whats for dinner folks? when you go teardroppin.

[bobhenry]

Get yourself a dutch oven !

I know you have heard us talk about then.

Let me try and list .........

So what's in that big black pot


How about a giant loaf of yeast bread !
( frozen bread loaves out of the freezer at your neighborhood grocery)


Or maybe a monster meat loaf !

This breakfast cassarole take a few minuttes to prep but every bite is worth it.




And of course if the weather is cool a nice warm stew is a welcome dish



Just a few of the many good meals that we have enjoyed.

Food always tastes better when camping.

[Miriam C.]

Bob's right! Get you a DO and read up on the recipes here. Also go to Joanne's site "Camp Cook"

Basically you can do anything you can do at home. I tend to do hotdogs and burgers if it is just us. My favorite bring along is a Sadler's Brisket from SAMs club.....

Oh and venison chilli is good to.

[parnold]

I like to prepare some spaghetti sauce and chili ahead of time, and freeze them. It gives me a little extra ice in the cooler, and I have two evenings of fairly easy meals.

When I went camping with my two sons when they were younger, night one would always be hamburger helper. I don't know why, but they loved the stuff. Day two was usually pasta night, and day three was chili.

I can't imagine camping without bacon and eggs in the morning, and somehow, toast made over the stove with one of those weird contraptions is the best toast in the world.

[S. Heisley]

Like you, slowcowboy, I keep it simple. While I do take fresh foods, I also take canned goods or things that don't spoil easily. I always keep soups and stews on hand as they are good to keep on hand for emergency trips, or when you get to your campsite late in the day and want a quick meal. They are also good to keep on hand to extend your supplies in case you find you want to stay somewhere for a couple extra days.

Meats are usually cooked up ahead of time as they keep better that way. And, of course, most trips with kids or adult kids must have hot dogs and marshmallows to cook over a fire.

+ + + + +

Here are some basic STAPLES that you can always keep on hand:

-Pancake mixes
* Make or buy a mix that will only need water added. The ones in the yellow shaker jar are nice.
* If you run out or forget to bring bread, a pancake can be used instead - especially good with peanut butter and jam or honey!
-Cereals
* Make or buy kinds that can be eaten with or without milk.
-Canned Canadian Bacon
-Canned Diced or Sliced Potatoes
- Cooking Oil

-Canned Soups
-Peanut Butter
-Canned Tuna
-Canned Chicken
- Dry Salami

-Canned Stews, etc.
* Dinty Moore makes a good one. They also make a canned Chicken and Dumplings
-Canned Spaghetti
-Canned Green Beans
* I add a can of green beans and a little basil in with the DM stew…makes it taste ‘almost’ homemade.
-Canned Carrots
* The more you do to a carrot, the more Vitamin A you release. Therefore, ounce for ounce, canned carrots give you more than raw.
-Canned Mixed Peas and Carrots
-Canned Corn

-Canned Apricots
* These are also rich in Vitamin A and can satisfy if you're looking for something sweet.
-Canned Peaches
- Packages of Dried Fruits
- Jars or packages of Nuts

-Jar of Instant Coffee or coffee mixes (Nescafe Clasico is the only instant that I like.)
* If you can’t stand instant, keep packets of ground coffee and a single cup Mellita coffee dripper and filters. The problem with ground coffee is that it goes stale fairly fast, once the pkg. is opened.
-Coffeemate or other Dry Coffee Creamer
-Hot Chocolate packets
-Nonfat Dry Milk
- Drink Mixes that you can add to water
* Wyer’s (?) lemonade or that fake orange juice that the astronauts used (can’t remember its name).
* Try to get the kinds that have Vitamin C in it.
- Yoohoo (?) or other such individual milk/chocolate milk drink boxes
-Drink packets, like Crystal light or…?
- Bottled water

-Sugar
-Honey
-Cinnamon (ground)
-Salt in a closed top shaker (Add a few pieces of dry, uncooked rice in it, to keep it from clumping.)
- Pepper in a closed top shaker
- Jar of Butter Buds or other butter substitute, to add flavor to canned carrots, etc.
- Jar of vitamins
* Because your meals may not be adequately balanced when camping.

+ + + +
I’m probably forgetting a few things as this is a generic list, taken quickly from my head, but the above would be a good list to start from to help you make your own.

PS. Always take:

-Paper Towels
-Toilet Paper
- Extra Cooking Fuel
- Insect Deterrent
- Flashlight
- Extra Batteries

[bobhenry]

http://www.scoutingbear.com/FUNWITHDO.PDF

Here is a real good dutch oven cook book just load the printer and print. A lot of good info on the care and use of the D.O> as well as hundreds of really great recipes.

[tearhead]

Hi, Slowcowboy--I think a lot of times slowing down and cooking things on a lower temp works better. I have a couple of ideas for you. One has three ingredients and one has four.

First idea: buy a bag of frozen meatballs (they're precooked) at the grocery store, and also one bottle of chili sauce (it'll be near the ketchup) and a small jar of grape jelly. Put equal amounts of jelly and chili sauce in a pan and warm it (on LOW!) on your camp stove until the jelly melts. Put in the meatballs (still on low or medium) and heat them until the meatballs are warm inside.

