Calling all cooks -- I need your help

[bigredbill]

I need some help from our camping cooks. We'll be headed out west for a family reunion in the Tetons (unfortunately not the Ft.). My family will be responsible for cooking dinner one night for about 40 - 50 people. Now we love to camp, and we cook some pretty good grub for our family -- but we have never had to provide for this large of a group.

I am looking for ideas on what to make. My outdoor cooking gear consists of a large two-burner stove, a pair of 14" and 10" dutch ovens (which I am a rookie with), a smaller propane two-burner stove, and a small gas grill. There will be charcoal grills available, and I am thinking of picking up a can cooker prior to the trip.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[DLB]

Pulled pork sandwichs, beans and cole slaw? You can pre-cook the pork, vacuum seal it for travel and then warm it up in the dutch ovens.

 

[Happy 2 B Me]

Remember that cooking at high altitude has special issues of its own. Depending on what you are cooking you may need to make adjustments to the recipes and length of cooking.

I totally agree with the poster that suggested preparing meal in advance and reheating at camp.

Making big pots of stew, beans, vegetables , etc anything that can be kept warmed for a long time and that takes little time to serve and is easy to transport and not messy to eat.

Sounds like a blast.

P.S. Maybe take note of the HDDR/ big thunder mountian BBQ and how they serve their meal"s family style.

Patty

 

[becky1960]

Even the old west Trail rides didnt cook for that much, you need to watch Foodnetwork Mission Impossible with Robert Irvine who only gets a few hours to cook for 2-3 hundred people. He starts off after he gets his mission with a chalk board to lay out menu for the amount of people per serving. I would buy some turkey roast pans (cheap) for your food and as other suggest pre cooked food such as Brisket, Beans, potatoe salad Etc. You can buy large amounts from Sams and costcos.. Good luck, dont forget desert...

 

[2goofycampers]

Chili with toppings, sour cream, cheese, chopped onion and bread of some kind.


PS,,,, You can buy chili in a gallon can.

 

[Jedana]

I am our "camp kitchen coordinator" for our cub scout pack, and we tend to have anywhere from 75-250 people show up for our campouts!

I have:
smoked turkeys/hams at home, sliced them and we've done sandwiches with them
Spaghetti (ugh, I hated cooking the pasta, so avoid this one!)
Meatball subs (spaghetti sauce)
Chicken fajitas (fairly easy, pregrilled the chicken. Cooked onions/peppers onsite)
chili
stews
soup (vegetable, chicken noodle, tomato)
salads (vegetable, potato)--prechopped and assembled onsite
fried chicken (at home)


On the stews/soups/chilis, I would do all the chopping/browning etc at home--then cook them on site.

My favorite thing we do--dutch oven cobbler! we take large dutch ovens, put one box of white cake mix in the bottom, top with butter, add cans of pie filling (blueberry, apple, peach and cherry are the favorites), top with another box of cake mix and more butter (lots). We pile hot charcoal under and on top of the dutch ovens (we usually make 6-8 of them, and just pile them up on to top of one another with coals in between) and rotate every fifteen minutes (turn them, move top to bottom, redistribute coals). takes about an hour and a half but they are awesome!

If I were you, I would prepare at home, and just reheat onsite. Would be much easier on you.

 

[clm10308]

For a group that size, I would hit a Sam's Club or something similar on the way and do either Frito Pies or chili dogs. You can buy chili in gallon cans, large boxes of individual bags of Fritos, grated cheese. The only things to prep would be chopped tomatoes and chopped onions.

I would also do pudding cones for dessert. You can get gallon cans of chocolate and vanilla pudding at Sams and cake cones pretty cheep.

Can you tell that I also worked a lot with cub scouts/girl scouts.

If you want something a little more involved you can google cooking for large groups.

 

[Dani424]

lasagna would probably be pretty easy too, do all the prep at home (brown gr beef & make sauce, mix cheeses) then assemble while travelling or on the morning of your dinner day. Bake on your grills and/or stoves, toss up some bagged salad and grill some garlic bread. I've fed over 100 ppl with 10 lasagnas and under $100. And who doesn't love lasagna?

 

[bigredbill]

Thank you for all the replies. It appears that I will be limited on what we can pre-cook and freeze. We leave for the Tetons on a Saturday. I just learned that our night to cook for everyone won't be until the following Friday. We are staying in cabins and won't have our camper freezer.

I thought of the idea to bring our roaster with us. Maybe pick up a turkey or a couple hams in Wyoming and cook them in the roaster.

 

[Mcert01]

Pulled pork sandwichs, beans and cole slaw? You can pre-cook the pork, vacuum seal it for travel and then warm it up in the dutch ovens.

Ditto. I did this for my daughter's graduation party and it worked great. Vacuum packing is important to keep the pork moist. If you can, keep the pork butts whole after cooking then shred them at the campsite.

Besides this, brats and potato salad would work too.

 

[team bradfield]

BEER

 

[luckycharm19335]

I am our "camp kitchen coordinator" for our cub scout pack, and we tend to have anywhere from 75-250 people show up for our campouts!

I have:
smoked turkeys/hams at home, sliced them and we've done sandwiches with them
Spaghetti (ugh, I hated cooking the pasta, so avoid this one!)
Meatball subs (spaghetti sauce)
Chicken fajitas (fairly easy, pregrilled the chicken. Cooked onions/peppers onsite)
chili
stews
soup (vegetable, chicken noodle, tomato)
salads (vegetable, potato)--prechopped and assembled onsite
fried chicken (at home)


On the stews/soups/chilis, I would do all the chopping/browning etc at home--then cook them on site.

My favorite thing we do--dutch oven cobbler! we take large dutch ovens, put one box of white cake mix in the bottom, top with butter, add cans of pie filling (blueberry, apple, peach and cherry are the favorites), top with another box of cake mix and more butter (lots). We pile hot charcoal under and on top of the dutch ovens (we usually make 6-8 of them, and just pile them up on to top of one another with coals in between) and rotate every fifteen minutes (turn them, move top to bottom, redistribute coals). takes about an hour and a half but they are awesome!

If I were you, I would prepare at home, and just reheat onsite. Would be much easier on you.

Hey I can help with this one.
We drag race and we are a crew of 9.
Spaghetti is super easy.
I pre-make the sauce and freeze it. Then just put it in a Crockpot to heat thru.
As far as the pasta, again cook it ahead of time. Drain it and dress with some olive oil.
,Then freeze it in Ziploc bags. When ready,I just pop it in the microwave, right in the Ziploc to warm it. If you don't have a microwave, you could just drop the bags is a pot of hot water, to warm.
NO MESS!