Camping food?

[golfgal]

It is time for our annual camping trip. We are not campers-we do this with neighbors from our old town. In the past we have always been responsible for bringing snacks. This year we have to do a meal. There are 10 adults and 13 children ranging in age from 5-19. One night we are having burgers and brats. The family that usually takes the meal we are doing does tacos. Any ideas that is easy to cook over a campfire and easily to prep and store for a day in a cooler?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

What is your equipment? Do you have a camping stove to use or grill? Or do you just have the campire with a grate?

 

[PatsGirl]

I am famous for two camping dishes that are very simple but delicious! Both are made in a dutch oven over the fire but you could also use a grille.

Jambalya: Boneless chicken (cut into bite size chunks)
Chourice (cut into bite size chunks)
Shrimp (31-40#)
Canned diced tomatoes
Zatarains jambalya mix

Heat jambalya mix according to box, add diced tomatoes. Once this is boiling and half cooked (about 15 minutes) add chicken and chourice, add shrimp when there is 5 minutes left to cook. Serve with french bread. Slightly spicy ~ maybe the younger kids could have something else.

Bouillabaise: Fish base (comes in liquid form in a paper carton)
Canned diced tomatoes
Shrimp, mussels, clams, fish cut thick, lobster claws, scallops
Onion
Italian seasonings
White wine if there's any left in your camping mug

Bring fish base, tomatoes, seasonings, and onion to a boil, add lobster in shell first, wait a few minutes, add mussels and clams, then add fish, scallops and shrimp. Cook about 10 more minutes. Serve with french bread for dipping!

I taught my girl scouts how to make both these meals and they love them. But truthfully, their favorite camping meal is tacos-in-a-bag.

Tacos-in-a-Bag: Individual bags of doritos or fritos
Ground beef, browned
Diced tomatoes, sour cream, lettuce, shredded cheese

Heat up previously cooked ground beef over the fire. Hand everyone a bag of doritos/fritos and have them smush them in the bag. Add one heaping spoon of hot beef into bag - everyone tops as they like! Not very healthy but yummy!

 

[mickeyboat]

Last time I cooked over a fire we made foil packets. We had marinated chicken breasts, tofu and lots of veggies, and let everyone put whatever they liked in their foil packet. We double-wrapped the packets, labeled them with everyone's names and put them on a grate over the fire. We turned them a couple of times while they cooked for about 15 minutes. They were very yummy!

Denae

 

[shellybaxter]

I like to do speghetti when we are camping. For a large group that might be a good idea. I make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it. Then all I have to do is thaw (it will likely start to thaw in the ice chest) the sauce and heat it heat, cook the noodles (Just bring a couple of big pots) and serve. I usually bring salad in a bag and garlic bread to go with. The garlic bread can be heated in foil in over the camp fire.

 

[minniebeth]

PatsGirl,
My kids LOVE "Tacos-in-a-Bag"! They call them "Walking Tacos".
They do them camping with scouts a lot.

We usally don't go camping for more than one or two days at a time, so we usually stick to sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs and brats, but the tacos-in-a-bag sound like a great idea, and I know my DS's group does a lot of foil packet cooking when they camp as well. They usually do a meat, and vegetables cut up with seasoning. You could even make these up ahead of time in individual packets and freeze them for your cooler and they will be ready to go.

It's more for a lunch than a dinner, but we also do pie iron pizzas with fillings of sausage, ground meat and pepperoni and pie iron grilled cheeses with ham for the adults. Then we do dessert with pie iron pies with apple and cherry filling.

Have fun camping, golfgal! It sounds like a great time...

 

[Catzeyes]

I love to make a Low country Boil when camping. We throw sausages, new potatoes, old bay, water and onions into a BIG pot over the fire. When the potatoes are almost done we throw in ears of sweet corn. When the corn is done we dump in a bunch of raw shrimp and cook for 5 minutes. It's easy and tastes awesome.

 

[luvmy3]

When a big group of us are camping I will cook chicken legs in the crockpot the day before and pop them on the grill at camp. Its quick and easy to feed a bunch of people that way. I also pre-make pasta salad to go with it.

 

[KiminChicago]

To make foil pouch dinners even easier, we use the pre-grated hash brown potatoes from the refrigerator section of the grocery store and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables -- no chopping required.

