Food to Take Camping

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  • rumplesnat
    rumplesnat Posts: 372
    Beef jerky and cereal. :tongue:
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  • amberlykay1014
    amberlykay1014 Posts: 608 Member
    We always take Mountain House foods.. It's real, cooked meals designed for hikers, so they are super light weight. You just boil water on your stove and pour the water in the bag. It cooks in the bag and then you eat it out of the bag, eliminating dirty dishes. You can burn your bag when your finished in the campfire. They taste amazing -- way better than MREs.

    Car camping is great! For snacks and light lunches we bring lots of cheese, tuna packets, hard boiled eggs, crackers, avocados, yogurt, peanut butter... You can bring stuff for deli sandwiches too.

    Baked potatoes taste amazing in the fire! Just wrap them in aluminum and throw them in the hot coals at night. 40 minutes later they are perfectly baked. No need for butter or salt, although you can if you want.

    Frozen meals like those italian Bertoli bags are good for a fast car camping meal. Just put it in a big pot over the fire and treat it like a stir fry.

    Have fun!
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
    A great way to keep food chilled is to pack it in between frozen Capri-Sun pouches inside a cooler. If the food goes in frozen it takes a little longer to defrost, and if it's just chilled it will stay that way. Just shuffle stuff around as you use it so that the food you want next is on the top and will thaw out. And the best thing is that you get to drink your "ice packs" as you go along. Plus you don't end up with a cooler full of water as the ice melts and waterlogs all your food at the same time!

    We also got ourselves one of those machines that vacuum seals food. Vacuum sealing it prolongs the life of cold meats anyway, plus the fact that it's sealed means you don't have leakage.

    Fajitas are one of my favourite camping foods. Slice up the chicken before you go, vacuum seal it and then when you're there all you have to do is slice the veg and throw in the spice mix. Otherwise for me it's burgers, hot dogs, sausages and beans all the way.
  • gacowboy
    gacowboy Posts: 22 Member
    Something easy is Hobo dinners. Take lean ground beef make it into patties place it in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil and put potato slices, bell pepper rings, a little butter and seasoning maybe jalopenos for adults and place over fire. Make sure the potato slices get soft and there is usually no problem with the meat being done. Open them up, eat right from the foil and when done toss the foil and it is easy clean up. You can also do this with chicken strips. Hope you enjoy the camping!
  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
    Hobo Pockets - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/campfire-foil-packs/

    Easy to customize - ground beef, chicken, steak whatever + any veggies you like and seasonings + aluminum foil and hot coals. Set it in the coals and go have fun. Come back and you have a meal!
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    You can get some "just add" water pancake mix for in the morning. And eggs usually keep really well. So in the morning you can have eggs, pancakes and bacon. DO NOT BRING SYRUP CAMPING! It gets everywhere, no matter how well you pack it. Instead, just add some of the M&Ms from the trail mix to the cakes when they fry. Also, cooking spray works wonders.

    For dinner, Ho-Bo stew is great! Take some lean beef or turkey, some red potatoes, carrots and onions with salt & pepper or what ever seasonings you like. Put it all in an aluminum foil packet (fold or wrap them well so ashes don't get in) and when the fire has burned down and you have some nice hot coals put the packets on top or around those coals and let them cook for about 40 minutes or so, flipping (carefully lol) once. Then everyone gets their own pack. Great for kids too! They can make their own with what they want.
  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
    Something easy is Hobo dinners. Take lean ground beef make it into patties place it in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil and put potato slices, bell pepper rings, a little butter and seasoning maybe jalopenos for adults and place over fire. Make sure the potato slices get soft and there is usually no problem with the meat being done. Open them up, eat right from the foil and when done toss the foil and it is easy clean up. You can also do this with chicken strips. Hope you enjoy the camping!

    Haha beat me too it!
  • Aross83
    Aross83 Posts: 936 Member
    For camping i marinate the meat ahead of time and then freeze it before i go camping.so once i pack the cooler its frozen already and will stay for longer in the cooler!
  • 1960HikerDude
    1960HikerDude Posts: 215 Member
    IMHO - Food is one of the best parts of camping.

