Cooking and eating are probably some of the more difficult aspects of most camping trips. After all, we’re generally used to cooking in our kitchen – with plenty of counter space to cut everything up nice and neat, plus easy access to our refrigerator and pantry. Cooking when you’re out in the woods is a whole new ballgame. Limited space, no easy cleaning facilities, and very limited access to refrigeration. So what do you do to eat when you’re camping out in the woods? Let’s take a look at some tips.
First off, the easiest thing to do is to try and eliminate the need for cooking as much as possible. By that I don’t mean that you need to go on a fast when you go camping, but rather, as much as possible, bring food that doesn’t need to be cooked. Fresh fruit, trail mix, pre-made sandwiches, and potato chips and other snack items are all great things to have on a camping trip. They can be eaten with little preparation and do not require much in the way of clean up either.
The next tip is to plan on cooking food that can be easily cooked in or over a campfire. My buddy, Jack, who sells camping chairs, always recommends bringing some baking potatoes along on camping trips because they cook so easily in a campfire. Just wrap them in foil and put them in the coals, and they’ll be ready to eat in a couple hours. Pretty much foolproof.
The last tip is to bring along a cutting and food prep surface, like a small tray or something similar. If you’re sitting in your camping chair, it’s a lot easier to cut up some vegetables for stew if you have a flat surface to balance everything on. Alternatively, you can also bring along a camping table to make your food on. The table will be a bit bulkier, but it works just as well.
Of course, being in the outdoors doesn’t mean you can’t eat delicious foods. The fresh air alone makes even some of the most bland meals tasty. But if you’re a real foodie, your best bet is to plan your meals in advance and then organize accordingly. For example, if you’re planning on cooking the fish you catch on your great adventure and like to use various herbs and spaces, measure out the portions of dry ingredients you’ll need, combine them and then put them in a Ziploc ™ bag.
The only two spices you shouldn’t pre-combine are salt and pepper. The reason for leaving them out is that these are simply the two most used spices. You (or your camping buddies) may wish more or less of either one on their foods so best to keep lightweight salt and pepper shakers in your gear so that everybody can use them as needed.
By pre-sorting, measuring and combining your dry ingredients into baggies, you can simplify the effort of cooking. This will spare you the hassle of carrying (and trying to identify) multiple herbs and spices. Liquid ingredients, on the other hand, are best omitted from your plans. Not only are you limited in what you can combine (different acidity/ph could leave pre-combined liquid ingredients tasting bad if left too long) but liquid adds weight and weight is always a consideration when camping or hiking.
Finally, be sure to label any herbs, spices and ingredients. Masking tape and permanent marker are great to stick on plastic bags but don’t forget to label the exterior of any foil-wrapped items as well to spare yourself the headache of having to open everything just to find the one item you’re looking for.
Related posts:
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
You must be logged in to post a comment.