Remember that coals are hotter and more even in temperature compared to flames, which also add more smoke and soot to your food or cookware.
Basic Concepts
Cooking Temperature
Hold the back of your hand over the hot coals where you will be placing your food to cook. Measure the time you are able to withstand the heat before pulling your hand back.
- 1 to 2 seconds: High Heat – over 500 ºF
- 4 to 5 seconds: Medium Heat – about 400 ºF
- 7 to 9 seconds: Low Heat – about 300 ºF
- 10 to 15 seconds: Very Low Heat – about 200 ºF
- 20 to 30 seconds: Likely insufficient heat; add more fuel.
Cooking Methods
Plan ahead to be sure that you have the needed equipment to cook your food. For example, to boil water you must have some sort of pot, and frying will require a frying pan. With creativity, you can limit needed utensils to lightweight aluminum foil, well-placed rocks, or hand-crafted sticks.
- Baking in a Dutch Oven
- Baking in a reflective oven
- Baking in aluminum foil
- Boiling in a pot, sauce pan, tin can, etc.
- Cooking over campfire in pressure cooker – safe time & fuel
- Cooking over coals (or directly on coals)
- Frying on a pan or stone
- Roasting on a spit or sticks
- Roasting over flames
Roasting
In the context of campfire cooking, roasting is generally a method of holding food in close proximity to the dry heat of flames or coals (preferred) to warm or cook the food. The following are common examples of quick and easy items for roasting.
- Hot dogs
- Chicken nuggets
- Marshmallows
- Biscuits (bannock)
- Shish-ka-bobs
Roasted chicken nuggets on dinner rolls with mustard and cheese is my favorite.
Grilling
Grilling food over a bed of hot coals requires a grate of some sort, but little else. Here are some frequently used items for grilling.
- Hamburgers
- Chicken
- Steaks
- Fish
- Hot dogs
- Shish-ka-bobs
- Vegetables
Grilling is my favorite method for preparing vegetables.
Frying
Add a hot pan to the grill or hot coals and you can fry most anything in hot oil or butter. These are a few examples.
- Sausage
- Eggs
- Fish
- Potatoes
- Apple slices
My favorite is a thick steak placed directly on hot coals.
Pie Irons
These hinged plates on long sticks go by many names, including mountain pie makers, hobo pie irons, pudgy pie plates, and more. You can get them in sturdy cast iron, more lightweight cast aluminum, or even pressed aluminum. To use a pie iron, simply put most anything you like between two slices of buttered bread and heat in a campfire. You can also use them open like a frying pan. The options are limitless.
Sample Breakfast Recipe
- Pre-heat pie iron
- Two slices of hearty (whole grain) bread per sandwich
- Butter each slice (and/or spray cooking oil on the hot pie iron)
- Fill sandwich with cooked sausage, cheese, and an egg
- Cook for a couple of minutes on each side
NOTE: The length of time depends on campfire temperature
Popular Pie Iron Sandwiches
- Grilled Cheese
- Ham & Cheese
- Turkey & Vegetables
- Tuna & Cheese
- Roast Beef: with Swiss cheese, and mustard
- Chipped Beef: with BBQ sauce
- Reuben: with coleslaw
- Philly Cheese Steak: with grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms
- Tampa Cuban: pork, pickles, salami, cheese, and mustard
- Rib Eye Steak Panini: steak, arugula, peppers, and cheese
- Pizza: tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and spices
- Tacos: cooked ground beef, cheese, tomato, spices
- Sloppy Joes: cooked ground beef in a BBQ sauce
- Eggs & Sausage: use pre-cooked sausage
- Cherry Fruit Filling: look for cans or jars
- Apple Fruit Filling: look for cans or jars
- S’mores: chocolate, marshmallow, and graham
Wrapped Baking
The following “wrapped cooking” concepts can be applied to use of a Dutch Oven, aluminum foil, large pots, or food wrapped in leaves—slowly baking in moderately hot coals (or on a grill) in a fire pit. Here are some basic ideas for recipes.
- One-pot meals: chili, beef stew, meatloaf, pizza, whole chicken, pork roast, meat & vegetable combo
- Easy desserts: baked apples, berry cobbler, coffee cake
- Meat & potatoes: combine ground meat, potato, carrot, catsup or BBQ sauce, onion, salt, and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes on each side.
