Cooking
Food: Well many camping trips have gone bad because of bad food planning My brother still believes you should have nothing more but hot dogs and buns for camping. Other people go as far as bringing coolers with eggs and steak on a trip. Myself.. well I have found MRE's and backpacking food. At your local army surplus store or camping store you can find meals ready to eat. I like to rough it when I camp, thats why its called camping and not vacation.
Planning: You should plan your meals in advance for the amount of people you have, and the amount of days you plan on camping. Also add some snacks as extras like pop tarts, beef jerky, trail mix and cheese crackers When you plan your meals be sure to think about how much cooking you will have to do at the campsite. Don't try to bring anything that will be to hard to make. If you use a cooler be sure to pack all your food into water tight zip lock bags, my brother has had soggy food more than once. And along with planning your meals plan your water. Unless you have a large supply of water at your camp site try to stay away from too may "add water" or "instant meals". Running out of water sucks!! I know from a trip where my main food supply was dried soup mixes, the real cheap ones that are 10 for a buck.
Your local store might also have some add water only pancake mix. You will just need to bring some grease with you for the frying pan.
you can even pack oatmeal, fruit, breakfast bars, pre-cooked bacon, and so on. Just because you are in the woods without ice doesn't mean you have to live and eat like a cave man.
Mashed Potatoes: 1 cup potato flakes, powdered cheese, onion salt, bacon bits. Add all of this into a ziplock bag and when you want to serve add hot water till it looks like mashed potatos.
Hobo Chicken Dinner: 1 bag of stuffing and one can of chicken. Follow the directions for the stuffing something like add water and stir. Add chicken when its ready and if you want to pack it you can bring along gravy. You can add some potato flakes to make this more of a comlpete meal.
PoCakes: 1/2 cup add water only pancake mix, 1.5 cups potato flakes and season as desired. On the trail just add enough water to make dough and cook in pan until brown. Practice with a batch at home first. This is good for about four servings so don't make too much dough at once.
Anything you have in a ziplock bag should not have any air in it. If there is a ir pocket it could pop in your bag and spill the contents over everything. Very messy!
Store Bought: Not a recipe but a hint. A lot of stores have instant this and instant that. Almost all of it requires water. Plan ahead and do not use all your water to cook with or you will none to drink. If you pack your entire trip with those cheapo dried soup packs then you better plan on going thirsty. But if you do just remember one thing, get your water from a stream, boil for 30 minutes and then add soup. Boiling water for 30 minutes will make it safe to drink and to cook with.
Potatoes: You can pack a few potatos wrapped in foil and when ready just throw one on some hot coals, rotate and it should be ready in ten minutes or so.
Fish in the Fire: Only plan for fishing trips where you plan on catching fish. Just pack lemon juice, lemon pepper and foil. After you clean the fish put it in the foil and add a lot of juice and some seasoning. Wrap the foil tight and throw on some hot coals. The more juice you add the harder it will be to burn. Let cook for around ten minutes or so. Fish should be flaky when it is done depending on the species you caught.
Baked Apple: Core a few apples and save the cores. Cut the top and bottom off the cores and put the bottom part back in the apple. Add margerine and cinnamin to the hollow core of the apples and then replace the top. Wrap in foil and you might want to keep in a ziplock bag in case the butter melts on a really hot day. When ready just throw on some hot coals on the fire and bake. Should take a little longer then 10 minutes. You can tell when they are done by sticking a knife through them. If it goes through easy the apples are done.
First Night Party: If you freeze steaks, ground beef, chicken or anything like that you can keep it for one day tops, sometimes only till lunch. What ever you freeze keep it frozen as long as possible till the last minute that you have to pack it. Its ready to cook when it thaws. So if it is a hot day you may have to cook it at lunch if not keep till dinner. I have also packed left over pizza in foil to eat for my first dinner. To heat just place next to fire before unwrapping foil. I have also packed pasta secrets and instant stir fry this way to. Check out the local frozen food section of your grocery store to see what you mght want to pack in. Plan safe.. Don't pack anything that could go bad and make you sick.
Dumplings: Makes about a dozen dumplings. Before you go mix 2.25 cups flour, a teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons potato flakes in a ziplock bag. You also need a pack of powdered onion or mushroom soup but don't add to mix. Boil amount of water needed for the soup packet but add a extra 1/4 cup. Add cold water to ziplock bag full of mix and knead it into a thick paste. Mold this paste into dumplings and add to boiling water, once water starts to boil again wait for five minutes and then add the contents of soup packet and continue cooking per the soup pack instructions.
Trail Side Pasta: This is just the recipe for the sauce you can use your own pasta. Keep reading since this will tell you how to make the sauce and then dry it for trail use. In a large mixing bowl add 1/4 cup water to 1 can of 6 ounce tomato paste and mix till smooth. In a large skillet brown 1/2 pound of ground beef, 1/2 cup of fine diced oinion and 2 cloves of garlic with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When done drain off any fat or grease and add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper along with the sauce and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until sauce thickens. Allow to cool and drain off any liquid. Evenly spread mixture on non stick cookie sheets or pizza pans and make sure the mixture is thin as possible. Place in oven preheated to 140 degrees for around six hours or when mixture becomes dry and crumbly. Leave the ovan door open. On the trail add water and make it into sauce again over a fire.
Hey don't throw away that foil, you can use it again.
Crytal light it light weight and can add taste to your water.
Fresh fruit can be packed in and if you think it is going bad eat it before it does. Apples, oranges, pears, carrots and the like will last longer then bananas, peaches, strawberries and the like.
Nobody is too old to make S'mores and if you think you are then your not invited to my camp fire.
You can pack a few small onions and they will keep well on the trail. Use them to spice up food, nothing better then fresh diced onion.
Pack all your meals into individual ziplock bags each meal should have its own bag. You can write the contents of each bag on the outside. When you have finished eating you can then throw all your garbage into the bag to pack out.
If you hate a meal or have a idea be sure to write it down in your camping journal so you can plan ahead for the next trip. I write as much as I can in my journal so I don't forget it.
Try to eat a lot of carbs if you are hiking as sugar will not give you the energy you are looking for.
You can collect packets of mustard and what not from fast food places and are great to pack for the trip.
If you are hiking in a group try not to double up on items. One carries the stove and the other can carry the fuel. By saving space and weight you can pack extra items you might need, like a fishing rod...
Make a list of food to take on a trip weeks before the trip and then you can edit it and be sure you have everything you wanted to bring.
Cold cereal / dried milk
Oatmeal, cream of wheat
Breakfast Bars
Bagels
Dried Fruit
Nuts
Precooked Bacon
Add water Pancake mix
Dehydrated eggs
Muffins
Peanut butter
Crackers
Rice Cakes
Beef Jerky
Canned Meat
Summer Sausage
Instant soups
Apples / Oranges
Dried Fruit
Carrots
Pita Bread
Trail Mix
Cookies
Energy Bars
Quesadillas
Instant Soups
Dehydrated Diners
Instant mac/cheese
Burritos
Bread sticks
Instant rice mixes
Dried noodle mixes
Canned Chicken
Quick Cook Chili mix
Bean Mixes
Instant mashed potatoes
Instant desserts
Crackers n peanut butter
Drink mixes
MRE's
This is huge for food. Planning your meals is very important and the lack of food will ruin a good trip. I went on a fishing trip with some friends of mine once and we chipped in for food. 90% of that went to beer and 10% went to chips. It was a three day camping trip and I had to leave the 2nd day to get food, real food to it. Don't camp with drunks!!!