Ingredients: ham, sweet potatoes, apples

Instructions: Cube ham, potatoes, and apples. Then wrap each serving in foil. Make sure it is tightly closed. Throw on your campfire’s coals and cook for about half an hour. Turn halfway through for even cooking. Apples add to the sweetness and replace butter in the recipe. They also give some moisture so the food isn’t so dry.

Due to the cold temperature, it’s hard to keep your frying pan warm enough to brown your hamburg. Thus cooking meat can be tricky in the winter. Pepperoni and deli meat can provide you with necessary protein.

Instant soups and stews are quick and easy to make and come in lots of flavors to satisfy everyone. You can even use your insulated mug to eat or drink the soup out of. (more…)

For lunch, a mix of foods work well. Some foods you may want to include dried fruit, raisins, granola bars, trail mix, meats, nuts, cheese, and even some cookies and candy including chocolates. I’ve found that pepperoni and cheese on crackers is always popular.

You can prepare this ahead of time and provide each person with a personal lunch they can snack on throughout the day. You’ll want to cube or slice the cheese ahead of time so you’re not biting into a big frozen chunk. The meats can come from lunch meat or any leftover breakfast bacon. Peanut butter on crackers or a bagel sandwich (lunch meat or peanut butter) will provide you with some protein, fats, and carbohydrates. If you are staying at your camp, as opposed to going on a hike, you could actually do some cooking and have a hot meal. This will provide the campers with a rest period however make sure to keep everyone warm during this time as people may get cold if they just lull around camp for too long. If you want to go with a hot meal, take a look at the simpler dinner ideas such as soup as supplement additional food as needed. (more…)

First rule to remember is that while winter camping, you need to pack and eat a lot of food. It is estimated that your body requires at least 4,500 calories each day because of the extra energy needed to keep your body warm. Depending on your health, body metabolism, age, and sex over 5,000 calories may be burned. Paradoxically, your appetite may be less due to these same winter factors.

You may need to encourage yourself and those in your care to eat. The best way to do that is to plan an appealing menu. So let’s talk about what to pack. (more…)

Ingredients:flour tortilla shells (small), peanut butter, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows

Instructions:Apply peanut butter on tortilla shell and throw on some chocolate chips. Add some marshmallows and then roll up like a burrito. Wrap individually in foil and cook on grill for about 5 minutes.

Ingredients: bread, cans of cheese whiz, butter or oil

Instructions: Spray cheese whiz on a slice of bread and cover with another piece to make a sandwich. Spread butter on the outsides of each slice of bread and grill on your skillet. When one side becomes golden brown, flip it and cook the other side.

Helpful tip: Make earlier in the trip before the bread gets a chance to become too scrunched or not so fresh. Also leftover cheese whiz can be eaten with crackers as a snack.

Plan ahead. Your goal should be a simple and filling menu. Write it down on paper for all your meals. This will be a help when packing also. You can measure and combine dry ingredients in ziplocks ahead of time. You can also label the bag with what meal it should be used for. When shopping for a camp stove, remember that propane is easiest to use but gas stoves will produce more heat. Cooking your first couple of meals at time and packed in a cooler will save time on your first day while you are still setting up camp. Precooked meats also last longer than raw meats. To keep things cool, blocked ice lasts longer than cubed ice. Make sure the cooler is closed tightly or even use a strap to keep it closed to prevent animals from entering.

Which stove to select really depends on your needs. Gas stoves burn cleanly without any smell and doesn’t effect the taste of the food. Spilt fuel will not leave an odor and will evaporate quickly. Gas stoves also produce the most heat.

Propane stoves on the other hand are a lot easier to use. You basically just attach a bottle by screwing it into the stove. You turn on the gas and light the burner. If you’ve used a backyard propane grill, you understand this process. Some stoves even have electric starters making the cooking experience more similiar to home.

Ingredients: individual size bags of Doritos, shredded cheese, sour cream, shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, salsa, browned hamburger

Instructions: Mash up a closed bag of doritos smashing the chips. Open the bag carefully and put in your favorite ingredients from the above list. Close the bag and shake it up to mix together. Eat right out of bag.

Ingredients: box of macaroni and cheese, can of tuna fish, salt & pepper

Instructions: First heat water in pot over campfire and once boiling, add macaroni noodles and cook until tender. Add packet of cheese along with the tuna and salt/pepper if desired. Stir and you’re done.