Um, why do you need to cook differently in camp than you do at home?
Okay, a camp stove usually has two burners instead of four, but if you are used to cooking simple meals that shouldn't be a problem.
How many will you be cooking for? One? Two? Easy peasy! I personally cook for three, but the kids are 13 now, so I look for recipes that feed 6.
Next, what pans will you be cooking with? I have two sets of pans, light-weight aluminum (from the ancient past when I backpacked with my dad, and including some of his backpacking gear) and cast iron. I mostly pack the cast iron now, and one large aluminum pot if I plan on pasta or rice. I no longer use non-stick pans, as high heat degrades the surface (and releases a toxic gas), and both camp fires and camp stoves can produce very high heat. Well-seasoned cast iron is essentially non-stick, so that is not a problem. If you really like eggs sunny side up or over easy, though, I would invest in a skillet or griddle 50-75 years old, as they have a smoother texture than modern cast iron, and an egg will just slip across the surface when it is well-seasoned. I have a round griddle, my comal, with just such a surface, that is perfect for eggs over easy and also fresh tortillas and crepes and pancakes. However, stainless steel is also a choice. Aluminum has a lower melting point, and I sometimes get my frying pan, um, screaming hot, which can warp/melt Al pans, so I don't use Al any more.
Oh, and you don't need a full set of pans in your camper. Take what you will use. When my kids were small, I took my 6-inch/1-qt Dutch oven (small desert), 8-inch/2-qt DO (main dish), a 70-yo 6-inch frying pan (for my egg, pre-comal), and 8-inch frying pan (general frying/browning/et.al), and sometimes the spaghetti pot. Now the 6-inchers stay home and I also have a 10-inch frying pan and a 10-inch DO. If you need a lid on a frying pan, the lid off of a similarly sized DO will work, although it won't be as tight a fit as on the DO itself. Alternatively, if you are using SS pans instead of CI, you can pick up a universal lid at the hardware store, in glass (maybe not), metal, or silicon.
We also plan some meals around pie-iron gadgets. We especially like the Bratt-cooker (for example,
http://www.amazon.com/Romes-1905-Cooker ... B000E0PQ50) and we have a waffle iron (
http://www.amazon.com/Romes-1405-Waffle ... 6JMZEYXMW1), although I need the larger size now (see above, 13-yos). Oh, and I bought a WaffleDog last spring (
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Waffle-Dog-Iron ... 3f30b94749). Love it with breakfast sausage and pancake batter! Also good with Italian sausage and cornbread batter!
Or do you plan to grill over the coals from your camp fire? That makes for an easy meal. Prep at home for easy cooking in camp.
1. Cut a good-sized sheet of aluminum foil for each camper. Lay it out flat. Take fresh green beans, topped and tailed, one handful per sheet of foil. Slice one small zucchini for every 2 campers, into longwise wedges., and line up with the beans in the center of the foil. Add minced garlic and onions, sliced pole to pole, as desired. I would add Italian herb mix to this, and a pinch of salt. Add just a touch of butter or a spray of olive oil, your choice. Fold up as shown here:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/how- ... il-packetsOlive oil is a solid at refrigerator/ice chest temperatures, so once chilled there is no danger of it spilling in your ice chest. I would slide these packets into a plastic bag for transport.
2. Marinate/Brine boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 per camper) for about ½ hour. Drain and store in a plastic bag, all the air squeezed out. Refrigerate or freeze, depending on how soon you plan to cook this in camp.
3. Wrap one corn cob per camper in foil. I would butter the corn before wrapping, and would add just the lightest dusting of chili powder. Just saying. Alternatively, wrap one potato per camper (small, medium, or large, your choice) in foil. I would oil the skin first.
Take long-handled tongs with you. They are the best for handling things like the foil packets and corn cobs!
When you get to camp, start your fire/charcoal. Set up camp, greet the neighbors, relax a bit while your fire develops some nice coals. Set the grill over the coals to preheat. Oddly enough, the veggies take longer to cook than the meat, so nestle the corn or potatoes into the coals, set the foil packets on top of some, and give them 15 to 20 min. Shake the foil packets every now and then, and turn the corn or potatoes. If the foil starts to blacken, pull it to the edge where it will stay warm but not burn. When ready, take a paper towel with a bit of oil on it, hold it with the tongs, and wipe the grill with it. I also tend to spray both sides of the chicken with oil (AWAY FROM THE FIRE) to keep it from sticking. Put it on the grill and start cooking. When the chicken is cooked, carefully open your veggies up and either eat from the foil or dump on your plate, add the chicken and the carefully unwrapped corn, and eat up!
Need desert? Make a pie-iron pie! Bring pre-made pie crusts with you (Pilsbury, or go generic like I do), and the pie filling of your choice. Cut 2 squares out of the pie crusts and fit one to one side of the pie iron. Spoon some pie filling into the well. Cover with the other square. Clamp the pie iron closed, squishing the edges of the pie crust to seal. Cook over low coals until done. Alternatively, the pie crusts can be squished white bread (classic!), or biscuits-in-a-tube squished out and smushed together into a seamless sheet, or crescent roll sheets. A can of pressurized whipped cream finishes this off nicely, of course.
Oh, pack pancake batter in a Tovolo pancake pen
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003 ... d_i=507846, already made, dispenser end up, in your ice chest, if you are planning pancakes/waffles the morning after you arrive, or make the batter in camp and use the pen to dispense.
Oh, Oh, use baking spray with flour in it for bready things in pie irons (for example,
http://smile.amazon.com/PAM-Baking-No-S ... king+spray, although buying this sort of thing online would be silly). It REALLY reduces sticking. I advise buying generic. Always use spray oils AWAY FROM THE FIRE.
Use baking parchment in your DOs for bready AND sticky things (biscuits, whole wheat bread, cinnamon buns, cakes, fruit crisps). Cut a round and use a pan or can just smaller than the interior to pre-fold the parchment into shape, trim just below the level of the oven so the lid still fits tightly. It makes clean-up easier, AND you can just pull your baked stuff out of the DO whole for serving.
I use an egg ring to make my breakfast eggs perfectly round. But I'm NOT OCD or anything like that.
Actually, it helps corral the egg white when the camp stove is not level. I toast my bread on the griddle next to the cooking egg, or I make a matching-sized pancake.
Prefer poached eggs? Use silicon baking cups, lightly sprayed with oil, break the egg into the cup, nestle the cup into a skillet with about an inch of boiling water, and cover. Remember it will take longer than usual to poach the egg if you are camping at high altitude.
Finally, I learned my camping skills from my dad, who was first a backpacker. That man planned and planned and planned every meal so we all got enough calories to survive his mile-eating treks (every year we did part of the Continental Divide trail in Colorado, as well as other hikes that had become favorites over the years), but carried not a single extra ounce! We also camped in the tent top trailer my grandfather built, usually when driving to and from my dad's summer jobs (he was a college teacher, and took teaching jobs at "vacation" spots in the summers before he bought his farm), but my dad still planned the meals with great precision. We car camp, so I don't worry about every ounce, but I do try to think of everything. At home I prepare the meals, but the kids snack (A LOT) to fill up the empty legs. I have to remember the meals to cook, the cold meals, some fresh fruit, something salty, etc. Oh, and something to drink, in addition to water. They usually get juice and club soda as their treat, and I get boxed or bagged wine.
Hope some of this helps.
Catherine
by ae6black » Mon Oct 27, 2014 8:22 pm 
