Your favorite "quick & easy" camping dishes?

1160 Views 32 Replies 13 Participants Last post by charlesv, 11 d ago

AdirondackAl

Discussion Starter · 19 d ago

Hi all; the Mrs. & I are gearing up for our first excursion of the season. We've developed a 'system' over the years that works well for us regarding meals; but have fallen into a bit of a rut. Our camper is a little, old, hard-sided A-frame with a dinky little 'fridge; so we also put 2 coolers in the back of the truck. Most meals are prepped at home & frozen ("auxiliary icepacks"), so we don't do much actual cooking in camp. Now & then I'll put things on a fire, when weather & time allows. (We're some hiking/walking fools and it takes a lot of time out of the day "doing nothing" & "relaxing".

) I'm fairly new to MO, and found this section and figured I would through out the question and see what y'all like to do.

Might add that we don't have a microwave; and half the time our trips don't include electric anyway. Mostly, it's chipping out frozen stuff to thaw & heat up on the 'Coleman'. When I take the time & have the fresh fixin's, I do like cooking like a "caveman" - which is ironic because I can't hardly do squat in a real kitchen....

Thanks in advance for your replies.

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Waffletop

· #2 · 19 d ago

Bacon, eggs and fried potatoes and onions for breakfast, usually pre-made sandwiches/Subs for lunch and grilling/BBQ for dinner.
Not necessarily quick and easy but food is usually one of the highlights of camping, lunch is quick and easy.

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fordwannabe

· #3 · 19 d ago

I take a can of pillsbury biscuits bake some (Use tin foil beside a fire or on the coleman) then heat a can of Dinty Moore beef stew . Place the biscuits in a bowl and ladle some beef stew on top. MMMM. The next morning take a couple of the remain[ng uncooked biscuits flatten/stretch them individually to about 3-4 inches poke a hole in the center (a finger works the best buuut your wife will probably appreciate it if you wash that finger first) and drop in a skillet of hot oil (be quick or they will burn) flip once fry to a golden brown. Place on a plate with a couple paper towels under them to drain. While still hot sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar( a mix available at grocery stores or dollar stores) and have a hot camp doughnut with your coffee in the morning. Those camp doughnuts have made quite a few camping or hunting trips more fun.

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carpy

· #4 · 19 d ago

I like to get a bit more involved with camp cooking. Dutch oven cooking is my favorite. Lots of possibilities. Drop biscuits with venison or beef gravy with some sautéed onions are pretty darn easy.
Some good sausages, sweet peppers, onions, sauerkraut . All you need is a skillet. Toast the buns, add a little mustard. Fresh green beans are super quick and easy. Toss with some bacon bits and a little butter. Just gotta experiment.
Have a great time out camping.

.

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Waffletop

· #5 · 19 d ago

American Chuck Wagon Association in 2021 | Chuck wagon, Wagon, Chucks

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.DIRTY-.THIRTY

· #6 · 19 d ago

Makes me hungry just looking at that picture, Waffle. Can almost smell it 😁

I suppose my fav desserts in the woods are in a Dutch oven and easily prepared, dump cake and a fruit cobbler, whatever fruit you preferring that day.

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10acres

· #7 · 19 d ago

3

Get yourself a Lodge #10 Camp Dutch Oven. Not much you can’t make in it with some charcoal or coals from the fire. No electric needed. My favorite is biscuits and gravy.

Chicken Pot Pie

Blueberry Dump Cake

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carpy

· #8 · 18 d ago (Edited)

We bought an 8 in Dutch oven for smaller portions with the two of us. Still use the 12 inch.
Fruit cobbler is easier than pie, literally. Mix together 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of sugar. Melt one stick of butter in the dutch. Add 4 cups of fruit. on top of butter. pour flour mixture over fruit. Cook till done. Blackberries in season? apples, whatever.
Super simple crowd pleaser (or all by yourself) is a store bought can of cinnamon rolls. Put them in a dutch oven, add extra butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and some heavy cream. Cook till browned, bubbly and extra gooey. Dig em out with your hunting knife and eat right out of the pan. Your wife may want you to save a few for her. Best to use a regular spatula and put them on a plate for that.
So many recipes, so little time.

Edit to cobbler recipe. cup, cup, cup, teaspoon, pinch, cube and a quart. Added a teaspoon of baking soda and a pinch of salt.

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AdirondackAl

Discussion Starter · #9 · 18 d ago

Thanks for the ideas! I do have a 'collection' of cast iron, but haven't been packing it lately - last few times out we had more rain than fair weather. Using it isn't usually "quick", but it does add pleasure to the trip. Maybe I could get Waffle's chuck wagon to cater my camping adventures....

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Waffletop

· #10 · 18 d ago

The foil pack dinners you throw in the coals work good also.

My Boy Scout training has served me well.

