Simple Cooking

[Riverdance]

This summer I will probably be living out of a tent for a while. I don't want to fall into just eating tea and ketchup as my dad told me he once had to, so what are some good ways to make simple healthy food without much access to a kitchen? I'm thinking greens and pasta and that kind of thing.

[Mauve Shirt]

Fish!
1. Take fish
2. Add heat
3. Add salt and pepper and lemon
4. ???????????
5. PROFIT!!!!!!! Or, you know, feast!

[Bhu]

do you need camp cooking style recipes?

[Dr. Roboto]

If you have access to one, a Dutch oven provides mad circumstance bonus to non-kitchen cooking. It can essentially take the role of any kind of food-heating device (frying pan, pot, oven), distributes heat well because of its thick iron, and is insanely easy to clean. They can be quite expensive, but it'd be worth it to see if you could get one from a friend.

That being said, a bit more information about the situation might be helpful. Is this just a tent in the middle of nowhere? What kind of resources do you have, in terms of cooking-ware and heating devices?

EDIT: Also, it sounds like you're on a budget. How stringent is that?

[The Second]

Buy a case or two of those instant ramen soup packets and an assortment of canned meats. Add noodles to a pot with boiling water and pour in a can of meat.

Potted meat isn't bad either. Takes a little getting used to is all.

You may also want to try campfire cakes. (http://www.ehow.com/how_8160436_cook-coffee-can-over-campfire.html)

If you have access to a lake or stream (and applicable game permits) you can also catch your dinner.

You also may want to try backwoods cuisine, squirrels and rabbits are great on the grill.

You can also bring along powdered eggs and milk, hard cheeses, summer sausage, unsalted crackers, heat-sealed loaves of bread (they won't mold, but will get hard after a while), freeze dried bacon (or any freeze dried meat, really), instant udon and soba (may be hard to track down in the west).

If you're backpacking, however, you may want to bring just a couple boxes of saltines, a pound of summer sausage and a pound of hard cheese. Supplement with some instant ramen.

[thubby]

the difficult part of cooking on an open fire is getting the temperature to stay stable and even. when setting up your fire-pit, save an area where you dont put wood. when you want to cook, pull over coals. they're what you want to cook with, not the fire itself.

onions, carrots, potatoes, and other roots/tubers keep without much work provided they stay dry and away from the wildlife. garlic and ginger are good seasonings for the same reason.
most of them can be cooked just by putting them in tinfoil and throwing them on the coals.

anything you have to boil to eat is good, i suggest saving those things until the end of the trip if you can, so you have idiot proof food.

in general, i suggest bringing a large water bottle/dispense thing, just in case, and a bottle of grain alcohol.
the former because clean water is just smart to have.
the later because it disinfects, is flammable, and is a viable source of booze. states have varying laws on transporting open containers of alcohol, so be prepared to have to leave it behind/dump it.

edit: and smores. because if you dont have those, you have failed to camp properly.

[Coidzor]

Well, there's hobo pies if you have a source of tin foil. Those are as nutritious as whatever you put into 'em.

What kinds of tools do you have open to you? campfire's coals? permanent firepit? outdoor grill? camping stove?

What about cooking vessels? Dutch Oven? miniature, portable pots? a griddle?

[super dark33]

Time to tell the Schnitzel tale!

You need:
A pan.
Chicken breast cutten into flat (but not too much) pieces.
Oil
Eggs
Breadcrumbs (if you dont have money for it then kidnap some piegons, take their feathers, go to the local park and steal peoples breadcrumbs while dressing the feather costume. they wont notice)
2 containers, large enough to contain the shnizel(s)
A reliable fire source.

In one container break the eggs and smash them, like for an omllete.
In the outer pour the breadcrumbs with any spices you like.
Light the fire.
put pan on fire.
pour oil into pan, enough to cover half the schnizel.
Put chicken in breads, then eggs, then bread again.
put uncooked schnitzel on pan when oil is bubbling when you toss somthing into it.
when gold-brown, flip it.
put on a plate with kitchen paper on it, and proceed to devour your creation.

I reccomand that the flipping will be done with a fork, or if you are badass enough, TWO forks.

Master the schnizel technique by managing to handle a pan full of schnizels with two forks.

tap the schnitzels to check if their ready, if hard, then their good. if soft, they need moar oil therapy!

Goes well with chips, salad , pasta , potato mash and Burger sauces.
Chicken can be replaced by ANYTHING. like fishes, mushrooms (recommanded for vegatarians.) beef (when expart), Cheese and sea-food.

When encontering a problem, talk to me.

[shawnhcorey]

The Chinese have use woks for centuries over a open flame. Because of its shape, you can control how much heat the food gets and prevent burning. And stir fry is always tasty. :smallsmile:

[THAC0]

Having access to a dehydrator before you live in a tent is epic. We always eat very well on our backpacking trips because I pretty much just dehydrate what we would normally be eating.

If you are not backpacking and have access, mountain pie irons are very versatile.

[passons]

what about chicken items? if yes first dip chicken in salt then it will last for a long time

[Kalmageddon]

Crêpes are really easy to do and you can fill them with anything you want, all you need is a pan and the ingredients, all things that you should have an easy time bringing along to camping.

