How do you cook in camp?

[RHINO]

But the best thing about simple cooking is the time left over for drinking and smoking cigars with my feet up around the fire.

yeah thats good, but the whole preparing and cooking process is part of my experience outdoors. a typical off road diet for me is an omlette with hash browns and coffee for breakfast,, for lunch might be beer brats with some form of mustard (another passion like microbrew for me) with some type of tea or the like and dinner could be chili, or shepards pie, or chicken pot pie or a whole range of something good in the dutch oven topped of with cobbler or whatever sweet suits me. you can keep your grilled salmon and steamed vegies i'm a meat and potatoes guy,,,, yup thats the way i keep my girlish figure while camping.

 

[MaddBaggins]

Girlish figure... HA! Your gut gives mine a run for the money, buddy!

 

[RHINO]

ya well,,,,

 

[TeriAnn]

-you can keep your grilled salmon and steamed vegies i'm a meat and potatoes guy,,,,.

You just named my most common first night dinner when I head out. I don't like to keep fish in my fridge long so any that I bring from home gets eaten first. Broiled salmon & steamed veggies ... yum!

I guess I know who not to invite over for dinner on the trail. My most common trail meal is broiled meat, steamed veggies & a green salad with a fruit for dessert.

:chowtime: :chowtime:

 

[IH8RDS]

Lately the wife's view of camping has changed me some. Spoiled me a little bit. but I am slowly taking over. Going back to the camping roots. When I go out with my wife we take the trailer, but this year I'll be bringing a tent and camping gear too :camping:

Breakfast consists of pulling a Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich out of the freezer and putting it in the microwave. Dinners are quite extravagant though and the "bar" seems to end up in my trailer every time.

When I want a quick snack though I usu heat up some cookies in the microwave and pour me cold glass of milk. :hehe:

 

[RHINO]

with a fruit for dessert.

:chowtime: :chowtime:

pretty rare to find one that likes to go camping, they usually stay in the city

 

[Carlyle]

This is how I cook on vacation, need I say more...

 

[Clay]

This is how I cook on vacation, need I say more...

The shrimp look mighty tasty, but what the heck are you cooking them on?

 

[alvarorb]

This is how I cook on vacation, need I say more...

I take my hat off Sir.
People who cook their prawns without their shell, don't know what they are missing.

Alvaro

 

[Carlyle]

"The shrimp look mighty tasty, but what the heck are you cooking them on?"

It's a Magna grill that was built for sailboats etc available at West Marine. I've hooked it up to the propane on the camper and it works well unless the wind is blowing much. Clips on the bumper of the camper nicely. I've actually started to use a Weber baby Q grill with better results in the wind, but it is bulkier.

Recipe as follows from Cuisine @ Home:
Devein:
1 lb. shrimp (10–12 count), deveined, shells left on

Combine; Add Shrimp:
3 T. olive oil
2 T. paprika
Salt and coarsely ground pepper

Grill Shrimp; Combine and Toss:
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
4 T. unsalted butter, softened
3 T. fresh lemon juice
2 T. Tabasco, or to taste
1 T. garlic, minced
4 dashes Worcestershire sauce

Serve with:
1 lemon, quartered lengthwise


Preheat grill to medium-high.

Devein shrimp by leaving the shell-on. Using a small pair of scissors or a paring knife, cut through the back of the shell and just a bit of the meat from head to tail. Then, using the tip of the scissors, knife, or your fingers, pull out the vein and rinse under cold water.

Combine oil, paprika, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add shrimp; toss to coat with paste.

Grill shrimp until just opaque, about 4–5 minutes per side (if using smaller shrimp, 3–4 minutes per side). Combine parsley, butter, lemon juice, Tabasco, garlic, and Worcestershire in the bowl with the remaining paste. Add grilled shrimp and toss gently until the butter is melted and shrimp are nicely coated.

Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing over the shrimp.

I also use fresh french bread for dipping

 

[craig]

I love to eat well, but easy. Easy means I can spend more time with my son, hiking around looking at things, walking the dog, or enjoying the fire. Single burner cooking doesn't mean that you have to eat boil in a bag though... (although if you do this route, buy Mary Janes instead of Mountain House).

My tips:
- Have a group potluck. Each person only has to cook 1 thing then.

- Plan before you leave. Pre-dice, slice, bag, tag, and package. Just pick em up and cook in camp. No rummaging for each individual thing you will need for the meal.

