Camping Food Ideas - Feeding A Hungry Crowd

When you are planning your trip and thinking about camping food menus, you also need to take into consideration what you are going to cook on. People who are backpacking will have differing options from people that are RV camping.

For some great info on webber barbecue/grills visit www.webberbarbecue.com

With backpackers weight is of prime concern so they would generally take a small stove, which can be either liquid or in cannister format.They would probably have to limit their meals to "one pot" ideas. RV or car campers on the other hand, have the flexibility to carry more equipment, so they might want to cook on a family stove, a Dutch oven, or they might have their own barbecue or grill. Whichever way you are going to cook, it is important to compile a camping food list. Here is how it's done.....

Step1
Meal planning

Firstly, take into account the number of days you are going for. You are looking at 3 meals per day. So let's say for example that you are going from Saturday To Saturday (8 days inclusive). You will most probably need dinner on that first evening when you arrive, and breakfast on the last morning before you depart, so you are looking at sufficient food for 23 meals. Try to take food snacks which are high in energy such as beef jerky, high energy granola bars and trail mix. For breakfast, porridge oats, or couscous with added fruit and honey make excellent morning pick-me- ups and are well known energy sustainers. For evening meals food like pasta is loaded with carbohydrates and is also incredibly versatile.

Step 2
Compiling your meal planning list

When compiling your camping food ideas list the best thing to do is to write down the first day that you will be away. then split that up into breakfast, lunch, and evening meal.. Then put what you are going to cook for each meal on each subsequent day. When considering this, here are a few hints and tips.

a)Use items that do not have a long shelf life first. For example, if you have fresh milk then use this first, and then go on to powdered milk. Bananas are a great source of energy, but will spoil quite quickly, so again, use these up first.

b)Think of meals that can be used more than once. For example, if you have a curry the first evening, and have some rice left over (provided it is kept cool or refrigerated) then you could possibly make an egg fried rice dish the next evening. Half your prep work is done and you are using up left over ingredients.

c)Aim for a hot meal for breakfast that will keep you going. A light lunch which does not have to be cooked is ideal, because you could prepare it in advance, pack it up and take it with you (especially if you are out for the day). A hot meal in the evening is always a welcome sight, and will keep you going until morning.

Step3
Building your ingredients list

Once you have planned your meals, you then need to go through each meal, and write down what ingredients you will need for that particular meal, and each subsequent meal after that. If you have duplicated ingredients, just add it to the first ingredient. For example, say If you needed 1lb of pasta for the first meal, and later on in the week you needed another 1lb of pasta, then you would write on your list "pasta 2lbs" What you will end up with is a list of all ingredients that you will need for all meals for the week ahead.

step4
Cooking utensils list.

Once you have your ingredients list, you will need to make sure that you have the right cooking utensils for the job. The best way to do this is to go through each meal again and decide what cooking utensils you need for that particular meal. You should end up with all your utensil requirements for your camping trip.

If you want to cook the best food on your camping trip then check out Webber barbecue grills

Here are some other camping food idea hints and tips.

Tip 1
Preparation

The key to great camping food is all in the planning and preparation. Some good advice would be to put your loose ingredients into zip lock bags, and place a quick recipe card in the bag along with the ingredients. This way you won´t forget to add the extra pinch of paprika, or the sprinkling of oregano to make your meal that extra bit special. Another camping food idea is to prep all your veggies for the following day´s meal the day before and put them into zip lock bags, thus limiting the time spent cooking when you come home from a hard day's trekking or canooing etc.

Tip 2
Easy cooking

Even if you are a gourmet chef, the last thing you want to do is spend hours cooking when on a camping trip, and you probably don´t want to be washing up loads of pots and pans after the meal either. So why not opt for meals that don´t take too much prep time and don´t create a lot of dirty pots and pans. One pot meals and stews are great for this, as you can just leave them for a couple of hours, they will cook slowly and it will free up your time for other things. As the name suggests, there is only one pot to wash up at the end of the meal.

Also foil wrapped meals are a tasy treat and are quick and easy to prepare. Foods like chicken and fish make for excellent tasting foil wrapped meals, Add a few veggies, a splash of olive oil, some garlic, salt and pepper. Steam away for about 20 mins until cooked and Voila!! Instant meal, and what´s even better, no washing up!!

Tip 3
Food storage

Keeping food fresh can be a bit of a problem when camping so here are some more tips involving food preservation

1) Bread
Forget about trying to pack and protect loaf bread when you´re on the trail or at the campsite. Use pitta bread. It´s great for sandwiches and snacks, and fits easily in your pack or stuff sack. Also It keeps fresher longer.

2) Meat and marinades
If you are taking meat on your camping trip, then try marinading it, placing it in a ziplock bag in the marinade and freezing it. This way it will be full of flavour and it will keep longer, also you will have an instant sauce for your dish.

3) ice preservation
Forget the bags of ice! They melt fast and make way too much mess. Just use frozen bottles of water. Not only do you have a clean cooler, but you have ice cold water to drink. Also you can use other already frozen food that you intend to bring and double it up as a makeshift ice block.

For further hints and tips on the best way to cook food visit Webber barbecue

Camping with your family can be a great experience, and there is nothing better than cooking under the stars. A camping trip is a vacation, and you should always eat well whilst on vacation. So with a little bit of preparation and planning, you should be able to conjour up some memorable dishes that are not only quick, but nutritious also. So go on, get away from the typical hamburgers and hotdogs, be creative, and go to town on your own great camping food ideas!

For a great way to cook under the stars please visit Webber barbecue grill