Camping Food Recipes
Camping food recipes can be really fun to create. But every once in a while you get a brain far and can’t seem to get the inspiration needed to create you own, I would look at some other recipes. I always look at other recipes because they’ve done a lot of the work for me! And I’m a little lazy so it’s win-win for me! There are a few ways to go about creating your own camping food recipes, and it is truly a fun great activity and saying that it truly is your recipe is a great feeling.
Making it a group activity with your friends and family is a great way to create your own camping food recipes. Before you start ask yourselves some questions and that will get you down the right path. How are you going to cook it? Beef or Chicken? (or fish, or pork, or turkey etc) Most people use beef and chicken because it is inexpensive, but don’t be afraid to go out and try turkey instead of chicken, it’ll make a pretty tasty difference. And potatoes or pasta? So with these three questions you’ll be almost done with your camping food recipes.
You’ve used other recipes in the past for a reason, because they work! Use something that works for you and play off that! You like the texture of this one, use it! But you like the cheese sauce in this one, use it! And you think that the fish from this recipe would be good too, USE IT! Creating your own camping food recipes can be all about mixing and matching other recipes that work for you and seeing how they fit together. And color is a huge thing, don’t use all one color, that’s boring and not that appetizing. It’s been shown that multiple colors increase the taste of the dish.
Now cheese sauce and fish might not have worked all that well. Your first try usually doesn’t it. But test it on all your friends and family and get their opinion on the matter. I’ve created a dish that I thought tasted nasty but it seemed like I was the only one in the world like that! Everyone loved it! But it can also be the exact opposite, ask what they think of it and go from there. If they think a white wine sauce would be better try it! But just remember when creating your camping food recipes to write everything down so you know what you’ve tried and what worked and what didn’t.
Popularity: 17% [?]
Camp Oven Cooking
Some say I might be a little crazy about camp oven cooking. Being raised as a boy scout and being able to cook in a camp oven since I was about nine, I guess most aren’t surprised, including myself. Camp oven cooking is a great way to socialize with different people of all race and nationality and make new friends. I love getting my oven or sometimes ovens out to whip something up for my special group of friends and family when we get together. Food has a way of drawing people together for a sense of understanding and unity. I love the faces of all my friends and family when I take off the lid and they are trying to take a peek at the awesomeness of food inside. It’s almost like a bug to a bug zapper. Everyone crowds around the wonderful smells surrounding my camp oven. Whenever I do competitions I love educating people on the finer points of cooking and hopefully to get them to try it as well.
Besides being a pleasant activity, camp oven cooking is an essential living skill that everyone should learn and benefit from. This new internet world of living when everything is looked up has really not given the time to a skill like camp oven cooking that fifty or really a hundred years ago would be an everyday thing. What if a blackout happened just like the Northeast one of 2003? Many people were eating cold food or downright didn’t eat at all. I fired up my ovens and fed my whole street because everyone should have a hot meal no matter what. With camp oven cooking you can gain the confidence to do what I did and come into the rescue and have a hot meal day or night, and electricity or not.
Some tips when you are camp oven cooking to keep in mind that are essential to a wonderful meal are don’t be afraid that you’ll ruin your meal by looking at it! Rotating is the key to not creating burnt spots. Rotate the lid 90 degrees and the oven 90 degrees in the opposite direction. Try keeping the number in the same place the whole time you are cooking it. A camp oven lid can be used a griddle you know! The lid is a shallow bowl so it will never spill over the sides and the top is usually covered in charcoal anyway! Whenever you are camp oven cooking you won’t regret the experience of the skill and the experience of a good old time.
Popularity: 100% [?]
Campfire Cooking Recipes
Campfire cooking recipes usually require some sort of inspiration to help your brain juices thrive and prosper when creating your own recipes. It sure as heck helps me when I look at other recipes when I am trying to come up with my own. There are a few ways to come up with making campfire cooking recipes. It is loads of fun when you can say something is truly yours that you created.
Some say to make it a group activity, because it makes it more fun. I know I like to use friends and family when creating my own, but hey if you are a loner, all the power to you! But when you are creating your own recipe try to ask yourselves questions to help the creative juices flow. How are you going to cook this? Baking and frying are the most popular but this is your chance to be creative! What type of meat are you going to use? Chicken and beef are cheap but they aren’t always the most flavorful, try using fish or duck or pork, changing the meat can be a huge difference in taste. What kind of starch am I going to use? Potatoes and pasta, the two P’s. Use them sparingly but often in your campfire cooking recipes, if that makes any sense.
