Camping and Great Food Go Together like Peas and Carrots!

After years of camping in the great Northwest, we have found several recipes and food stuffs that are a must for or outings and I thought I’d share then with you – who knows, one of them may become one of your favorites as well.

We always take a large cooler and fill it according to the crowd size. If friends arrive, they have also done the same – the more variation in food, the merrier.

Usually, we have hot dogs, and mild to spicy sausages that we roast over the campfire. This is a lot easier than traveling after work and having to create a large meal.

We serve breakfast every morning – seems like those young’uns are always super hungry after their night of hibernation. We usually serve eggs, sausage, bacon (we make plenty for hamburgers later in the day), and potatoes. One of our favorites was made by a friends who combined tater tots, cheese, crumbled bacon, and green onions in a casserole dish and baked it. We don’t know why it tasted so good other than it was not a breakfast we had to make, or the flavors melded just perfectly. The best cheese is a Mexican blend of cheese readily available at the store. For an extra kick, use peppered bacon and pepper jack cheese.

Lunches vary widely. Everyone’s favorite is what has became known as the “River Burger”. We usually warmed up the bacon on the flat top. Using the bacon grease, we sautée mushrooms and onions (kind of like what you’d get at the county fair). We then fry the patties on the flat top and, after turning them over, put slice(s) of cheese on them and let it melt. The burgers are messy, but excellent after piling all this on a bun.

Dinner – more recipes here than I can list. Our Labor Day meal is always prime rib done on the BBQ and slow cooked over charcoal and apple wood, until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. We then take it off the BBQ and tent it with foil for ½ hour.

Another favorite is a shrimp boil with pearl onions, small red potatoes, and pieces of fresh corn still on the ear. This is very easy to cook. Fill a large stock pot about half full with water and use an Old Bay Seasoning pack (or more if you like spicy food), and cayenne pepper and just dump it into the water. Start cooking the potatoes first. When they are about half done, throw in the ears of corn, then the pearl onions. When almost done add your shrimp and cook until the shrimp are pink.

We have a lot of fun coating the top of a table with newspaper and pouring the whole works out on the table in a big mound. That way everyone sits around a table and helps themselves. The corn on the cob is great and the spices seem to settle in around each kernel of corn.

These are some of our favorites when camping. Try them and they may become some of your favorites, too. Nevertheless, there are so many choices, and so little time. If you try them, please send a comment to campingsupplyoutlet.net and let us know.