Over time I have managed to get my weekend backpack down to around 25-30 pounds. I am not an fully anointed apostle of the ultra-lightweight sect but I have certainly benefited from a lot of their ideas. The backpacking cook kit described here weighs in at well less than two pounds depending on your choice of stove. Without the stove my choices will cost you somewhere between $20-25.00 – a pretty good deal....
Here’s a great idea for making campfire potatoes wrapped in foil. Alternating slices of onion and potato? Why didn’t I think of that? Campfire Potatoes Ingredients: large baking potatoes whole onions, red or yellow dill, parsley, bacon bits Directions: Slice potato almost all the way through, but leave enough to hold it together. Slice the onion, and put one slice in between each potato slice. Sprinkle with bacon bits and a little dill....
In the age of the automatic dishwasher most folks have little to no idea of how to hand wash dishes at home let alone when camping. I still see Scouts washing dishes underneath a community water spigot or, even worse, in a stream or lake. Good dish washing technique will help you stay healthy (especially on extended trips) and minimize impact in the wild. Here’s a short version Pre-Rinse – each individual uses a little bit of drinking water to rinse out their dishes and utensils, drinks that rinse water, and then puts their dishes on the wash pile....
Cook wild is not a new concept; cooking over anything other than a wood fire is a relatively new development for the human race. A recent study showed that 43 percent, or some 3 billion members, of the world’s population rely on wood fires for their primary source of cooking and heating. Gas or electric stoves are great but we are in danger of losing the knowledge and skill required to cook over a fire....
There’s nothing quite like baking a pineapple upside down cake in a dutch oven. It’s easier than you think! Preheat the dutch oven until a hand held inside gets uncomfortably warm in five seconds. While the oven is heating mix a box of white or yellow cake mix according to the instructions on the box. Spread margarine around the whole inside of the oven. Melt about 1/3 of a cup of margarine in the bottom of the oven, add about 2/3 cup of brown sugar and mix well....
I learned how to care for cast iron cookware like dutch ovens from some old timers. Their methods are compatible with standard Boy Scout principles and more modern methods. Some of this may be considered “heretical” by the “authentic” dutch oven cooking folks. You’ll have to decide for yourself. Here’s some hints that have served me well: Use plenty of oil. Use oil even when browning meat, even ground chuck. Maybe not so much with ground beef....
Steve Karoly writes about Dutch oven bread revisited on his blog ‘Round the Chuck Box. This isn’t quick bread, no, it’s slow bread – bread that takes hours to make with kneading and rising and kneading and proofing and yeast. Real bread, not the store-bought lifeless loaf that they strip mine somewhere out there – real bread. The smell of this bread alone is so good that (in the words of the mountain men) it will ‘make you slap your daddy off a creek bank....
Swedish canoe enthusiast Svante Freden builds and sells a folding reflector oven based on his own design. This reflector oven design has integrated hinges to reduce weight and gives a nice clean look without sharp edges. With a reflector oven you can bake bread, biscuits, muffins and even pizza in camp! This oven folds flat to slip in easily in your portage pack, accepts 9″ round pans. You can place more than one oven around the same fire....
If you aren’t cooking in a dutch oven you are missing a lot of fun and some great food! Now nobody is going to carry a dutch oven backpacking; this is a ‘car camping’ option for sure. If you need to get outfitted here’s what you’ll need and a few things that you may want (note the difference!) Lodge 8 quart pre-seasoned dutch oven Lodge dutch ovens are the industry standard....
Steven C. Karoly is a retired Seabee Cook who blogs at Round the Chuckbox. I eagerly followed a series of eight of Steve’s recent posts on the ‘Code of the Campfire’. They are a combination of practical advice and old fashioned good manners. One look at the idyllic campfire seen pictured above speaks volumes to Steve’s skill and experience as a camp cook. Here’s a quick overview of the code- you can read them all here....
Dutch oven cooking is worth the trouble. Truth be told it’s not actually all that much trouble either! Here’s a great introduction to dutch oven cooking in three parts. It is as easy as it looks; use simple recipes, don’t get too overwrought and you’ll have some great eating. Other Dutch oven information at ScoutmasterCG: Larry’s Dutch Oven HintsDutch Oven KitDutch Oven VideosDutch Oven Bread RevisitedDutch Oven Pineapple Upside Down Cake
I was once persuaded that real Scouts only used real Scout mess kits. The standard issue military type clamshell mess kit may have a long tradition in Scouting, but compared to the alternatives it is woefully inadequate. Some folks like gadgety, expensive, modern specialty cooking gear but I’ll be fine with my highly evolved, cheap, light, and completely superior kit assembled from commonly available alternatives. Evolve! Consign your mess kit to the recycling bin where it belongs!...
Inventor Kent Haring has developed the elegantly efficient Littlbug stove that deserves a second look from campers in general and Scouts in particular. Most of us have come to rely on the convenience of propane stoves and would be hesitant to trade them for wood stoves. I think there are some compelling practical and ethical arguments for using high efficiency wood stoves. But first let’s take a close look at the features and use of the Littlbug....
Roger Edison has collected a lot of lore and useful information about Chuckwagons and Cowboy Cooking. Here’s a plan for building a cowboy fire box. Admittedly not for leave no trace camping or backpacking the fire box is intended for serious grub! Take a look around Roger’s website and you’ll find things like this recipe; Chuck Wagon Beans Beans have been a hearty food that can be cooked in a variety of ways....
From As the Crow Flies I usually use the no wash method of cleaning up but sometimes I end up with a frying pan or dishes to wash. I never use soap because it takes a lot of water to rinse the soap off. Instead I use baking soda. One time I ran out of baking soda for awhile so I used wood ash instead–it worked. To make soap you need grease and lye....
The folks at Packit Gourmet offer some evidence of the indestructible nature of the humble tortilla. My favorite tortilla ‘recipe’ is peanut butter and jelly on a whole wheat tortilla for a quick, filling trail lunch. Tortillas are an incredibly versatile and easy-to-pack bread. They hold up well in your pack and can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We’ve dined on tortillas with everything from breakfast tacos to ‘sandwich’ wraps to quesadillas – not to mention the more...
Well, we’re back from our sixth annual canoe trip to Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park and it was a great success. This year a record 23 people in three crews participated. Each crew took a different route through the 3000 square mile park of about 40 to 50 miles of paddling and portaging. Mounting such a trip involves a sea of details. Perhaps the most complex bit of planning was purchasing and packing 414 servings of food required for six days of travel....
Illustration by Hap Wilson. Originally appeared in The Keewaydin Way by Brian Back Lake Temagami and environs is one of the great good places to go canoeing. According to the Ottertooth website: The three-walled heritage fireplace has been a Temagami tradition for over a hundred years and many blackened campsite fireplaces have been in use for decades. Daily baking, particularly for bannock, remains an essential part of heritage Temagami. Many of the camps have two bakes at dinner, one for dessert that night, and a second for lunch the next day....
Just to be extra clear about this freezer bag cooking has nothing in common with the well known ‘omelet in a bag’ technique where you crack an egg into a plastic bag, add some veggies and cheese (or whatever) and then put the bag in boiling water. (If you haven’t tried the omelet in a bag you haven’t missed anything – it doesn’t work all that well and a boiled omelet has a very different taste and texture....
I have been saying for years that all that needs to be done for purifying water by boiling is to raise it to the boiling point and have received many skeptical looks in return. Here is a reasoned examination that explains exactly why this is true; The fact is, with a water temperature of 165 degrees F (74 C) it takes just half an hour for all disease causing organisms to be inactivated....