[vicki518]

we are looking to buy a camper and start camping. I'm just wondering what are some "must haves" when camping? besides hamburgers and hotdogs, what do you do for meals? any tips/advise will be appreciated.

[jmtfirewife]

We are avid campers and I cook everything over a fire. We do pork chops, steaks,brats, pudgie pies, bbq chicken wings and breasts. For breakfast I make french toast, bacon and what I call scramble (eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, cheese and mayo)

[vicki518]

what do you use to put over the fire to cook on?? a grate of some sort?

[bobojay]

We are going to start taking the metal grill part off of our BBQ grill. that way I just feel safer. We are going to be traveling this week and we are going to take breakfast burritos,these would be easy to cook over a fire too. Bacon,eggs,potatoes,cheese and your tortillas.

[phillygirl71]

We camp also. during the year . I save the packs of ketchup, mustard and mayo etc that you get with take out/fast food ect.. And use those on the camping trips.. It is much easier than bringing bottles with you.. Dont forget the all important roll of TP. you never know .. . baby wipes for quick hand and face clean ups..

[krjr2011]

Comet cleaner keeps bugs away. Just sprinkle around the perimeter. You can usually get them on sale at Wags 2/$1

[Susuz]

We always take the handled weiner roasters (or marshmallows for s'mores), you can use a grate from an old BBQ, the best thing I think to cook over a fire is a heavy iron skillet! Nothing better....

You can make quesadillas (PAM, tortillas and shredded cheese) in the skillet, hash brown potatoes, if you have a cast iron bean pot that works great too for pork and beans.

Coolers (we keep one with water and ice, one for everything else). You can freeze part of your water bottles before you leave (or take some water out of your water jug, (to allow for freezing expansion) freeze and use those in your cooler Doubles as long lasting ice AND drinking water after it melts down. Lunch meat, sandwich makings. We always used Rubbermaid boxes to store all of our camping goods, paper plates, napkins, disp. silverware, when you get back from a trip, restock it and put it back in the garage for next time!

Good bug spray, or skin so soft, baby wipes, jugs of drinking water, and my momma always kept a ziploc bag of wet bandanas in the water cooler, wonderful to wipe down your face and neck after a hot sunny day.

And remember, the rule is, leave your campsite better than you found it, so someway to collect your trash (to keep the critters out).

[Chloey]

When camping in tents... and even when we started using a camper, we used the Jimmy Dean breakfast thingies. They come in a bag and have all the mix-ins in there. You find them in the frozen section. For eggs we used the carton(egg beaters) eggs. That way you never have to worry about them breaking and making a mess.

Lunch was usually either what we had leftover from the night before, fish we caught, or lunchmeat sandwiches. If you plan on using fish you catch, always bring a back up. But also don't keep them overnight. We used a stringer one time, and every night racoons and turtles would come down and eat our fish. We were able to get a good sized turtle to eat, but we lost a lot of fish.

Dinners was usually something canned, and a meat. BBQ's, beans, potato salads. Once we moved to a camper and we had good refrigeration, we moved to hamburger helpers and such forth. Meat for dinners we usually made ahead of time and just used the fire to re-heat it.

If you plan on cooking over the open fire, most places like state and national parks have "grills" that you can just flip into place for cooking or flip out of the way for an open fire. If you have an old grill, or find one at salvation army and can take the "grill" part out its nice. We always just took a grill, and used the charcoals to start the fire that night. Just add some tender and blow! Aluminum foil pans wash up great and are lightweight if you need something cheap right now.

The best investment we EVER made was a Coleman stove. We were able to get one from the salvation army or from a garage sale and used it for YEARS. On that stove we just used regular pots and pans like you use at home.

HTH!

[JArble]

long time camper here as well...couple things...

invest in your own grill if your cooking over an open fire...we camp a lot and i've heard of /seen campers (men) pee over fires/grates...and I don't care how many times it's been heated thats still nasty

cooking over an open fire is kind of like cooking at home...you need to know the right fire conditions for the right food...for instance you can cook hot dogs on a stick over any open flame...but if you need to cook something that needs more consistent heat or just less flame you actually need to start a fire early and let it die down a bit and cook over the hot coals, low flame and just like at home be careful cooking greasy foods over open flames.

invest in good pots/pans...you are better off with one really good skillet than you are with a variety of junky pots and pans...cast iron is definitely the way to go if you can afford it. also get a good set of tongs and a good spatula both with long handles

as for what to cook...you can find 1000's of camp recipes online or hit the library or bookstore.

you can make things easier for yourself and prep ahead...i always precut veggies before we leave if i can...and pre-cook or partially cook some things ahead as well such as sausage you can always pre-cook a bit at home and then just re-heat.

coleman stoves are great but i'd suggest something like this...it's obviously a bit bigger than a coleman stove but the burners are bigger so u can cook more on it like big pots of corn plus campchef makes cast iron griddles that fit right over the burners

and if you don't have a cooler yet...invest in a good one and learn how to pack it. Even with the best cooler food can spoil if not packed properly...we always leave as much meat frozen as we can because it will last longer and help keep other food cold...also find a good leak proof plastic container to keep things like cheese and butter in so they don't get gross from getting wet and pack that kind of stuff on top of ice. also block ice lasts longer than cubes and you can make your own by using a 1/2 gallon cardboard juice container...when your done with the juice, cut off the top and fill with water and freeze.

