Treat Yourself to A Fall Favorite - Crispy, crunchy shiny Apples!
Crisp, crunchy, and satisfying, an apple is the perfect snack. This go-anywhere treat is yummy just as it is, or delicious spruced up with a dollop of peanut butter or a splash of cinnamon. Dried apples are a great backpacking snack, and baked apples are a campfire standard. With all the varieties that are available now, there's sure to be an apple that suits your tastes perfectly.
Apple Types
Certain apple varieties have been bred to perform certain tasks. For instance, the best baking apples are those that hold their shape even after cooking, like Granny Smiths, Jonathans, Empires, and Cortlands. Snacking apples come in far more varieties. Try the Jonagolds, Macintosh, Winesnaps, and Fuji apples. Recipes Apple Oatmeal Bars Apple-Peanut Butter Snack Roasted Yams and Apples Apple & Truffle Pizza Turkey and Apple Campfire Pannini |
The Backpacker's KitchenWhen you’re backpacking, weight is your number-one concern. Before you pack for your trip, lay out all of your equipment, including kitchen equipment, to see if you can trim anything. If you can make do with one pot instead of two, then do it! By the same token, you’ll want to choose foods that are lightweight (and dried, ideally). Below is a list of absolute necessities in the backpacking cook kit.
Cook Kit - A lightweight backpacking stove
- Fuel bottle and an extra fuel bottle
- Cook pot and lid
- Small frying pan, if needed
- Wind screen (made of foil)
- Lighter and matches
- Cleaning equipment (biodegradable soap and a small scrubby)
- Cooking utensil, such as a long-handled spoon
- Water bottles
- Water treatment equipment (iodine, chlorine, etc.)
- A bear bag, if you’re headed into bear or raccoon country
- Rope for your bear bag
- Dining Equipment: a bowl/cup, spoon
- Sharp, Swiss-army type knife
- Spice Kit – use Ziploc bags or film containers to store salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, thyme, cumin, and other herbs and spices
- Oil
Food Ideas
Depending on your location and the weather, you may decide to use your stove for every meal, or you may only get it out for dinner and evening cocoa. Either way, be sure to bring a combination of hearty, filling food and those little special treats that will feel like luxuries after a day of hiking.
To keep your pack light, plan on rehydrating most of your food. Oatmeal, pasta, rice, couscous, dried refried beans, and quinoa are all lightweight. You can buy dried fruits, vegetables, and protein mixtures at most grocery stores. Soup mixes are also terrific to eat as soup or to use as seasoning for your pasta dinner. Bread tends to get crushed in backpacks, but tortillas travel well. Try making individual pizzas on a tortilla in your frying pan (lay your ingredients on half the tortilla in the pan, let the cheese melt, then fold the tortilla over like an omelet). Have fun, and don’t forget the dessert!
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The Car-Camping Kitchen
Car camping is a great American tradition. This is the way most of us started to camp, traveling around the country, stopping off at campgrounds and RV parks in scenic places.
The cooking on these trips can be done in a variety of ways. Maybe your family likes to make a campfire and cook right over the flame. You might load the campground grill with charcoal and grill your dinner. Or you might bring along your own gas stove—these range from a one-burner whisper-lite variety to longer models with up to four burners. Whatever way you cook, the methods all share certain commonalities.
Conserving Space
Space is always at a premium when you’re traveling, especially if you’re toting tents and sleeping bags in the car. Keep your car-camping kitchen well-organized by storing all of your cooking equipment in one plastic bin or cardboard box. For a longer trip, store food in another similar container. This keeps the food supplies easy to reach and to remove from the car, and it prevents your spoons getting lost in the mix of clothes and other gear.
Keeping Things Cool
Depending on the amount of space in your vehicle, you might decide to bring a cooler or ice chest for storing cold items. If you don’t, then be sure to only bring foods that can last without refrigeration—or eat those up on your first day in camp.
A Question of Space, Not Weight
On a backpacking trip, everything needs to be as light as possible. But when you’re car camping, you have the luxury of being able to carry anything you want. If your recipe calls for a Dutch oven or cast-iron skillet, then bring it along! It’s space you need to watch, so be efficient by packing other kitchen items inside your Dutch oven.
Crucial Items
Whatever else you pack, be sure to remember: matches or a lighter, a long-handled spoon, a spice kit, pots/pans, and bowls/plates and eating utensils for the people in your party. And don’t forget about the clean up! You’ll want dish-washing soap if you’ll be at a campground, or biodegradable soap if you’re in the back country. Bring a scrubby or washcloth. Always be sure to put all of your food and cooking items in the car overnight, so you don’t attract any wild visitors.
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Cooking Outside the Pot
The next time you go camping, why not try a cooking method that goes beyond the usual pots and pans? Alternate methods are a challenge. And when you use a different method, your kids can even get in on the act and help with the cooking!
Kid-Friendly Cooking Methods
Share the cooking burden by letting the kids lend a helping hand.
Stick Cooking
If it involves holding a stick over the fire, the kids can do it. Let them cook their own hot dogs, dough boys, and marshmallows this way. Remember, food cooks better and faster over coals than over flame. And don’t let your food catch on fire!
Foil Cooking
From banana boat desserts to full meals, foil cooking gives you plenty of freedom. When your wrap your ingredients in a foil pouch and place it in the coals, you’re essentially steaming your food. Let the kids put together dinners with carrots, onions, potatoes, and ground beef, or create your own combination. This is a terrific way to prepare vegetables, to bake apples and other fruit, or to poach fish and other meat. Wrap a potato in foil and place it straight in the coals for an old-fashioned treat.
Inside Other Food
You can use the discarded outer shells of other food items as a wrapper for your meal. Try baking muffins inside a hollowed-out orange or beef inside cabbage leaves. Wrap your finished product up tightly (possibly in foil) to keep ash from getting inside.
Adult Cooking Challenges
If you’re feeling more adventurous and are up for a challenge, try one of these back country cooking methods.
Coffee Can Cooking
This is an alternate to pot cooking. Instead of placing a pot on a grate or on three rocks, you can set your coffee can directly in the coals. Fill it with your ingredients and cover it with a lid or metal plate. This method is best for heating up soups, stews, and other liquid-based dishes.
Cook on a Rock
Yes, you really can cook on a rock. Before you light your fire, rinse and clean off a flat-topped rock. Set it near (but not directly in) the heart of your fire. You want heat and plenty of coals, but not open flames. Let the fire burn for an hour or two before you begin cooking, so the rock will be piping hot.
Paper Cooking
Soak a piece of paper in water and use it to wrap fish, apple slices, or any other ingredients that will cook fairly quickly. When the paper is wet, it won’t burn. Set it on a hot, flat rock near (but not in) the flames.
Solar Ovens
Lightweight solar ovens are easy to assemble. If you want to try baking a cake or biscuits on your next camping trip, consider a solar oven. Of course, you’ll need good weather to make this work! Solar Ovens are best used in full sunlight.
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