 

[3boymthr]

Bake chicken legs until 90% cooked a day before leaving. Freeze if being serve more than 2 days later (they will thaw in the cooler). Cook them on the grill with BBQ sauce. Serve with salad and baked potatoes cooked on the grill. Another side is grilled cabbage.

One cabbage serves 8. Slice cabbage in to 8 triangular sections. Butter both sides of each section. Sprinkle one side with pepper and garlic salt. Sprinkle on chopped onions (1/4 cup of onion does all 8 sections). Wrapped in doubled foil. Cook for about 20 minutes on a medium grill.

For excellent grilled baked potatoes slice the potatoes 80 percent of the way through in 1/2 inch sections, slip pieces of american or other favorite cheese in between the slices. Top with a pat of butter and if desired, onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap in Foil and grill until potatoes are cooked. This usually takes an hour or so.

For Dessert: Grilled Bananas Take banana split along one side with a knife. Stuff slit with chocolate and peanut butter chips. Grill on top of foil until banana is mushy. Eat with a spoon. Additional toppings include marshmallows or peanuts or ....

 

[mbw12]

omg....those grilled bananas sound amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[babytrees]

omg....those grilled bananas sound amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we call them banana boats and they are yummy....we wrap them in foil and put them near the fire.

 

[paintnolish]

we call them banana boats and they are yummy....we wrap them in foil and put them near the fire.

I was going to suggest these, too! We bring lots of things for them...min-marshmallows, raisins, sunflower seeds, mini M&Ms. Oh, wait...you asked about "real" food, right?

 

[shrubber]

Lot's of great camp recipes here...
http://www.scoutorama.com/recipe/index.cfm

especially for the kids. Also, poke around the site for campfire stories, songs and the like

 

[3boymthr]

we call them banana boats and they are yummy....we wrap them in foil and put them near the fire.

Believe it or not we got this recipe from an 11 yo boy scout.

 

[Darsa]

OMG those tacos-in-a-bag sound AWESOME! We're going camping in early August, and I think I might try that!

Thanks for sharing

 

[wdwmom2]

If I go camping, mountain pies are a must!!!!

http://www.chuckwagondiner.com/pieiron.html

 

[Liberty Belle]

When we go camping and I have to feed a big crowd (we sometimes camp with parents and friends, too, so I've fed as many as 11), I like to make Chicken Rotini Toss. Basically it's cut up chicken sauted in minced garlic, garlic powder, diced sun dried tomatoes, salt and pepper, and olive oil, with cooked rotini and extra olive oil added. There's a recipe on www.allrecipes.com if you're interested. It's always a hit.

 

[jen0610]

If I go camping, mountain pies are a must!!!!

http://www.chuckwagondiner.com/pieiron.html

OMG....we LOVE these, but we know them as pudgie pies!!! We may have to try some of the ones they have listed on webpage your link takes you to. The one we do, that I didn't see listed is Chili dogs. You use hot dog chili as your base. Take hot dogs that you have cut into disc and add on top of the chili. We also have what ever topping you could ever want on your dog that each person can add, either before or after cooking.

We never did these as the main part of our dinner, as we had to many people to try and feed all at once, but man were they good for a later evening snack.


One of my favorite things from camping as a youth was the BBQ chicken cooked over a wood fire. For whatever reason, it had the most wonderful taste. And dad would slow cook it...starting noonish for dinner that evening. YUMMMMM!!!!!

And I know it sounds weird, but try using saltines instead of graham crakers in s'mores. It cuts the "this is so sweet it makes your teeth hurt". It's the perfect salty/sweet combo.

 

[wdwmom2]

OMG....we LOVE these, but we know them as pudgie pies!!! We may have to try some of the ones they have listed on webpage your link takes you to. The one we do, that I didn't see listed is Chili dogs. You use hot dog chili as your base. Take hot dogs that you have cut into disc and add on top of the chili. We also have what ever topping you could ever want on your dog that each person can add, either before or after cooking.

We never did these as the main part of our dinner, as we had to many people to try and feed all at once, but man were they good for a later evening snack.

Sometimes my DH and I fire up our chiminea and make the pizza ones for supper!!