Monday, May 4, 2009

Easy 48-hour Camping Menu

My absolute favorite part of camping is camp-style cooking. There is something that makes me feel self-reliant and capable when I can come up with a tasty meal for ten using tin implements and a campfire. I sometimes think I should have been born in the Old West, with the long dresses and the aprons and the quivers full of children. Admittedly, I probably would have tired of washing laundry by hand and only bathing once a week, but it would certainly be fun to time travel to that space.

While I love to prepare a veritable feast while camping, I didn't go all out this time. I wasn't sure how the twins would feel about the whole thing, so we decided to go the simple route. The next trip will be better, especially after talking to a friend about the strawberry pie she made for camping, which, sadly, got smushed under various heavy groceries her significant other later placed on top of the pie in the ice chest. Too sad. Certainly an inspiration, but I will learn from her mistakes. I digress. Back to the point. Here's the menu. It's simple, yet satisfying and the family didn't complain.

Day One: (Arrived at lunch time)

Lunch:
-Chili beans cooked over a propane burner
-Mandarin oranges
-Cut-up cucumbers with lime and salt

Snack:
-Crackers
-Homemade chocolate granola bars (click HERE for a post on this)

Dinner:
-Fire-baked potatoes with vegan butter and sour cream (for the omnis)(Recipe below) OR
-Tin foil dinners with potatoes, carrots, and sandwich meat (click HERE for a post on this)
-Mandarin oranges and bananas
-Hot chocolate
-Marshmallows

Day Two:

Breakfast:
-Breakfast burritos made with potatoes, cheese, sandwich meat and eggs (recipe below)
OR
-Homemade brown sugar cinnamon instant oatmeal (click HERE for a post on this)
-Bananas

Lunch:
-Rehydrated dried soup, the kind that comes in styrofoam containers to which you just add water
-Chocolate granola bars
-Crackers

Snack:
-Fruit cups
-Bananas
-Chocolate granola bars

Dinner:
-Canned chicken noodle soup
-Crackers or chips
-Hot chocolate
-Marshmallows

Day Three:

Breakfast:
-Breakfast burritos (the same as on day two)OR
-Homemade chocolate chip instant oatmeal

(We cleaned up camp and left the grounds at around 11:30 AM.)

Now for the recipes...

Fire-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:
Large potatoes
Potato toppings, such as butter, sour cream, chives, salt, pepper, bacon bits, broccili, you name it

Directions:
Step 1: Wrap potato in aluminum foil

Step 2: Place potatoes in the coals of a camp fire, like so...


(It really doesn't matter of there's lots of fire all around them.)

...then cover with more wood so they will be exposed on both sides to the heat.

Step 3: After about 45 minutes, test for doneness by sticking a fork in them. It probably won't be done, but if the fork goes in all the way to the center easily, it's finished cooking. It will probably actually take more than an hour for the potatoes to bake completely.

Step 4: Don't worry about removing the aluminum foil, just cut right through it and the potato skin, add your toppings and enjoy!



Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients:
Potatos
Eggs
Onions
Salt
Pepper
Cheese
Salsa
Cooking Oil

(I don't give exact measurements of the ingredients here, because it really doesn't matter!)

Directions:
Step 1: Cut up potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes, dice onions, and grate cheese.

Step 2: Pour cooking oil on frying pan, then cook potatoes and onions until done, stirring often.

Step 3: With heat still on, stir in and cook eggs until done. Salt and pepper to taste.

Step 4: Turn off heat and sprinkle cheese on top of potato mixture.

Step 5: Warm tortillas over a flame, place potato mixture in the center of a tortilla, add salsa, roll up and enjoy!

Hopefully the next camping trip menu plan will be much more exciting! Stick around!

I am pleased to list this post @ Biblical Womanhood's "Frugal Friday". Check out her blog for TONS for great money-saving tips!

I am also pleased to list this post at...
-Tip Junkie's "Talk to me Tuesday",
-5 Minutes for Mom's "Tackle It Tuesday",
-Tammy's Recipe's "Kitchen Tip Tuesday",
-Blessed With Grace's "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday",
-Mary's "Tightwad Tuesday",
-Kim's "Tasty Tuesday" and
-The Lazy Organizer's "Talk About Tuesday".

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8 comments:

alpinekleins said...

Great ideas all of them! My husband makes the most wonderful breakfast burritos. We always have them when we are camping, wrap them up in foil and heat them either on a bbq or in the fire. Yummy! Makes me want to go camping.

Kristin

Anonymous said...

YUM YUM YUM! What tastey and easy meals. I like easy ecspecially while camping. Thanks for sharing

Kathryn said...

Makes me want to go camping!

Kim said...

I saw your comment on Biblical Woman about the smiley face at the end of your name - we all get one - but only we (each one of us) can see our own- it is so we can easily find our post again in case we need to delete it (you right-click to delete BTW)

Happy camping! :)

Lisa@BlessedwithGrace said...

Thanks for sharing your preparation for the camp out. How great.

Brenda said...

Looks like you eat well when you camp!

Emily @ Marvelous Recipes said...

I haven't been camping in a while. This makes me want to go again!! Thanks for sharing.

Sarah said...

Thanks so much! Exactly what I was looking for. :)