Outdoor cooking gear you’ll love for National BBQ Week

It’s almost National BBQ Week! Here are 13 BBQs, camping stoves and outdoor cooking accessories for your best barbecue yet

We love a celebratory week and National BBQ Week, which runs from 29 May to 4 June this year, is something we can really get behind. After a long day of exploring, there really is nothing better than the simple pleasure of heading back to the tent, caravan, motorhome or campervan, cracking open your favourite tipple and getting the bbq going.

Here, we’ve put together just a few of our favourite bits of cooking gear for camping, from camping stoves and barbecues to outdoor cooking accessories, to make sure you have the best National BBQ Week yet...

We've also got loads of great barbecue recipes – click here for a dose of culinary inspiration.

Petromax Camping Oven

(Photo courtesy of Petromax)

Compatible with a range of heat sources – including gas and electric stoves, hotplates, fire/barbecue embers (with the brand’s cooking stand) and the Petromax Agato stove – this stainless-steel camping oven has a two-litre capacity, ideal for rustling up a casserole or campfire chilli.

Heat is conveyed from the base into the central opening of the ring mould, so is distributed evenly throughout the oven, while ventilation openings, a lid and outer coating all add to the effective cooking results. Two side handles mean you can move it around easily to serve up, and, at 1.64kg, it won't take up much of your payload if that's a concern for you.

Fancy heating up some nachos or crisping some bread rolls to go with that meal? Add the stainless-steel Petromax Baking Tray (£25.95), which can be placed on top of the camping oven, all whilst the other ingredients bubble away below.

Price: £74.95

Buy it here

Soto Thermostack Cook Set Combo

(Photo courtesy of SOTO)

Ideal if space is limited in your tent or camper, or you have a bit of solo travel planned this summer, the Thermostack Cook Set Combo has been designed by Japanese technical brand, Soto.

Made out of a combination of aluminium, titanium and stainless steel, this eight-piece stackable set includes three cooking pots/mugs (750ml, 400ml and 350ml), a pot handle, two sipping lids, a joint to combine two mugs for enhanced heat retention, and an insulated cover to keep the ingredients inside warm, which also doubles up as a carry bag. It weighs just 310g and measures 8.6cm by 11cm when stowed.

Price: RRP £71.95

Buy it here

Traeger Ranger

(Photo courtesy of Traeger)

Make a statement on site with this portable smoker from American brand, Traeger. The company makes a range of full-sized smokers for your home, but this one is designed for those on the move.

Let’s get the figures out of the way first. It’s a fairly hefty 27.5kg and measures 54cm by 51cmby 33cm, so if storage or payload is at a premium, it’s not going to be the product for you.

Powered by wood pellets (there are various types for a different smoke flavour), a full 3.5kg in the hopper is enough for an eight-hour low and slow cook. If you’re planning to cook at higher temperatures, you’ll need to refill more often. You’ll need a power source as the digital display and hopper need mains power. There’s a keep-warm mode to temporarily pause the cooking. The grill reaches a max temp of 250 ̊C. Plus, a shutdown mode takes around 15 minutes to ensure the grill is cool. Get into the swing of grilling the American way...

Price: £549

Buy it here

Camper Firewok

(Photo courtesy of Firewok)

Handcrafted in Bristol, this ultra-portable 16in camping firepit is the perfect addition to outdoor gatherings and camping get-togethers. Once your fire has reduced to embers, it becomes the perfect barbecue – just add the wooden-handled grille (sold separately for £120).

It might be simple in design but it’s a beautifully made stainless-steel, copper-riveted cone, with screw-on legs that make it easy to pack and away and store – and the specially made Firewok Bag (£26) makes it even easier to stash away in the car, caravan or motorhome.

Firework is also a company that’s passionate about sustainability, using local steel suppliers, 60% recycled stainless steel, renewable electricity during manufacture, plants trees to offset its carbon footprint and even delivers locally via bicycle whenever it can!

You can buy the full Camper Firewok Kit, including firepit, bag, grille and gloves for £260.

Price: £140

Buy it here

Portable Kamado Ceramic Grill Barbecue

(Photo courtesy of Gardenesque)

Take your barbecuing to another level with this portable Kamado ceramic grill and smoker that heats up ready for cooking in 15 minutes, perfect for a weekend camping trip. Designed to allow for precise temperature control, ranging from 107 to 399°C, you can use this charcoal grill for grilling, searing, baking and smoking by adding wood chips to the charcoal. The high-quality ceramic body is excellent at heat retention, which is why it’s an extremely versatile cooker and can be used to cook anything from meat and fish, to pizza and even baking a cake.

Kamado barbecues are available in a black or green finish and come on a cast iron stand with handles for transporting. The ceramic body allows the Kamado barbecue to reach the maximum temperature, keeping the coals hot for up to 10 hours, perfect for slow roasting.

Price: £499.99

Buy it here

Campingaz Camping Kitchen 2 Grill & Go

(Photo courtesy of Campingaz)

If you’re a tent camper or your campervan doesn’t have an oven, or you just prefer to cook outdoors, this new stove from Campingaz is versatile enough to cover all your campsite cooking needs and has the quality that the brand is known for.

The two-burner unit comes with a plancha and a searing grid, which sit on top of the burners. You can use both at the same time, use one grill with a pan or simply use both of the 2,000W burners for cooking with pans. The plancha and grid are designed so fat will flow away from your food, for healthier cooking. The enamelled steel grills are simple to clean and the stainless-steel cooking top can be wiped down easily. It has piezo ignition, so no matches needed, and it all packs away safely in its own carry bag.

