For those of you who like tent camping, would you please share your camping food/meal ideas and recipes? Please include what type of pans, utensils you would use with them. We are newbies and would like to start camping with our boys. Any other advise from you "vets" is welcome!
Our favorite camping meal when I was growing up was veggie soup. We would dehydrate green beans, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, peas, and whatever else we had on hand, then when we were camping we'd throw it in a dutch oven of boiling water, add a few bouillon cubes, some jerky bits and the dehydrated veggies and then let it cook in the coals for an hour or so. When it was done we ate it from metal bowls (don't remember where we got em) with metal spoons.
Foil dinners is an ABSOLUTE when we go camping. Give everyone TWO large pieces of HEAVY DUTY aluminum foil. (MUST BE HEAVY DUTY!!!) Put butter in the middle of the first one, then add some hamburger. Don't make the hamburger too thick; it's be better to have two small patties, rather than one big one! Add whatever veggies you like. I've added corn, cabbage, onion, potato, carrot. Mushrooms if you like them; anything goes! Fold the foil over the top and ROLL them together. Then roll up both sides. It's important to get an air-tight seal!!! Repeat the sealing with the second piece of tinfoil. Put the foil directly on the coals in your campfire. Sorry I can't tell you how long; it's an inacurrate science depending on the heat of your fire and the thickness of the hamburger. After maybe 15 minutes, take it from the fire and VERY CAREFULLY open the packets up. I'm saying VERY CAREFULLY not because of how hot it is, but you CANNOT tear the foil!!! If it's not done, you need to seal it up again to put back on. Hints for successful foil dinners: 1) You must use a double thickness of heavy duty foil. 2) You must have an air-tight seal. This keeps moisture inside. If steam escapes, it WILL burn! 3) Put it on coals, NOT a flame! A flame will burn your meal. 4) Cut veggies thin. The thinner, the quicker it cooks.
Campfire Stew: Brown hamburger in an iron skillet over the fire. Add a can of vegetable beef soup. Simple! Creamed Chicken: In an iron skillet, warm up a can of chicken and a can of cream of chicken soup. You can serve this over instant mashed potatoes if you wish. Of course, there's always hotdogs!!! As far as equipment goes, an iron skillet is absolutely essential. Birbitt mentioned a Dutch Oven. For me, that's also an essential (also iron!), but you really can get by without one. You can cook almost ANYTHING in a good Dutch Oven. I've got two; one regular one, and one with legs and a flat top. This one is specifically designed for cooking on an open fire, as you can put coals onto its flat top. If you go an old aluminum camp kit, here's a hint for cleaning. Cover the outside bottom of the pan and maybe one third to one half up the side with dish detergent. The smoke will turn the outside of your pan black, but it will wash right off where the soap is. Otherwise, you're scrubbing like crazy trying to clean it up. Also piemakers are great things, too! http://www.pudgypies.com/ The round one labeled "best seller" is what we like best. I've got a square one, but the round one seals better. You butter two slices of bread, put them butter-side out, and put some kind of filling between them. Pie filling, or you can make grilled cheese, or put some pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Whatever you want. Kids love them, and they're a "make your own" kind of thing.
We're kind of odd, I guess, because we cook nearly the same way when we camp as we do when we're at home. This is our favorite desert, but I don't use the can of pineapple (otherwise the directions are identicle). I use the small boxes of Jiffy Cake mix instead of the regular size. I'm guessing if you used the can of pineapple, you'd need to use the bigger box of cake mix.
If we cook while camping, we cook like we would at home. A mess kit with a pan large enough to boil water to cook pasta/rice/meat, etc. can do anything you would at home. We tend to take food that doesn't require cooking for several reasons. We don't want to eat much fatty or gas-producing foods since we are hiking or boating all day, if ya know what I mean We usually take pb&j, fresh fruit, granola, snack mix, crackers, protein bars and tons of water.
If there's electricity available at your tent site, have any of you ever taken your crockpot? I'm thinking about doing that as well, and using the crockpot liners for easy clean-up...
