I'm going camping and need a dinner menu!?!
I'm going camping and need a dinner menu!?
I am responsible for the food for one night. I have to feed 7 adults and 8 children. Facility wise I'll have two gas burners and a fire pit with a grate over it. I also have electricity and can use a crock pot or other electrical device. I want something simple so that I can participate in activities during the day. I am comfortable cooking outdoors so I am open to all ideas as long as they're delicious, and adaptable for kids. Somebody else is making BBQ pork already so that is already taken!
Answers:
Chili dogs!
Make the chili in the morning (or before you leave and freeze) and once everyone gets hungry, have then roast hotdogs over the fire and toast their buns. Have everyone come over and get a glob of chili over their hotdogs and cover in grated cheddar cheese.
And you have to have a dessert. S'mores!...with a twist. Instead of using chocolate bars (break the cracker and doesn't melt), use chocolate pudding cups.
stick with the fun campfire favorites! Hotdogs on a stick!! Let everyone pick out long sticks from the woods, make one end pointy and soak them in water for a few hours. Then at dinner time let everyone cook their own dogs!! Cause it's not a real camp out if you're not cooking dogs over the fire!! :-) And for sides you can make yummy baked beans in the crock pot. Put in a few cans of bush's original baked beans with some bacon and diced onions and let it simmer on low for 2-3 hours! Yummy!!!
what I call Hobo Dinners. 1 lg. square of foil for each dinner. Lay on foil, a hamburger patty, sliced onion, sliced carrots, and sliced potatoes. Sprinkle with whatever seasoning you choose. Wrap them up with the foil and cook. You can cook them on a grill or over campfire. The foil acts as your plate and you have your meat and veggies. Just unwrap and enjoy.
hot dogs and baked beans
I would say for simple and easy- Hot dogs and hamburgers. you can grill or cook over the fire. A lot of kids like to cook there own hot dogs on a stick. Then make a big pot of cowboy beans from a can with onions. Make sure to have all the fixings for the burgers and hot dogs. I also like to have a cut up watermelon for dessert. healthy, easy and fun!
I know you said dinner but I have a great one for breakfast. It's boiled omelets. You give everyone a ziplock bag with 2 eggs broken into it. Have a bunch of fillings in bowls and let them add the ones they like. ie, cheese, mushrooms, onions, etc. Once their bag is ready, have them squish it for a couple of minutes to mix everything up. Give them a wooden clothespin with a number on it to clip to the bag. These are dropped into a huge pot of boiling water and cooked until done. Only takes a few minutes. As you pull them out yell out their number. They can either eat it right out of the bag (no dishes) or put it onto a plate. These are really good. Kids love this one.
For dinner try crock pot ribs. Cut the ribs into individual pieces. Put them into a crock pot and pour your favorite BBQ sauce over them. (Use a whole bottle) Add onions or anything else you like with ribs and cook on low for 8 hours. It is better if you brown the ribs first. They have a better texture but its not absolutely necessary.
I know its an old idea but you could also just do some really good hamburgers. Make up a mix just like you would for a meatloaf and fashion it into hamburger patties. Just leave out the egg & breadcrumbs. You can even mix grated cheese into the mixture if you like. These are really good. Everyone likes hamburgers and meatloaf and this is both!
I have the PERFECT thing! Its so good and easy and you can prepare it before you leave to go camping so all you have to do is cook it when you're are ready to eat. My family goes camping all the time and we always eat this:
High Country BBQ Beans
1 15-ounce can pork and beans
1 15-ounce can pink beans, rinsed, drained
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed, drained
1/2 lb. bacon, cooked, chopped
2 cups smoked ham, chopped
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 small green chili pepper, chopped
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped
Preheat grill to medium heat. Combine all ingredients in a large pot; mix well. Simmer covered for several hours; stir often. Remove from heat when vegetables are soft. Makes 8 servings (just double the recipe sense their is so many people)
Get baking potatoes, corn on the cob (with leaves still on), winter squash (acorn, butternut, etc.)
Potatoes: Wash, coat with vegetable oil, wrap each one in foil. To cook, bury in HOT ashes for about 1 & 1/2 hours.
Corn: Do NOT remover the leaves. Soak in a bucket of water overnight. (It you don't have a tightly covered bucket or something so they can safely soak during tranport, it's OK to take them out of the water, and then put them back in as soon as you get where you're going. To cook, bury in hot ashes with coals on top for about 30-40 minutes to 1 hour.
Squash. Cut longitudinally (from stem to opposite end) into four equal pieces. Use a large spoon to scrape out the seeds. Coat with vegetable oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put the four pieces back together and wrap in several layers of foil. To cook, bury in HOT ashes for about 1 hour.
Have plenty of butter and hand wipers ready.
So you have plenty of hot ashes, burn a whole bunch of charcoal down to almost nothing, then start burying the food (potatoes first) while firing up the rest of the charcoal. When the second bunch of charcoal is about burned down, heap it on top of the other ashes.
Make sure you are burying the food in hot ashes and perhaps a few still glowing coals, but NEVER live flame. As long as you keep actual flames away from the food, it's almost impossible for it to be too well cooked, so don't bother trying to poke around in the ashes to test it. Even if everything cooks for 2 or 3 hours, it will still be good to eat.
Spam and fried egg sandwich. Pot roast beef with carrots and celery.
Sweet jesus, don't ever serve anyone hot dogs. Do you know what's in those things?
OK Catalina chicken. You are going to have to figure out how many chickens but here's what you do. Get whole chickens and smother them inside and out with catalina dressing. As much as a whole bottle per chicken! Wrap it in tin foil several times and place it in a bed of coals for an hour. Retrieve and serve.
Also do some corn on the cob over coals. Easy. Painless. Do it.
And I guess baked beans. Grab a big can of that and put it in a pot. Easy. Do it.