Top tips when you're out and about

Build a Campfire

Cooking on a campfire can be a really fun experience. It fuels our primal cave man nature. Make sure you enjoy a successful outdoor experience by following a few simple rules when it comes to building and lighting your campfire.

Prepare your site

• Pick a location for your fire that is at least 5 m away from bushes, or any combustibles or overhanging branches.
• Ensure your fire is built downwind from your accommodation.
• Use large rocks to make a round or U shaped perimeter.
• If it is windy, ensure that they back of the fire pit faces the wind (so the wind takes any smoke to the back of the fire)
• Put a large or a number of smaller rocks at the rear of the fire pit to act as a chimney, to help direct smoke up and away.

Lay kindling

• Fill your chosen fire area with paper or tinder and a couple of Zip™ firelighter cubes.
• Lay the kindling over the paper, alternating the orientation of the wood for each layer to create a lattice pattern. Some campers prefer to make a ‘tepee’ shape.
• Remember to light the firelighters with long safety matches and have a bottle of water or sand/ dirt to smother any unwanted flames.

Once ablaze

• Once the kindling is fully alight, add the pre found fire wood. Wherever possible, ensure that the wood is of a similar size.
• If available, use hard wood as it burns more slowly and reduces the amount of spitting.
• When the flames have begun to die down, leaving mostly cinders, use a large, strong stick to push the cinders into a high concentration at the back of the fire and a lower concentration at the front. This gives the cook a choice of high, medium or low temperatures in which to cook.
• To begin cooking, set the grill on the rocks. You can now place the food directly on the grill or in a pan and cook your meal in a truly authentic style.
• After cooking, add wood for the evening campfire, sit back and enjoy relaxing the great outdoors while keeping warm.
• As the fires goes out, extinguish thoroughly with water, before turning in for the night.

Now you’ve had a read of our Campfire advice we would love to hear any ‘pearls of wisdom’ that you might have. Share your very own top tips for the perfect campfire on our Facebook, tweet us or send us an email and we will upload our favourites on to this page!

Tweet

Responsible BBQ

Firing up the barbecue, is a great way to spend your leisure time whilst  feeding family and friends at the same time. However, barbecue ownership involves more than simply lighting the fire. We call it the S.L.C

• Safety
• Location
• Care

Safety

Following these simple precautions can minimise the risk of injury or the break out of an unwanted fire:

• Use Zip™ charcoal and firelighters! They are designed to be the safest and most reliable.
• If using a liquid firelighter, then use the smallest amount possible – do not squirt onto an already lit fire as this will cause flames to flare up and potentially become out of control.
• Ensure that small children and pets are kept away from the flames and the hot barbecue.
• Keep a bucket of water or sand on hand in case of emergency.
• Make sure the fire is fully extinguished before packing up.
• Never put hot ashes or coals straight into a dustbin or wheelie bin.

Location

Selecting the right location for your barbecue reduces the risk of unplanned fires. Simply check that there are no buildings, trees, washing etc. in your selected barbecue zone. Once you have selected your site:

• Avoid cooking inside tents and buildings.
• Choose a flat surface to ensure that your barbecue is stable.
• Be aware of the ground beneath you, especially if you are barbecuing in public areas as peat turf is very flammable and a small ground fire could spread quickly.

Care

It is all too easy for barbecues to be neglected over the winter months. We recommend getting it in shape by:

• Dusting the inside of the drum with a steel brush. For stubborn dirt, try a little soapy water or Zip™ Barbecue Cleaner.
• Use cat litter if you have any, for soaking up the grease accumulated in the bottom of the base or pour onto some newspapers and dispense of in the dustbin.
• Use a wire brush to remove the rust, grim and carbon build-up on your grill and grates. Wash with warm soapy water and dry thoroughly.
• If your grill is really dirty, use a brush made out of steel wool or steel bristles.
• Coating vegetable oil on your grill will protect it from rust in the future.

If you have any of your own top tips forResponsible BBQ then we would love to hear them! Please share to our Facebook page, tweet us or send us an email.

