How do you cook bacon when you are camping? We enjoy bacon when we are home. However, I think we enjoy bacon even more when we are camping.
Over the years, I have cooked bacon in a variety of ways when we are camping–in a skillet on the gas stove in our camper, in the microwave on a paper towel, and in a massive cast iron frying pan over a campfire. I think, perhaps, I like the flavorful results of outdoor campfire method the best, but overall I find cooking bacon to be a rather messy tedious form of campground cookery. There is always grease to deal with and a hot pan to maneuver.
Hence, a few years ago I started to experiment with cooking bacon at home before we left on a camping trip. I think I first started doing this when my husband and sons took their annual fishing/camping trip. I knew Christopher would be pressed for time each morning when they were tent camping, but I still wanted the kids to get a decent breakfast before they went fishing offshore for the day.
So, before the boys left home, I cooked up a batch of bacon, drained it, and stashed it in a Ziploc bag with some paper towels. The crispy cooked bacon was stored in the cooler and Christopher simply had to reheat the bacon in a skillet over the Coleman camp stove in the morning. This method proved to be so convenient that I started doing it for our family camping trips. I cook a batch or two of bacon in my home kitchen and then stash it in our camper fridge so we can easily enjoy it when we are traveling. I know there are convenient forms of precooked bacon, but my family really doesn’t enjoy those processed products…
I think my method simplifies the camping breakfast. And, thankfully, cleanup is kept to an absolute minimum!
Jeannine Emmett
I would like to read the other comments but it seems like the link is disabled…. Hmm. Personally, this is a bummer way to make bacon while camping. It just seems like the joy of making the bacon and the smell it brings is not really possible with this method.
Terry
George Foreman, no splatter no mess
Jennifer
Thanks for the tip! I too dislike the greasy mess bacon makes, but its a must on all of our camping trips. Will have to try the cooking at home method next year!
Jim Sweeney
I tried cooking it right over the coals two times before I developed enough wisdom that:
1. there needs to be a fire department within reach. (JK,R)
2. black bacon isn’t really that appetizing.
3. cooking it in a cast iron skillet over the coals is great…..makes everybody else in the park jealous if they aren’t cooking bacon too.
Gracie
I have used the bacon grease for mosquito bites since my kids were little. I read it somewhere and decided to try it and it works. I just place the grease in some type of container with a lid and store in the refig. (My Mom always just let the grease sit on the stove because she cooked with the grease.). If one of the kids got a mosquito bite, I just dabbed a small amount on the bite and it would stop the itching and the swelling. This also works for the modern day meat tenderizer. Bacon grease has the same compound in it that the meat tenderizer has from what I read and it is cheaper. Good luck and keep a good supply of bacon grease at the campsite and at home! Plus, you can always make a burger taste better by using bacon grease in the mixture!!!!.
Professor95
I have a steel bacon press. It looks like something you would iron clothes with. At camp I put the press on the fire before the bacon to get it hot. Then when I put the bacon in the pan I set the press on top. of the raw bacon on the griddle.
Bacon cooks FLAT (vs. curled or wavy) and does not need turning. Less splatter as well. The press is home made from a piece of 3/8″ thick steel plate about 6″ wide and 10″ long with a handle welded on top. I have two. You can also buy them. I got the idea while watching them cook bacon at Waffle House.
Randy
Ralph
I’ve been cooking up a couple of pounds of bacon for years. I only cook it part way and sandwich it between paper towels and seal it in a zip lock bag. Refrigerate. Lasts for several weeks and tastes much better than the ready cooked. I take it with me in my RV. Works great.
John G
Cook the bacon in the oven. On a cookie sheet put aluminum foil. Bacon goes on that at 400 degrees for 10 mins. or until desired crispiness.
Melissa A. Trainer
Butterbean Carpenter,
My youngsters always go camping with us! As for the quantity of bacon that I cook at home before a trip…well that depends on the length of the trip. Generally it is one or two packages. I love the idea of shaking up the eggs in a jar! I never would have thought of that! Thanks for the comments, folks.
Melissa
Gene S.
Outside on Coleman stove with grooved griddle. Cooks evenly, drains well. No mess to clean up inside (or smell to linger for days).
butterbean carpenter
Howdy Melissa,
Thank you, for the food column.. I ain’t ‘supposed’ to eat bacon and the Hormel pre-cooked is not
hardly greasy nohow, so, when DW can’t stand it any longer she gets some and I don’t feel so guilty..
How much do you cook up at one time for a ‘camping’ trip?? Do the youngsters always go along?
The frying ahead of time is a good idea, IF you can keep the kids out of the trailer!!!! Also, you can put the eggs in a jar and shake it up for scrambalated eggs to go along with the bacon.. I’m getting hongry..
Bless you and all good cooks, everywhere,
butterbean
campkook
I cook breakfast once per month at the local Salvation Army Homeless Shelter and we use the precooked bacon from Sam’s Club. It is a little more bland tasting than freshly cooked bacon, but it is quick, gets crispy and I like it and the people we feed really like it. But I don’t eat bacon every day….my cholesterol could not stand it.
Melissa A. Trainer
Jim,
Doesn’t the grease from the bacon overpower things a bit if you cook it right on the BBQ?
Genevieve, Thanks for the precooked bacon tip. We had tried some precooked bacon from Costco recently and my daughter didn’t like it. This morning, I bought the Oscar Mayer pre cooked bacon at Safeway. It was considerably more expensive per pound, but my eight year old son liked it on his egg sandwich afterall. The Oscar Mayer precooked bacon could indeed be quite convenient for some campers. However, my two teenagers alone can eat a LOT of bacon so I think I’ll have to stick with my Bacon To Go method otherwise I risk busting the budget on bacon alone! Thanks for commenting! Melissa
Jim Carnduff
I cook bacon right on the BBQ grill it is great
Genevieve
We have purchased the pre-cooked bacon, and it wasn’t bad at all. It’s really quite good.