Outdoor camping cooking tips or ideas? anyone?

[Andrushka]

Guess I'm mean. I do outdoor training for the local Girl Scout council and teach what I was taught: if they are old enough to camp, they are old enough to cook. So even first graders make their own food. Leaders supervise, and may need to help with knives, but not always.

Scout camping is very different from family camping. I've seen the same 6 year olds who fixed me pancakes and hamburgers not be allowed to help on a family trip. Even at a young age they can do a lot if you let them. But you have to let them. And to make mistakes. I went with a group of 4th graders where we are PB&J for five meals because they decided in planning it was easier. Then they decided it was boring and not fun. We had a better menu the next time.

Hopefully your pack leaders don't make the kids wait too long to learn for themselves.

Not to sound sexist but..these are men I'm dealing with. And I'd rather do the learning for themselves in smaller groups,not a large group.Because frankly I can't be everywhere lol Especially since we have a few special needs kids involved also,one of which is mine.I will have my hands full.

 

[madm]

Not to sound sexist but..these are men I'm dealing with. And I'd rather do the learning for themselves in smaller groups,not a large group.Because frankly I can't be everywhere lol Especially since we have a few special needs kids involved also,one of which is mine.I will have my hands full.

Your statement certainly sounds sexist! My husband and many other men are fabulous cooks AND were boy scouts. You just need to recruit more male role models who can cook and maybe give the boys a demonstration, be it in a kitchen or in the outdoors. If you don't have any dad cooks, try getting a local male chef to be a guest presenter at one of your troop meetings. Or get a local camping store to join you for a backyard fire pit demonstration of how to cook over fire, and to show the kids how to safely use a camping stove. You might also be able to get a nutritionist to give a presentation on meal planning for camping trips. Since it is now a requirement to earn the cooking merit badge to become an Eagle Scout, your dads need to get with the program and learn to cook. Maybe you could set a goal for the kids to plan and cook one meal with parental supervision at home, before they can go on a camping trip where they'll have to help prepare a group meal.

Honestly the ages you are dealing with should be quite capable in the kitchen. When I watch the Chopped Junior championship on TV, I am in awe of the talented 11-year-olds that are competing and winning. They obviously started cooking when they were very young.

It sounds like you need some help on your trips, since you can't do it all by yourself, so I hope more moms and dads with cooking smarts will join you. Boy scouts should be teaching kids life skills, and parents need to participate.

 

[Moto Guzzi]

When I was a Girl Scout and we went camping over a weekend, each patrol had to plan a menu and calculate the cost and then cook everything. Each patrol usually planned the same thing: scrambled eggs, oatmeal, bacon, campfire stew (hamburger, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots), hot dogs, hamburgers, s'mores. One time my patrol decided to be different for one meal and cooked a pizza (some of you may remember those boxes of pizza where you mixed your own dough and added canned tomato sauce and cheese) and a pineapple upside-down cake, both made in a skillet. They probably tasted like crap but we thought they were delicious and we were pleased with ourselves for doing something different.

 

[MacMadame]

I have a mini-skillet thing that you put in the fire and it bakes something. I've made muffins in it on camping trips before. And corn bread. It's a bit iffy but fun. I think the dutch oven works better for a group but I go on camping trips without a lot of big group cooking.

I definitely think you should get the boys to help out. Just little things like mixing ingredients can be a big help. They can make hot dogs on sticks if they can do s'mores and I bet they can all do s'mores!

 

[Andrushka]

Your statement certainly sounds sexist! My husband and many other men are fabulous cooks AND were boy scouts. You just need to recruit more male role models who can cook and maybe give the boys a demonstration, be it in a kitchen or in the outdoors. If you don't have any dad cooks, try getting a local male chef to be a guest presenter at one of your troop meetings. Or get a local camping store to join you for a backyard fire pit demonstration of how to cook over fire, and to show the kids how to safely use a camping stove. You might also be able to get a nutritionist to give a presentation on meal planning for camping trips. Since it is now a requirement to earn the cooking merit badge to become an Eagle Scout, your dads need to get with the program and learn to cook. Maybe you could set a goal for the kids to plan and cook one meal with parental supervision at home, before they can go on a camping trip where they'll have to help prepare a group meal.

Honestly the ages you are dealing with should be quite capable in the kitchen. When I watch the Chopped Junior championship on TV, I am in awe of the talented 11-year-olds that are competing and winning. They obviously started cooking when they were very young.

It sounds like you need some help on your trips, since you can't do it all by yourself, so I hope more moms and dads with cooking smarts will join you. Boy scouts should be teaching kids life skills, and parents need to participate.

I live in rural TN,there are guys that can cook but not to that extent such as male chefs and such.I can handle teaching them about nutrition,I've taken it in college.

I certainly didn't mean to sound sexist,there are some fantastic men that can cook,unfortunately they are in the minority.

 

[madm]

I live in rural TN,there are guys that can cook but not to that extent such as male chefs and such.

In rural TN I would think the guys would be into hunting, fishing and BBQ. Cooking meat and fresh-caught fish may be their thing. One other suggestion is to make skillet meals, especially if you have a Coleman two-burner propane stove. You can find many cookbooks on that topic. And if the kids get into backpacking at all, they can make freeze-dried meals (e.g. Mountain House) over a camping stove.

 

[Prancer]

there are some fantastic men that can cook,unfortunately they are in the minority.

Well, yeah. And that won't change until they start learning how to cook.

 

[Johnny_Fever]

............I certainly didn't mean to sound sexist, there are some fantastic men that can cook, unfortunately they are in the minority.

What's to know? You stick it in the microwave and push the button.

 

[madm]

Cook's Country is coming out with a new cookbook titled "Cook It In Cast Iron" in Feb. You can pre-order it for $15 from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Cook-It-Cast-Iron-Kitchen-Tested/dp/1940352487

 

[Cachoo]

If you have S'mores for the kids bring wetwipes.

 

[Japanfan]

I find cooking over fire to be really tricky and have never really mastered it, even though we are campers and have a lot of campfires. We've done potatoes right in the fire, but not timed them precisely right, and they've been burnt.

Once or twice I've made a soup/stew type dish in a dutch oven on a grate over a fire, and that was fairly easy.

BBQ is our default since it makes so little mess and we have an RV and can bring our meats with us. We usually have one BBQ meal a day and other that, just snack on cheese and crackers and the like. Some girl scout I'd make.

 

[Andrushka]

In rural TN I would think the guys would be into hunting, fishing and BBQ. Cooking meat and fresh-caught fish may be their thing. One other suggestion is to make skillet meals, especially if you have a Coleman two-burner propane stove. You can find many cookbooks on that topic. And if the kids get into backpacking at all, they can make freeze-dried meals (e.g. Mountain House) over a camping stove.

They are very into hunting(wish somebody would take my boys along,their dad doesn't hunt,fish or...etc...) Some do bbq,some leave it to their wives. Luckily as of the last scout meeting,the men have put their heads together and have a plan.I'm largely off the hook except for my own gluten free food.