Price: £150

Buy it here

Feuerhand Tamber Table Top Grill

(Photo courtesy of Feuerhand)

New from German brand, Feuerhand, is this great little tabletop grill, the Tamber. Measuring 20cm across, 14cm in height and weighing just 1.9kg, it’s a super compact barbecue for intimate gatherings, while the lid also serves as a heat-resistant coaster to ensure your table is protected and the grill sits safely.

When using with the recommended Feuerhand Table Top Grill Charcoal (available in 1kg refill bags for £11.99), which features a purely natural ignition for quick use, the grill is ready to go in about 15-20 minutes. And, when it’s time to pack away, the enamelled grilling grate is non-stick and even dishwasher-safe.

Designed to coordinate with Feuerhand’s iconic Baby Special 276 Hurricane Lantern range (the Tamber’s lid can also be used as a coaster for the lantern), the Tamber is available in five striking colours: Telemagenta, Cobalt Blue, Jet Black, Light Green and Ruby Red, and comes with a starter pack of charcoal.

Price: £99.95

Buy it here

Campingaz Twin Connection Regulator

(Photo courtesy of Campingaz)

It might not be the sexiest piece of camping equipment you’ll ever buy, but this new product from Campingaz could be one of the most useful. And it truly is an example of outstanding camping innovation that will make life easier for campers. LPG is stored in bottles at high pressure and, when it's released, it passes through a regulator to ensure that it’s at the right pressure for the appliance it is being supplied to. Different devices need different regulators, but this device simplifies the process.

It has one outlet leading to the stove or barbecue and two inlets – one for Campingaz’s Easy Clic connection and one for a cylinder. It means you can use either a CV470 canister or a Campingaz cylinder with the same hose and regulator on your Campingaz products.

Price: £40

Buy it here

Weber Lumin Electric Barbecue

(Photo courtesy of Weber)

Let’s be frank – coal is a right pain while away in the motorhome, while gas is great if you have an external bbq point. However, what’s more convenient than simply plugging this new Weber electric grill into a 230V power socket and switching on? Cook inside or out – as there’s no carbon monoxide to worry about. Yes, you’ll need a good mains supply (about 9A) – or oodles of lithium and a good inverter – but what a thing. You can sear food as the temperatures can reach over 300 ̊C, while the chicken thighs we tried had a lovely level of char, similar to those results from a gas bbq. The Lumin can also keep food warm, so you can go back for seconds.

The kit comes with two accessories that allow you to steam smoke or boil foods as well, making it a multifunctional cooker. All in all, it’s a great bit of kit, but the price, size and weight of the standard version (£579, 65cm by 48cm by 30cm, and 16.5kg) might be more than you’d like. There is a Compact version – £399, 58.6cm by 41.2cm by 28cm and 12kg, too, though. Both can be ordered with a collapsible stand, if you don’t have a capable outdoor table for it to sit on. As with other Weber products, we expect to see more options to accessorise your Lumin, too.

Price: from £399

Buy it here

ProQ Flatdog Barbecue

(Photo courtesy of ProQ)

Single-use disposable BBQs are not recyclable and just end up in landfill and campsite hedgerows, so we’re pleased to see that, at last, some supermarkets are taking action and banning them. Quick to pick up on this is ProQ Barbecues and Smokers, which has launched the Flatdog, offering the main benefits of a disposable bbq but being reusable, too.

When not in use, it packs down to a similar thickness to a laptop (25mm), so it’s easy to store. When you want to use it, just open it up, add charcoal and get cooking on the 38cm by 30cm grill. Made from high-quality stainless-steel, it’s easy to clean afterwards, too. It weighs 4.65kg.

Price: £89.99

Buy it here

Petromax Atago Stove

(Photo courtesy of Petromax)

We’re always banging on about saving space and weight because it’s always at such a premium. A barbecue is essentially a luxury item that you could survive without, and may have to, because, if you’ve only got a hulking great big barbecue, you’ll probably have to leave one of your children or dogs at home in order make space for it.

Alternatively, you could get something really dinky like this Atago stove, which, at 6.1kg, is light enough to also take out on a picnic, perhaps. Unlike those awful disposable barbecues that are banned on many campsites, this one has three legs to keep it off the ground, so you won’t set fire to the field and a load of tents.

Price: £229.95

Buy it here

Valiant Portable Folding BBQ

(Photo courtesy of Valiant)

It’s hard to stand out from the crowd these days, but Valiant seems to have managed it with its limited edition bbq. It’s yellow, really yellow, and it has a lovely little picture of a bumblebee on it, too. The reason for that is that this portable bbq has been developed to support the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA). We all know the honeybee is currently struggling, and this charity aims to train and support beekeepers and promote the importance of bees in the environment.

Simply open up the suitcase to reveal the cooking grill and charcoal basket. Then fold out the legs and place the charcoal basket on the metal brackets and pop the grille on top. It takes moments. There’s a cooking area for two to four, realistically, depending on the salad accompaniments and appetites. Each barbecue also comes with a packet of bee-friendly wildflower seeds to scatter at home.

Price: £49.99

Buy it here

Light My Fire Firelighting Kit

(Photo courtesy of Light My Fire)

If you’re planning on heading off the beaten track this summer, this is a handy bit of kit. Said to work wherever you are, whatever the weather and whatever the altitude, this three-piece fire lighting kit from Swedish brand, Light My Fire, is a must-have for wild campers.

The kit includes a Swedish FireSteel Firestarter that produces 3,000-degree concentrated sparks – safe for use with gas stoves and bbqs; sustainably sourced, chemical-free Tinder-on-a-Rope with 80% resin content that lights even when wet; plus, a clever stainless-steel Grandpa’s FireFork – just add a stick and it holds the food you want to cook.

Price: £22

Buy it here

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