The type of food common in outdoors settings is somewhat different compared to household foods, and also differs depending on the type of cooking activity. While someone at a public campground may have easy access to a grocery store and be able to prepare plenty of recipes with fresh meat and vegetables, someone on an extended trip into the backcountry will not be able to carry large amounts of fresh food, due to the extra weight from high water content, and will have to rely heavily on food with a low water content, such as dried meats and vegetables, packaged dehydrated camping foods, and starches such as ramen, polenta, and dried potato flakes. Wilderness experts in both categories sometimes make use of locally available wild foods as well, particularly wild vegetables and fruit but also occasionally fresh fish and wild game; however, it is not unusual for camping food, especially backcountry food, to be partially or totally vegetarian. The most traditional method for outdoor cooking and indeed the oldest form of cooking known to humanity is by means of a campfire.

Campfires can be used for cooking food by a number of techniques. The techniques for cooking on a campfire are no different from those used for everyday cooking before the invention of stoves or where stoves are still not available. Individuals who are backpacking in an area that allows the gathering of firewood may decide to cook on a campfire to avoid the need to carry extra equipment; however, most campfire cooking is done in outside of wilderness areas. Cooking food using a campfire can be tricky for those not accustomed to it; also, due to risk of fire damage, campfires are illegal in many areas, so many campers prefer to use a portable stove instead. Possibly the simplest method of cooking over a campfire and one of the most common is to roast food on long skewers that can be held above the flames. This is popular for cooking hot dogs or toasting marshmallows for making s'mores.

Hungarians often roast slab bacon Szalonna over a campfire. Besides skewers and fireplace popcorn popper, pie irons too may be used small iron molds with long handles, into which can be placed slices of bread with some form of filling — which are placed over hot coals to cook. When using meat, roasting can have the advantage over grilling in that the grease that drips from the food can be reused. This can be done by placing a fireproof container under the food. Grills are simple to use and food being grilled tends to pick up some flavor from the smoke, although that is not by design as in a Barbecue where the meat is cooked slowly over a period of hours at a significantly lower temperature. Grills over a campfire are used in the same way as an ordinary backyard charcoal grill.

If the food is simply placed on the grill, it may catch fire so it requires constant attention. Hand held grills, aka broiler that clamp over the food may be used for various tasks like warming food, grilling burgers or sausages or making toast. In cases where open fires are not allowed, lightweight charcoal grills sometimes considered a type of hibachi are sometimes used for direct grilling of food. Camp frying pans often lack handles for easy packing, with the camp cook using a clamp like device to pick up and move the pan. Camp frying pans are generally made out of very thin metal though some campers do use cast iron pans for this purpose as well, so extra care must be taken to evenly cook the food, especially over the small diameter flame of a portable stove. A "round the clock" technique, where the frying pan is moved repeatedly to expose different parts of its base to the flame, is the most commonly recommended solution to the problem, though it is also possible to use a flame diffuser to achieve the same effect.

For campfire use, on the other hand, some camp cooks prefer a legged cast iron pan called a "spider", which is elevated to allow a small fire directly beneath it. Dutch ovens were traditionally specially designed for camping, and such pots often with legs and a handle, both for suspending the pot over a fire are still widely available, though sometimes at a premium over flat bottomed stove top models. The oven is placed in a bed of hot coals, often from a keyhole fire with additional coals placed on top of the lid, which in camp ovens usually has a raised rim to keep the coals from falling off. Dutch ovens are made of cast iron or aluminium, and are generally not considered suitable for backpacking due to the heavy weight of the pot. Dutch ovens are convenient for cooking dishes that take a long time such as stews, joints of meat and baked goods. They are not the only option for baking on a campout as devices for baking on portable stoves exist and clay ovens can be constructed at longer encampments.

