Camping Cuisine? What how why and when and what to use Please? We have 2 little gas cookers.

[Scattybird]

Can you tell I am new?

i'm not much of an expert but here's a GREAT recipe i was given before first camping holiday in my role as a matriarch:

1 tin meatballs, 1 tin green peas, 1 tin baked beans, 1 tin boiled potatoes. Multiply as necessary (i think that will do 2 adults/1 child. Heat and slop out. IT'S DELICIOUS.

We tend to do a mix of...

Barbecues (the disposable ones, but always take a spare because you sometimes get a duff one).
Simple stuff you can cook in one pan -- pasta with stir-in sauce, baked beans, etc.
Eating in the local pub!.

The most important things not to run out of, though, are tea, biscuits and alcohol

Do do a search here on MN there are loads of ideas/threads in this camping section.

We don't really 'do' camping lite! Therefore we have a 2 ring camp stove with grill (rubbish grill) and we do pasta with various sauces, usually a pan of pasta, a pan of veggie based sauce (pasatta and whatever else I find) and a frying pan of sausages or packet of hotdogs for dh and kids (I am veggie, they are not!)

Couscous is a good one, boiling water in a bowl, leave whilst cooking a pan of something!

However we even take dh's stovetop coffee pot for proper coffee inteh am!

easy tuna pasta.

boil pasta in pan.

drain water out and toss with: tin of tuna, tin of sliced black olives, tin of tinned tom, couple of teaspoons of lazy garlic, cracked black pepper, squeeze of lemon and some parm cheese.

those fried onions in a tin are fab, too.

try out some of those Tilda rice packets and toss in tinned beans or tuna and seasonings. bulk out with tinned peas, corn, tomatoes, etc.

easy soup:
instant mashed potatoes
2 cans of chicken broth
1/2 cup jarred salsa
tin of corn
tin of black beans
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 small chopped onion

Saute the onion in some oil. Add everything else in. Simmer.

Taste for doneness.

Eat with rolls tortillas.

Matteson's sausages can be added to any of those rice packets or couscous.

So how do I do a roast?

I AM only joking. I am thinking about taking some minced beef in a tin a la Delia and making shepherds pie. My kids will not eat anything with sauce so the pasta ideas are out but pasta is good. I can grate some cheese and put some tuna by the side of it. They will not eat tuna or cheese any other way.

I am camping for a week and we can't afford to go out every night. BUT, if I make a stew and freeze, we can have it first night or the one after, then a burgery meal the next night then pasta after that, then the cheats shepherds pie and then sod it they can have frozen rubbish.

Any more ideas most welcome

i'm telling ya, Tilda rice packet and Matteson's sausages.

bulk it out with tinned tom, veg, and season it.

check out dried stuff, too - sun dried tom, aubergines and mushrooms the stuff of delicious camping nosh.

back when the ex and i were big into backwoods, backpack camping, he and a pal invested in a food dehydrator together and man, did they dine in style!

They don't eat rice, but we do, so that sounds yum!

Stir fry some veggies and chili, with honey, soy sauce, ginger and chinese five spice, boil up some noodles on the other stove.
Yum
And the ingredients don't need refridgeration.

Don't be intimidated by the fact you are cooking outdoors. It's just the same as at home. Why don't you practise doing some meals without using the oven for a week. You won't feel so intimidated.

Keep your veggies/salad in a cool box if it's warm out.

Buy quick cook pasta to save on gas.

Oh, Omelettes and salad are great too.

And get a takeaway one night.

By broth do you mean soup?

Oh, yes, those straight to walk noodles are fab.

for breakfast, i like those sachets of porridge you just add boiling water to.

i get the plain ones and stir in dried fruits, brown sugar or a swirl of maple syrup and some cinammon.

camp food is greatly enhanced by bringing along spices and seasonings.

yeah, just clear chicken soup in a tin OR you can use the cubes and add boiling water to make up about 750ml, add more if the soup is too thick for your preference.

We do omelettes (with tinned allsorts), super noodles, and Meg is right - in my experience you can bbq virtually anything!!!eg jacket potatoes, corn cobs, sausages, bacon, burgers etc etc

Mt kids are way less picky when we are camping (fresh air must make them starving)

Another good one is to get 2 of those tripod bread holder things that fit on top of the cooker rings to make toast - really quick and easy snack.

Have a look next time you go to the supermarket and you'll see loads of things that can go straight in a pan - complete meals in sachets and if you want to cook veg - buy ready chopped, washed, mixed in bags that you can simply boil.

Good luck. cooking outdoors is one of my favorite bits

sorry but straight to wok noodles make me feel ill. what is the slimy stuff?

i dunno, but when i'm starving i don't care, dragon .!

oh, i like rice noodles, too. they're fab because you just need to cover them with boiling water for them cook, like couscous.

Would this be a bad time to say that I have never eaten noodles. I know DH orders them with his chinese takaway, but I don't even know what they taste like. Actually we have Batchelors ones up in the cupboard which he likes, but I have never done it. Are they squishy like pasta?

Mindingmum, but I can't actually keep them for a week I doubt. We were trying to live for a week but I doubt it sincerely. Fruit is a must so I can see us in the local morrisons/waitrose/tesco/asda several times that week.

try out different types of noodles.

they're delicious and easy

Stupid question - are they healthy because after reading the ingredients on the back of DH's blue batchelors, they sound crap. Do they fill you up as well?

I think I'd avoid the Bachelor's ones.

Good on you for reading the ingredients!

Many packaged ones tend to have a lot of things like MSG and trans fats (usually comes up as partially hydrogenated vegetable/palm/coconun oil on the label) and artificial flavourings.

But many just plain ones don't. I buy rice noodles in Asian food shops, but it's entirely possible larger supermarkets have them in the Ethnic Food aisles.

Give them a try first to see if you and the kids like them.

Full of crap but you can't have it all ways

Every time i go camping we need daily visits to the supermarket (you can take lots of ice packs and keep food fresh for up to 24 hours) in those travel coolbags (many of the campsites we go to will refreeze them for you during your stay