Food to Take Camping

1960HikerDude

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

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.

ldrosophila

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

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

Hot dogs, hamburgers, marshmellows(!!), chips, baked beans.

ldrosophila

OH and dont forget cooking hot dogs on a stick! Kids love doing that too.

CorvusCorax77

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

HealthyBodySickMind

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

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

bump