Camp food

When car camping you can make almost anything that you can make at home as long as everything fits in the car/cooler and you have a decent cooking system.

Since I usually do the camp cooking on a campstove, anything that will stew in a pot, heat up in a pot, simmer or stir-fry in a skillet, or sizzle on a griddle. With family along, pasta dishes are popular, the pasta on one burner, the sauce on the other. Someone else can put together salads and slice the bread.

If it is just a quick meal on a stop, with hookups, I'll zap something. Endless variety of frozen meals that will microwave, maybe one or two of them actually good for you.

We do a lot of cold cereal breakfasts on travel days, but I like to do a griddle breakfast if it is a day in camp and we can get everyone up about the same time. Pancakes, eggs, meats, hash in various combinations.

Ok, here's an easy breakfast I make at home that travels well:

Pour a dozen eggs in baking dish (I spray pam on the dish)
add whatever you like in an omelet
bake at 350 till it doesn't jiggle anymore (usually around 20-30 min)
chill overnight, or freeze.
put individual servings in sandwich bags
30 sec to a minute in the microwave and you have real food for breakfast. Serve on a paperplate and you have no dishes to do when camping!

If you want to change things up, chop up the individual servings and heat (on a skillet or in the microwave) and serve in tortillas with salsa, sour cream.

Hi
I bought a inexpensive electric fry pan and I make Fajittas with Chicken or steak , green pepper and onion and serve with salsa and sour cream and refried beans, it takes about 10 minutes if premarinate the meat and cut it up at home and place in a zip lock bag. Veggies I cut up before leaving and put in a container or zip lock. Tortillas can be warmed on the grill or microwave. Or I premake taco bell meat , then i place in zip lock and reheat in my skillet and buy preshredded lettuce and soft taco shells. I put every thing out and the kids get tomake the tacos the way they like. A big hit with kids of all ages. I make black beans and corn for the veggitarian kids.
I hope this helps.
Blessings
Jeanine Williams
Shih Tzu momma
Wife / girlfriend to Christopher
6 Pups ( Millie Teako Barley Diana Suri Paisley)
4 Kids ages 19, 18 14 12
one 36 foot coachmen Mirada Avant Guarde

We use a Weber Go-anywhere gas grill, but if you have the room and the $, buy a WeberQ instead. Consumer Reports rates it tops in portable grills for good reasons. We use our Weber for steaks and chicken, pork and burgers. We marinate our food ahead of time and freeze it, then simply defrost and grill. Other dishes take advantage of dehydrated technologies as in packaged noodle, rice, and potato dishes. Vegetable offerings are typically fresh salad the first night, then some canned vegetables the second. Breakfast is easy, that's eggs, panckes, and any leftover meats from the night before as a protein. Starbucks has a great instant coffee (seriously!) and we always carry tea and hot chocolate for evenings. Now get going!

dcb17b wrote:
My corn recipie is this: soak for 20-30 min in water,twist off silk sticking out the top and grill for 30 min turning a few times. The silk will rub off with a finger or two. Butter,salt and fresh ground pepper.YUMMY.

We tried this method Labor Day weekend and LOVED IT!!!!! Thanks so much!

skipnchar wrote:
We eat pretty much the same meals we eat at home.

Same here. I'd prepare most of the stuff before I go camping with my boyfriend and segregate them in containers so that when it comes time to eat, I just get one container and start cooking them.

If I'm with my family, and my dad and uncles manage to catch some fish, we'd usually grill that or steam it by wrapping it with foil and setting it on the grill.

We keep it simple...basically using the micro, toaster oven (built in oven not worth the trouble) or portable grill. Visit various grocery stores for their deli (HyVee is our favorite) bring home stuff we wouldn't get at home and wala. Really like their kabobs. Now everything goes on non stick foil...I'm too lazy to clean the grill! Veggies get microed or grilled (especially corn) There you have it. Do use a crock pot in the colder weather for chili and such.

Had stuffed Pork Chops tonight with Asparagus, and homemade Mac & Cheese. I cook what I would if I lived in a sticks and bricks house including blueberry struesel.

Others have mentioned scout websites for food ideas - and this is a great source if you're camping with kids. It's always a good idea to get the kids involved in meal preparation. And why not focus on outdoor cooking, even though you've got all the appliances you have at home?

I mean . . . you know, last time I camped I brought a rice cooker and enjoyed it. We microwave stuff. I'm not very pleased with my oven, but everything else works fine. I guess it depends on why you camp. If it's just a personal hotel room while you do other things, enjoy all the conveniences. But if you're after the outdoor experience, learn outdoor cooking. :)

I've been a Girl Scout co-leader for 9 years, and I was in scouting myself too. So yeah, I know a thing or two about camp food. Even non-scouts enjoy banana boats (foil-wrapped bananas stuffed with chocolate chips and marshmallows), dump cake (delish, Google it), brown bears (canned rolls cooked on a stick like s'mores, covered in butter, cinnamon and sugar), hobo pies (foil packets filled with ground beef & whatnot), etc.

So yeah, if you're camping with kids, PLEASE teach them how to do these things. :)