Happy Camping

Release your inner camper. With a little planning, it’s easy to have some great mini-vacations this year

By Julie Van Rosendaal

Dining outdoors is not what it used to be. At one time, a great camp meal consisted of hot dogs and Bisquick dough, stirred in a coffee can and twisted around a stick to be cooked over an open fire. These days, any camping goods store has an array of prepackaged convenience foods, gadgets and dehydrated meals that were once available only to astronauts. But, with a little advance planning and creative thinking, camping can be synonymous with good eating without sending your budget into space.

Much depends on planning ahead. And when it comes to keeping the family well-fuelled and happy, much depends on dinner. Any kind of holiday calls for good food, not only to fuel outdoor activities, but because during these occasions we have more time to devote to meals with the family.

Alison Boyd and her three children, ages 17, 10 and five, spend the majority of their vacation time during the spring and summer months camping close to Gull Lake or in the Crowsnest Pass area. Alison, an elementary school teacher and capable cook, stashes extra meals in the freezer for weeks beforehand, in preparation for their weekends or weeks away. Her frozen meals and pies keep well in the cooler until it’s time for them to thaw and reheat. The Boyd family also dehydrates fruits and veggies throughout the year, creating a stash of portable produce. Dehydrating and oven-drying can make it easy to store and transport meals.

But not everyone owns a dehydrator; to oven-dry fruits or vegetables, pit (if necessary) and chop into bite-sized pieces: apples, mangoes, peaches, pears, grapes, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots or green beans. If you like, quickly dip the pieces in a solution made with 1 part lemon juice to 5 parts water; this will prevent discolouration as the fruits and vegetables dry.

Spread them out in a single layer on foil-lined cookie sheets and dry in a 140˚F (60˚C) oven for six to 12 hours, until leathery. Store in resealable bags or airtight containers; properly dehydrated produce will keep for up to a year.

Although the Boyd family is always well-prepared, their favourite camping meals aren’t made in advance. They’re foil packets stuffed with sliced new potatoes, carrots from their garden, red peppers, squash, cheese, meat and other ingredients, assembled on a whim, sealed and thrown into the hot embers of a well-established fire.

“You get all the crispy bits around the edges,” Alison says, describing the imperfect cooking process, and how it doesn’t matter one bit.

“Who cares if the potatoes are still crunchy in the middle? The kids love it. That’s what ketchup is for.”

Ten-year-old Emily adds, “we can each make our own, and put whatever we want in our packets.” Making meal packets is one of the highlights of any camping trip.

Although these could conceivably be prepared in advance and stashed in a cooler, the family likes to stop at roadside markets to stock up on fresh and interesting produce to use in their packets. This experience inspires the younger kids to try vegetables they might not be as eager about at home. The family slices vegetables thinly and tosses them with canola oil, salt and pepper before being sealed in a rough envelope shape to half roast, half steam. Sometimes they add fresh fish, canned legumes, or cooked ground beef or bison.

Nicole Schon and Kevin Cunningham frequently load up their vintage VW van with camping gear and snacks for camping weekends with sons Jacob, 6, and Simon, 4. Their travelling kitchen tool of choice is a long-handled steel or cast iron sandwich grill that cooks over open fires or on the camp stove.

“You can make anything in one of those: breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert,” Nicole says excitedly, “and they’re available at every grocery store on your way out of town. We have one for each of us!” As a bonus, the kids enthusiastically share in the preparation of meals, happy to be able to customize their own pizza pockets.

“Their favourites are apple turnovers.” Nicole licks her lips; she and Kevin are as keen as the boys. “You bring along a can of any kind of pie filling you want and use it to fill bread that has been buttered on the outside and sprinkled with sugar. Then you eat them hot with a mug of tea.”

Much of the appeal of camping, after all, is the open fire, made even more enjoyable by an activity that brings the family together around it; consequently came the invention of the  toasted marshmallow, the s’more and, more recently, the banana boat. When they’ve had their fill of sandwich pockets, Jacob and Simon cut bananas (still in their skins) in half lengthwise and fill them with mini marshmallows, berries, chocolate chips and chopped nuts, wrap the whole thing up in foil and tuck their packages into the embers of the fire to char and soften the banana while the filling melts into a warm chocolatey goo.

Temperature is the primary concern when removing food from your home kitchen comfort zone. You have to keep it cool during transport and storage, and reheat it without the stove. But this is also part of the funod roughing it. Cooking over an open fire, or even on a small Coleman stove, can make any food seem a little more appetizing.

Martin Boursin and Robin Morgan couldn’t agree more. They swear that when camping with their three boys, ages 7, 10 and 11, simplicity is the key to a relaxing weekend.

To sum up: “Catch fish, eat fish” is the family’s camping motto.

“Canadians have become dependent on an excess of things to manage everyday life; camping is no different,” Robin says. “When did we begin to believe that we needed

matching picnic gear, fancy lawn chairs and deluxe barbecues in order to have a successful camping experience?”

They see camping getaways as an opportunity to take a vacation from complex food and enjoy the prospect of eating simply.

“The key to success is to invent ways to be creative, and to embrace the challenge and rejoice in your creativity.” Robin told me, adding that she’s not an avid outdoorsperson. “I never felt happier than when I opened a can of beans with our axe because we forgot the can opener or when I was able to start a fire with nothing but damp kindling and wood no fire starter or fancy matches.”

With camping, it’s important to remain flexible, but a little planning goes far, too. 

Recipes:

Fireside Granola

Bison Chili with Barley