For more inspiration and ideas, do what you like and know. If this sauce from this dish is better and you think it would go good with the textures of this other dish. TRY IT! The worst that can happen is that it tastes bad, but dogs never dislike it. It’s been proven that different colors in a dish help the taste of the dish. SO try mixing up the colors, like using a white fish, some broccoli and a marinara sauce will go a long way just because of the colors, it’s appealing to the eye. When creating your campfire cooking recipes try to keep that in mind.
Your first try, won’t exactly be the best thing in the world. Chances are it will taste like dog food. But don’t be discouraged, please don’t. Enlist your friends and family to tell you what would work better. Good campfire cooking recipes don’t happen instantly, and enlisting other people to try your food is the most important step when creating a recipe. Don’t forget to write everything you do down because when creating campfire cooking recipes it can all get very mixed up in the brain there.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Camp Stove
When you are backpacking through the woods or mountains or whatever terrain you have decided to conquer this trip you probably have really craved some hot food. Yeah, you could build a campfire but you are way too tired for that kind of stuff. Yes, you could have carried a dutch oven through that rugged terrain but that would get pretty darn heavy pretty darn fast. Now how in the world are you going to boil that water to make those dehydrated meals? With your trust camp stove of course!
There are two types of stoves that backpackers love and use. And there are a couple of factors to consider based on what time of year it is, where in the world are you, how many people you are cooking for and what are you going to be cooking. The two different types are canister and liquid fuel stoves.
Canister camp stoves are pretty darn easy to use, you just attack the stove top to the threaded fuel can turn that baby on, light a match and you are good to go. It is already pre-pressurized and it is self-sealing so it eliminates the possibility of spills. The major drawback of these canister style camp stoves is you can’t use them in the cold, it gets de-pressurized which leads to no flame for you. It also gets pretty expensive and not very eco-friendly. It’s pretty lightweight as well, lighter than the liquid fuel but it is very hard to tell how much fuel you have.
If you are a penny pincher like I am then the liquid fuel camp stove option is definitely the choice for you. Also if you do lots of cold, winter camping, this is the best option for you. They are mostly run on white gas, especially in the United States, with a refillable bottle that is manually pressurized. It works very well in cold-weather, fuel is pretty cheap, and you can take only the fuel you need because if you are a heavy camper like me you’ll have a five gallon jug of white gas. But if you are only doing a weekend trip, you won’t need the full bottle. And it is very eco-friendly because you can reuse all the fuel canisters. The demise of the liquid fuel is that they are generally heavier, an increased chance of fuel leaks, a higher initial cost, and it requires a separate purchase of the fuel bottles. The choice of camp stove should not be taken lightly, and you should weigh the pro’s and con’s yourself and choose based on your lifestyle.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Lodge Dutch Oven
When you are cooking outdoors and you’ve gained lots of experience, you’ll most likely find that the Dutch oven is your favorite cookware to use. Nothing is like the experience of cooking an amazing meal for all your family or friends to enjoy, in a nifty little camping cookware, the Dutch oven. And you’ve probably notice that the Lodge Dutch Oven is the best Dutch oven ever made.
The Lodge cast iron Dutch oven is an astonishing piece of American ingenuity and engineering. In the mountains of Appalachia is the town of South Pittsburg, Tennessee with only a population of 3,300. This small but family like community makes the best cast iron Dutch ovens and cookware in the world. Founded in 1896 by Joseph Lodge, is the oldest family owned cookware company in America.
The beauty of a Lodge Dutch oven is that it isn’t cheaply made. A good dutch oven, like the Lodge’s are, will last you forever, and work in any weather conditions, without ever considering that it might crack or even scratch. If it is seasoned properly and most lodges are pre seasoned, this is an amazing piece of nonstick cookware will keep you worry free about anything sticking to the bottom.
All lodges have three legs to have the oven raised off the ground and allow charcoal or fire embers and even some propane burners. It truly is almost effortless cooking because you can just throw everything in there and let it sit. And instead of using soap to clean the oven out, just throw some water in there and let it boil, use a scrub brush to get everything nice and cleaned up. Actually you don’t want to use soap at all because that will ruin the seasoning you’ve worked hard to get on the surface of the Lodge Dutch oven. But my favorite part of a Lodge cast iron Dutch oven is the flanged lid. You can throw tons and tons of charcoal on top and never have to worry about the various charcoal pieces falling off because the lip holds them on there pretty darn well.
The Lodge Dutch oven is really the best multi-purpose camping cookware ever created and you will never be disappointed when you start cooking in your own oven. You’ll never run out of ideas to cook in this thing and it will last many, many years to come.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Marshmallow Roasting Sticks
Smores, good lord what a wonderful thing to eat. They are tasty and oh so easy to make. You can eat half a dozen of them they are so darn good. Essentially a smore is a roasted marshmallow onto a piece of chocolate and is stuck between two graham crackers. Ideally the hotness of the roasted marshmallow, which should be the consistency of lava if done right, will melt the chocolate enough and it should just melt apart into your mouth. Smores are usually associated with telling ghost stories or jokes and just passing the night time away, sometimes with a group of friends or with your loved ones.
