Certainly one of my favourite issues about tenting is the meals. There’s simply one thing completely different a couple of meal eaten round a campfire…whether or not it was really cooked over that campfire or not!
Whether or not you’re a die-hard camper dedicated to conventional tent tenting or choose the glamor of glamping, here’s a listing of the very best tenting meals for each kind of camper. Let’s have a look…
Finest Camp Range Meals
The aptitude of your camp range will fluctuate based on what kind you buy. I personally suggest something Camp Chef.
You will get the complete setup with the Camp Chef Flat High Grill (I can’t totally specific how wonderful that is, I take it in all places), or you’ll be able to go a bit extra travel-friendly with the Teton Two-Burner Range, and loads of different items of apparatus for all of your camp cooking wants.
Massive Brunch Buffet
That is the tenting meal I most stay up for on each household tenting journey. Our Camp Chef has sufficient griddle house for us to make any mixture of bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausages, hash browns, and so forth.
(If we get actually formidable with this tenting meal, typically we even throw some French toast into the combination!)
You’ll need to house out what you throw on the griddle based on their cooking occasions, however in the event you plan it proper, you’ll be able to have a sizzling breakfast/brunch unfold prepared in simply an hour or two.
You’ll be the envy of the campground with the smells wafting out of your campsite, and it’s an effective way to gasoline up earlier than a day of mountaineering, fishing, kayaking, etcetera.
Killer Quesadillas
Quesadillas are one other nice tenting meal that lends itself nicely to the camp range life.
You need to be sure you slather some high quality butter in your tortilla earlier than slapping it on the griddle. It’s simply not the identical with out that crispy golden exterior.
In fact, the shining star of your quesadilla goes to be your cheese. I like to recommend Tillamook Colby Jack.
More often than not, quesadillas are made with hen, which you’ll simply grill in your camp range. Don’t be shy with the seasonings.
This tenting meal might be fairly delicate by itself. Many individuals add further components like bell peppers, jalapeños, onions, and even quesadilla sauce for dipping.
Improbable Fajitas
What makes fajitas and quesadillas completely different? Put merely, quesadillas are a purely Mexican creation, whereas fajitas have a little bit of American affect.
The place cheese would be the hero of your quesadillas, the star of any fajita recipe is the meat. The place quesadillas often use hen as the principle meat, you’re extra prone to discover skirt steak on the middle of a fajita.
Fajitas are additionally full of comparable additions, equivalent to peppers and onions, however cheese often doesn’t make an look.
I extremely recommend marinating your steak earlier than use with the intention to pack the largest punch along with your flavors. Any marinade extremely based mostly in lime juice would be the good complement to your fajitas!
Burgers and (Residence) Fries
Burgers are one other basic tenting meal, and there’s no higher aspect dish for burgers than fries…however it may be troublesome to get a deep fryer going whereas tenting.
Fortunately, there’s an alternate: residence fries!
Residence fries are potatoes which were chopped into small chunks and roasted (or sautéed!). They’re straightforward to make in an oven or skillet at residence, however you’ll be able to pull them off in your camp range simply as simply!
All you want for residence fries is just a little vegetable oil, no matter spices you like (I personally love some fresh-ground black pepper and garlic salt), and chopped potatoes!
Coat your potatoes within the oil and spices earlier than dumping them onto the griddle floor. “Stir” with a spatula now and again till they’re golden-brown and excellent!
Finest Campfire Meals
Pie Iron Sandwiches
Have you ever REALLY gone tenting in the event you’ve by no means had a sandwich cooked in a pie iron over a mattress of red-hot embers? I believe not.
Whereas it’s known as a “pie iron,” one in every of my favourite tenting meals to make inside these nifty tenting devices is a grilled cheese sandwich.
It’s a quite simple course of: similar to a traditional grilled cheese, you begin with two slices of bread. However moderately than buttering the bread itself, you’ll need to slather butter over the within of the pie iron to forestall any sticking.
When you’ve buttered the within of the pie iron, pack in your items of bread, then add your cheese.
Shut the iron, safe it with the metallic loop over the deal with, stick it within the coals, and let it cook dinner! Remember to flip each short while with the intention to get an excellent cook dinner.
When eradicating the sandwich, be sure you’re cautious to not drip any melted cheese on your self! It’s very straightforward to get burned. Use a fork or some tongs to take away.
Grilled cheeses aren’t your solely choices for pie iron sandwiches; you can also make any sandwich you want over your hearth!
Traditional Campfire Hotdog
When you concentrate on tenting meals cooked over a fireplace, your thoughts in all probability instantly jumps to hotdogs. And whereas this definitely isn’t your solely choice any longer, it’s a basic for a motive!
Should you’re craving some campfire hotdogs, the method is straightforward sufficient. Toss a sizzling canine on a two-pronged skewer, maintain it over the hearth, and rotate till totally cooked.
Finest Tenting Meals for an RV Kitchen
Mini Pizzas
RVs come outfitted with many further facilities, notably the fashions that embrace kitchen house.
In case your RV occurs to have an oven, it’s an effective way so as to add to your tenting menu choices…however protecting in thoughts that you just even have restricted counter house to meal prep, you continue to need to hold it easy.
Enter mini pizzas!
You may create this tenting meal any means you want. You may make your individual dough, get it store-bought, and even use some mini naan breads.
As for toppings, the sky’s the restrict. (Although, I’d keep away from anchovies. The very last thing you need is an RV crammed to the brim with fish scent.)
Frozen Snacks
My favourite factor about RV tenting is that it permits us to carry sure meals and components alongside for our tenting meals that we couldn’t in any other case carry…particularly frozen ones.