Tweet

Barbecuing Top Tips

Keep it clean

Removing grease and food from a barbecue is easier when it is a little warm. So once the coals are alight and the grate is slowly starting to heat up, use a long handled wire brush on your grill to clean off any left-over food or grease. And, don’t forget to scrape it again immediately after use. This way, you’ll be ready for your next barbecue in double-quick time.

Oil it up

Whether your barbecue is clean or dirty, the lack of grease in lean foods means that they may still stick to your grill. Using a vegetable oil soaked piece of paper/ kitchen towel and a pair of tongs apply the oil to the food to stop sticking. Never apply oil directly from the bottle or from a spray as this may cause unwanted flames and even smoke.

Make food safe

Don’t forget food hygiene outdoors when cooking. Remember to have separate plates for raw and cooked meat, different chopping boards for vegetables etc. Also ensure that your food is in the fridge for as long as possible and keep marinating meats in there too.

Avoid flare-ups

Flames erupt from your barbecue when fat drips onto the heat source and catches fire. You run the risk of charring the outside of the food before the inside is cooked thoroughly. To reduce flare- ups, select lean cuts of meat, trim excess fat and remove the skins from poultry. As an added safety measure it is worth keeping a "squirt" or "spray" water bottle nearby to quickly douse any flare-up.

Banish the bugs

Bacteria in any under cooked food can ruin a great event, so ensuring that your barbecue is at optimum temperature for killing any bugs and thoroughly cooking your food is essential. To make sure your barbecue reaches the right temperature, consider investing in a food thermometer to check that the food is cooking at its most appropriate heat. Alternatively pierce the food with a fork to allow the heat to more quickly cook the inside of the food.

Now you’ve read our best barbecuing advice, we would love to hear your ‘tricks of the trade’! Share your very own BBQ top tips on our Facebook page, tweet us or send us an email, and we will upload our favourites on to this page!

Tweet

Choosing The Right Wood

Not only are we passionate about lighting fires we really want to share our love and enthusiasm for all things fire.Especially about which woods will make your fire hot and toasty and those which, quite frankly, are a bit of a damp squib.

Why use wood

Wood is a natural and sustainable choice of fuel for domestic fires and has been in use since the first fire many millennia ago. When we warm our homes with wood, we participate in a natural cycle that we share with our ancient ancestors. Wood fuelled the open fires of the hunter-gatherers, the brick ovens of the first bakers, and, until the 19th century, all our homes.

Today, we still love to sit in front of a fire and coming in from the cold naturally draws us to the fire. We all know that feeling of returning home after a busy day out, to a cold chilly house and really wanting a warm and cosy fire as quickly as possible.

Knowing which wood to use will help you achieve a speedy, toasty house leaving you more time to relax and enjoy your well-earned rest at the end of a busy day. Whether it is gazing into the magical flames or unwinding with a glass of your favorite wine, enjoy your fire with Zip™ firelighters and the right wood:

Woods for instant, great warming heat:

• Ash: Reckoned by many to be the best wood for burning. It can be burnt green but burns best when dry and seasoned.
• Birch: Good heat and burns quickly. Smell is pleasant, but it can cause gum deposits in the chimney if used a lot.
• Cedar: Great heat, small flame, a nice scent, and lots of crackle and pop. Cedar is a great splitting wood and good for cooking.
• Eucalyptus: A fast burning wood with a pleasant smell and no spitting. It is full of sap and oils when fresh and can start a chimney fire if burned unseasoned. May not be the best for cooking with.
• Larch: Crackly, scented, and fairly good for heat. It needs to be seasoned well and forms oily soot in chimneys.
• Plum: A good burning wood with good heat output.
• Rowan: Is a good burning wood that has a slow burn with a good heat output.
• Thorn: Is one of the best woods for burning. It produces a steady flame and very good heat output with very little smoke.
• Beech, hickory, hard maple, pecan, and dogwood are also excellent sources of woods which produce high amounts of heat, are easy to burn and produce few sparks and little smoke.

