A Whole Bunch of Suggestions to Help You Eat Better in the Great Outdoors |
Here are bunch of camp food suggestions from some of the good folks on the Scouts-L Youth Groups Discussion List.
On the subject of bag cooking, check out your local health food store for dehydrated refried beans. Rehydrate in the bag, squeeze onto a tortilla, add cheese and salsa and you have a crowd pleasing fast lunch entree.
Tomato powder has many uses, you can get tomato bouillon in the Mexican food section of Wal-Mart Supercenters.
-- Thanks to Greg Gough, SM Troop 201, Ozark, MO
The Ramen noodles also don't require draining, as the water you use becomes the soup when you add the seasoning packet. Have Koolaid or instant iced tea with this, some dried fruit, pita bread and margarine out of a squeeze bottle, and you've got a fine high-carbo meal that will stick with you the next day during the next 10 miles.
I've also tried the spaghetti sauce out of an envelope, not a jar. This is pretty good, too, although a bit bland. The package directions call for 2 1/4 cups water, a couple tablespoons of oil, and a small can of tomato paste. Bring this to a boil, add the packet of spices, and simmer 15 minutes. Add to it whatever else you want in the way of veggies. I add summer sausage here, since summer sausage keeps without refrigeration as long as you don't open the packet. Angel hair pasta works well, too, since it only takes 2-3 minutes to cook. And add some spices to jazz up the sauce.
Any of you tried making a backpacking DO? I saw this at a roundtable a couple of months ago. Buy a 9" pie pan, and 2 8" cake pans. Bolt the pie pan back-to-back to one of the cake pans by drilling holes and using short bolts. The pie pan becomes the lid to the DO, and the cake pan on top is where you put the coals when you are baking. The second cake pan is where the food goes. Set the contraption on some rocks and put coals underneath, and coals on top, and you've got a small but serviceable backcountry7 DO--works great on brownies, biscuits, etc.
Breakfasts in the back country are usually of the Poptart/bagel/dried fruit/coffee/cocoa variety, although we make pancakes once in a while with the pancake flour that only requires adding water. Instant dehydrated syrup is about the only item I need to buy at a specialty camp food store these days.
Lunches are invariably of the trail variety--i.e., no cooking. Deviled ham or chicken, pita bread, cheese, dried fruit again, maybe a carrot stick, Koolaid, etc. Some of my guys even eat Vienna sausages (urrrrpp....)
There are also a ton of DO cookbooks around, and I think one is available through someone on this list.
-- Thanks to Pete Farnham, SM, Troop 113, GW District, NCAC, Alexandria, VA
One thing we have used to help them think up ideas is the one-pot-meal planner table. Write on the board 4 column headings:
Meat/Protein ------ Starch ------ Sauce ------ Vegetable
Begin with the first column. Ask the Scouts to list all of the meat or other protein foods they can think of. Chicken, beef, cheese, eggs, etc.
Then go to the second column, list the starches: bread, pasta, rice, potato, stuffing mix, etc.
The third column: tomato sauce, gravy, soy, teriyaki, cream, etc.
Finally, the vegetables: you get the idea (somehow spinach never makes it up there).
Now, let's plan a one-pot meal: take one item from each column and put them all in one pot. Now some preparation might be needed for some components, and some items might need special cooking techniques, but that's how you can teach them to begin planning and cooking real meals. By picking your foods carefully, you can create some interesting backpack meals as well.
When we started this about 5 years ago, we saw a lot of macaroni & cheese and spaghetti. We seldom see either any more, and in fact, one time the Patrol Leader changed the menu because he wanted mac/cheese and his patrol revolted, refusing even to eat it. The last few camporees, our patrols have consistently received honorable mentions in the cooking competitions.
If you don't raise the expectations, you won't ever see your Scouts really learn to cook.
-- Thanks to Alan R. Houser ** Scoutmaster, Berkeley Troop 24 ** troop24@emf.net
VARIATIONS:
Dice an onion and brown with the ground beef.
Add a package of beef gravy mix to make a more thicker gravy.
If made in a DUTCH OVEN, take a can of refrigerator biscuits and place over the top of the stew while it simmers; cover and add hot coals to the lid; continue to cook until the biscuits are golden brown. ENJOY!!!
-- Thanks to Mike Lardie, Barbarossa District Committee Member, Transatlantic Council
-- Thanks to Pete
I have not tried this, but the Ranger said it worked and the dawg was nicely cooked, and the bun was lightly toasted. Sounds like a perfect 'just before leaving' meal -- NO CLEAN-UP!!
-- Thanks to Molly Orchardo
Mix all together and pour into greased pan. Bake 350 to 375 degree oven until done. depending on size of pan determine length of baking time.
Notes:
Mom makes this in a deep casserole dish and bakes for an hour or so.
When I did this in the dutch oven, I skipped the onion flakes and didn't melt the butter first. It baked for about 40 minutes with 6 coals on the bottom and 20 on top.
A favorite with the boys, won 2nd place in the 1996 Wabuha District camporee cookoff. The boys judged adult division cooking, how did I win feeding them vegetables?
-- Thanks to Bill Randall, ASM Troop 7, Cedar Falls, IA
Place several meatballs on foil, add some potatoes (you may want to slice them first), and a spoon ful of soup. Fold packet to seal well and place on coals (never on flames). Turn after about 10 minutes. NOTE: if possible get someone to donate welding gloves to the troop for the turning. Using tongs to flip the packets can often cause the foil to tear.
The Cooking for Scouts and Scouters pages are presented by R. Gary Hendra -- The MacScouter -- CM Pack 92 & CC Troop 92, Milpitas, California
