Camping food. Any suggestions as to what 17 year olds could cook for themselves when camping?

Question

They have a camping stove, pans and knife fork spoon. You can only eat so much pasta in a week! Please help.

Answer 1

Rabbit, Hedgehog make a good tasty stew

Answer 2

Tuna or Salmon in a pouch.  

http://thelightweightbackpacker.com/gear...

Answer 3

dried meats, like beef jerky can be a great snack. Pre-packaged tortillas make burritos easy, add a can of refried beans and/or a can of chili and it's a full dinner. You heard about the pouches of tuna and chicken, but it is worth repeating because no can opener is necessary. Theres those boil in bag rices, add a can of pre-made stew over that and they will be living like kings ! Fresh fruit or granola bars for snacks, dried fruit and nuts. Since they can boil water they can bring the packaged flavored oatmeal for a healthy breakfast.

Answer 4

We went to oxegen which is a 4 day music festival where you camp. We brought c**p loads of cereal bars, 4 tubs of pringles 2 big bags of sensations, 150 ham sandwiches, ready cooked chicken and other kindad stuff like that.

Answer 5

beans on toast, sausages and bacon

Answer 6

Instant oatmeal is delicious for us when we're out in the woods (19 year old).  Also, any instant rice and vegetable is delicious and light weight, and added meat would make it even better.

However, the best tasting food I've ever had while camping or backpacking are Mountain House instant dehydrated meals.  They are VERY light if weight is an issue, as well as filling (a rare combination).  They can be found at local outdoor stores, and MAYBE Wal-Marts.  You boil water, add it right into the bag with the food, close the resealable bag, and let sit.  After you knead it with your hands, you have a delicious meal.  There are numerous meal selections that almost taste homecooked.  They are a little pricey ($6-8) but it is a lot of food.

I know I sound like a Mountain House salesman, but they are just that good!

Answer 7

Have a look in the local supermarket.  There are a lot of lightweight packets (rather than heavy tins) of rice and pasta meals which are advertised as "microwaveable in 2 mins" but can also be heated in a pan in 3 - 4 mins. Like uncle bens Thai sweet chilli rice and all the other varieties and makes .  You can also get pre-cooked heatable curry and stew in similar pouches. Packets of oat cakes and rice cakes are not so tasty but good food and light to carry, breakfast cereal has heaps of added vitamins and most teens will eat it without milk if they can't get fresh milk.  Packets of dried fruit and nuts to snack on if they will eat them. If they can carry the weight tins of beans are good and filling.

I know it is a worry but they wont go hungry and a poor diet will not harm them for one week.  Some folk survive all their life on a poor diet.

Answer 8

Anything!

Basically you can cok anything you cook on a stove at home on a camping stove.

Pasta is easy to prepare and cook so I can appreciate your thoughts of surviving a week on pasta - but they could also have rice dishes, or (dare I say it).. potatoes?

There are a few other things to consider, like what they are going to be doing (do they have to be up early, have lunch away from camp or get back to tent late? What they are dokng can affect the food (do they need to be quick meals?), are they going to have a shop nearby where they can buy fresh food, milk etc.. - if not then dried food and tins. Can they actually cook - Ill assume you are a parent and have tought them the basics with my suggestions, how are they getting there - will a car drop them off / be with them at the campsite - that affects how much prebought food they can take, How much can they afford (pub meal everynight, lunch in a cafe, or cook their own) and a final thought, will the campsite allow portable BBQs?

So suggestions?

Whatever they would have at home, such as cereals (if they have fresh milk), cooked breakfast such as a fry up or porrige if they are going to be active during the day (a pain to wash though, so I tend to stick with cereals). If they have no fresh milk then they can suffer powdered milk - have something like harvest crunch for breakfast then - it hides the milk better

Lunches, again, whatever they would have at home. Sandwiches can be made up before they go out anywhere, or they can buy food in cafes etc. If the weather is hot then they can eat apples or oranges for lunch as well to give them fluids.

Dinner. Im thinking the basics here could be stew type dishes - meat in a sauce such as bolognases, chillies, curry etc.. whether from scratch or with a jar of sauce - easy to prepare and cook (need a chopping board, knife, pans and spoon and a seive to drain the pasta / rice). These are easy to cook and after they ar cooked can be kept warm without burning them untill they are ready to eat it (add water if its getting a little dry). They could try something like pan fried steak or pork chops with veggies, beans etc.. (or even chips from a local chippie?)

You could take them round the supermarket and they can pick out what they want to eat. If it turns out rubbish then they will learn how to cook, and buy food - good learning, and they wont die with a week of poor food. If its good then their parents have tought them well!

Answer 9

Sounds like you've got all that you need to cook pretty much whatever you'd cook at home. Try grilled cheese and burgers and dogs. None of which very complicated. It's also fun to buy the crescent rolls that come in a tube and wrap them around a stick and cook them over the fire like you would a marshmallow or a hotdog.

You can also do bacon and eggs, pancakes, french toast, stir fry, just about anything you can think of you can cook on a camp stove.

Answer 10

Dehydrated mashed potatoes with canned salmon.

Answer 11

In addition to all of the other great answers...

Biscuits and gravy for breakfast are a piece of cake.  Just bake some buttermilk biscuits at home (they come in a tube, just bake for a few minutes).  Then when camping, heat up a can of country sausage gravy and dump it on top.  

Sloppy Joes are easy too.  Fry up the hamburger, toss in a can of sloppy joe mix (it also comes in powdered form), and serve on buns.

Answer 12

If you have that then you can cook anything that you would normally cook at home. We usually cook the meat over the fire (sausage, bacon, ribs, steak, etc.) And use the stove for eggs toast potatos and things like that. The possiblities are endless The only difference in cooking while camping and at home is you don't have a kitchen.

Answer 13

A couple of things that will keep them entertained is get a jacket potato, pierce it as you normally would at home and wrap it in silver foil (with shinny side facing out), Leave your camp fire to burn down to embers then chuck them on, turn every 20 minutes and leave for about an hour or test if the size's vary, have with tuna, cheese, butter, anything.

For dessert you could take an apple and take out the core using a core knife, place it on some silver foil (again with shinny side facing out and fill with raisins and sugar, wrap it in the silver foil then put on the embers for about 15 minutes, when taken out the sugar has caramelised and it is really nice.

Or chuck a banana in silver foil (still in it's skin) leave for no more than 5 minutes and it will be nice and soggy, some people find it a bit sour, but if you make a little slit in the skin and put some sugar in it and wrap it up nice and tight it will be very nice and sweet.

Obviously be care full when taking it out of the embers because the silver foil will be hot.

I have put these suggestions because they are what i use with my scouts and it takes away from pot's and pans and makes them feel like there doing something different (it is actually called Backwards Cooking)

Hope this is of some help

Answer 14

Hot dogs, chili, soup, and oatmeal