- Premake or buy high quality pre-packaged food: Pasta, pasta sauce, salad bags, Tasty Bites Indian food, Salad bowls, sushi, etc. They take no more time than a hot dog, but with a glass of wine or a beer next to a quiet mountain lake taste fantastic. If it is pre-packaged this will get expensive, so I prefer to plan ahead and pre-package my own food.

- Get an ice-cream ball from REI and have the kids pick berries and make homemade icecream to serve for dessert! Yum! Plus it keeps them occupied while you are trying to get camp setup and cook.

All of them leave me more time to spend with my son and walking the dog which is more important to me than the food I'm eating.

 

[Fishenough]

Love this thread cause even though we always want to get 'out there', with each browse here I want get 'out there' and start cooking! :lurk: :REOutCampFire03:

Just ordered a BushBuddy this morning, I was just introduced to it; does anybody else use one?

 

[Bill Beers]

...
- Plan before you leave. Pre-dice, slice, bag, tag, and package. Just pick em up and cook in camp. No rummaging for each individual thing you will need for the meal...

Great tip Craig! It really comes in handy when you're making chicken stir-fry yakisoba:

 

[Michael Slade]

Wow, some really neat ideas in this thread, some I'd heard about, some I'd not. I have not heard the idea that a fire ring was not treading lightly. Personally I like a fire ring, and don't feel bad finding one or leaving one. The alternative is frightening, and I live in wildfire country, so there is some consideration to not build a ground fire if conditions are ripe.

I have some of my kitchen stuff HERE.

I have not finished that page, so some of the links (alright, most of the links), are not finished. The stove system that I use is modular, very large, very heavy, but when I need to cook for 15+ people it is priceless. It is terrible for cooking for 1-2 people, and if I'm moving about I don't even bother.

But, if I'm setting up a base-camp it's great. It's similar to the Snow Peak system, but about 10x sturdier. It's serious commercial camping kitchen stuff, and the owner/inventor of the company basically went bankrupt developing the system. Recently Power Stove changed ownership to a company in Washington. They are not offering the full system the way I purchased mine, I can configure up to four individual burners into a variety of ways, and they are only offering a single burner set-up it appears.

If it's just me, I'll take out a single burner on a small propane cylinder, a pot and a pan. Cook some pasta, fry up a steak, heat up some sauce and I'm happy.

This last trip out to the Spiral Jetty I cooked up 4 porkloins, potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, garlic in a deep 12-inch dutch oven and fed about 15 hungry photo students. Everyone was happy and I had enough left over for breakfast for me and the dog next morning.

I burn the paper, throw away the plastic. I don't worry about my grey water, I just find a spot that's hidden and toss it. Food chunks will get eaten I figure. No citrus rinds/banana peels.

I take a minimum of 5 gallons of water, usually 10. I LOVE the idea of the black weed sprayer for hot water. I am going to do that this summer.

One thing no one has mentioned is the Kelly Kettle. For heating up water it can't be beat.

If I'm going out into the sticks I will not suffer. I will usually have enough food to last me 2-3 times longer than I need, most of it dry and is kept in a permanent food box to be held-over until next time. Occasionally it has saved my bacon...(to use a phrase...).

I don't think I've spent any real money on pans/pots, most of it is second-hand store stuff or the pans we want to replace out of the kitchen anyway. It is our small way to save a few $$$ and to 'recycle' a few of our pieces.

I have a neat pump to put onto a 5-gallon bottle of water that looks like this:

I have enough stuff to be complex or simple...it all depends.

 

[sinuhexavier]

My dining setup or technique has always been one of efficiency. My initial experience with overlanding was on a photo shoot for National Geographic Adventure. We covered Baja in 12 days, biking, kayaking, diving, surfing and all the other things you could possibly do on the peninsula. Time was of the essence and lounging about camp preparing food was a luxury we could not afford.

Fast forward 8 years and while I still use my LR for photography I have been able to slow down a bit. I feel like I have landed in comfortable balance of quick and easy with a dash of gourmet. The back of my truck is my kitchen, no tables or complicated cooking systems. I still have a dual burner stove with an extra burner if you count an MSR Pocket Rocket. I use the Snowpeak Heavy Duty Multi Cookset III with all the Snowpeak Ti goodies. Do I need the light weight? No. Although something can be said about save 10 ounces 10 times you've save a few pounds.

I can now pull over and have cheddar brats grilling or a sandwich being prepped literally within a minute. No unpacking. Minor clean up.