Woods for a warm, slow burn:

• Apple: This is a good fuel that has a slow and steady burn when dry. Sparking and spitting is also at a minimum and it has a nice scent. This fuel is great for cooking.
• Cherry: A slow to burn wood that produces a good heat output. Needs to be seasoned well.
• Hawthorn: Is a good traditional firewood that has a slow burn with good heat output.
• Laurel: Produces a very bright flame but only reasonable heat output. It needs to be well seasoned.
• Oak: Oak has a light flame and the smoke is pungent if not seasoned for two years after winter felling. Summer felled Oak takes years to season well. Dry old oak is excellent for heat, burning slowly and steadily.

Not good wood:

• Alder: Poor heat output and quick burning makes this a low quality firewood.
• Chestnut: A poor burning wood with poor heat output.
• Elder: Burns quickly without much heat output and has thick smoke. Probably best avoided.
• Laburnum: A very smoky wood with a poor burn. Do not use.

Kindling:

• Pine species generally: (Including the dreaded Leylandii) Burns with an impressive flame, but liable to spit. Needs to be seasoned well and is another one that can leave an oily soot in the chimney. Pines smell great and the high resin content makes it good for kindling.

Aspen, basswood, cottonwood, chestnut, yellow poplar and spruce produce relative low amounts of heat and whilst easy to burn also pop, throw out sparks and produce a fair amount of smoke. They are most suitable for use as kindling.

If you have further advice on which woods to use, we would love to hear it! You can tweet us, share on our Facebook page or email.

Tweet

Briquettes

Briquettes are very easy to purchase and are found in local supermarkets, petrol stations and DIY retailers. Considered by some to be the ‘fast food’ of charcoal, they are produced from the smaller pieces of wood or dust left over in the furnace once the lumpwood has been removed, simply compressed into a briquette using a binding agent. They are consequently denser than lumpwood, more difficult to light, but longer and hotter burning. Many brands may contain wood by-products, combined with additives, starches and sometimes waste material, which sometimes cause a chemical smell. Zip briquettes are 100% natural, containing only wood, making them cleaner burning and producing great tasting food.

Zip™ 100% Natural Hardwood Briquettes

• Burns consistently
• Burns hotter for longer
• Does not smell or taint food
• 100% natural wood - no added starch or binders
• Easy to clear up

In essence, every barbecue master has their own individual way of cooking their outdoor food and we suspect this debate will rumble on for many years to come. Rest assured that Zip’s Briquette charcoals are of the highest quality and have helped to produce fabulous tasting outdoor food for many families around the world.

If you have any of your own top tips for Briquettes then we would love to hear them! Please share to our Facebook page, tweet us or send us an email.

Tweet

Bonfires any time of day

Burning our rubbish in our gardens is a traditional way of clearing plant and household waste, any time of year. If you live in an urban area, it is best to be mindful of your neighbours and how the smoke or even flames may harm their homes. Many of us, have believed the urban myth of having to wait until after 6.00pm before lighting, but there are no time rules to say when you can and can’t light bonfires on your property.

Legally, there are no specific rules on lighting bonfires, but the Environmental Protection Act 1990 does make it an offence to burn plastic, rubber or painted materials, as this will create poisonous fumes that can have a damaging effect on your health and that of your neighbours’.

Under the Highways Act 1980 anyone who lights a fire and then allows the smoke to blow across a public highway could be liable for an offence, if the smoke affects visibility on the highway and endangers the safety of traffic. So think about the wind direction before lighting.

Here are a few tips to ensure that your neighbours still remain your friends…

• You should not attempt to light a bonfire when it’s a windy day, as wind will blow the smoke further.
• Notify your neighbours in advance, if you are going to light a bonfire – they can remove their washing and close their windows.
• Make sure that you have the means to control the bonfire flames - clear around the bonfire area and also have a garden hose ready to go or buckets of water, just in case.
• We recommend that you do not leave a bonfire unattended for long periods of time.
• Make sure that there are no animals that may be harmed by the bonfire such as hedgehogs and keep your dog or cat or other pets indoors.
• Do not be tempted to throw petrol or Kerosene on the bonfire as this may cause flame flashbacks and harmful black smoke.
• Burn small amount of rubbish at a time and avoid burning painted materials, rubber and plastics.
• Don’t include any wet or green materials on your bonfire as that will just cause excess smoke.

