Easy Camping Recipes for All the Family
There are so many things to love about camping; being in the fresh air, taking a break from the hustle and bustle of life, spending time with friends and family and also enjoying some great food from easy camping recipes. There are certain foods that I always enjoy when I go camping and they never taste as good when I try and eat them anywhere else.
Easy camping recipes for everyone
The first essential camping food is ‘Egg in the hole’ and it is my favorite breakfast. It does require a frying pan and not just an open fire, however. First you take a piece of bread and remove a large hole through the center. This can be done with a glass, using the rim like a cookie cutter, if you have one, or just a knife or your bare hands. Butter both sides of the bread. You then place it in the pan, browning it on each side for just a few minutes. When the toast is as you like it, crack an egg into the pan in the center of the toast. Let it cook until well done or over easy depending on your tastes. Take a spatula and remove the entire piece of toast and egg in one motion and put it on your plate. Yes it is still just an egg and a piece of toast, but something about the design and it being cooked in the wilderness just makes it taste incredibly yummy. Plus, kids love it when food is just a tad bit different than they are used to. It is a great surprise!
Image via Wikipedia
Cooking food over an open fire when camping is an absolute must. One incredibly yummy food to try is pigs in a blanket. Sure, we all have roasted a hot dog on a stick at some point, but did you ever think to cook the bread over the fire too? It is simple and delicious. All you need is a can of refrigerated biscuits. First, put your hot dog on your roasting stick and let it cook for just a bit in the flames. You just want to start to get it warm. (Or if you are one of those campers that need to char it black to enjoy it, feel free to drench it in the fire.) Once it is where you like it, take a biscuit and stretch the dough out into the longest rope-like shape you can. Carefully wrap the hot dog with the dough, sealing it at the top and bottom. Hold it over the flames, being very careful not to ignite the dough, and after about 5 minutes at the right height, you will have a most delicious pig in a blanket. My mouth is watering just thinking of it!
Easy camping recipes should and would include Hobo Dinners and S’mores
Of course, no list of easy camping recipes would be complete without mentioning Hobo Dinners. This meal is the quintessential camping meal. It is hearty, nutritious and tastes absolutely heavenly when cooked over the hot coals of an open fire. The first thing you need is some quality aluminum foil. Tear off two large squares for each dinner you are planning to make. Next, you need about a quarter pound of ground beef. Shape it into a patty and place it in the center of the foil. To the patty, you can add carrots, potatoes and onions. Make sure to cut the carrots and potatoes fairly thin, as they will cook much faster and all the ingredients will be done at the same time. Last, you need to season the meat and vegetables. A simple salt and pepper mixture will do just fine, but if you are feeling adventurous you can use anything from gourmet steak seasoning to Old Bay. It is all about what you prefer. Take the second square of foil and place it on top of the other one and seal the sides together. Pretend you are making a giant foil pocket and all the food is in the middle. Once you have some really good coals, place the foil pocket directly on them and let it cook. Depending on how thick your meat patty and veggies are, it takes anywhere from 15-30 minutes. If you are camping with a lot of other people, make sure you mark your individual hobo dinner so as not to confuse it with someone else’s. After the necessary amount of time, take the pocket off the coals and put it directly onto a place or pie tin. Open it up, squirt on some ketchup and enjoy! There is nothing better than a hot hobo dinner after a hard day of camping.
Finally, if you don’t include s’mores in your easy camping recipes then someone should make a citizen’s arrest, because that would be an absolute crime. We all know that a graham cracker, roasted marshmallow and piece of a chocolate bar make super tasty treats, but did you ever think about using other ingredients to make s’mores with a twist? Next time you go camping, try making s’mores with peanut butter cups instead of regular chocolate, or use any other ‘fun size’ candy bars you have on hand. Adding other ingredients with the chocolate can be quite delicious. You can also try making s’mores with the cinnamon or chocolate variety of graham crackers. Sometimes, when camping, we don’t even use graham crackers. We use fudge-covered shortbread cookies! With s’mores, the sky really is the limit. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find something truly delicious!
One of the best things about camping is getting to do things we don’t normally get to do. Whether it is sleeping in a tent, canoeing down a river or playing cards till three in the morning, camping gives us a break from the norm. And this fact is no less true when it comes to the food we eat while out in the wilderness. Whether cooking over an open fire or on hot coals, camp food just tastes delicious. It’s different. And that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.
YouTube video on one of the easy camping recipes – Hobo Dinners.