As a lot as we typically want to faux in any other case, there are lots of frozen meals that double up as consolation meals for us adults…or straightforward snacks for choosy youngsters!
Should you camp in an RV with a freezer included, don’t hesitate to carry alongside a few of your and your youngsters’ favourite issues. Comfortable pretzels, pizza bagels, fish sticks, and French fries are a few of my household’s favorites, however to every their very own!
Simple Soup or Pasta
One other perk of RV tenting? Many RVs include a stovetop put in. Whilst you might technically cook dinner pasta or soup in a pot over your campfire, it’s lots simpler to take action the home-fashioned means…in a pot on the burner.
Boxed mac and cheese or canned soups are a fast and straightforward meal to carry together with you, particularly in the event you’re tenting with youngsters. They’re low-mess, low-energy, and positive to please your crowd of youngsters and not using a fuss!
(And, let’s be sincere…typically, on these chilly and wet tenting days, we adults simply need to get pleasure from a bowl of sizzling soup, too!)
Finest No-Cook dinner Tenting Meals
It’s all the time a good suggestion to carry alongside meals for tenting meals that don’t require cooking, particularly in the event you’re counting on a campfire to do your cooking for you. You by no means know when a rainstorm may blow in.
My favourite no-cook choices for tenting meals are bagels, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cereal, and pre-mixed salads.
Finest Tenting Desserts
Pie Iron Pies
That’s proper, we’re again to the pie irons…for dessert this time! You’ll nonetheless be utilizing bread for these “pies,” however the filling might be a lot completely different.
You may make every kind of pies over the hearth, from apple to cherry to Nutella and marshmallow! (Although once more, beware dripping filling—sizzling marshmallow sticks, and also you don’t need burns to deal with in your journey!)
The largest factor to remember right here is to watch out of scorching your pie. Whereas a little bit of charred bread may add to the flavour of savory sandwiches, it won’t be as nice along with your dessert.
S’mores Bar
I imply, what tenting meal can compete with scarfing down an inadvisable quantity of s’mores?
Everyone knows the drill—you are taking graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate, toast your marshmallow, and make a melty, gooey dessert.
However don’t restrict your self to the basic combo—there are dozens of the way to get artistic along with your s’mores!
You may change up each single ingredient of your s’extra for one thing new and completely different to vary up its taste.
Swap out your widespread chocolate bar for a peanut butter cup, a dollop of Nutella, darkish or white chocolate, or every other chocolate-based sweet bar for added taste and texture.
You may alternate your boring graham crackers for one more taste of graham cracker, peanut butter cookies, and even mix your chocolate and “sandwich” ingredient by utilizing chocolate chip cookies.
You may even change out your marshmallows for chocolate, strawberry, and even caramel marshmallows!
Campfire Cobbler
This tenting meal is extra time-consuming, however value each second you spend on it. For this campfire recipe, you’ll want a Dutch oven on the prepared, in addition to charcoal. It’s essential warmth the coals to correctly bake the peach cobbler.
You’ll solely want a handful of components to drag this off: peaches, yellow cake combine, and butter.
Sure, that’s really all you want. Simple-peasy, proper?
It is a nice dish to make in the event you’re tenting with a bunch, however beware…it disappears quick!
Ice Cream Sundaes
It is a dessert you may want an RV for, since a freezer is critical to move the ice cream, however in the event you occur to be an RV camper, it’s such a enjoyable deal with.
My life modified in a giant means after I began RV tenting, as a result of it meant I might pack ice cream to eat by the campfire.
Ice cream sundaes are crowd-pleasers and budget-savers. They’re an excellent alternative for households with youngsters…or a pair adults who simply actually love ice cream.
The perfect factor about this recipe? The components are fully as much as you. You may choose any taste of ice cream, any toppings, and any cones!
Cooking Whereas Tenting FAQs
Propane for Cooking
Do you want propane to cook dinner tenting meals? It is determined by whether or not you’re going to be cooking your tenting meals completely over the hearth, or in the event you’re utilizing a camp range or touring in an RV.
If it’s the latter, you’ll want propane to gasoline your range.
Should you’re utilizing a camp range and tenting for a couple of days in a row, it’s really helpful that you just carry alongside a much bigger tank of propane.
Whereas most smaller stoves are designed particularly to hook up with one-pound tanks, there are methods round this! You may buy an adapter hose to avoid wasting your self the difficulty of needing to haul extra tanks of propane round with you.
Meals Security Whereas Cooking Over Hearth
There are three issues to remember when it comes to security whereas cooking tenting meals over a fireplace:
1. Inner Temp
Whilst you can cook dinner just about something over a fireplace, it’s important to keep in mind that the warmth isn’t as predictable or constant. It would in all probability take longer on your meals to achieve the suitable temperature for secure consumption.
One of the simplest ways to find out whether or not sure meals are performed is by bringing alongside a meat thermometer to check the inner temperature of the meals you’re cooking.
2. Do NOT Use Oil Over a Hearth
This may look like a no brainer, however many issues can go fallacious in the event you attempt cooking tenting meals in oil over a fireplace.
Any splatters or drips might end result within the hearth flaring up if you’re not ready, and the final stuff you want in your tenting journey are burned arms or different extremities.
3. All the time Maintain Water Close by
You all the time need to be able to extinguish your hearth, particularly when cooking. Hearth is unpredictable even for knowledgeable campers. Higher secure than sorry.
Get Cooking!
There you have got it: among the greatest tenting meals I’ve ever tasted! Which one are you planning to check out first?
On the lookout for extra tenting meals to attempt? Try our tenting meals web page now!
