Camping Dinner (Foil Packets)

As you may or may not know, I went camping with my kids in the last week of August.  While most of our meals there were standard camping fare (hot dogs, hamburgers, pb&j, etc) I did cook two slightly different meals.  The first was spaghetti and meat sauce over a campfire (that was fun).  The second was foil packets. 

Now, when I was a kid, I was a Girl Scout, and our troop leader called these "stuffed toads".  I don't know why, but maybe it's because calling them "foil packets" isn't naseating enough.  Making them is simple enough: first, I cooked some hamburger in a frying pan over a fire.  I was lucky enough to have a grill, but if you don't, you can also use raw burger.  In fact, that's what we did as scouts.  I only pre-cooked my burger because I like to drain off the excess grease.

 

 

 

Next, lay out some pieces of tin foil on a prep surface (I used our picnic table) and open up some cans of potatoes and vegetables (I bought peas and corn but only used the corn). Divide the veggies, potatoes, and meat among the packets, and fold them up so they're completely enclosed. 


Next, place them over the fire to heat them, or directly in the fire if you're cooking the raw burger in the packets.  Again, if you do it this way, they'll be greasier, but it's chef's choice, there.... 

When they're done heating (or cooking), simply remove them with tongs, open them back up, and eat them!  There's virtually no cleanup, so that's a plus as well!

 

 

For dessert, I sliced some bananas, added pieces of chocolate and marshmallow, and tossed this one large foil packet on top of our smoldering coals.  (Think smores, but with banana... mmmmm.....) 

 

It may not look appetizing, but it really, really was. 

 

 

So, our total for tonight's dinner was: 1-pound pack hamburger, $2.28.  Can corn, 89 cents.  Can potatoes, 99 cents.  3 bananas, not really sure but they're 69 cents a pound and 3 bananas feels like it's about a pound, so we're going to call it that.  The whole pack of marshmallows was $1.19, but I only used a few, call it 1/4 of that, and the 2 candy bars were part of a six-pack for $4.50.  So, that's $2.28 (beef) + $0.89 (corn) + 0.99 (potatoes) + 0.69 (bananas) + 0.30 (marshmallows) + 1.50 (2 candy bars) = $6.65

 

We had a good time on the rest of our camping trip, and, if you want to make these without the fire, you can put foil in the oven as well.