[lisbell]

One of my favorite camping meals is "frito boats" or "cowboy hats".
Layer fritos, pre-prepared bean/burger mix (I usually use taco seasoning), lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cheese, sour cream... whatever you like on them. You can keep the bean/burger mix cool and you can either heat it up or eat it cold. But, I don't know if everyone likes to pack that much stuff when they go, either!

[LizzyBizzy]

Whether in a tent or a camper, slow cookers (Crock Pots) and a power strip are a must if you are not primitive camping!

Camper kitchens and sinks are way too small for me, so I usually set up the camp table/kitchen outside the camper and plug in a Crock Pot, an electric skillet, a box fan, the radio, the TV, etc., etc.

I'll set up 1 Crock Pot to warm water for washing dishes and general cleaning up (be careful, they'll bring the water to almost boiling). Making your kitchen outside keeps the camper cool on the inside; the fan keeps the mosquitos and flies away.

I'll use another to warm up a can of beans. In a larger one, I might toss in a cheap pork shoulder, let it cook all day while we play, and then shred it and add BBQ sauce for pulled pork sandwiches over bread, buns, tortillas, cornbread, baked beans, potatoes, whatever.

I do the cooking in our group, usually over the fire. Cast iron skillets and pots are a must. However, when the hoards are hungry and start looking at me with ill intent, I'll whip out the electric skillet and have home fries (potatoes), bacon, eggs, ect. ready in a flash.

Also, I'll put washed, unpeeled potatoes in the Crock Pot overnight or all day and then we can have baked potatoes all ready for dinner when we return from a day of camping fun. Or, the potatoes will instantly fry up in the morning in the skillet over the fire for breakfast.

I always travel with a box of Jiffy cornbread mix and olive oil -- the best meal I ever had was freshly caught rainbow trout "battered" in the cornbread mix and fried in a little oil over the campfire!

Have fun but safety first!

LizzyBizzy

[tiggere]

a good dutch oven and cast iron skillet will fix all your cooking needs...if you need more than that then you need to check in at a Hilton :P...

Google dutch oven and you will find hundreds of recipes that can be prepared ahead of time and then just dumped in and cooked...we camped out for Wood Badge and one of the guys in my group was a dutch oven master...holy smokes we ate good every night...

[Shashahx]

Aluminum foil is a must! For cooking over the fire - we use our grate from our weber. Or we bring a small table top weber and a Coleman camp stove.

Pork and beans are say to cook to. I like the Jimmy dean bagged breakfasts too. Also - bring a dish tub to wash your dishes in - unless you have a camper and hook ups. We always tent camp but with a camper it's much easier.

Sent from my iPhone

[kathascoupons]

I'm actually in a tent right now (isn't technology wonderful?)! iPhone aside, we're somewhat primitive in our set up (tent rather than camper, cooking over the fire), but nearly everything other have suggested work for me, too.

I'd especially stress bringing aluminum foil (I use it for everything)- one of my go-to campfire dishes is just cubed potato and onions. I prep the potatoes by scrubbing them and popping them in the microwave for 5-10 minutes. I rough chop some onions and then mix the two (and any other veggies I might have/want) in ziploc baggies, add a bit of olive oil, garlic salt and any other spices that strike my fancy, shake to mix and then pop them in the freezer. When I'm on-site I just dump one baggie into a tinfoil pouch I make, toss it directly on the coals, and it's ready in about 10 minutes.

EVERYTHING that goes into my meat cooler is frozen (including water bottles) to help keep it at a safe temperature over a few days.

Bring an ax for firewood, and take the time to get a good mix of kindling and larger pieces long before you need them...

And of course, car chargers can be life savers if you're addicted to AFC but don't have electricity!

[laura264]

My husband and I are always going camping somewhere. He's a professional chef so I'm treated to some pretty nice campfire meals. The biggest problem was packing all the ingredientss. They take up lots of space and it's a hassle digging them all out when dinner time comes around. So a few years ago I started packing all the dry ingredients together in mason jars before we left the house. Then, he'd just have to add in whatever fresh ingredients he needed like veggies or meat. My idea turned into the small business that we have called Instant Chef.

Plus, I'm a huge freebies nut. I keep a plastic laundry soap bucket full of shampoos, dish soaps, hotel sized soaps, etc. Anything that's just for a one or two time use while camping. That also saves a ton of space and I don't have to worry about my husband leaving behind a full bottle of John Frieda shampoo in the camp shower....which he's been know to do more than once.