    Plan your meals ahead of time. Do as much food prep at home as possible (slicing, pre-measuring, mixing, etc). Double bag your meats in Zip Loc bags. Or, better yet vacuum seal them so they don't bleed all over your cooler.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I'm going camping next week. This is my first time since I was a kid. I have everything I need, hopefully. But, now I'm trying to figure out the food situation. I don't care about healthy. I will have a couple of coolers with lots of ice. I'll take the usual, but. I need more ideas. I plan on hotdogs, but that's where I get stumped. I guess chicken? I was thinking about Pre cooking chicken. Breakfast is easy. I'll have eggs, bacon, pancakes, and cereal. It's lunch and dinner I don't have a clue.

    Please help. Think easy. I don't mind cooking there. I have a Coleman stove, and there will also be a fire that I can cook on. But I don't want it to be a huge ordeal. I want simplicity.

    Thanks.

    I go camping and fishing all of the time...pretty much breakfast is eggs, bacon, etc. Lunches are usually pretty simple because I'm usually out on the trail hiking or gone fishing...so a PB&J and some fruit or something. Dinners are pretty much anything I can grill over the fire. I actually don't really do the hot dog thing...I'm just not too fond of them. But I do burgers, steaks, chicken, etc. Usually sides consist of a starch and veg. I usually have a chili night as well...I mostly camp at elevation, so even at the height of summer it can be chilly so a good steaming bowl of my homemade range chili always hits the spot.

    We always have plenty of nuts, fruit, and chips and salsa for snacking...and of course, a plethora of beer.
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  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    Your kids will get a kick out of this. My dad used to bring potatoes wrap them in foil with some salt, pepper, and butter and put them under the hot coals.

    It was so cool when he would make potatoes like that. Sometimes he would heat up stones and put a piece of meat over it. I remember being really little and he would share sardines with me.
  • foxro
    foxro Posts: 793 Member
    Something easy is Hobo dinners. Take lean ground beef make it into patties place it in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil and put potato slices, bell pepper rings, a little butter and seasoning maybe jalopenos for adults and place over fire. Make sure the potato slices get soft and there is usually no problem with the meat being done. Open them up, eat right from the foil and when done toss the foil and it is easy clean up. You can also do this with chicken strips. Hope you enjoy the camping!

    Haha beat me too it!

    We called them tin foil dinners and still do them on the bbq
  • JusticeGirl25
    JusticeGirl25 Posts: 703 Member
    Hot dogs, hamburgers, marshmellows(!!), chips, baked beans.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    OH and dont forget cooking hot dogs on a stick! Kids love doing that too.
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
    oooh. you mean like car camping.

    I went automatically to back packing and was like "freeze dried whatever you can fit in your pack!"

    My only insistance is that when I go camping, a stove top espresso machine must be brought along so good coffee can still be had!
  • CorvusCorax77
    CorvusCorax77 Posts: 2,536 Member
    It's just me and my kids. So no whiskey. Beer, yes. S'mores, yes. But, real food. Help?

    I also pack luna bars for the kiddos! They'll need the energy for all the crazy running around in the woods! have fun!
  • CeCe_711
    CeCe_711 Posts: 35
    my favorite meal to take camping is chicken breast...you can also do thighs, and i marinate them in greek spices. i take frozen chicken breasts and marintate them in olive oil, lemon juice and zest, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic. the beauty of this is, they will help to keep other things in your cooler cold...cause they are frozen. and as they thaw they will absorb the marinade. i do this every time we go camping! another tip, put them in those food saver bags, the one where you can suck out the air, it will help the marinade penetrate deeper/faster. if you don't like greek seasonings you can do whatever you want: mexican spiced, italian, or even just stick them in some salt water and brine them. this works just as well with thick cut bone in pork chops!
  • lmarshel
    lmarshel Posts: 674 Member
    My hubby and I love tacos while camping. I pre-cook and season the meat before we go, leaving it a little "wet". Store in a sealed container like a tupperware, then you just need to warm a little before dinner. Heat your tortillas over the grill and add all your toppings...yum!