Now most people worry about what type of chocolate, or graham crackers, or how are we going to even start the campfire to make our smores? But the number one thing people tend to forget are how in the world are you going to roast that marshmallow! With marshmallow roasting sticks of course! It will make your life a whole lot easier if you buy them now and just keep them in the general area of all your camping supplies and you won’t regret it. They are pretty darn cheap and last a very long time if you take care of them.
Now there are two different types of marshmallow roasting sticks, steal/metal and wood. There are indeed pros and cons to both but they both basically will get the job done. They both weigh roughly the same, with the metal a little heavier of course.
Metal tends to be the most popular because they are a little more durable and last a bit longer, and its not wood…. Wood and fire equals bad. And all metal marshmallow roasting sticks come with either a wood or plastic handle so you aren’t handling just hot metal the whole time. Some metal marshmallow roasting sticks can even be extendable based on how far away from the fire you are, this is merely a sales thing to get you on convienient and the extendable-ness won’t last all that long. And another cool thing about the metal is instead of manually cleaning the tips of them off just stick it in the fire a few minutes and the entire stuck on marshmallow will be burnt off.
Wood tends to be a little cheaper and free if you are willing to make it yourself but after a few times over the fire they tend to get really brittle and break way too easily. But the difference between the two isn’t that big of a deal and you will be incredibly happy with having ready to go marshmallow roasting sticks for all your smore’s needs.
Popularity: 31% [?]
Easy Camping Meals
When you think of easy camping meals you are probably thinking, hot dogs on a stick, beans in a can, or maybe even Spaghetti O’s. But it really doesn’t have to be that basic. You can create a really incredible meal and make it easy on everyone too. We’ll do each eating time with example easy camping meals to go along with it. You might be amazed at what these ideas can spark into your own mind.
Breakfast is usually the most common meal when dealing with easy camping meals. My favorite thing to do with breakfast is omelets in a bag. You can do it for yourself or a whole group of people if you wanted too, I’ve done both and never had any problems. Basically you stick your eggs into a Ziploc bag and mix it up. Once it is all broken down and a consistant yellow, then add some milk, salt, pepper, any kinds of meat you would like, I like using bacon and steak personally (make sure it is precooked!). Your vegetables go in here, I use peppers mostly. And lastly your favorite type of cheese or cheeses, and a pat of unsalted butter. Seal up the Ziploc bag and throw it into a pot of boiling water. Now depending on the size of your group makes your pot bigger or smaller. Anything over fifteen to twenty people will not be useful and it will take forever to cook all the omelets.
Lunch, I’m not going to explain to well because you can do multiple things but I like doing day hikes during the lunchtime hour so I usually just pack a cold cut, some fruit, a few granola bars, and some Gatorade. You want something high calorie if you are going hiking, keeps you well energized through that 5 mile day hike. But if you are just staying in camp, you could do something similar to the dinner easy camping meals.
Dinner, probably the most important of the three easy camping meals that travels throughout your day. My favorite thing to do, and I swear by it all the time is the foil pack. It’s easy, almost too easy to screw up! Just throw in some meat (chicken is what I prefer) some cut up potatoes and carrots, a bit of seasonings, salt, pepper, oregano, Mrs. Dash, whatever you like. A little bit of water, maybe a tablespoon, even less oil, and a small pat of unsalted butter. Throw it onto some aluminum foil, fold up the sides nice and good, and throw it onto the camp fire. Flip it a few times, and check to see if it is done. There you go a basic foil pack and 3 easy camping meals.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Dutch Oven Cookware
Dutch oven cookware is a surprisingly limited field to choose from. The two companies that are butting heads now a days are Lodge and Camp Chef. Lodge is based in Tennessee and Camp Chef is based in Utah, which some say is the Dutch oven capital of the world. Your choices of Dutch oven cookware is pretty much the size of the oven and the accessories that go along with the oven, some are more essential than others.
The size of you Dutch oven can be incredibly important depending on what you are cooking. They are generally categorized by diameter of the oven, depth, and how many quarts is the capacity. I pretty much always recommend a regular twelve inch Dutch oven. It is the most common in the first place and can do almost anything you could possibly imagine. It is six quarts and almost four inches deep, perfect for roasts, poultry, fish, stews, breads, and desserts. There are two smaller ones eight inch and ten inch varieties and I would only recommend those for side dishes or very personal meals. The larger ones fourteen inch and sixteen inch are four large groups of ten to twelve plus some. Lodge even makes a thirty-two inch Dutch oven if you are man enough.
