Camping Meals - Vernon,VT

We camp often. We like the tried and true stuff...burgers, hot dogs sausages, corn on the cob, fresh caught fish etc. But that stuff can get old, quickly.

We love to make fajitas. I put the chicken and marinade in a ziplock bag. I slice peppers and an onion and wrap it in tin foil (the tin foil envelope gets stored in a ziplock bag too). Grill it all up, which takes 10 or 15 minutes. Slice the chicken and fill a tortilla. The premade guacamole comes in what they call "snack packs". Those work well for camping. We usually skip the sour cream and bring some shredded cheese.

Grilled sandwiches are pretty easy to pull off. Grilled cheese is a fave.

Kabobs are great too. I prepare the veggies on their own skewers and the meat on a separate skewers. I have some shallow tupperware containers that store them well (and a rather large ice chest). But hey will also do ok in a large ziplock bag, but double up the bags in case a skewer pokes the bag. We grill it all and often stuff them in pita bread (rice is a huge pain while camping).

If you precook the fillings, quesadillas are pretty easy and yummy. We usually make chicken, but you could really do it with any meat or go vegetarian, my kids like it with zucchini.

We also like to make hobo dinners. They take a bit longer to cook, so we do those more often in the winter or fall. You take a large square of tin foil and place a hunk of ground beef in the middle. Wrap a few slices of bacon around it. Surround the meat with mini carrots and diced potato. My hubby loves to top his off with a huge amount of onion, the kids and I prefer it without. Top with salt and pepper. Wrap it up and place your tin foil package on the grill, cook until the meat is cooked through.

HTH!

How big is your cooler?
Slice zucchini the long way, put in a large ziploc bag with italian dressing (or your favorite marinade) and put them on the grill. You can also do this with portabello's, summer squash, and other veggies. Bring some marinated chicken breast as well and you will have a healthy meal.

I usually make a cold quinoa salad with plenty of fresh herbs and goat cheese. It's nice to have something fresh and delicious when you're camping instead of freeze-dried meals and trail mix! My quinoa salad goes something like this: cooked quinoa, peas, chopped onion/shallot, mint or basil, chopped red pepper, goat cheese or feta, toss in a bit of olive oil.

I also bring a few whole avacados and after slicing them open I just eat the flesh with a spoon. That along with some cashews makes a nice camp snack, IMO. You can also hard boil a bunch of eggs and bring those for breakfast. Have fun!

I try to cook things at home the weekend before we go and freeze them. Then you have a dinner and a frozen block to help keep things cold. Often things are still semi frozen on the second day of camping.

I'll also freeze water in juice containers so we use less bags of ice in the cooler (Less mushy items too) and we have fresh cold water to drink as it thaws.

I'll make chicken vegetable stew and freeze that in a ziplock bag (after it's cooled) or in a tupperware container.

Another favorite is to cook chicken breasts and bring fresh or freeze. These can be used for multiple meals, such as fajitas or sliced for sandwiches to take to the beach. My kids love it when I shred it and heat it up in a pot of gravy and serve it over egg or corn noodles.

A bag of baby carrots, lettuce and some fresh cukes and tomatoes rounds out the meal. Corn on the cob cooked in the husks in the fire coals is even better.

Pasta salad made ahead of time is great.

Don't forget to make muffins to bring for breakfast!

I have a heavy aluminum dutch oven that we take camping. I usually throw a pot roast, ham or cut up chicken in it, seasoned. Then toss in potatoes and carrots and onions and about a cup of liquid, can be anything from water to beer. If you have a campfire going you just sit that pot off in the coals at the edge and let it slow roast all day. What comes out at the end of the day at dinnertime is always amazingly delicious.
Other than that we mostly graze on nuts and berries all day since we are busy in the water or hiking around. Lots of fresh fruits, watermelon is usually a fun camping fruit. Camping is a time when I usually take stuff along that isnt all that healthy as well, like bags of doritos and of course hot dogs.... camp hot dogs are the best :) For breakfast it's always coffee from the camp percolater and bacon and eggs and hashbrowns. Hubby does ALL the dishes tho, if I have to cook while camping I DO NOT do the clean up part. Nothing worse than working harder on vacation then at home.

Hi A.---One of our greatest successes was fajitas. You can cut your chicken/beef and then freeze it in the marinade. It then serves to help keep other foods cold until it thaws.

Keeping with the mexican food theme, we also take the salsa used for the fajitas, or you can just saute onions, peppers and garlic and heat it up in a pan and cook eggs in them for hueavos. Use the tortillas instead of toast. Add some fresh fruits and you are ready for your day.

Have a great time. D.

I love to do a good old fashion steak, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. These are all supper easy grilling foods. I always make an big bowl of bowtie pasta salad the night before we go and throw it in the cooler.

The salad is:
1 1lb box of bow tie pasta
2 cups of fresh spinach
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
1 can of black olives
Fresh basil to taste
and olive oil, salt/pepper, and balsamic vinager to taste

It goes great with grilled chicken or fish.

Chicken noodle soup is another fun thing to make. Just prep all of your veggies and throw them in a container or ziplock bag. Grab some high quality chicken stock, egg noodles, and some chicken breast (cooked the night before you leave if you want to shave a few minutes off or at least cut it up and ziplock it. Then you just throw it all together in a pot over the fire and its great to eat or sip around the camp fire.

My favorite to do when we have extended family or friends with us is a big pot of home made chili over the fire.

Recipe:
1 to 2 lbs of lean steak. Cooked and cut into bit size chunks.
2 large cans of kidney beans
2 large cans of chili beans
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 packet pre measured chili seasoning,
1 diced onion
2 cans diced tomatoes

throw it all in a pan and cook it from any where between 20 minutes and 3 hours. It goes great with cast iron corn bread.