When planning what to cook on your camping trip, there are a few basic considerations. First, assuming you are setting up your tent fireside rather than setting up folding chairs outside your RV, you're going to want food that isn't too difficult to carry in with you or require too much equipment to cook.
Simple meals with a few ingredients are going to be your most convenient option and will, conveniently, be easiest on your wallet.
We generally try to bring all of our food in two containers - one bag for packaged and dry goods, and one insulated bag or cooler for anything that needs refrigeration. We'll often fill an old soda bottle with water and freeze it the night before we leave so that it will keep the food cold on the way to the site and can later be used as drinking water.
Second, since you're probably cooking over a campfire, you don't want any recipes that are going to require precise temperature control or that won't handle a little bit of char gracefully. Finally, you're going to want at least one thing you can roast on the end of a stick.
For our purposes, we're going to assume that you're at a rustic campsite that has a fire pit with a fold-down grill. With those things in mind, here are some of our favorite things to cook while roughing it.
• Roasted corn on the cob is always a favorite because it's delicious and preparing it is about as simple as you can get. Just toss the ears on top of the grill complete with husks. You'll want them just to the side of the actual flames. Turn them every once in a while and don't worry if some of the outer layers blacken. Fold down a bit of the husk to test the kernels for tenderness. When it's ready, just fold the husk all the way down and slather with butter or olive oil, salt and pepper, or maybe some cayenne.
• Roasted potatoes are always a good bet. You can wrap them whole in foil and bury them in the coals of your fire, or cut them up with onions, add a little oil, and wrap them in a foil envelope to roast them on top of the grill. The same idea works really well with apples and pears and you could also do peaches and plums (they just don't take as long).
• Another good cooking method is boiling, which can be done in a small pot, or you can use a percolator to double as a coffee pot and a saucepan (just wash it out thoroughly in between). Oatmeal and couscous are great over a fire. Rice is ok too, but will often take a while to cook. And on the subject of coffee, a French press is probably the best method if you're particular about brewing faster and keeping grounds out of your cup. If you're looking for something a little bit grizzlier, campfire coffee in a percolator will provide a bit more of a wilderness experience.
• Speak of breakfast, biscuits are great over a campfire. Mix all your dry ingredients in a big, sealable plastic bag before you leave. When you're ready to cook them, add the wet ingredients and knead the dough in the bag. Use a flat piece of foil on top of the grill as a baking sheet. The bag method will also work for pancake batter, which can be squeezed out of the bag into a skillet. Either of these will go great with eggs, which you could either transport in their cardboard box, or crack into another bag before you leave.
• There are a number of foods that you can pre-cook and freeze at home for easier cooking at the campsite. Frozen chili in tupperware can help keep your cold food cold on the trip, and can then be easily heated up in a pot when it's time for dinner. Plus, the more full your cooler, the colder the food will keep on the trip.
• Finally, the stick foods. Never underestimate the power of the classics. Roasted marshmallows, especially as part of a s'more, are a must-have. Veggie dogs (or hot dogs, if you eat meat) are another good bet. If you want to get a little bit fancier, put together some veggie kabobs. Technically, it might be easier to use skewers rather than sticks for this, but close enough.
With all this good food, you'll develop a real taste for woodsmoke three meals a day. And if all else fails, there's always peanut butter and jelly.
Thank you for sharing, Tina and Phil! Your blog is always an inspiration to us!
Related: Good Question: Best Boxed Wine for a Camping Trip?
(Images: Phil and Tina of 30 Bucks a Week)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Corn on the cob can be done like that, but you get much better results but soaking the cobs first in salt water for at least 30 minutes, but better yet a few hours. You get less scorching and they are pre-salted.
view Bushidoka's profile
I did way, way more camping as a kid than anyone ever should. My mom always packed a couple of cans of vegetable soup for the first night on the well-founded assumption that we might get to camp much later than planned (in the dark) and be less-than-half set up when hunger pangs became insistant. Dumping soup into a pot was unglamorous but practical. And then we had eggs, potatoes, biscuits, and cowboy coffee come breakfast time.
view cmcinnyc's profile
Mmmm, I am so hungry for mom's campfire breakfast now. Everything tastes so much better outside!
Great post.
view BunnyCucina's profile
It sounds strange but I remember my parents bringing canned potatoes on camping trips. They were tiny, round, cooked and peeled new potatoes. I still remember the waxy, bouncy texture that they had. Not like I'm recommending them or anything. They just popped into my head and made me think about how fun camping was.
I'd love to go camping again and would actually look forward to the cooking. A great campfire breakfast could really supply enough fuel for the whole day. Foraging for a few fresh greens would be cool for dinner. Fishing for dinner would be great too.
view art's profile
I'm not keen on spending time chopping when I'm camping so things like minced garlic, premade pasta sauce, pasta and ground beef are champions. I just have to open jars and packets, spoon out, pour and cook.
view buda's profile
I love bacon, especially on camping trips, but don't like the mess. Pre-cooked bacon is a nice luxury for camping and Kirkland (Costco) have a pretty decent one.
view Gallivant's profile
I always take a small ham. I don't eat ham much unless I'm camping, but it's great when I'm roughing it. It keeps well, it's versatile, and the salt is welcome.
It goes in to scrambled eggs or an omelette in the morning. At lunch, it's in the sandwiches. And at dinner, it goes with just about anything.
I also take russet potatoes, corn, onions, and tabasco sauce. If it's chilly -- I love snow camping -- I wrap potatoes in foil and bake them after dinner. That night I put one in the foot of each sleeping bag to keep toes warm. The next day, I'll use the baked potatoes, milk, ham, onions, and corn to make a chowder. A dash of tabasco and you're in heaven.
view mxjohnson's profile
I love roasting corn on the grill, but oddly no one else I've met has ever heard of it. When we go camping, we usually backpack for a week or so, though, so most of these recipes aren't practical.
view Damfino's profile
When we go camping we use a lot of foil cooking techniques. For example, some meat, potatoes, carrots, and onion pieces wrapped in a foil packet cooked on the grill or on the hot coals of a fire is great and easy.
Also, you can core apples or partially peel bananas and fill them with caramels (the cube kind) and/or chocolate pieces, wrap them in foil, and cook them in the same way. Great gooey camping dessert!
view ScienceandtheCity's profile
i have a question about baking biscuits on the grill..
how do you do it? batter on top of the foil? wrapped in foil? on the grill? do tell.
view jasminerose's profile
Ours varies radically based on what we're doing...overnight kayaking trips get home-made dehydrated meals, car-camping gets stews and chili, etc. sealed in bags. Just heat them up, and you don't even get a pot dirty.
Oh, and Damfino, roasted corn is one of my favorite things to add to a BBQ!
view Renee's profile
A pop-up (also called a tent trailer or camper trailer) consists of a compact trailer with rigid sides of about 18 inches in height, along with a rigid top.
marie
camper trailer
view marie joseph's profile
Thanks for the testimonial, we've been prototyping a new add on to our campers over the past few months. We think we've finally got them right (mesh annexe walls for really hot days), we're giving them away in June for all new sales (we have given a few away over the past few months as well to some customers), if you didn't get them originally and would like some please give us a call and we'll give you some for free to you, they retail at $300 we got 10 sets to use as promo's!!!
marie
camper trailer
view marie joseph's profile
Actually, if you want the most amazing corn ever, pull back the husk and lay it directly on a bed of coals, turning frequently.
It takes some practice to cook "just enough," but once you're done, roll each ear in a shallow plate/pan of brine - this both washes off the ash, and seasons the corn.
The result is part steamed corn, part popcorn, and 100% delicious.
view kcousins's profile