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AdirondackAl

Discussion Starter · #11 · 18 d ago

I've never tried foil packs, but I should experiment with them a bit. I remember an article from the 70's, maybe in 'Popular Mechanics', about laying them on the exhaust manifold of your vehicle. A length of thin wire to keep them in place, and you have a hot meal when you stop for lunch. Don't know how viable that would be now - so much "stuff" under the hood anymore, and smaller engines have smaller "cook surfaces".

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.DIRTY-.THIRTY

· #12 · 18 d ago

My favorite foil pack is 1-2 70/30 fat content burger Pattie’s, a potato or 2 sliced up, carrots cut into 3/8” coins, half an onion sliced up, your favorite seasoning and its yum yum

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10acres

· #13 · 18 d ago

Foil packs are great also. Shrimp and sausage is my favorite.

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scorpio

· #14 · 17 d ago

I'm a fan of KISS philosophy. Water, fire, and Mt. House freeze dried food take care of all my needs when roughing it. Jet stoves are very compact, my stove and canister are stored in a coffee can, the propane-butane mix fuel boils water lickety split too. Coleman makes an affordable canister mounted stove that works just as good as a more expensive brand. This is about as minimal work and long lasting food safety as you can get.

That said, nobody wants to eat freeze dried grub 100% of the time. I use a Lifetime (made in the USA) brand cooler that is about half the cost of a Yeti, and by comparison is nearly 90% as good. If I need to keep things cold, I use ice, when I need to keep things frozen, I use dry ice. My medium size cooler will keep regular ice for up to seven days if I pre-cool it, and cover with a blanket. I have not tested how long dry ice lasts, but it will keep food frozen for at least four days. Just the same as a freezer or fridge, the more you pack it, the more efficient it will be.

Because refrigeration is a limited resource, one needs to consider alternative food staples that are similar to foods you would otherwise need to refrigerate. Here are some alternatives I pack that remain safe unrefrigerated for a a good bit. The following can last weeks without refrigeration as long as stored properly.

Ghee - Made from butter, so it's not exactly a butter substitute.
Lard - Practically lasts forever.
Hard Cheese - Aged Cheddar, Gouda, Asiago, Parmigiano, Peccorino Romano.
Milk - Condensed or evaporated canned, better than powdered imho.
Eggs - Farm fresh unwashed eggs can last weeks unrefrigerated.
Meats - Jerkey, salami, chorizo, summer sausage. Last for months unopened.
Veggies - Onions, potatoes, summer squash, carrots, garlic.
Fresh Fruits - Apples, pears, pineapple.

If you don't have storage space that is room temperature, dig a hole three feet deep in a shaded area. No matter how hot it is outside, it is unlikely the hole will get above 70 F. A 3' hole in the shade will be 10 to 15 deg cooler than surface temp. The only downside, it may attract animals, so covering the hole and airtight containers are a must.

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AdirondackAl

Discussion Starter · #15 · 17 d ago

scorpio said:
I'm a fan of KISS philosophy. Water, fire, and Mt. House freeze dried food take care of all my needs when roughing it. Jet stoves are very compact, my stove and canister are stored in a coffee can, the propane-butane mix fuel boils water lickety split too. Coleman makes an affordable canister mounted stove that works just as good as a more expensive brand. This is about as minimal work and long lasting food safety as you can get.

That said, nobody wants to eat freeze dried grub 100% of the time. I use a Lifetime (made in the USA) brand cooler that is about half the cost of a Yeti, and by comparison is nearly 90% as good. If I need to keep things cold, I use ice, when I need to keep things frozen, I use dry ice. My medium size cooler will keep regular ice for up to seven days if I pre-cool it, and cover with a blanket. I have not tested how long dry ice lasts, but it will keep food frozen for at least four days. Just the same as a freezer or fridge, the more you pack it, the more efficient it will be.

Because refrigeration is a limited resource, one needs to consider alternative food staples that are similar to foods you would otherwise need to refrigerate. Here are some alternatives I pack that remain safe unrefrigerated for a a good bit. The following can last weeks without refrigeration as long as stored properly.

Ghee - Made from butter, so it's not exactly a butter substitute.
Lard - Practically lasts forever.
Hard Cheese - Aged Cheddar, Gouda, Asiago, Parmigiano, Peccorino Romano.
Milk - Condensed or evaporated canned, better than powdered imho.
Eggs - Farm fresh unwashed eggs can last weeks unrefrigerated.
Meats - Jerkey, salami, chorizo, summer sausage. Last for months unopened.
Veggies - Onions, potatoes, summer squash, carrots, garlic.
Fresh Fruits - Apples, pears, pineapple.

If you don't have storage space that is room temperature, dig a hole three feet deep in a shaded area. No matter how hot it is outside, it is unlikely the hole will get above 70 F. A 3' hole in the shade will be 10 to 15 deg cooler than surface temp. The only downside, it may attract animals, so covering the hole and airtight containers are a must.