The other side of Dutch oven cookware is the accessories that are most common for a Dutch oven. If one thing was the most important above all other Dutch oven cookware accessories it would be the Lid Lifter or as I like to call it the “Cool Tool”. Instead of having to reach down and grab the pot, all you have to do is stick the lid lifer underneath the small handle of the pot and lift up. Another essential Dutch oven cookware accessory is the charcoal chimney, you just fill the charcoal chimney up with charcoal, throw a ball of newspaper underneath and in a few minutes time, you have your charcoal ready to use for you Dutch oven. One thing that is very common in the Dutch oven cook-off ring is the trivet. It’ll keep your pies off the bottom of the Dutch oven and lift it up a bit so it doesn’t burn as easily as it would’ve otherwise. And lastly a very common Dutch oven cookware that I’m not really a big advocate of is the Dutch oven table or stand. Just put your charcoal and oven right on this metal table and you don’t have to bend over and use it that way. Some people can’t do without it I suppose. And once I am an old wise man I might need one too.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Campfire Tripod
A campfire tripod is a great and wonderful thing to behold and it handles many of your camp cooking needs. You’ve probably chosen to cook over a fire because you don’t want to have to carry a whole lot, something lightweight but user-friendly. Just normal campfire cooking limits the things you can cook, and taking a fire pit grill or a Dutch oven can be very bulky and a hassle. So to come in and save your day and your trip is a campfire tripod, it is very versatile and has many great advantages and cooking styles.
A campfire tripod is a three legged stand (reason why it is “TRIpod”) that is places over your fire and it has the ability to hang your food down over the campfire instead of placing it right on it. Most should come with a chain that attaches to the top of the tripod and allows you to lower it closer to your fire to increase or decrease your cooking temperature. Because sometimes cooking directly on the fire especially a big one can be disastrous and result in burnt food.
Essentially there are two different things that most people use their campfire tripod for. Most commonly people stick a large pot, kettle, or Dutch oven onto the chain and let it hang over their fire. You usually make stews, soups, or my favorite, chili, this way. And whenever I bring my tripod on camping trips I put our soon to be dishwater over it so it can be nice and hot and clean everything very, very well. Another way that people use a campfire tripod is the grill plate. You throw the meat on the grill and lower it pretty close over the fire and let it sizzle and grill just like you would at home.
How with all these advantages to a campfire tripod, there must be some disadvantages right? The tripods do fold up into a nice neat compact case usually or just nice and neat. You have to have other equipment to even get the benefits of a campfire tripod. The grill plate is pretty light and compact so there really isn’t a problem there, but it’s when you want to use a Dutch oven or a large pot over the fire is when the problems arise. These things can get very heavy, very quick. No problem if you are a trailer camper but if you are a backpacker you wouldn’t want to do much else besides grilling.
Popularity: 39% [?]
Campfire Cooking Equipment
Campfire cooking equipment is a deep and expansive range of products that you can shop for and buy. It really depends on what you are planning on cooking and where you are cooking this food. If it is over a campfire ring at a very organized campground then weight won’t matter because you don’t have to carry it very far at all. But for instance if you are hiking through the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachian Trail then you might want to get something that you can use that is very light and versatile. Your campfire cooking equipment should mainly be tailored towards your lifestyle.
Cast iron is definitely what I would suggest on taking if you don’t have to carry your campfire cooking equipment all that far. A nice dutch oven will give you all your baking and stewing and roasting. And a cast iron skillet can do all your pan frying, sautéing, and browning of your meat. I use this combo when I am doing competitions across the country, I can do almost anything with this one-two punch. But my favorite thing to do is my award winning chili that everyone seems to die for when I make it. And I couldn’t do it without the cast iron campfire cooking equipment.
For backpacking or hiking, I would suggest aluminum. There are a ton things that you can do with aluminum campfire cooking equipment and it greatly depends on what kind of aluminum you are talking about. I personally like to use aluminum foil whenever I can, because it is extremely light and I can fold up a bunch and stick it in the smallest of places in my backpack. The thing that I like to do with my foil is foil packs. Just shove everything in the foil, fold it over nice and tight and place it on top of some embers. Flip it a few times while it gets nice and steamy and take it out and let it cool a bit, there you go, you have you plate and your meal sitting right in front of you. Another thing that aluminum is used for are the aluminum cook sets that have gotten really popular recently. They are very cheap and very light, they can all pack together into one nifty little compact kit and you are good to go. Just make sure you soap up the sides of the pans that you are using to reduce the blackness effect.
Popularity: 16% [?]
