Planning what you’re going to eat and drink while camping is easily one of the most important topics to consider. In this article we are going to discuss our most important hacks for cooking over a campfire. We’ll also suggest menu and snack items to keep everyone happy and full while you’re enjoying the outdoors.
This post is will reveal our most important camping hacks for cooking with a campfire.
Campfire Cooking Tools
Every camp chef has arguably the most important job of the entire mission! Your camp kitchen will certainly require other essential kitchen items such as knife, cutting board, cutlery, plates, cups, etc. We like keeping things simple, so we will provide you with the most useful campfire kitchen items every campfire chef should have. You won’t want to exclude these when packing for your camp kitchen.
Camp Grate or Grill – Having a flat grate, either with or without legs, will be the foundation of your cooking surface. If you use a grate without legs, you can stablize it on either side with large stones. But before you rush out to purchase a camp grill, make sure to investigate if your campsite already provides a grill over the fire pit. No need to spend money and collect items you won’t end up needing. Our favorite has a built in grate over the fire pit. This design allows you to rotate the grill plate out from over the fire.
Aluminum Foil – Aluminum foil has been our most important item for us when we camp. I make sure to never forget this item on any of our trips! Our camp kitchen storage container actually has it’s own aluminum foil stored together so that we will always have it.
Foil is a big one, because as long as you have the grill plate, you’ll use foil for nearly everything! When husking corn, wrap in aluminum foil and cook it over the fire. It’s also good for roasting veggies over the fire. Foil packets can be used to cook individualized meals. Use a foil sheet for your campfire pizzas!
Roasting stick – Roasting sticks are fun and easy. You can get heavy duty ones and different ones that extend, depending on your preference. Roasting sticks will be your essential item for heating up those marshmallows for your s’mores. Hot-dogs, vegetables, cinnamon buns (rolled or unrolled), cuts of meat, and fish are other delicious items for roasting on a stick over your campfire!
We need to pause here and briefly mention – that yes, of course the fancier the camp kitchen, the more cooking methods you may want to include. Popular items to enhance your camp cooking experience include dutch ovens, camp stoves, and gas powered grills. You’ll have to include propane or a fuel source to manage a more complex kitchen beyond the campfire. We didn’t want to leave out these mentions since many campers love these components for an infinite amount of reasons.
However… in maintaining our campfire cooking strategy, we wanted to provide you with three additional items to consider:
French press – Yes, we use it for coffee, and it has made such a difference and improvement since we’ve added to our camp kitchen. Before purchasing my French press, I used to enjoy instant coffee with boiled water, cream, and sugar during our camp trips. Ever since I switched over to the French press, I make sure to never forget it. It has been a complete game changer.
It would also be fun to experiment with fresh tea leaves for a French press as well! I haven’t done this yet, but can only imagine how amazing fresh brewed tea leaves would elevate the entire camping experience.
Cast iron pan – Another staple that many campers swear by. Cast iron pans can be placed directly on top of hot embers, entirely bypassing the need for a campfire grill. You will have to make sure you know how to season and maintain a cast iron pan properly, but it is well worth the effort. One pan meals can be cooked with a cast iron and even breakfast items such as eggs, bacon, and potatoes can be made at the same time in the same pan! It’s another great option with endless possibilities. If you’re a small family like us, you can opt for a small cast iron. This helps us because we only cook for two people and cast iron pans certainly add weight to your kitchen inventory.
A freebie side tip- Since a quality cast iron is virtually indestructible, check with your friends, family, or neighbors to see if they have one for you to use. You could receive your first free cast iron pan just from asking people you know! See if someone has one they don’t use anymore. Nature Consort full endorses the reuse of items because this saves you money, it’s free, and by reusing items it reduces human consumption overall. This mindset benefits all of us, and is for the best interest of our planet!
