A chuck box is a light and portable box that is used to store and hold camp kitchen items, including pots and pans, crockery, and cutlery. It needs to be portable because you will use it for camping, but it can also be used in the yard, on days out, and for any picnic or outdoor event. Despite its portability, your patrol box needs to be spacious enough to hold all your most important items. It should also be sturdy and fold up into a reasonably small box. One final consideration is that it should be lightweight enough to be considered easily portable. Think you’re ready to learn how to build a chuck box of your very own?

Wood is a natural material choice for a chuck box. It offers strength and rigidity, and depending on your choice of timber, it is still portable. Below are four DIY chuck box plans, including some for kids to make.

The chuck box plans include compartments for different items. It can prove beneficial to grab your own camping kitchen gear to check that it fits in the compartments. The designs can be modified by moving a few of the shelves around so the finished chuck box better meets your requirements.

The 4 Useful DIY Chuck Box Plans

1. Chuck Box Plans From Scout Life

Although most chuck boxes have a flat top section to house a camping cooker or stove, this isn’t strictly necessary. The chuck box plans from Scout Lilfe are simple to follow, although you will need to cut the wood down to size and screw and hammer nails.

The box has outward sloped legs, which give it support when it is open and in use. Elevating the box off the floor makes it easier to sit or kneel at the kitchen and prepare food. Therefore, the legs need to be sturdy enough that they won’t break when you apply a little pressure. Angling the legs out and using decent fastenings will help ensure that the table is secure.

The guide uses simple fastenings like wing nuts and carriage bolts to attach the legs to the box and an eye screw and swing hook to keep the door closed when not in use. The drawers are made from washtubs, and the box has slide rails for easier insertion. There is also a chain that attaches the door to the box to ensure that it doesn’t flap around.

2. Camping Kitchen Chuck Box Plans From Tom Builds Stuff

Tom Builds Stuff has a challenging list of requirements when building his chuck box. The box itself will hold a propane stove and bottle, as well as pots, pans, dinnerware sets, flatware, and utensils. It even has room for mixing bowls, spices, and a coffee maker.

To ensure that there’s plenty of workspace, the designs include fold-out tops on either side of the box. This effectively doubles the workspace for mixing and preparing food. The shelves that hold the food and all other equipment are behind the front doors, which act as support for the folding tables. There’s even an additional work surface, as the back of the box collapses down to create a table for doing the dishes.

The entire box sits on two sets of legs, which provide elevation and enable you to create a flat surface. The whole thing folds down into a convenient and easily portable chuck box for your next camping trip.

This is a functional chuck box with a great deal of storage and an intelligent design so you can make the most of every inch of the box. It is more complicated than the other plans, but it will be worth the effort.

3. REI’s Camp Kitchen Chuck Box Plan

The REI camp kitchen chuck box plan is less complicated than the previous plan, but it is still a functional and useful design. It has room on top for a stove and gas bottle, as well as smaller compartments for utensils and a large compartment for the bulkier items.

Everything has its place, and this kind of organization is important when trying to save space. The chuck box is made to the original author’s specifications, so you might need to adapt the dimensions according to the size of your camping stove and other items.

4. Chuck Box Camp Kitchen Design From Instructables

Learning how to build a chuck box is not difficult. At its most basic, a chuck box is just a box. As such, a basic camp kitchen is easy to construct. Ensure that you measure all your most commonly used camping kitchen utensils, including your favorite camping stove, and add dividers to the box to create storage compartments, like in this chuck box camp kitchen design from Instructables.

This DIY chuck box plan also teaches you how to create a stand for your chuck box. If you have a decent tailgate or a lightweight, portable camping table, you may not need a stand. Otherwise, a stand helps lift everything off the ground, making it easier to prepare food and keep nature at bay.

Free Chuck Box Plans

A chuck box is a convenient addition to a camping trip. It keeps all your cooking utensils and accessories together and can also provide a convenient area for you to prepare food. Filling a chuck box means you don’t have to find storage bags and boxes for your camping equipment, and with a lightweight chuck box, you can ensure that you can carry the camping kitchen around with you.

Featured Image Credit: Instructables