good things to cook? or not cook.

[redrobin]

Camping novice here, going away to north west coast of scotland this weekend and it's just occurred to me that my kitchen facilities might be somewhat limited! ie we have a one ring stove. Am trying to persuade DH (hardened camper in his batchelor days, not sure he's realised how different it might be with DCs!)to buy a two ring thingy.

Any tips on what to bring? i am quite nifty in the kitchen at home, but really don;t want to spend my time slaving over hot campfire on my hols. Also imagine that there wont be many handy shops so think I'll have to take a fair whack of stuff with me. am panicking...DD1 (age 3) hardly eats anything anyway, so am suddenly at a loss, apart from beans and bbq. any advice extremely gratefully recieved!

Disposable BBQs are great - you can even heat your washing up water on them after.
Two rings better than one obv.

Pub?

There's nothing like bacon, sausage and beans with a bit of grass in.

oh God Port...your post has brought back deeply buried memories of camping with my parents...its flooding back!

oh and i just checked....nearest pub is about 15 miles over hairpin road. i definitely won't be forgetting the wine!

Yes - booze is essential!

fish and chips from the takeaway
soup?
pasta or noodles with stuff in it e.g. grated cheese, sliced salami, ham, pesto?
scrambled egg on, erm, bread
pot noodles
disposable bbqs are currently £1 in lidl

We just come back from camping in Cornwall and couldn't have beeb without our 2 ring cooker with a grill underneath to do toast - was fab! But agree bbq's are a winner and smell soooooo good. We also cooked jacket potatoes on bbq, wrapped in foil for about an hour & tasted delish!

french toast is a good thing when camping too imo
also hard boiled eggs
you can do fish fingers on the bbq
smash for the desperate (I was never that desperate)

omGOD my mum used to do smash, and also packets of dried onion soup. no, i am NOT going to stoop that low (altho secretly quite like smash). good suggestions, am loving the one pot thing in terms of washing up!

For some reason we always potato croquets when camping. Never have them any other time.

oh no, now I fancy a potato corquet too.

HI - I found stir fry was good - lots of chopped veg, a jar of sauce and throw in the noodles at the end - only one pan needed.

Agree with Cezzy, stir fry great - sharwoods do packs of noodles that you can chuck in without soaking

Risotto works well, another one pan wonder and there are so many variations on the theme...

We do Keema Pilau (cook onion and minced beef in pan with curry paste of your choice til thoroughly browned, chuck in stock/water and rice. Put lid on, leave for 20 mins or til rice done, don't let it boil dry.

Corned Beef Hash another great one pot dish

Unfortunately, my kids don't like risotto or noodles... I'm thinking they're going to have to learn to like them!

Egg and bacon, egg and beans or porridge for breakfast (get the individual sachets)

I make a spag bol (and freeze) to have on the first day. Just heat and cook the pasta - (you need a chilly bin too)

Sallystrawberry recommends M&S tinned curry. I've not tried it but have used tinned Thai curry (Blue Dragon is the brand I think). Just heat and cook the rice.

Pesto pasta

Sandwiches for lunch - and yes, fish and chips is an essential part of any British holiday!

Def prepare and freeze at least one meal to take with you. spag bol or curry are good!

It can then defrost on the journey up and ready to heat up when you arrive

one-ring ideas:

RATATOUILLE:
(lots of garlic and red wine too if you can spare any) +/- chopped up smoked sausage (e.g. mattesons) served with crusty bread.

SPAG BOL / CHILLI:
I also used to make bolognase - cook the pasta first then put in to a bowl with tin foil over the top and olive oil stirred through so it didn't clump. Then cook the sauce in the same pot and add the pasta at the end to heat it all up.

OMLETTE

Oh and the good old cook pasta, drain and then add bottled sauce (e.g. lloyd grossman) and heat and mix in. Bung lots of grated cheese on top.

Salads with cold meat and baked / boiled potato

Hot dogs with frizzled onions and cheese

Fry ups

Tuna n pasta sauces.
Spag bol cooked then frozen-will defrost on your way up-esp if you've got a cool box with loads of ice packs-you could even do 2/3 for the 1st few nights-when we're doing long w/e's this is what we do, the rest of the frozen stuff keep everything else cold & virtually frozen-best thing with a cool box is to pack as much in it as you can-it works best (like your freezer at home) when fuller.
Re the 1 burner cooker take a look at the following: offers/2867_6230.htm For £30 if it lasts you 1 yr camping trips you've had your monies worth-and TBH I've NEVER found Aldi gear to be of poor quality-still using cycling stuff from 3/4 yrs ago!! (Their gear is compared to the most expensive stuff for quality & value for money as as good, if not better!!) (IYKWIM!!) Personally for £30 I'd just go & buy it, let him moan for a bit, but he'll come round-and then you can do gourmet meals-with having THREE burners !!

hi, another pasta one pot is pasta/brocoli/blue cheese...cook pasta and chopped up brocoli stalk till nearly done, then chuck in florets cut smallish...for some reason this tastes better with brocoli softish...then drain and chuck in chopped up blue cheese...softer ones like gorgonzola melt faster....mix it up put lid on let all melt for couple of mins.....for some reason my non pasta eating ds will try stuff when camping that otherwise wouldn't touch! also recommend sausage picnic- fry saus, cut in half (if do this whilst they've been on a bit cook faster too) put in tub, slices of bread and butter in other tub= sausage picnic !....also recommend ready cooked rice packets- look like they are just for microwave but can do in pan .only takes couple mins to warm up..

you will always need pudding - being in the open air uses many more calores than being indoors.

Mr Kipling pies with custard (or not) - you can heta them by standing them in their foil cases over the dying bbq

ready-made pancakes: if you are ambitious make kebabs of marshmallows and strawberries and bbq, then wrap pancake round and whip out skewer. Or just heat on grid over dying bbq and spread with nutella.

Also cooked breakfasts.

Flour tortillas are essential - don't take up much space & are infinitely useful: warmed with sliced cheese & spring onion = quesadillas, fill with stir-fried veg + fajita spices mix, spread with nutella &/or peanut butter for fab desert or snack.

Cous-cous can be cooked off ring - boil water, add to cous-cous in bowl, cover & wait ~5 min. Ready-flavoured ones taste good outdoors.

Swiss-style muesli: mix together at home - rolled oats, dried fruit/nuts of your choice & powdered milk. Put required amount in a fully-sealing box, add water to cover + bit more before bed; muesli is ready to be eaten cold next morning or can be heated for fruity porridge on chilly days.

Instant custard, semolina, soups, cappucinos, hot chocolate are all useful.

oh this is ACE! i am going to eat better camping than i do at home!

Mrs B - LOVING the pudding ideas...and the outdoors = more calories equation!

i am so going to impress DH when i rustle some of these menus up...haha, he'll think i am camping goddess