Camping and cooking outdoors can provide a wonderful opportunity for a family to get away from the struggles of daily life or for a couple to get away for a time of quiet relaxation. The experience will be even more enjoyable if you pre-plan a few necessary menu items and simplify the cooking plans as much as possible before leaving. Depending on the campground situation, most foods can be made ahead and frozen.
Plan the camping menus carefully. You'll want easy-to-fix meals that provide for easy clean-up. The fewer ingredients you use, the better. Try to plan meals that use similar items. Package the ingredients in pre-measured baggies or containers. For instance, you can chop onions and green peppers and freeze them in small sandwich bags. You can fry chicken or hamburger and freeze them in pre-portioned containers. The more organized your menu is before you leave for the trip, the easier the food preparations will be after you arrive.
Nothing beats cooking over a hot fire when camping. You'll need experience when cooking with this method. The heat of the fire you'll need will depend on the type of food you'll cook. Soups and stews will require more time over a lower flame. Boiled vegetables and meats will require less time and a higher flame. If you plan to fry or broil meat, you'll want to use glowing embers, and the cooking vessel will need to be near the heat. You can also bring along a camp stove and cook as you would at home. Never use a camp stove near an open fire.
Make sure you bring all necessary gear for cooking. You'll need plates, eating utensils and drinking vessels. A large container filled with fresh water and ice will provide drinking water. Pack coolers with the cold food and weather-proof containers to hold the dry food. Bring snacks, food items, serving platters and utensils, and pots and pans that will work with your chosen cooking method. Bring all necessary spices needed to season the food. Don't forget specialty items such as can openers, cheese slicers and hot pads. A large rubber tub will allow you to fill it with water and wash the dishes after the meal.
Put all food and food-related items in secure containers when camping outdoors. Bears and other wild animals might be enticed into the area if you leave food where they can find it. Small insects such as ants will also invade the food if they have an opportunity. Keep the camp area free of food scraps. Large containers with tight-fitting lids are one way to secure the food. Coolers will keep meat and other perishables cold and out of reach. If you can stow these containers in a vehicle, you'll have a double barrier against critters and pests.
Here are a couple of fun and easy recipes that can be made in advance of the camping trip. Make burritos---breakfast or dinner---wrap them in foil and freeze them before you leave for the trip. Defrost them the day you want to cook them and toss them into the campfire to cook. You'll want to make sure the embers aren't too hot. For a lunch or dinner burrito, figure out how many tortillas you'll need for the amount of people who will be eating. Add cooked hamburger, pork or chicken, salsa, cheese and refried beans, depending on each person's preference. Roll them up, wrap them in foil, and use a permanent marker to write each person's initials on the foil. Freeze them until time to leave.
Breakfast burritos can be made the same way. Place scrambled eggs, cheese, salsa and bacon or sausage onto a tortilla, roll them up, wrap them in foil and freeze.
Easy omelets can also be made for each person before leaving for the trip. Take a boil-proof plastic bag, add two eggs and lay out a selection of onion, cheese, green peppers and jalapeño peppers, and let each camper choose what items they want to add to their omelet. Each camper puts a small handful of whatever they choose into the bag. Close the bag tightly and squish it around to mix the eggs and ingredients. Label each bag with each person's name with a permanent marker and freeze. When you're ready to cook the omelets, toss the bags into a pot of boiling water for 13 minutes.
