Trying to figure out what to make for the upcoming cookout? The first rule of backcountry cooking: Everything tastes great after cranking out a big-mile day in the wilderness. The second rule of backcountry cooking: Don't settle for blah food just because of rule number 1. If you enjoy eating, there's nothing better than preparing a delicious meal in a mouth-watering setting. But going gourmet requires more planning and pack weight than prepackaged meals, right? Yes, it does, especially if you favor fat steaks and fresh veggies. But there is a middle ground: Just a few extra minutes and ounces can turn your simple noodle dishes into four-star feasts. The web sites below have lots of ideas, and there are also fourteen recipes below.
USS Scouts Cooking -- Lots of stuff here from the US Scouts Service Project including recipes, equipment, and menu development.
Geezer Cookbook -- A really big collection of mostly car-camping recipes. Lots of ideas here!
Troop 122 Cookbook -- This Troop has put together a very extensive online cookbook especially tailored for Scout camping. Gotta be something here you like. Organized into separate sections for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dutch oven cooking and lots of other ideas and resources.
Hiker Central -- This resource has lots of links to pages about stoves, equipment and also recipes.
REI-Backpacker Magazine Camp Cook-off
Smoky Mountain Paella
John Combs, Louisville, Kentucky
In camp -- In a 2 quart pot, bring 2 cups of water and oil to a boil. Add rice mix, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients including juices from the oysters and shrimp, simmer approximately 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook a few minutes longer if rice needs it. Add remaining water a little at a time if sauce becomes too thick. Be careful not to overcook the rice to where it becomes pasty.
Eggs in the bag
Troop 20
Classic Recipe
This one is good because their isn't much cleanup and you can modify to your taste. Everybody uses the same boiling pot of water to cook their eggs.
In Camp:
REI-Backpacker Magazine Camp Cook-off
Pretzel GORP
First Place Gorp Contest
Derek Sullivan, Seattle, WA
Combine 1/2 cup each in zipper-lock bag:
Chicken hot-shots
Potatoes: Add dried milk and butter to the mashed potato flakes at home per the instructions on the pack, so you can just add water at camp. Add the boiling water needed to make up the potatoes in a pot. In a second pot, make up the gravy mix per the packet instructions. Add the chicken and juices and heat through. Serve the potatoes over the pita, and top with chicken & gravy
REI-Backpacker Magazine Camp Cook-off
Angry Red Lentil Tortilla Soup
First Place Entree and Overall
Chris Gilliam, Greenwood Village, CO
In camp -- Heat oil in a saucepan. Saute onion, carrot, garlic, and pepper until caramelized. Add lentils and cook for about a minute. Add water, cover, and simmer (stirring occasionally) for about 15 minutes until lentils are soft. Mash the lentils with a fork. Add salt and pepper. Rip tortillas and place them in the bottom of two bowls. Add soup, then garnish with chives, cheese, and lime. Serves two.
Hearty & Spicy "Baked" Ziti
At home -- Pack pasta in a zipper-lock bag. Pack olive oil in leakproof bottle.
In camp -- Cook pasta al dente. Drain, cover, and set aside. While you're waiting, mince jalapeno and garlic (to cut down on the heat, discard the pepper seeds). Cut sausage, tomato, and zucchini into ¼-inch cubes. In your largest pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook over medium/low heat until soft and fragrant (about 3 minutes). Add sausage, tomato, and zucchini and stir while cooking another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add veggies, meat, and cheese to the pasta. Mix well. Cover and let stand for 3 minutes. Serves 2.
Chicken Curry Rice Salad
Salad:
Dressing:
At home -- Dressing: In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients and carry in a small leakproof container.
In camp -- Cook rice per instructions. Meanwhile, dice the now-defrosted meat. Finely chop the carrot, celery, and apple. Let the rice cool for about 10 minutes, then mix together all the remaining ingredients, including dressing. Serves 2.
