I go camping once a month because my kid is in scouts. 8 of the 12 are essentially drive-up car camping events, one is bicycle camping, one is canoe camping, and the other two are hike-in backpacking trips. For the eight car camping trips, I usually just throw a couple of dedicated bins in the back. One is for cooking and cleaning gear, one has camp equipment, and the other is food. I found we don't need very much for most two day trips. Some things make life a little more convenient, but at the end of the day, if you are dry, warm, fed, and get some sleep, you don't need much else beyond that.

There is one piece of equipment that I spent a lot of money on, and have never had a moment's regret. That is an Exped Megamat. It's about 4" thick when inflated, and heavily insulated. I find that with a good night's sleep and a couple cups of coffee, I can put up with nearly any shennanigans a group of 10-12 minimally supervised teenagers can throw my way. The Megamat is too big to hike with, so it is car only. The insulation factor makes a tremendous difference in sleeping comfortably from September through March. In my smaller tent, two of them take up the full floor space, so there is nowhere for my kid to roll off. They were something like $300 a piece, and as far as I am concerned, worth every penny.



For the backpacking trips, mostly I am just boiling water to rehydrate meals, so a JetBoil is plenty.


For the car camping trips, we actually cook four hot meals and have to follow the scout dish washing and sanitizing procedures, which involve a lot of boiling water. Two miserable camping trips with high winds above 8000 feet taught me that my Coleman two burner wasn't going to cut it. Hard to stay lit in high wind, and it took forever to boil water. I switched to an Everest camp stove and have been very happy for three years now. The thing puts out 30k btus, will stay lit in a wind storm, and will heat a stock pot full of water to a boil very quickly. Doesn't care if I have to dust off a layer of snow to get it lit. Best thing in the world for preparing hot meals and drinks for a group on snowy mornings.