All you need to get your bonfire going with no fuss at all, is to use Zip™ block or individually wrapped firelighters, just 3 or 4 cubes will easily light your fire in a safe and controlled manner. All that is left to do us stand back with a cup of tea and watch your waste turn to ash. Great for digging back into the garden!

Now you’ve read our very best bonfire advice, we would love to hear any ‘pearls of wisdom’ that you might have. Share your very own Bonfire top tips on our Facebook page, tweet us or send us an email and we will upload our favourites on to this page!

Tweet

Fire safety

At Zip™, we take fire safety very seriously, and are often asked for advice on a number of wide ranking topics such as whether a chimney needs sweeping or how a fireguard should be used. To make it easier, we have collated our most frequently asked questions.

Q: How often should I have my chimney swept?

A: Frequency of sweeping can depend on a number of factors – our guidelines are:-

• Chimneys – once or twice a year
• Smokeless fuel open fires – once a year
• Bituminous house coal open fires – twice a year
• Wood burning stoves – every 3 months during use

Many insurance companies now insist on proof of sweeping by a certified chimney sweep and it is also worth checking the details of your insurance policy to ensure you will be covered in the event of a claim.

Q: How can I prevent build-up of creosote and tars in my chimney?

A: To help ensure that your chimney remains clean of all residues, use only dry wood and have your chimney swept on a regular basis. Using wet or damp wood or turf can lead to a build-up of creosote and tar, which needs to be removed. Burning a hot fire can also ignite residues and cause a chimney fire. Why not try Zip™ Soot reducer?

Q: Where should I store my firelighters and fuel?

A: Firelighters should be kept away from the close surroundings of a fire in a cool and dry place. Many fire makers store them next to the fire on the hearth for convenience but, this is a fire risk. We advise to keep our firelighters in a metal tin and away from food.

Wood, coal and peat should be stored in a dry place with good ventilation so that any dampness can quickly be evaporated to leave dry fuel. The wetter the fuel the harder it will be to light.

Q: What fuel is suitable for my stove?

A: Always be guided by your manufacturer’s recommendations.

Q: Do I need a good air supply?

A: For open fires the chimney should provide enough air to help ’draw the fire’. However, for closed appliances like wood burners and stoves, there needs to bean an adequate flow of air, to allow them to burn correctly. Ensure that your rooms with fires in are well ventilated with fresh air. Sometimes a little draft from outside increases the performance of a fire and sometimes the wind direction moving over the chimney pot can aid air flow. However, fires are generally worse performing on windy days when the wind tends to blow down the chimney.

If you have double glazing or draught proofing, you might want to consider fitting an air duct to allow fresh air to enter your room.

Q: What precautions should I take to ensure that my fire does not produce harmful gasses?

A: To prevent harmful gasses being produced by your fire, enough oxygen must be supplied to burn your fuels completely. To do this:

• Ensure all chimneys are cleaned regularly and are kept clear of any obstructions.
• Make sure stoves and appliances are professionally installed and that the doors are sealed properly.
• Never block vents or air bricks.

Q: How often do I need to remove the ash from my fire?

A: A build-up of ash may damage your appliance, so it is important that you remove any ash before each new fire. Allow the ash to cool before cleaning out (ideally overnight). If the ash is from wood logs then it would be possible to use it in your garden as a form of fertiliser. It contains 13 essential nutrients for good plant growth. It also helps to maintain a neutral soil condition.

Q: When should I use a fireguard?

A: Zip™ recommends using a fireguard with any open fire. Never leave an open fire unattended without placing a fireguard in front of the fire. Make sure that the fireguard is fireproof and not made of any flammable materials such as plastic or fabric.

