There are many fun things that go with camping but at some point, everyone has to eat and that means you have to cook while camping. The reality is cooking while camping is not too complex, yet if you are not approaching it correctly, it could end up making the wrong kinds of memories. Therefore, what you need to do is make sure you take care of the basics such as packing the right food and having a good source for cooking. Some campsites have grills in place while others are a bit more primitive which means you have to improvise and have a different method for cooking. However, you choose to cook food, this is a great way to experiment a little bit and have some fun, that will create memories.
Whenever you are cooking food for camping, it is always about more than just roasting marshmallows. There is something really flavorful about cooking food in the great outdoors. For some, camping is just a nice excuse to take out one of their new portable bbq grills and making a great meal. The good news is there are many different tips and tricks to make cooking something easy on your camping trip. Imagine preparing great meals on the grill instead of just sticking with the staples like hot dogs or bringing food that is not perishable – camping just got a lot better.
Plan Meal Before You Leave
This is something that seems really easy, but people mess it up. If you have a cooler that will keep things cold for some time, that’s perfect for the ride to the camp site. If you can plug in to electricity, it is even better for items that need refrigeration – otherwise a good cooler can keep things cold for a while. There are some other things to do to make sure that you are properly prepped. One of the best things is keeping dry ingredients in zip-loc bags. Wet ingredients work will for zip-loc bags too, and if you want to go the extra mile, store the bags in Tupperware containers.
Freeze the Meat
Talk about something that does two things at the same time. The first is when meat is frozen, it will not spoil as quickly. Second, when you have frozen meat in the cooler, what will happen is that meat will keep the temperature really low in the cooler, thus keeping everything fresher. Make sure the meat you will eat on the first day isn’t frozen though and use proper thawing practices before you cook anything.
Aluminum Foil is So Versatile
Foil does quite a few things. The first thing is that you can use it to keep your food warm or for storing the food under a cover. Another thing that foil is great for is cooking. It is a really easy way of covering the grill and cooking items like vegetables without worrying about stuff going through the grates of the grill.
Get the Cleaning Water Hot While You Are Eating
One thing that a lot of campers don’t think about is how they will clean up after cooking, and the problem is that water plays a big part in this. That’s the bad news. The good news is that you can make things easier by heating the water that you will use to clean your pots and utensils. This means you can throw everything in the hot water once finished and cleaning will be that much easier instead of having to wait for the water to be at the right temperature.
Cover Your Food While it is Cooking
One of the worst things you can do is cook in the open air, this has two really bad consequences. The first is that you will keep the pot cooler than you want it to be. Covering everything makes it cook faster. The second issue is that insects are abundant when camping, and the last thing you want is insects getting into your food. So, keep your food covered to avoid this problem.
Use Squeeze Bottles Liberally with Your Prep
There are so many different things that you can put in your squeeze bottles – it will blow your mind. Of course, condiments like ketchup, mustard, and salad dressings work. You can also put scrambled eggs in there, pancake batter, and so much more. Basically, anything that is liquid or liquid-ish will work. If you’re bottles get cold just put it in warm water to loosen things up. The other thing that works well in a pinch are disposable water bottles.
Keep Food Stored in Airtight Containers
Tupperware is a friend while you are camping because what it does is keeps your food from presenting something enticing to animals. There is nothing worse than everyone going on a hike and coming back to camp and seeing that bears have torn up your campsite because someone left the hot dogs on the grill. Make sure to keep everything in airtight containers and store those containers in an airtight cooler. This type of protection will do a great job keeping the animals away from your campsite.
Cooking Oil Helps the Grill Work Well
One of the best things that you can do is avoid the sticking of food on the grill. Cooking oil gets this done. An easy way to do this is to have a can of cooking spray with you and spraying it before the heating element on your grill is going to work. Another easy hack is to blot a paper towel with the cooking oil and rub the cooking oil on the grates. This is something that is really simple to do because many times the cast iron grilling grates lack seasoning. To that end, if you have cookware that is not non-stick, then this is something that you can do as well to ensure that your food will not stick. Food that doesn’t stick avoids attracting animals to camp.
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