Food

As I was gathering the non-perishables for my upcoming trip (3.5 wks!!), I started thinking about the foods people bring camping, and whether meals/menus are planned out in advance.  I am a bit anal, lol, so I tend to plan out every meal of the trip so I can be sure I pack/buy what I need and don't have to run out to the corner store to buy it (much more expensive than the grocery store).  Of course I have done this, because I inevitably forget some crucial ingredient.

It also got me thinking about WHAT people cook when camping.  It can range from the simplistic (pb & j sandwiches) to the truly gourmet (crackers and caviar?).  I am at a point in my life that I like to cook meals similar to what I'd cook at home (ironically, I hate to cook at home but love to do it camping - go figure!).  I absolutely LOOOOOOVE a cooked breakfast, so usually plan on a few of them for a trip. 

For example, here are the meals planned for my upcoming trip (lunches are either sandwiches or heated up leftovers on the stove):

Breakfasts: pancakes (twice), french toast, eggs (twice), cereal (couple of times)
Dinners: Rotisserie chicken (twice), Hot dogs (twice), steak tips, pasta & meatballs, and linguica patties.

Each meal also has a side and vegetable to go with it.  Some of them are repeated because I am camping with two different sets of people, and they both wanted the same things.

The most surprising/adventurous meal I have cooked camping would have to be boiled dinner (daisy ham, not corned beef).  There was a daisy ham, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots.  This was all cooked on two coleman stoves, one big pasta pot and a smaller pot (both wouldn't fit on the same stove).  It probably took me a few hours to do it, but in the end it was all hot and ready to eat at the same time.  I first half-cooked everything, transferring food between pans, bowls and plates a few times to get things in the pots to cook, then finished cooking everything through.  When the potatoes and carrots were done, they went into the steamer basket of my pasta pot to keep warm.   It was quite an accomplishment for me when I did it.  I don't think I'd try to do it again either, lol.

I sometimes think back to my early solo-camping days (friends, but no parents) and am in awe that we cooked/ate some of the stuff we did.  Here are some memorable ones: pancakes cooked on an inadequate campfire (half cooked pancakes anyone?), soup/spaghettios again heated on an inadequate campfire (my friend ate cool/lukewarm cream of mushroom soup - yuck!), hotdogs on a stick (that got more soot than heat).  Back in those days, we had a tent and that was it.  No stove, no screenhouse (not even a dining fly).  When it rained (fortunately it wasn't that often) we hung out in the tent until it was over (quick way for a tent to become small!).  Somehow it never rained when it was time for meals.  I sometimes miss the care-free attitude we had back then, but I can say with absolute certainty I don't miss the half cooked food!

What kinds of food to you bring/buy to cook/consume on a camping trip?