    During our last camping trip, we learned that the bees in Zion National Park also love tacos. We were swarmed!! :noway:
  • lizzzylou
    lizzzylou Posts: 325
    Something easy is Hobo dinners. Take lean ground beef make it into patties place it in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil and put potato slices, bell pepper rings, a little butter and seasoning maybe jalopenos for adults and place over fire. Make sure the potato slices get soft and there is usually no problem with the meat being done. Open them up, eat right from the foil and when done toss the foil and it is easy clean up. You can also do this with chicken strips. Hope you enjoy the camping!

    :flowerforyou: I didnt know other families called them hobos too!!!

    Hobos and fajitas/tacos are staples in camping food. Otherwise have easy things, like sandwhich fixins, jerky, trail mix, etc and pre-make as much as possible....otherwise you spend the whole time cooking and heating water to wash dishes etc which really puts a damper on camping.
  • sallydurkin
    sallydurkin Posts: 211 Member
    freeze your meat to start with as it unthaws in the cooler use it that day, ground hamburger can be precooked and seasoned then frozen safe handleing and quick and easy meal, makes great tacos or taco salad in a bag (individual bags of doritos for each cut open the side of the bag, dump in seasoned hamburger, chopped lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, salsa, sour cream... what ever you like on tacos, give a little stir and eat out of the bag with a plastic fork-- easy clean up) tin foil dinners, chili again make ahead bring in frozen ziploc dump in pan and use.
    Heres some sites I've used before.....
    http://www.artofmanliness.com/2010/07/20/cooking-around-the-campfire-9-easy-and-delicious-foil-packet-recipes/
    http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/06/25-delicious-camping-recipes.html
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
    We always BBQ chicken, pork chops, steaks, bring chips, soda or juice, hot dogs, burgers, cookies, and some canned meat like corned beef if something goes wrong...

    So the meat keeps ok in a cooler? I guess that was my question.

    Yes.

    Just keep it packaged/sealed well, if there will be a lot of time before it is used. You don't want the ice to melt and get water into the packages.

    Freeze the meat for the second night's dinner and on.
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
    Do you have a Dutch oven? We do chicken parmesan, stew, curries or rouladen in a Dutch oven, and also cobblers.

    Mark made some awesome biscuits and gravy last weekend when we went and we also did hobo meals with stew meat, potato, onion, carrots, garlic, peppers, and butter…. You can put about anything in the hobo meals

    We usually cook a big breakfast and a big dinner and then just pack snacks for hiking all day: trail mix, apples, oranges, sweet peppers, kippers, jerky, granola bars.
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  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
    Do you have a Dutch oven? We do chicken parmesan, stew, curries or rouladen in a Dutch oven, and also cobblers.

    Mark made some awesome biscuits and gravy last weekend when we went and we also did hobo meals with stew meat, potato, onion, carrots, garlic, peppers, and butter…. You can put about anything in the hobo meals

    We usually cook a big breakfast and a big dinner and then just pack snacks for hiking all day: trail mix, apples, oranges, sweet peppers, kippers, jerky, granola bars.

    I don't have a dutch oven. I'll look into it.

    If you're shopping, get one with a lip on the lid so that you can put coals on top as well as setting it on coals, so there's heat on both sides.
  • HealthyBodySickMind
    HealthyBodySickMind Posts: 1,207 Member
    We always BBQ chicken, pork chops, steaks, bring chips, soda or juice, hot dogs, burgers, cookies, and some canned meat like corned beef if something goes wrong...

    So the meat keeps ok in a cooler? I guess that was my question.

    Yes.

    Just keep it packaged/sealed well, if there will be a lot of time before it is used. You don't want the ice to melt and get water into the packages.

    Freeze the meat for the second night's dinner and on.

    It's 3 nights. So, yeah. Lots of ice.

    Yep, freezing it ahead of time will help keep everything else cold, and it will be thawed enough to cook by that second night. You may need new ice by the third day.
  • rebasporty
    rebasporty Posts: 287 Member
    bump