REI-Backpacker Magazine Camp Cook-off
High Country Beef Curry
Second Place Entree
Derek Sullivan, Seattle, WA
In camp -- Place all ingredients, except pasta, into a pot and bring to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. In another pot, cook pasta, following package directions. Drain pasta and add to curry pot. Return pot to stove, reduce heat, and stir until well mixed and bubbling (if it seems too dry, add water). Cover and let stand 5 to 7 minutes to thicken. Serves two or three.
Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya
In camp -- Cook the chicken in the olive oil for 15 minutes, turning once or twice. Add the sausage, and cook for another 15 minutes. Remove the meats from the dutch oven or pot. Discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the drippings. Add the onion, garlic, green onions and green pepper. Sauté, stirring for about 5 minutes. Return the chicken and sausage to the pot. Add the chicken broth, tomato sauce, and spices. Bring to a full boil. Add the rice. Cook for 20 minutes or until rice is done. Serves 6.
Chicken Quesadillas
In camp -- Dice onion, packing out the outer skin and end pieces. Thinly slice up cheese. Drain the chicken well away from camp. Assemble quesadillas by sprinkling chicken, onion, and cheese on half of the tortilla. Fold the tortilla over omelet style and lightly brown in oil.
Chicken Stroganoff
In camp -- Bring water to a boil; add onion soup mix and stir until dissolved. Add noodles with the soup and cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain water well away from camp, keeping as much of the onion as possible. Add sour cream, mushrooms, and chicken. Season to taste.
Chicken Tetrazini
In camp -- Mix water and soup mix until smooth. Add chicken and noodles. (Don’t use the sauce mix from the Ramen package. You can leave that at home.) Cook 2 minutes and serve. (Makes 3 servings)
Breakfast Burritos
In camp -- Warm precooked bacon & set aside (near the campfire). In a bowl or pot scramble eggs, powdered milk, & little water & pour into frying pan. Add cheese (broken in small pieces), spices & tomatoes & fry until done. While eggs are frying, toast tortillas over campfire or in fry pan. Put eggs & bacon in tortillas & smother with hot sauce. (3 servings)
Lake Conway Chicken
As Scoutmaster of Troop 283 in Orlando, Florida, Steve Diedrich is always searching for easy-to-make dinners that'll satifsy 30 or so boys while backpacking through Ocala National Forest and the Smokey Mountains. Several years of trial and error yielded this recipe, which gets the troop's thumbs-up (offered here in an easier-to-manage version that serves 3, instead of 30).
At Home: Combine the first six ingredients in a zipper-lock bag.
In Camp: Stir the bagged ingredients into the water and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken and soup mix, and simmer for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.
Orange Delight
Remember the sweet, satisfying taste of a Creamsicle? Mike Davis of Scituate, Massachusettes does and loves them so much he invented this refreshing and fairly healthy drinkable alternative. The bonus: no need to lick dripped ice cream off your hands afterward.
In Camp: Dump all the ingredients in a 16-ounce mug, add cold water, and stir.
Cashew-Ginger Chicken and Rice
At Home: Spread nuts on a cookie sheet and toast at 300F for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool, then store in a zipper-lock plastic bag. Combine corn, onion, rice, and mushrooms, plus soup mix seasoning packet, in a second zipper-lock plastic bag.
In Camp: Place bagged corn mixture and chicken in a pot and cover with water; mix well. Bring to a boil; simmer 5 minutes (adding more water as needed) or until done. Garnish with nuts.
Calories: 884
Carbohydrates: 128
Fat: 24.896
Protein: 33.863
Saturated Fat: 5.701
Other dinners: Look over the pre-packaged convience foods. Stove-top stuffing, pasta, rice & potato dishes all make great starting points. Doctor it up with some packaged/canned meat, real cheese, dried sauce, soup or gravy mix, and you can feed your food group for 1/2 to 1/3 the cost of freeze-dried foods.