Camping – Foodie Style
There’s nothing like cooking in the open air. Birds are singing… wind is blowing through the trees… mmmmmarvelous! I simply can’t waste this incredible opportunity to cook over an open fire – I must experiment!
Here in San Diego (where my husband and I live), we don’t have a lot of “woods”, per se, so we drive about 2.5 hours north to beautiful Big Bear Lake to enjoy a weekend communing with nature. Since we typically do “no facilities” camping, we’ve had to get creative about how we lure our city-dwelling friends to our campsite and food seems to do the trick. We’re already car-camping, so why not make campfire pizzas? Or maybe some fajitas? And we always have a big jug of some kind of “juice” to enjoy as a “Welcome to the Campsite” cocktail. That’s my kind of camping!
Below, I have included some recipes that I’ve used throughout the last few years, the wonderful thing about camping is that you really can get creative and just throw in whatever you have!
Breakfast – this is a perfect way to start a day, it will give you plenty of energy for that 5 mile hike!
- Onions, thinly sliced in half-moons
- Bacon
- Eggs
- Bag of frozen hashbrowns
- Butter
- Salt
This is all based on how many people you have. Cook the bacon in a cast iron skillet over the fire, set aside leaving the grease in the pan. Cook the onions in the same pan. When the onions are good and brown and soft, add the eggs and scramble. In a separate pan, melt the butter and add some salt. Add the hashbrowns in an even layer on top. When they look brown on the bottom, carefully flip. Enjoy!
Dinner – these Hobo dinners are very easy and incredibly modifiable
- Tin Foil
- Chicken (chopped bite-size)/black beans/kidney beans, whatever protein you like
- Chopped Onions
- Garlic
- Canned Corn
- Cream of Mushroom soup
- BBQ sauce (optional, but super delicious!)
- Canned Potatoes
Create a pouch with the foil (double layered if it feels flimsy) and put in everything that sounds delicious to you! Seal up really tightly and place into the firepit, nestled in the coals. Turn about every 15 minutes. After about 45 minutes remove from the fire and enjoy!
Dessert – s’mores! 
(need I say more?)
Category: Breakfast/Brunch, Featured Articles: Travel & Culture, Main Dish - Land and Sea, Recipe Vault, Travel & Culture, US & Canada
Great post Elyssa. I love experimenting when camping. I once made a mean pasta with fresh clams while camping on a beach 2 years ago. Just placed the clams on a griddle until they popped open, then sauteed them with some garlic, parsley, olive oil and hot pepper.
Ooh, I love campfire cookery… although I am more of a car-camper which allows us to bring along almost the kitchen sink! Here’s a link to my take on cooking on a campfire