[Bhu]

Hre's what I had for camp cooking in my recipe section, hopefully they're all stills valid

Backwoods Home
http://www.backwoodshome.com/article_index.html#fr
Byron's Dutch Oven Cooking Page
http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/
Camp Oven Cooking In Australia
http://www.aussiecampovencook.com/
Camp Recipes
http://www.camprecipes.com/
Campfire Cafe
http://www.campfirecafetv.com/
Campfire Cookbook
http://home.earthlink.net/~bnsganderson/
Chuckwagon
http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/cowboy_chuckwagon.htm
http://www.chuckwagondiner.com/
Chuckwagon Supply
http://www.chuckwagonsupply.com/
Cowcamp Cookin' Society
http://www.etv.net/users/westman/
Dutch Oven Cooking
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dutchovencooking/
Dutch Oven Cooking Information
http://www.isu.edu/outdoor/dutch.shtml
Dutch Oven Recipes
http://www.capitalscouting.org/capital_rndtbl/200509_Sep%20'05%20-%20Cooking/Pow%20Wow%20Cooking%20for%20Scoutmasters.htm
Dutch Oven Tips from Troop 88
beware popup
http://troop88elroy.tripod.com/dutchoven.html
Free Camping Recipes
http://www.free-camping-recipes.com/
IDOS Southern California Chapter
http://www.socaldos.org/
IDOS Western New York Chapter
http://www.dutchovendave.com/wnydos/wnydos.html
International Dutch Oven Society
http://www.idos.com/
Lone Star Dutch Oven Society
http://www.lsdos.com/
MacScouter
http://www.macscouter.com/Cooking/
My Dutch Oven
http://www.mydutchoven.com/
Northwest Dutch Oven Society
http://www.nwdos.org/
Ol' Buffalo Camp Cookbook
http://www.three-peaks.net/dutch_o.pdf
Outdoor Cooking
http://www.monteran.com/outdoors/outdoor-cooking.html
Outdoor Cooking and Recipes
http://www.netwoods.com/d-cooking.html
Outdoorcook
http://www.outdoorcook.com/
Scout Cooking
http://www.scoutingbear.com/cook.htm
Scoutorama
http://www.scoutorama.com/recipe/

[TheThan]

mountain house foods ( http://www.mountainhouse.com/ ) is your best friend in this case.

Just about anything with a long shelf life and doesn’t need refrigeration work great. Canned foods, pastas, bannock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bannock_%28food%29), homemade soups made from dried ingredients, pop tarts, beef jerky, Clif bars ( http://www.clifbar.com/), spam, etc all work excellent for outdoors food.

Now for hard ware, you have a lot of options. Cast iron dutch ovens (the ones with the recessed lid) are actually designed to be used over hot coals from a fire and work magnificently. A good cast iron skillet works wonders as well. But these are pretty heavy items, so if weight is a factor, lighter weight hardwar you can just bring a small pot and pan from your kitchen, just keep any rubber handles out of the fire. for even lighter weight you can find small camping kits made from steel or aluminum for a fair price at most sports/outdoors stores, they nest together and are pretty light, but they’re only really designed for short term use and are made for a single person. If you want even lighter (and cheaper), you can cook in an old coffee can. Just make sure its metal, and you burn out any linings inside first. You can cook soups in it, turn it sideways and use it like an oven (you will need to come up with a lid though). There is the classic wood skewer method. Which amounts to a stick that has had the bark taken off, and sharpened on one end, you thrust your food through it and throw it on the fire (some people use metal skewers, these probably work better). You can make kabobs on it, cook fish etc. lastly can also take tinfoil, roll up a potato or an onion in it, and throw it in the fire, burying it under coals. Wait about 10-15 mintues and you’ll have a baked potato or a roasted onion (which are delicious).

You can boil water yourself from a nearby source, but it might be better to just take fresh water with you. If you are storing water in plastic, make sure your containers are all BPA free containers. Otherwise they will leak potentially harmful chemicals into your water when they get warm (Like leaving it in the sun for a few hours for instance). If you can’t find or get a hold of containers that are BPA free, just keep them in a cool place out of the sun. If you’re not interested in drinking plain water, feel free to take along coffee, tea, crystal lite water flavor packs, spiced cider, or just about anything else that you can throw into a cup of cold or boiling water to give it flavor.

You may want something to flavor your food with. For that there are also tons of options, seasoning packets (ketchup, hot sauce, salt and pepper for instance) from fast food places work pretty well and are easily storable. Spices from your shelf works great, lemon pepper, galic, paprika, cayenne pepper (one of my favorites) are all good ideas to bring along. Just be creative.

[Riverdance]

I will have full access to civilization. I'll probably just be staying in someone's field while working at a nearby camp. I just need some good food plans ahead of time so I don't revert to bread and cheese. There are some great ideas here. Thanks everyone.:smallsmile:

[Coidzor]

I will have full access to civilization. I'll probably just be staying in someone's field while working at a nearby camp. I just need some good food plans ahead of time so I don't revert to bread and cheese. There are some great ideas here. Thanks everyone.:smallsmile:

If you can secure it against raccoons and possibly bears, a crock pot is a great thing to have to throw together dinner while you're getting ready for the day or during a lunch break, as it basically equates to water or another liquid, meat-like substance, veggies, and maybe some spices.

Cook like a bachelor indeed. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11834184#post11834184)

[Riverdance]

Oh I'd forgotten crockpots. In terms of versatility they're like electric dutch ovens.