That sounds more like my solo hunting & fishing excursions; no cooler, sleep in the back of the truck (have a cap), and just a backpacking stove. Being a former Army 'grunt', I throw in a couple MRE's as well (although they usually make the trip back home

). Even in "full camping mode" I keep a milkcrate with a cannister stove, small cook set, and supplies for various snacks & drinks in the truck - never know when the weather will change or a hike will run longer than expected, and we can get something hot right then.

I would like to try dry ice sometime, but I'm not sure where I could get it conveniently. I'll throw out our 'system' with 2 coolers for whoever may want to try it. One cooler is packed with a bag of ice as usual, the other is packed using pre-frozen water bottles (saved from 'Gatorade' or 'Vitamin Water' - much more rugged than the bottles drinking water comes in). Our camper refrigerator has a little freezer in it that will refreeze the bottles as needed (with electric or propane). As we eat, and the ice melts, the remaining food gets transferred to the other cooler or the 'fridge. We don't have to resupply with ice while we're out, and we don't have things floating in melt water. It works quite well for us; but we have been looking at slightly larger trailers recently, and our #2 requirement is a large refrigerator with a separate freezer....

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MDTrailrider

· #16 · 14 d ago

My idea of KISS is to avoid cooking. But it really depends upon what the trip is about. If it's a dirt riding adventure and the idea is to ride as much as we can, then avoid cooking. As Scorpio said, jerky and fruit. Also Slim Jims, pepperoni, cold cuts, honey roasted peanuts, hard boiled eggs, cold chicken, pop tarts, trail mixes, baloney sandwiches, peanut butter on bread and although my friends and I don't like them, Vienna sausages. You can easily get a full meal without cooking. You can even do without the cooler but it limits you more.

If it's primarily camping and there will be campfires, then we want to cook. Easy is to roast hotdogs on a campfire fork or heat a can of ravioli standing it on a flat rock on the fire ring, arranged that way intentionally prior to starting the fire. Rotate the can occasionally using an aluminum pot grabber or bring thick leather gloves like welder's gloves.

Usually, we bake potatoes buried in the fire ambers and grille nice steaks or gourmet hamburgers. We build a big fire and when it turns into a big heap of red ambers we create a hollow in the ambers with a shovel, put the potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil in the hollow and then scrap the ambers into a pile over the potatoes. Then build the fire back up for grilling. We also heat chocolate chip cookies on the fire ring rocks. For breakfast we have eggs, bacon, sausage and blueberry pancakes.

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AdirondackAl

Discussion Starter · #17 · 14 d ago

MDTrailrider said:
My idea of KISS is to avoid cooking. But it really depends upon what the trip is about. If it's a dirt riding adventure and the idea is to ride as much as we can, then avoid cooking. As Scorpio said, jerky and fruit. Also Slim Jims, pepperoni, cold cuts, honey roasted peanuts, hard boiled eggs, cold chicken, pop tarts, trail mixes, baloney sandwiches, peanut butter on bread and although my friends and I don't like them, Vienna sausages. You can easily get a full meal without cooking. You can even do without the cooler but it limits you more.

If it's primarily camping and there will be campfires, then we want to cook. Easy is to roast hotdogs on a campfire fork or heat a can of ravioli standing it on a flat rock on the fire ring, arranged that way intentionally prior to starting the fire. Rotate the can occasionally using an aluminum pot grabber or bring thick leather gloves like welder's gloves.

Usually, we bake potatoes buried in the fire ambers and grille nice steaks or gourmet hamburgers. We build a big fire and when it turns into a big heap of red ambers we create a hollow in the ambers with a shovel, put the potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil in the hollow and then scrap the ambers into a pile over the potatoes. Then build the fire back up for grilling. We also heat chocolate chip cookies on the fire ring rocks. For breakfast we have eggs, bacon, sausage and blueberry pancakes.

Yeah, that's why I started this - you get busy with other things & don't want to take time to wait for a fire to burn down or cut up a bunch of stuff. My solo-trip meals are usually fairly spartan, but the Mrs. likes to be more 'traditional'. We tend to avoid canned food despite the convenience; our pre-made frozen 'one-pot' dishes is nearly as convenient, and tastes better.

Another tip I'll throw out there: We do potatoes in the coals also, when we do cook "big". I take a nail and stick it through the foil into the potato; the steel is a heatsink that gets the inside cooking quicker. Use "bright common" nails, not galvanized, 'sinkers', 'coated', or anything else (retired carpenter, so I still have quite a collection

) - from 8d to 16d, depending on the size of potato. Done in the middle without burning on the outside.

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Waffletop

· #18 · 14 d ago

Vintage Camping Marshall Michigan, Cornwell's Turkey

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Waffletop

· #19 · 14 d ago

3

Red Ford Pickup Double Decker Camper – Truck Camper HQ

Red Ford Pickup Double Decker Camper – Truck Camper HQ

Image result for vintage camping

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Waffletop

· #20 · 14 d ago

Anyone remember the Boy Scout Patrol boxes?

Image result for boy scout patrol box

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