I constantly get requests for what to cook while on a camping trip and in particularly "easy camping recipes". I try to answer this question as best that I can but I'm not sure that I'm really the best person to talk to about "easy" camping recipes becuase I truly enjoy cooking particularly while camping so I don't worry about how easy or hard a recipe is.
To me it truly is a pleasure to cook over an open fire whether it be would or charcoal.
I can understand why I am asked this question which is why I will do my best to help you all out.
To me there are probably two kinds of really easy camping recipes:
1. Those that include burgers & dogs on a grill with some sort of potato and a veggie.
2. One pot meals that can be cooked in a dutch oven.
Since I'm pretty sure most of you know how to taken a frozen burger, put it on the grill and flip it until its done I'm not going to spend much time talking about that.
What I really want to talk about is dutch oven cooking recipes…why? Because dutch oven cooking is easy, simple, has just about no cleanup and are truly tasty.
Good Dutch ovens are not cheap, 12 to 18 inch cast iron dutch ovens can run you from about $60 to close to $200 but they are worth their weight in gold! If properly cared for and if you are careful with your cooking times the cleanup is miniscule. Clean it out with a little warm water and a piece of steel wool and occasionally season it with some good oil and it will last you multiple generations.
Alot of people think that easy camping recipes for dutch ovens include only chili and beef stew sort of recipes…I am here to tell you that you are really limiting yourself!
Catfish Alay, Lobster Bisque, Chicken & Dumplings, Mountain Man Breakfast, Pot Roast, Roasted Duck, Brisket, meatloaf, Lemon Pepper Sea Bass and so many others I can't even tell you! If you can cook it in a frying pan or an oven you can cook it in a dutch oven!
If you buy only one new piece of camping equipment this year do yourself a favor and make it a dutch oven!
There are a couple of really good books out there that will teach you how to cook in, care for and cleanup your dutch oven…grab one of them and read through it. You will also find hundreds of recipes in them that you will be really surprised at.
One pot meals in a dutch oven are in my opinion the most delicious easy camping recipes you will ever treat yourself and you camping compatriots to!
One last tip for you: when you buy a dutch oven I STRONGLY recommend paying a little bit more and buying one that is made of cast iron. The aluminum ones are cheaper but in my experience they don't cook as evenly and are not quite as easy to cleanup as the cast iron.
Till Next Time…
Eric
Tags: Camping, dutch oven, dutch oven cooking
