Young Scout in need of help, food!

[SuperFlapjack]

Hello, I'm a 'young' scout, by young I mean 13, I don't know what to cook at a camp in may, I will only have access to a small solid fuel stove, I will also have a mess kit, so I'll have access to most utensils etc.

I want to make something creative, my friends are working together to make an all day fry up, I kinda wanna make something better than that, preferably only using ingredients that have no need to be refrigerated as I think we might have access to a fridge but just in case.

I think I'll bring a pot noodle as a last resort just in case, by the way, we're making dinner on the first night and breakfast in the morning, but I'm having pancakes in the morning (from a bottle).

I don't want to make beans though!

I was thinking maybe pasta or a one pot meal.

[DuctTape]

Take a look here: http://www.onepanwonders.com/ to get some ideas, then you can get creative! Have fun.

[SuperFlapjack]

Thank you, I'll check that out now

[scoutergipper]

If this is not a long hike in campout, check out some Dutch Oven recipes. You'll need charcoal and a way to start it (like a chimney) and a couple of other implements, but you can make some really amazing meals with pretty low prep time.

[qwazse]

Don't forget those veggies! An adjacent campsite once had one scout who fried asparagus in garlic and olive oil. My troop did without me and my tin bowl for a half hour that day!

 

Also, don't be afraid to ask mom or dad how to cook your favorite meal. Maybe you can make it work with your mess kit, maybe not. But, it's definitely worth trying. (If it's something complicated, you might not have it down by next month, but by the end of the year ... just maybe.)

 

FYI, When I was 13 (just the other day) I stared down my last meal of franks and beans by the campfire and said to myself "nevermore!" Campfire meals have been awesome ever since.

[jpstodwftexas]

Are you Backpacking in? I have never had access to a Fridge, however I do use and have access to a Ice Chest during Camp outs..As a Youth I also would Freeze Steaks, Chicken Breast, Pork Tender Loin and Other Meats to Pack in for the First Meal.

 

Your Limited by your Imagination...

I can give you all kinds of Ideas..I am sure you will give me as Many excuses. why you can not do them.

 

Ever hear of #10 Can Cooking?

If Weather is still cool Do a Stew in #10 Cans...Favorite Meat, Favorite Vegetables,

Plenty of Dehydrate Meal Options out there Now days also that would be good for #10 Can Cooking

 

Tin Foil Cooking

Baked Loaded Potatoes are a Good Meal..

 

Crumble Up Hamburger Meat and Freeze it...

At Camp take Tin Foil...Double Layer it...Cut Up Red Sweet Onions, Bell Peppers, Potatoes, Mushrooms...Throw in a Spat of Butter, Add Crumbled Hamburger Meat, Add Salt and Pepper, Toss in Seasonings like Crushed Red Peppers, Fresh Minced or Diced Garlic..Seal and Cook..All in One Meal..

[Tampa Turtle]

My boys practiced a few meals on our driveway on spare weekends. Though food always tastes better while camping, Ramen, Mash Potato type things are easy since you just add hot water and stir. You can also add other stuff to it, There are some excellent Ramen recipes online. You can work around the lack of refrigeration...we sometimes brown hamburger crumbles at home, freeze it, and stick it in some insulation and use it for Saturday lunch. Trick is to remember to get it out of the freezer at home before leaving Friday night!

[SM bob]

Look into dehydrated vegetables. Let them soak in the water then apply heat. Use ramen noodles as a base, then add veg. During backpacking trips I bring tuna in the foil pouch. It gives me the protien without extra weight or trash.

[Stosh]

If you think you might have refrigeration, obviously one doesn't need trail/backpacking food. Do it up right with fresh food, with the minimum of highly processed junk. If you want to become a really good cook, shop the outside walls of the grocery store only. Fresh produce, fresh meats, fresh dairy and fresh bakery. Go into the center aisles only for paper towels and toilet paper.

 

Start with produce.

 

Potatoes, carrots, onion, squash, parsnips, and other "heavy" veggies do not need refrigeration. More delicate fruits and veggies need to be in ziplock bags to keep from getting messy when they get crushed. They shouldn't require any refrigeration if going for a weekend.

 

Meats

 

Ziplock bags and freeze the week before. Generally the meat may take until Saturday night to thaw anyway. It also doubles as "ice" to keep other foods cool, i.e. dairy.

 

Dairy

 

Unopened cheese should be okay for the weekend, keep milk with the frozen meat to stay cool. Wrap in newspaper to insulate and slow down the thaw. Yogurt and protected eggs should last throughout the weekend without refrigeration. If you want eggs to last a week. Dip quickly in wax. That seals out the air that causes eggs to spoil and give the shells a bit more durability protection.

 

Bakery

 

Breads and muffins should last without refrigeration. If you want to do the Dutch Oven baking, cut the instructions off the box and dump in premeasured amounts ingredients into ziplocks, then just add liquids when you need to an reseal the ziplock and mix in the bag, no bowl necessary. It's cheaper than buying pre-processed stuff like pancake mix in a bottle. Total waste of time, money and flavor.

 

If you do slip into the center aisles, focus on foods that are already dry, i.e. rice, pasta, etc. Buy sauces in plastic bottles or repackage if it only comes in glass.

 

Carry, flour, salt, pepper and spices (garlic and onion powder, not salt) in small ziplock bags. Small bottle of olive oil in a reused ketchup bottle works great. Just squeeze out what you need.

 

Except for the milk which will spoil quickly in hot weather and meat, everything else mentioned above doesn't really need refrigeration.

 

The last thing you really want to buy and the first thing most people do, is pre-processed and canned foods. Most of these are hyped up on salt and preservatives because they have stripped out 95% of the nourishment and flavor.

 

Bon Appetite!

 

Stosh

[TAHAWK]

Consider desserts. Do you have access to a cold stream? If so, pudding'Jello [with fruit] becomes possible.

 

Rehydrated dried apricots/apples/pineapple can provide a base for dumplings (JUst enough water to rehydrate the fruit and provide bubbling up to steam the dumplings) http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-simple-dumplings/ (Replace liquid milk with powdered milk.) Beyond mixing the dough, it comes down to simmering water and a pot with a decent lid.

 

Practicing eating desserts is tough work, but someone has to do it.

 

But, since Scouts hate desserts . . . .

 

^___^

[Stosh]

Instant pudding, equivalent powdered milk for two cups of milk. Dump both powders in sandwich ziplock toss in backpack. For dessert, open ziplock, add 2 cups of cold water, reseal, mush around for 2 minutes and you have VanPud, ChocPud, or ButPud. Boys love it and surprisingly, the VanPud takes honors. The names came from the repackage shorthand on the last BWCA trip. Add fresh berries from the woods after you have mushed around for the 2 minutes. The cold water used must be filtered in the backcountry.

 

Stosh

[packsaddle]

I have to add that everytime I read a new account of the aluminum foil 'casserole' or 'hobo dinner' recipe, I get hungry. It doesn't matter what time of day or anything...I get hungry. Pavlov was right.