- Pizza pocket: combine the following in a pita pocket—tomato sauce, cooked meat, cheese, onion, mushrooms, and spices. Bake for a 2 to 4 minutes on each side.
- Leftovers burritos: add any sort of leftovers from other meals to a tortilla (meats, cheeses, sauces, vegetables, seasonings, dessert toppings, or sandwich fillers), roll up, wrap in foil, bake until hot.
- TIPS for cooking with aluminum foil:
- Don’t wrap too tightly. Leave room for steam inside of foil to help the food cook faster and more gently.
- When hot, cutting open with a knife or scissors may be easier than trying to unwrap it.
- To keep liquids from leaking out of wrapped foil—like for a family-sized beef & vegetable stew, secure a plastic oven bag inside the aluminum foil.
- Consider using a double layer of foil to minimize scorching and avoid leaking liquids.
- Much like a frying pan, try using butter or oil to keep things from sticking to the sides.
- Wrap in ice cubes to add water for moist steam.
- Assemble foil-wrapped meals before you go. Just take out of plastic bags and drop into the fire. No pots, no pans, no dishes, and virtually no cleanup.
- Using pre-cooked vegetables takes less time to heat up and may better balance other things in your foil pocket.
- To get crispier food (or less soggy), try poking small holes with a knife or fork to let the steam out during cooking.
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Drinks
Adding flavor to hot water makes it much more enjoyable.
Meals with Hot Water
For many of these food items, you can simply pour the hot water into the pouch or heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag so that there’s no dirty dishes to clean. Use a hat, shirt, or glove to protect your hand from the heat.
To include meat in any of these recipes,
freeze in a separate bag with ice to keep safe for several hours.
If you need it to wait overnight or longer, try using freeze dried or canned meat.
Prep Gallon-sized freezer zip-tight plastic bag with seasonings & bouillon (and maybe noodles), ready to add fresh fish (or game meat) and boiling water for a quick and tasty soup.
Meals in a Cup
Potato Soup
Prepare the following in a plastic bag. When ready to eat, pour about half a cup of the mix into a cup with boiling water, stir, and wait a few minutes.
- 2 cups instant mashed potatoes
- 5 cups dry milk
- 2 tablespoons chicken bullion
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons dried onion
- Big pinches of seasonings like pepper, parsley, thyme, turmeric
Tortilla Soup
Prepare the following in a plastic bag. When ready to eat, pour into a cup with boiling water, stir, and wait a few minutes.
- 3 tablespoons crushed tortilla chips
- 2 tablespoons instant rice
- 1 tablespoon Instant Vegetable Soup mix
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
- 1/8 teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin
Mexican Chicken and Hominy Soup
Prepare the following in a plastic bag. When ready to eat, pour into a cup with boiling water, stir, and wait a few minutes.
- 1/3 cup shredded chicken
- 1/4 cup jarred salsa Verde
- 1 teaspoon chicken bullion
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 cup canned hominy
- 1/4 cup canned pinto beans
- 1/4 cup coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 tablespoons crushed salted tortilla chips
Meals in a Bag
Prepare any type of meal at home, (freeze if needed), and take in a heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag. When ready to eat, place the entire bag of food into a pot of boiling water to re-heat. The bag keeps the food dry while heating, and the water is gentler than direct flames from the campfire or camp stove.
Omelet
Mix the following in a heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag and keep cool with ice. When ready to eat, place bag in pot of boiling water until eggs are thoroughly cooked.
- Eggs, milk, cheese, salt, pepper (onion, vegetables, meat)
Pancakes
Mix the following in a heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag. When ready to eat, place bag in pot of boiling water until warm.
- Cooked pancakes, already covered in butter and syrup
See It Online: Shugemery is Inspirational in many ways
Heating Water
There are many ways to get hot water when camping—you may already have your favorite method. I have two favorites, since I often plan short trips where the only thing I need to heat is water—rather than cooking food directly over a stove or campfire.
