Title: How to cook while camping
Introduction:
Camping in the jungle or near a river is fun and many people enjoy camping almost every month. Camping is enjoyed with barbeque style food and some quick recipes. Due to hiking and biking, your hunger will definitely increase so; why just eat a cold hamburger and sleep? You can make some delicious recipes even while camping. You can use the camp fire as the medium for cooking and aluminum foil can be used for cooking meat and veggies, over the fire. Food will taste even better when cooked on a wooden campfire.
Complexity Level: Basic
Time required: 1-2 hour
Resources required:
- Meat and veggies which you want to eat
- Aluminum foil
- Camp fire with a grate
- Butter and seasonings of your choice
Instructions:
1. Cut the veggies and meat:
Before going for camping, you can cut the veggies and meat and store them in zip pouches to be used at the camp site. You can also bring along veggies and meat at the camp site and cut them fresh. Marination pastes can be brought along in zip packs and used for marinating meat and veggies when camping. If you are planning to go on a swim or a biking ride, marinate the meat and store in zip bags inside your camping tent. So, while you take your ride the meat will marinate and you can cook it immediately, after you come back. For veggies you can use corn, potatoes and mushrooms which cook well on campfires. For meat you can use tuna, chicken, beef and even freshly caught salmon.
2. Setting up the Fire:
Once ready for cooking, set up the fire with either coal or wood chunks and once it dies down to a level, where, if you hold your hand on it you will feel very hot after 2-3 seconds. This is the right time to spread your aluminum foil and place the food on it.
3. Place the food:
Spread a large sheet of aluminum foil and place the meat and veggies on it. Lay the marinated meat, veggies side by side on it, with some distance in between and now add the butter. You can also add seasonings to the food from the top, or you can marinate the meat in the seasonings. Crushed garlic can be added to the food when placed on the amber. Burnt garlic gives a rustic taste and smell to the food. Now fold the foil from the sides till you close the food from all sides. No hole should be kept in this tight pack. The meat needs to cook in its own juices. You can make small packs of foil like this for meat and veggies separately, or add them in one pack as per your choice. Now put these packs on the grate and place the grate on the blown down camp fire.
4. Cooking time:
Depending on the food you are cooking inside the pack, place the foil on the grate. Veggies will take less time to cook while meat may take about 30-40 minutes. Keep turning the foil pack upside down so the food cooks evenly. Foods like potatoes will take longer time than that needed in your kitchen.
5. Checking, if done and serving:
If you feel the food is almost done, make a hole on the top of the foil and check if the meat is done. Marinated meat usually cooks fast. If done, use large tongs to remove the foil packs from the grate and place them on plates, to serve. You can make one foil pack for each camping member or a group pack for everyone to eat from.
Frequently asked questions:
Can you suggest some easy foods to cook while camping?
You can cook beacon on a campfire. No oil would be needed as you can fry the beacon in a pan over the campfire. Beacon releases fat, which is the medium for frying the beacon. You can use the same fat that remains in the pan after the beacon is fried, to fry some eggs. The camp fire heat is enough to cook the eggs in no time. You can also cook hotdogs in a small skillet on a campfire. Pack some buns when coming for camping and put in the freshly cooked hotdogs in the buns to make a tasty dish. You can also cook the sausages on skewers over the campfire. You can make beans or soup from a can by pouring it in a small skillet and holding it over the campfire. They cook fast and taste great with any other dish while camping.
Quick tips:
- Mix veggies and meat of various kinds and make a dish of your own while camping.
- You can cook crab legs on a campfire in 15 minutes, by adding butter, bay leaf and a cube of ice to the foil pack.
- When using a camp grill apply oil to it so the food wonât stick.
- Quick and hassle free meals can be made from canned food items.
Things to watch out for:
- If using utensils keep the handles away from the fire. It can melt or get really hot.
- Use fireproof equipment.
- When food is done the foil pack will be really hot, use only tongs to remove the pack from the fire.
- Keep water or butter away from the fire.