I've never camped with electricity, but taking the crock pot sounds like a good idea if it's possible. Another favorite of mine was potatoes in foil, we put sliced potatoes in foil add a bit of butter and mrs. dash wrap them up tight and put them on the coals until you can stick a fork into them smoothly. We had little mess kits from girl scouts that we used to eat from, they were neat little things it had a plate/bowl, a small skillet, fork, spoon, knife, and cup and it all wrapped up neatly. Here is the updated version of what we used for utensils, this one doesn't include the silverware but you can easily just throw it in. http://www.girlscoutshop.com/gsusaonline/GSProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=GIRL+SCOUT+MESS+KIT
I have used a crock pot, but I don't use it too much camping. I have also used an electric skillet, and also an electric griddle. The griddle is great for pancakes or French Toast, or bacon.
make smores.. got to have them.. wow there is tons and tons of things. We do hamburger, then grill the buns and fry the onions to go on top we also take sausage cut it up, with potatoes chopped up in cube size, green peppers, onion all chop up cook together till potatoes done. then roll up and make a taco, hmmmmmm good
Oh, we always have scrambled eggs with sausage cooked in them for breakfast one day! The kids expect it.
I always feel like the fuddy-duddy....just thought I'd pop in with the notion to think of any predators in your area. (bears, mountain lions, etc.) We also don't cook if we can keep from it to avoid having any wafting meat and food smells drawing animals into our campsite. If you must cook, be sure to have an airtight container to store every bit of food and garbage in.
Actually, it depends on where you are. In Ohio, the worse thing you're going to get at your campsite is a skunk or raccoon. But it is something to keep in mind!
In our area of IL, that is mostly what we would encounter as well, but a bit further south has black bears. Just across the river they are finding mountain lions and there are bobcats in our area. Don't know about you, but I might prefer a bobcat to a skunk! :lol:
Brooke, when Phillip was just a little guy, we got a cabin at a state park (for our tenth anniversary; Mom and Dad kept the kids a few days, and then brought them up to us.) Anyway, the girls went fishing with Dad and Carl. Later, the girls had a program to go to, Phillip was too young so Carl took HIM fishing. They caught a few bluegills. Carl put them on ice in a cooler, and when he went to fix them, they were frozen. So he laid them on a picnic table to thaw out. Later, they were GONE! I thought maybe he had thrown them out, since they really were too small to mess with and he HATES cleaning fish. But he swears he didn't. We finally decided that the 'coons got the fish, since there was a little one that later was making a nusiance of himself! Phillip still talks about how the raccoons stole his fish!
I remember a raccoon one time opening our cooler and eating the butter, lol we have used a tripod to cook over the fire, just like using a grill. Also can veggies if you eat them, you can take the label off and open the can and put it on the grill or tripod.
If you're going to use a campfire for cooking, I'd seriously recommend a rack or two. I found one that's round with a smaller second tier. That way I can space food accordingly: potatoes right in the fire, meat on the lower tier. And canned veggies on the top.
We are going hunting soon so we will be camping out in grizzly country. We like to boil water and everyone takes a ziploc baggie and puts their eggs, cheese and whatever else they want in the bag, zip it and put it in the boiling water. Oh and don't forget to label your bag with a marker. When it is done you have an omelet in a bag. My kids also like the instant packets of oatmeal, they just pour the hot water directly in the packet. When their done they can just burn the packet and no mess. For smores we buy the fudge stripe cookies and put the marshmallow in the middle. Hot dogs, peanut butter & jelly, granola bars, trail mix, poptarts, and of course dehydrated meals which I think are disgusting but..... they don't draw in the bear.
Hot dog (veggie ones for us) over the fire is a must in our family. potatoes, apples and corn wrapped in foil and roasted in the coals can be fun, but my kids are usually too impatient to wait for meals that take much time to cook, and we are usually out exploring during the day and get back to camp just in time to eat. We hardly ever camp with electricity so haven't ever take any electrical appliances. We often camp in bear country so proper food prep storage and cleanup is a real concern, make sure you know what animals you have in your area.