Pie iron – We didn’t come across this until our later camping trips, but this has been a fun addition to our cooking strategy. You’ll have to season and maintain the pie iron the same way as you do a cast iron pan, but it is well worth it. A pie iron is another great tool to have in your kitchen camp kit for endless possibilities.
Campfire Meals
Our recommendation when planning and prepping campfire cooking is to keep things simple and easy. There is a treasure trove of campfire meals online, so we won’t delve into any specific recipes for this article. We do hope you will consider coming up with your own ideas to try while you campfire cook. You’ll able to gauge what works, what was your favorite, or easiest method for the next time you’re out camping.
Snacks
We will, however jump into a snack section for this discussion. Snacks in of itself are a staple to our diet whether we are camping or not. Snacks are an easy supplement to ensure your tummy stays full and your body energized to explore the outdoors. Simplicity is always our goal, so let’s start with our favorite healthiest snacks.
Healthy snacks:
Fruit: bananas, oranges, persimmons, pears, apples, peaches
Have you ever tried grilled peaches or pears? Try experimenting with grilling fruit with your campfire cooking methods. Freshly diced apple filling with a butter breaded crust as an apple pie is a popular and delicious recipe for a pie iron snack. Here is an awesome recipe!
We love berries, but they can get squished easily if not carefully packed when hiking or camping. Also, berries typically require refrigeration and can easily spoil faster while camping. So it will be entirely up to you if you want to bring berries along. Determine your length of stay for your camping trip to help decide. If you did want to manage it however, berries are nice to have while camping. Cold grapes are another refreshing option as long as they’re stored properly in your ice chest.
Veggies: carrots, rainbow carrots, sweet potato
Carrots are some of our most favorite and most durable, refreshing snack to pack while hiking and camping. Our favorite method is grabbing a bushel of rainbow carrots and peeling them ourselves for a quick, easy, refreshing snack.
Sweet potatoes are a reliable companion for our aluminum foil strategy we discussed earlier. Sweet potatoes can be fire roasted, or you can create a foil packet for a healthy, delicious snack or side dish. Sprinkle on some brown sugar and enjoy another easy delicious campfire dish.
Dips: Hummus, ranch, salsa, vegetable dips
Having something like hummus or veggie dips easily accessible is a nutritious healthy way to enjoy a snack while camping. You’ll love pre-cut celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and bell peppers with your hummus or veggie dips.
Having a container of pre-made salsa, or jarred salsa can certainly complete meal ideas. Layer salsa over your eggs, have chips and salsa as a snack, and have salsa on hand if making tacos.
Nuts and dried fruit: Cashews, almonds, macadamia nuts, peanuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, banana chips, mangos
Have fun with this one. You can bring along only one specific type, or make your own trail mix. We aren’t typically pick eaters, but we have yet to find a brand name trail mix that we really love. There is always something included that we can certainly do without. If you’re like us, and not a huge fan of store bought trail mix, try making your own! It’s fun and easy, and you’ll only have the ingredients you love in your mix. This is a fun activity to get the kids involved in too. Everyone can make their own trail mix combination that they will love. Cashews, chocolate, dried fruit (blueberries or pineapple), yogurt chips, and pretzels are some of our favorite ingredients to combine.
Easiest Snacks:
Although it’s so much fun to plan and prep your meals and snacks. Always bring along something easy, with minimal prep work. Items like these can include:
Grab an go: Chips, popcorn, granola bars, protein bars, fruit bars, breakfast bars.
You’ll want easy grab and go filler snacks. Something that you can crack open at the campsite and share, or throw into your backpack for the hike.
Before you go, one last campfire hack!
The best way to utilize campfire cooking is to use the hot coals or embers to cook. Using flames to cook is not nearly as effective and can burn some of your food items. Try experimenting with marshmallows first, roasting the marshmallow over hot embers vs using the heat from flames. Regardless of how you’re cooking, you are the boss in your own outdoor kitchen. Do what works best for you based on your preferences. Until next time, happy campfire cooking!