Always place a fire guard over any appliance where indoor pets and small children are able to touch or put their hands near. Log burning stoves heat up to high temperatures and the glass also becomes extremely hot and can cause serious burning and blistering.

Tweet

Campfire cooking tips

Cooking on a campfire is very different to cooking on the stove at home. The easiest way to cook outdoors, is to place a grill above the fire, secured by some rocks and place your food on the grill. If you want to be a little more adventurous, try these 5 tried and tested ways of cooking food on your next camping trip:

Cooking eggs

You will need an egg and an orange. Cut the orange in half, carefully carve out the fruit segments from both sides. Be careful not to pierce or cut through the orange peel skin. Next, crack an egg into each of the two halves of the orange and then carefully place them onto the bed of loose coals at the edge of the fire. Why not add some cheese and whisk to make mini omelettes?

Tin foil supper

This is a tried and tested way of cooking by many thousands of Scouts, Guides and Brownies all over the world. It is simple to cook, and makes a nice change from sausages. It is a meal, all in one!

Ingredients: Green vegetables, potatoes, cubed meat, herbs/ spices, oil and some water.

Method: Lay out a large double layer of aluminium foil and then combine evenly cubed vegetables and potatoes with your meat. Season with a small amount of herbs or spices and add a little oil and water (to help seam cook the food inside). Carefully roll the edges up tight, so that nothing can get out and then place the whole thing on the coals. The smaller that you cut the food up the quicker that it will cook through.

Twists

These are simple and quick to make and can be enjoyed either as a sweet or savoury snack.

Method: Mix flour, water and a pinch of salt together to form a thick dough. If you would like them sweet simply add raisins, sultanas and some cinnamon. If you prefer savoury then why not try adding some grated hard cheese?

Cooking: Make a snake like roll of the dough and twist this snake around a long thick green stick (with bark removed). Support it over the glowing embers of your camp fire and remember to turn them occasionally to evenly cook them until they turn a lovely golden brown. A favourite of scouts the world over!

Instant Hot Dogs

If you do not have a grill and still love hotdogs then this is for you. Lay sliced onion on a cabbage leaves, add a sausage and then place more onions on top. Wrap up the cabbage leaf tightly around and secure the edges with a number of small green sticks to keep it closed. Place the parcel in the fire embers for about 7-10 minutes, turning occasionally.

Cooking with wild leaves

For an authentic natural taste, why not try wrapping your meat, cheese or freshly caught fish in wild leaves? For example, using Cattails (Typha, found readily all over Europe and North America, which grow in marshes, swamps and ditches) wrapped around raw food, will produce a fresh earthy taste.

The best method is to wrap your food in the leaves, overlap the leaves around the raw food and tie some wet twine around the leaves to hold it together. Carefully place the parcels of food into the warm embers of your fire and wait for the food to cook.

Now you’ve read our top tips for cooking over an open fire, we would love to hear yours! Share them on our Facebook page, tweet us or send us an email of your much loved recipes and we will upload our favourites on to this page!

Tweet

Freddie’s outdoor safety tips

When lighting your fire, place your firelighter on a bed of cinders or amongst the coal in your BBQ.

1. Be sure to use long safety matches, striking the match away from you before carefully lighting your fire.
2. To avoid a hazardous situation, avoid using firelighters on a warm/hot grate and do not light firelighters in your hand.
3. Prevent a chimney fire by ensuring your chimney is regularly swept. We recommend your chimney is professionally cleaned twice a year. At the beginning of the winter season and at the end.
4. It is always best to store firelighters well away from your fire, preferably in a separate room or shed to prevent any unwanted accidents.
5. Once your fire is lit, make sure you use a fireguard or fire screen. Be aware that sparks can sometimes penetrate fireguards, therefore do not leave your fire to burn unattended, especially when children and pets are nearby. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
6. Do not use firelighters on a warm grate.
7. Do not light firelighters in your hand.

Check the safety tips on packs!!

Tweet