Healthy Cooking for Campers

Planning to camp this summer? A lot of the joyful experience of camping takes place around the campfire. We love the smoky smell and sizzle of the wienies roasting on a stick, and the gooey sweet just-burnt taste of our dessert marshmallows. But don't we have to eat some healthy meals at camp to maintain our nutritional balance? Of course, the answer is yes.

So how do you keep the fun traditional of campfire cooking alive and still keep a balanced diet? It's not as difficult as it may sound. Every meal from breakfast to dessert can be healthy and tasty. If you plan ahead and pack the right foods and cooking equipment, you'll be all set.

Thrift stores and yard or garage sales are great places to pick up equipment for camp cooking. Cast iron is great for campfire cooking. A frying pan, dutch oven, and two-sided pie iron are three items of cooking equipment that will prove convenient at camp. Be sure to be prepared with enough long-handled roasting sticks for each camper and bring your heavy cooking utensils. Heavy foil is a must when you're cooking at camp. Foil not only traps delicious juices and flavors, but saves a lot of pot scrubbing. You may also want to take along a supply of paper grocery sacks. Believe it or not, some campfire cooking can be done by putting the food in a paper bag and hanging it from a stick over a campfire. This kind of camp cooking can be the most fun for kids. They'll feel like they made their own meal.

Some of the most nutritious meals you can serve at camp are also the easiest to prepare. One of these camp meals is shishkebab. Simply brown any cubed meat you choose in a pan, for a short while on each side. Alternate the meat with vegetables on skewers and let everyone heat up their own healthy meal! Stews are another easy dinner, and you can make a stew dinner by simply placing meat, vegetables, and seasonings in layers in the middle of a piece of heavy foil. You can also add any gravy or sauce you'd like to try. Put butter on top and close the foil tight, but with some room so the foil can expand. This will cook on the coals for about half an hour. Keep turning your stew package to make sure all ingredients heat through evenly.

Vegetables are great cooked in foil and placed directly on the coals. Lay them in a piece of heavy foil and put butter and seasonings on top. Make sure to vent with holes so the steam can get out. You will want to rotate once in awhile with veggies, also. Sliced zucchini or other squash are great this way! You might want to try alternating slices of Irish potatoes and yams in foil as well.

Similarly, campers can slice fruit with cinnamon, sugar, or other spices, top it with butter, and close it up in the foil packet. This makes a tasty dessert at the same time you are eating your fruit supply. It doesn't have to be all about the marshmallows!

As you can see, improvising various foods in combination in a foil pack is a great way to eat healthy. But your dutch oven and pans will prove handy, too. Enjoy your camp cooking the easy, nutritious way!