Second idea: buy one lb. ground beef, one green pepper, one onion, and one can of spaghetti and sauce (like Franco American). Chop up the pepper and onion and put them aside and focus on the hamburger first. If the meat is really lean, put a little oil or shortening in a frying pan (if the meat has some fat in it, you may not need the oil) and cook the hamburger on medium or high until it's cooked. Then add the onion and pepper and cook them until the onion becomes translucent. Then add the canned spaghetti and stir in. Heat it until it's warm. Cheese on top is nice, but not essential. You could lay a few slices of cheese on top near the end of cooking until it gets soft.

A couple more things: People do find that things tend to burn more when they are cooking on a camp stove, whether propane or Coleman. So you're in good company! An advantage of cooking in cast iron is that things are less apt to burn. Basically heavier pans will be less prone to burning your food.

Finally, I think a girl would be impressed that you're cooking for her, so keep it simple and focus on the girl (mostly)!

[dreadcptflint]

Not a dumb question as we can cook some strange things when out and about:



For example a cuban sandwich. We were just using our little stove, some frying pans and a big old rock to provide the squish.

With a little bit of imagination, you can cook anything you want while camping in your teardrop. It just depends on how much work you want to put into it. I usually post my stuff over in Camp-cook.com because you can get a little wild over there.

If you really get board then you can turn your pot over:



and make yourself some pizza:



We do try to stick with easy and fast as you never know when the wildlife will show up.

[TwilightLane]

One of my favorite goto meals is a box of kraft dinner (mac n cheese) and a can of your favorite chili. Make mac n cheese, dump in chili, heat to warm. Shovel into your pie hole. Ummmm good.

[Ageless]

Camp cooking is where KISS really applies! A package of Ramen with the addition of a few veggies and a little meat is great. During the Dam Gathering I found apple cured chicken sausage . . .some cheese spread, onion, relish, good mustard (not the yellow stuff) and a hoagie roll . . .yummy with soup.

The proper use of spices can make a great deal of difference. I never would use ground pepper; always a pepper mill. Garlic and onion POWDER only! I grow and dry my own parsley too.

There is a wide selection of dried sauce and gravy mixes to save weight; add a healthy dose of bacon bits to country gravy; dried mushrooms to mushroom gravy and dried beef to brown gravy.

I dehydrate many foods. Dried sweet onions are almost like onion flavored candy; sprinkle them on the gravy over taters or toast. A handfull of mixed dried veggies tossed into warm water in the morning are ready for soup or stew by the afternoon. I can't keep dried fruit long at the house (grandsons) so I end up buying it . . . . . .

[caseydog]

A few regulars of mine are...

Steak -- a nice ribeye cooked on the grill.

Sausage, eggs and cheese in the morning. Sometimes I put them on flour tortillas for breakfast tacos.

Hot dogs on the grill -- always make a bunch to share at lunchtime.

Chili is good and easy on your stove.

I do a stir fry on my stove with bell peppers, onions, fresh herbs and some gulf shrimp. Yum.

You can cook foil packs right on the coals of a campfire. Put meat chunks, carrots, cauliflower, onions -- whatever in a double layered aluminum foil pouch, add some V8 juice and spices, seal it up, and put it on the coals for about 20 minutes. You can use whatever veggies you want that cook nicely, and use chicken or beef stock if you prefer. Mushrooms cook down nicely with beef and beef stock. Potatoes too.

Here are some foil pack ideas...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Campfire-F ... etail.aspx

http://altcamping.org/Foil_Dinners.html

http://www.bestcamprecipes.com/foil/Ham ... otato.html

For coffee, get a small automatic electric percolator and make fresh coffee in the morning. You'll be glad you did.

And, do NOT let Sharon seduce you to the dark side of camp food -- gasp -- canned meals at a campout.

Camp cooking is really fairly easy, and everything you cook yourself while camping is the best meal you've had in a long time.

CD

[caseydog]

Oh, BTW, do your food prep at home and put ingredients into small plastic containers, so all you have to do at camp is cook. Any chef will tell you that the secret to good cooking is to prepare everything before you put a fire under your pan. For camping, go a step further, and prepare as much as you can before you hit the road.

You can even make your foil packs at home, and just pull them out of the cooler and put them on the coals. How much easier can you get. Oh, and you can cook foil packs on a grill, too.

For more ideas, go to some gatherings, and find the people who are good cooks, and ask them for advice. I used to teach camp cooking at REI years ago. People were always amazed at how easy it was to make a freshly cooked meal while camping.

CD

[b.bodemer]

We take some staples but it's also fun to shop locally when you arrive. We always have the cast iron and grill and on longer trips take the stove. So a lot depends on the length of the trip or how spontaneous we want to be!

Pizza, cookies, cakes and cinnamon rolls are great with the oven:




Chicken cooked in cast iron pan with pasta:


Barb

[Cliffmeister2000]

French Toast



Peach cobbler


Pork chops and potatoes



West Africa Jollof Rice


Pizza



And my favorite! Montana Cowboy Potroast!~

[parnold]

West Africa Jollof Rice

Could you post the recipe for that, it looks interesting!

[Cliffmeister2000]

Follow this link to Camp-Cook.com, our sister forum!

http://www.camp-cook.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2680