A pot hanging over the fire, although picturesque, may spill, and the rigging may be difficult to construct from found wood. Generally this is done with metal rigging, much of it identical to that historically used in home fireplaces before the invention of stoves. Two vertical iron bars with an iron cross piece allow pots to be hung at various heights or over different temperatures of fire. Griddles, grills and skewers can also be hung over the fire. When working with wood, one may use two tripods, lashed with tripod lashings, but the rope will be liable to melt or burn. Dovetail joints are more secure, but difficult to carve.

A good alternative to cooking with a tripod is to cook directly upon the fire itself. To do this properly the fire needs to have a reasonable bed of coals and to have burned down to the point where it is not a roaring fire. While the pot may be set directly upon the coals, this is not preferable since that will tend to extinguish the coals. To lift the pot up off the fire, often two small logs of similar size may be used on either side of the pot; camp style Dutch ovens have three legs built into the pot to perform this function. An alternative is the use of a metal thread or mesh fire basket. This allows continued airflow through the fire while providing optimal heat.

The one down side to this form of cooking is that the pots will become blackened with soot and ash, which can be difficult to scrub off. The ash and soot build up can be easily avoided by applying a thin layer of dish soap preferably biodegradable to the outside of the pot before cooking. The ash and soot will stick to the soap which is then easily rinsed off later. Another commonly used technique is the baking of food in aluminum foil packets. Food is wrapped inside a durable packet of tin or aluminum foil, crimped to seal, and placed on or under hot coals. Baked potatoes are commonly cooked this way but entire meals can be cooked in one packet.

Besides aluminum or tin, organic material such as leaves of tree, "Nelumbo nucifera" lotus, "Dendrocalamus latiflorus Munro" bamboo aka Bambusa oldhamii 麻竹葉, phragmites, plantain, taro, etc. , husks of corn, "Phyllostachys makinoi" bamboo 桂竹籜, etc. , and skins of fruit citrus, etc. are also frequently employed. Tree leaves such as those from the banana tree do not burn/ignite as they contain enough oil to resist the heat from the flames at least until the frying is complete. The way to adapt recipes where food is wrapped in foil is to use a barrier such as baking or silicone paper between the food and the foil; the overall technique is similar to the en papillote technique developed in French cuisine, but uses a more robust container.

Backwoods cooking is a method of cooking without the use of kitchen implements. It commonly takes place in the backwoods, often in combination with wild or conventional camping. Some variants of backwoods cooking allow the use of items of cookware such as a cooking pot; however there are many recipes without any. Some backwoods alternatives to cookware include: aluminium foil, fruit skins and heated stones. Traditionally backwoods cooking takes place over a wood burning fire because wood is the most available fuel source in the backwoods. As a result, some recipes include information about the intensity of the fire to be used.

Portable stoves are widely used in areas where fuel such as wood is scarce or there is a significant fire or environmental hazard to building a campfire. Such devices usually use a liquid fuel usually a petroleum derivative or some kind of alcohol, but gaseous fuels like propane, butane and solid fuels such as wood shavings and hexamine are also used depending on the stove design; while two burner models are commonly used for front country campstoves and function much like residential gas stoves, backpacking stoves generally put out a much more concentrated and less powerful flame and require lightweight cooking equipment "billycans" made of aluminum or titanium rather than more typical kitchen type utensils. Outdoor cooking elements can be of danger due to their high flammability and proximity to occupants. Use of highly flammable alcohols to refuel portable cookers, gas cookers need to be checked for leaks and kept well away from heat and tents in a sheltered and stable setting. Most modern tents are made of lightweight synthetic materials that are not fire retardant. Fires and flames must properly extinguished and not left unattended.

Wind can carry hot embers, possibly igniting wildfires. In rare occasions portable camping canisters have been known to explode. These can be caused by leaks or overheating around the compressed canister. Adequate air ventilation can prevent overheating during use. It is recommended to operate such portable cooking instruments in the open, despite the pull of luxury in having them operate inside a tent. A number of incidents involving camping and cooking fires have resulted in fatalities and severe injuries.