, where dead wood is scarce or absent. Fire restrictions on Dartmoor, in Loch Lomond National Park, and increasingly across NatureScot-managed land during dry periods mean that even where wood is available, burning it may not be appropriate.

Open Fires: When They Are Appropriate and How to Use Them Safely

Open fires carry significant romantic appeal for many wild campers. However, the UK’s landscapes — particularly the peat-rich uplands of Scotland, the heather moorlands of the Peak District and North York Moors, and the dry grasslands of the South Downs — are highly susceptible to fire damage. The Marsden Moor fire in April 2019, which burned approximately 700 acres of SSSI-designated moorland managed by the National Trust, is a stark reminder of how quickly an uncontrolled fire can cause irreversible ecological damage.

The Scottish Outdoor Access Code Guidance on Fires

NatureScot’s Scottish Outdoor Access Code states that you can light fires outdoors, but that you should: use a lightweight stove where possible; only light an open fire where it is safe to do so; keep fires small; never light a fire during dry, windy weather; remove all traces of a fire afterwards; and use a fire pan or similar device to prevent scorching the ground. It explicitly recommends avoiding open fires on deep peat, on dry ground, or in woodlands.

Moving Forward

Once you have the fundamentals in place, the possibilities open up considerably. The UK offers fantastic opportunities for anyone interested in this hobby, and with the right foundation you will be well placed to make the most of them.