I'd never heard "Scamping" before, either.. Excellent term!!
As far as cooking, for me it all depends on the situation. I carry a small pan that is just bigger than my gas canister. I have a small burner that folds up to about the size of a cigarette pack. It's got a self igniter and folds out to hold the pan. I either carry a couple liter bottles of water, or if needed, I have a 2 gallon collapsible water container.
A lot of my camping is done at motorcycle rallies.. At these, they supply water/coffee/soda and many also supply beer, or it's available for purchase. And they also supply a couple big meals and will have rolls and fruit available for breakfast.. Which basically leaves you to find a burger for lunch.
I do carry the light cooking gear and at least a liter of water to make coffee or tea in the morning.. Tea is easy, and in my case, so is coffee. I travel for work almost weekly, and I save the coffee packets in the room for the little 3-4 coffee maker.. I just boil water, and dip the sealed coffee packet in the water like making tea.. I make it as strong as I want that way.
As far as food, I will sometimes make soup, but usually I'll find something to warm up over the campfire. If you saw me, you'd realize I could skip a couple meals and survive just fine.
Actually, my biggest challenge is comfortable shelter. For years I've carried a small blower that plugs into the bike, and I actually blow up a twin size mattress like you'll find at Walmart, that you'd blow up for a guest staying over. 6" thick, I sleep as well on them as I do anywhere else with plenty of room to move around. I have few 2 or 3 man tents to pick from.. Big Agnes and Eureka are solid tent makers that are very waterproof and secure. Remember you get what you pay for, and while that $30 Walmart tent seems cheap, nothing seems cheap when you're trying to sleep and water is dripping on you. I've been there, and it's not any fun..
For a sleeping bag, I carry a down bag and a fleece bag. It gives me full range of temps to be comfortable in.. You can sleep on top of the down bag with the fleece over you like a blanket, or swap them around for more warmth.. If really cold, you can actually stuff the fleece bag in the sleeping bag for the ultimate in heat retention. I like down sleeping bags because of the ability to compress down to a very small package, yet my down bag is good for 10 degrees. I've woken to frost on my tent and motorcycle and slept like a baby..
Security is always a thought.. At the motorcycle rallies, there's always someone working as security, but I've been going to bike rallies since 1986 and I've never had anything taken.. As a matter of fact, people go out of their way to find the owner of lost stuff... I'm more worried about my stuff getting wet from morning dew than I am about it being stolen.
When I camp in the wilderness, I do carry a weapon, and I pray that I NEVER need to even think about needing it.. I'm mostly carrying it because of a large population of bears, as I camp in the UP of Michigan a great deal.. The only other thing I'd be concerned about is drug users or stumbling into someone doing illegal operations. It's never been a problem and I hope it never is.
If you stick with campgrounds or maybe friend's woods, it's not going to be an issue..
And as I mentioned, I go to motorcycle rallies.. Here's one of my favorites, and they have hundreds of photos from many years of this rally in SW Wisconsin..
http://wmgr.org/ Well, when you're camping among other people, you're either going to have noise from people sitting and chatting around campfires, or people waking up before you and talking or leaving on their scooter/motorcycle.. So, I recommend finding earplugs that are very comfortable!!
That way, the only person who can't sleep is the guy in the next tent who can't sleep because of your snoring!!!
