Camping Cooking Tips

Cooking over an open campfire, or on a cookstove can be lots of fun. Use our handy camping cooking tips on your next camping trip and save yourself both time and frustration. We also have some tips for cooking with a Dutch Oven.

Preparing soups, stews or chili ahead of time will help you to save time and effort while camping. Freeze them at home and reheat them for a quick and easy dinner.

Cut up vegetables such as onions and peppers before leaving home. You can pack them in zip lock bags and save time at the campsite.

Freeze any meat you plan to take along. It will help keep other cooler items cold. This also works well with water or juice. Fill milk jugs or 2 liter bottles and freeze. They keep the cooler cold and you have cold beverages to drink.

Use block ice in your cooler rather than cubed ice, it will last longer.

To help with cleanup, put a pan of water on the fire while you eat. It will be nice and hot by the time you're done.

Be sure to bring along heavy duty aluminum foil. It doesn't take up much space and works great for easy cooking and clean-up. Remember to add a few ice cubes to aluminum foil dinners. This prevents them from burning and keeps them moist.

Don't forget to cover your food while it's cooking. It will get done quicker and saves on fuel.

Snack foods such as trail mix, granola bars and dried fruit help to keep your energy up in between meals.

Squeezable margarine makes a great alternative to stick or tub brands; it's much easier and cleaner. Also if it gets cold just place the squeeze bottle in a pot of warm water for a few minutes.

Rather than worrying about squishing the bread, take along pita bread pockets. They are easy to fill and stay in better shape.

Coals, either charcoal or wood, provide steady, even heat for cooking without a lot of smoke to deal with while standing around the fire.

If you plan on barbecuing chicken, grill the chicken without the sauce first. When the chicken is halfway cooked, brush on the BBQ sauce. This prevents the sauce from burning onto the chicken.

For breakfast the last day, use leftover meats and vegetables to make omelets. Then you don't have to haul leftover food home with you.

When it's time to clean up make doing the dishes easy by adding just a little dish soap and water to cover the bottom of a pan and bring to a boil. A crumpled up ball of tin foil also makes a great scouring pad.

Plastic totes make great camping boxes. They keep all of your equipment together and are lightweight and water proof.