- Metal Water Bottle: You can get these aluminum or steel bottles most anywhere for $10 to $20, but I pick up mine from the thrift store for about $1.00 for a large 16 to 20 ounce size bottle. Get one for each person on your trip. I make sure it has a water-tight cap (screwed on) to carry drinking water in my backpack, and some sort of ridge so I can lift it off of the campfire or stove when the water inside is boiling hot. After it cools, I keep it in a plastic bag so the soot on the outside doesn’t make a mess of things inside my backpack.
- Kelly Kettle: This cooking system is amazing—especially for making hot water for tea, hot chocolate, coffee, soup, noodles, or a full dinner. There are three kit sizes (each in aluminum or stainless steel) and a number of accessories that can be added to each Kelly Kettle They all work great. The one I use and recommend to get started is the Kelly Kettle Stainless Steel Medium Scout Basic Camp Stove Kit. There’s also a YouTube video demonstrating how to use it.
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Meats/Protein
Small packages recommended, less than 3 ounces each
For safety from wild animals and to avoid scavenger animals,
remember to properly dispose of smelly containers after use.
Vegetables
- Baby Carrots
- Broccoli Heads
- Cauliflower Heads
- Celery (great with peanut butter)
Starch & Sweets
- Fresh Fruit
- Breads, Buns, Muffins, Pastries, Bagels, etc.
- Trail Mix (GORP)
- Granola Bars or Mixes
- Energy Bars, Protein Bars
- Fruit Cups, Applesauce Cups, Pudding Cups
- Dried Fruit
- Dry Cereal Cups
- Crackers, Peanut Butter Crackers, Pretzels, Snacks
- Cookies, S’mores kit or chocolate/marshmallow/grahams
- Roast starburst candies over an open campfire
Drinks
Adding flavor to lukewarm water makes it more enjoyable.
Remember that you need to drink more than usual when hiking outdoors.
} } } This information is in the book “Prep Lists for Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking.” { { {
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Consider these standards on any hiking trip to support or supplement your other meals and snacks.
Condiments
Drinks
These are great to improve the taste of local water after purifying
Pills & Medications
- Vitamins, Fiber, Nutritional Supplements
- OTC/Non-Prescription Medications
- Prescription Medications
Safety
- For perishable meats (jerky, sausages, pepperoni), use 4-ounce packages or smaller to avoid spoiling and bear-attracting odors.
- For any wrapper or container that smells of food or grease, burn or wrap in an air-tight container until it can be burned to avoid attracting bear and small critters while you sleep.
- When backpacking, consider keeping all food in a rigid, air-tight container that keeps food from being squashed, keeps it dry, and reduces odors that might attract bear, bugs, or other wild animals. Ideas to consider for this include a waterproof dry box used for boating, or an ammo box used for firearms.
- At night, place ALL food, wrappers, and smelly trash into a plastic bear bag or cinch sack, and tie up in a tree to keep out of reach from wild animals. Even if you can’t get it up out of reach, keep it away from where you are sleeping.
Tips and Time Savers
- Measure and chop all meal ingredients ahead of time and pack in separate zip-tight plastic bags with labels.
- Use emptied zip-tight plastic bags for trash containers.
- Instead of packing and protecting eggs in the shell, crack them at home and keep in a zip-tight plastic bags or a water bottle.
- Prepare meals ahead of time and freeze in portion sizes that will defrost in time for your next meal time. (Several smaller portions thaw more quickly than one large portion.)
- Frozen meat and cans of frozen juice in a cooler keeps other items cold without extra ice.
- Apply inexpensive liquid soap to bottom of any cookware before placing on fire; this makes cleanup much easier.
- Pitas, English muffins, or bagels pack better than sliced bread
- Leather work gloves double as an oven mitt to handle hot items
- Consider a vacuum sealing system to keep foods fresher longer
} } } This information is in the book “Prep Lists for Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking.” { { {
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When filtered water in clear bottles (glass or plastic) is exposed to direct sunlight for six hours (or up to 48 hours in clouded sunlight), the heat and ultraviolet (UV) radiation of the sunlight kill protozoan parasites and bacteria, and inactivates most viruses. NOTE: unfiltered or cloudy water requires more time and is less effective—adding a pinch of salt can help to decontaminate the floating particles.
Similarly, you can purchase UV lights to immerse into a bottle of water to purify it much more quickly and reliably.
See Samples: UV Water Purifiers
>>> This information is in the book “Prep Lists for Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking.” <<<
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