Fresh Air

Ok, so the weather is starting to turn a little warmer, and we’re all starting to venture out into the woods that have been so heavily covered in snow and ice for the past four or five months! It has really been one helluva winter in New England, and I’m starting to salivate to take some long, warm weather weekend trips in the wilderness. I’m putting away all my gortex; and breaking out the zip-off pants, light sleeping bag and backpacking tent. I look forward to warm clear night skies, relaxing campfires and of course, that means delicious summer campfire cooking.

Now being just a biscuit over two hundred pounds, and really loving my food, while I’m hiking my thoughts are often on my next meal. Over the course of my Boy Scout experiences and subsequent wilderness trips, I have found that campfire cooking can really be quite exceptional. Following are a few great ideas, and some tips for cooking on a camping trip that are simple and very satisfying.

Dehydrated Food

If you are going to be backpacking for a number of days, are conscious about weight and have the money to spend on food, dehydrated meals in a bag could be a good choice. They cook up simply by adding hot water and can usually be eaten right out of their own bag. Because it’s dehydrated, the weight is low. And because it doesn’t need another container to prepare or serve, you don’t need numerous pots and pans to have a good, hot meal. And there’s another bonus with these meals; aside from a stove and a pot that can hold a few cups of water, you don’t need anything but a spoon to prepare and eat.

If you’ve never used these dehydrated meals before, be sure to cut the bag diagonally from the top of one corner down to the other side leaving one edge longer than the other. The long side ends up being a great handle to use while mixing and eating.

Something to be conscious of in these meals however is the sodium content. Typically the meals contain a comparably large amount of sodium (1000mg or sometimes more). This means you should be consuming a good amount of water with the meals (being active outdoors you really should anyway) to carry the sodium. It’s important to replace your body’s sodium when you’re outdoors because you tend to sweat out a lot of the salt and minerals your body needs to function. Without ingesting this extra salt in your food or through sodium tablets, you run a much higher risk of developing serious muscle cramps and other problems. A couple friends and I ran into some trouble with this a few years back on Mt. Chocorua in NH. I attribute a lot of the trouble we had with lack of water and depleted sodium levels in our bodies.

A downside to dehydrated meals is the cost. A typical two serving bag (really just an appetizer for me, who are they kidding!) can cost $7 or $ easily. If you know what you’re looking for, www.campmore.com is usually more reasonable than EMS or REI.

Bottom line... these meals are tasty, easy to prepare and serve, really give you what you need on a hike and don’t produce much carry out waste at all. There are a number of different flavors to choose from and quite a few manufacturers. The meals are a little pricey and typically contain a good amount of sodium, so buy and consume with that in mind.

Meats

I know there are a good number of vegetarians who love the outdoors, and won’t be missing anything having to do with a campfire grilled steak. I mean them no disrespect, but when I’m out on a weekend in the woods with my good friends, a nice chunk of red animal flesh is an integral part of the experience. It sort of gives me a primal feeling out in the wilderness that kind of feels good (*laughs*... I know it’s a little silly, but that’s me!).

It’s tough to keep meat outdoors for days without refrigeration, so it makes sense to have your big meat feast either on shorter weekend warrior trips, or on your first night out on the trail. Icepacks in small fabric coolers will work pretty well for a short time; an icepack in a Tupperware container would do the trick too.

My favorite way to cook meat on a fire grilled. Oohggggg!!! MEAT ON FIRE TASTE GOOD!!!! (*in my caveman voice*)

To grill it up right, there are folding grills that allow you to trap the meat in the middle of two hinged grill sections with a handle on the end. These grills let you flip your meat, chicken or fish really easily to baste and really function pretty well overall. I could only find this particular type of grill on-line at www.campmor.com.

My only concern with the grill is the type of metal used. Some of the metal on the grill turned red hot from the fire sooner than I would have liked. A little care to the type, and size of the fire, can probably prevent this problem though.

That brings us to fires. The log cabin fire is probably the easiest cooking fire. It creates the largest useable level surface for pots, pans or grills. This first picture shows how to start laying a log cabin style campfire. Start placing small dry tinder and kindling perpendicularly with the larger pieces of wood on the outside of the wood, then take that general idea and carry it up in size. Wait until your flames die down, and can see glowing coals in the middle. Then you can set your grill, fry pan etc. flat on the top logs and start cooking. A general rule of safety... please don’t build fires a whole lot bigger than you need, always check with the ranger station or local police department to see if campfires are allowed in your area that season, and make sure you keep water on hand to use putting out the fire if it gets out of control.

Foil Meals

Double thick tin foil is almost a must in the camping kitchen, if for nothing else, the shear convenience of foil meals! For each meal you’ll need 1 piece of heavy-duty tin foil large enough to wrap twice tightly around your meat, and yes...finally to the veggies.

Veggies of your choice ~ Use whatever you like. I like red potato cut into quarters, carrots cut into ¼ inch disks, a couple of slices of onion, you can go on from there as you like. Keep in mind that the larger the veggie sections, the longer they’ll take to cook in the foil though.

Meat of your choice ~ Again, use what you like or have at home. It’s easier to use boneless meat strips to cut down on cooking time and bone related difficulty, cut into chunks or slices. Again, with meat too, the larger the sections in the meal, the longer they take to cook.

Season to taste ~ This includes adding butter, salt (celery salt, garlic salt, sea salt...), curry, cumin, cloves, etc. Hey, if it’s in your kitchen and you’ve never tried it before, give it a whirl.

Wrap

[bullets][li]Keeping the food in the middle of the foil, take the left side and the right side and lift them together above the food and gently roll both sides down together until you reach the top of the food.[/li][li]You should have what looks like a foil tube with food in the middle[/li][li]Take one of the ends of the tube and flatten it[/li][li]Roll that edge toward the center tightly but gently[/li][li]Water should not be able to leak from this end[/li][li]With one end still open, add about two tablespoons of water to keep the contents moist and to aid in cooking (to keep food from spoiling in heat, you can add ice cubes instead)[/li][li]Then roll the foil closed from the last open end[/li][li]Your food should be kept clean inside your pack until dinner time[/li][/bullets]

Cook

Either cook directly on the grill or right in the coals of your fire. Make sure you have tongs or a couple sticks to turn your package every 5-10 minutes. Your meal should be done and ready to eat in somewhere around 20-25 minutes depending on how hot your fire/coals are and how thickly you cut the meat and veggies. Check the veggies with a fork to see if they’re done.

Vegetarians can choose to put together complete vegetable meals, amazingly spiced and seasoned, or throw the same veggies (cut appropriately) in to the folding grill to grill up too.

Corn on the cob is one food that deserves a special note here. Corn on the cob can be cooked beautifully right in the coals of a fire sitting in it’s own husk. Just peel back the top of the husk (careful not to remove it from the cob), take out the silk, fold the husk back up and throw in the coals. If it’s good corn you won’t need butter or salt at all. In five minutes or so, just take the ear out, peel back the husk, and enjoy.

After writing this article I’m really looking forward to the first warm weather campfire dinner. It’s been a long winter and I really need to get some sun on my skin and some campfire food in my stomach.

Good luck and enjoy!