Smart Tips For Packing Campfire Meals For Outdoor Camping

Experienced outdoor camping cooks know that carrying heavy boxes and coolers of camp food in and out of camp is not fun. They also know they miss a lot of the outdoor camping experiences they came for when they are stuck preparing and cooking campfire meals. But the job can be made easier and less time consuming. These smart camping cooking tips will show you how to reduce the bulk and weight of your supplies, and get out of the camp kitchen sooner.

Ziploc freezer bags are an indispensable part of a smart camp cook's supplies. They pay tribute to this product every time they pack the food for a weekend of outdoor camping. "Never take a box or can when a Ziploc will do!" is a motto a smart camp cook lives by. Your cooking supplies should include three types of Ziplocs: one box of sandwich bags, and one each of gallon and quart size freezer bags. Not only will they save weight and space, they will also reduce the amount of trash you have to carry back out of camp.

Camp Kitchen

To see how using Ziploc bags can help, take a look at the camp food supplies you plan on taking. What ingredients and how much of each, will you need for your campfire recipes? What preparation will each meal need?

Dry Food:

Start with your campfire recipes. If there is any ingredient prep that you can at home, do it, and put the results in a Ziploc freezer bag. You will save time if you don't wait to do it at camp. This will also save a lot of weight and space, Ziplocs weigh less, and take-up less space than individual cans and boxes. Be aggressive with this, camp meal prep you do at home, will add to the time you have for the outdoor camping activities you came for.

After the prep work, take a look at the rest of your boxed or canned food items. Look for anything that can be put in a Ziploc instead. That can of soup, or box of pancake mix will travel just as well in a Ziploc, allowing you to lose the extra weight and residual trash. Also consider ingredient quantities, no need to take a five pound package if you will only use one pound. Just put what you will need in a Ziploc and leave the rest home. And don't forget the simple stuff like salt & pepper, and spices. You will not use whole containers of these for your camp meals, so take what you need in sandwich baggies and leave the containers home.

Cold food:

Ziploc freezer bags also work for cold food items. Look at the cold food items with the same objectives as you did with your dry foods. If it can come out of a bulky carton or container and into a Ziploc, do it. You will be surprised how all those little individual weight and space savings add-up to substantial reductions.

Ice is a big part of the weight and bulk of your camp coolers, Ziplocs can help here too. Take a look at the camp food items in the cooler, freeze everything you can, even your meats. If it's not for your first camp meal, freeze it, they will be safe in their Ziplocs, (remember to only use the stronger double-sealed freezer bags), and will act as ice packs, reducing the amount of ice you will need to carry. And don't worry, in a camp cooler they will thaw by the time you need to use them.

Once you start using Ziplocs for your camp food and campfire recipe ingredients, you'll wonder how you ever camped without them. And the freezer bags are much safer and sturdier than the thin sandwich bags, so don't be timid about what you put in them. So challenge yourself, how much weight and bulk can you leave at home?

Smart Tips For Packing Campfire Meals For Outdoor Camping

Here is a good illustrated article that reviews and prices some of Lodge's best cast iron pieces if you need to add to your camping cast iron cookware.

GA Anderson is an online author and avid outdoors man whose lifelong camping adventures include over 7 years camping experience as an adult leader with the Boy Scouts of America. To see more outdoor camping, and campfire cooking articles visit his Hiking & Camping articles.

Campfire Poker - The Most Important Tool in Camp

The campfire poker is the most overlooked tool in a camper's arsenal...most of the time. How can this be? Every dedicated camping enthusiast has all the bells and whistles to make his or her camping experience ideally comfortable.

Tools to take camping, along with the campfire poker, include a shovel, axe or hatchet, hammer, knives and cooking grids...to name a few. These are all viable and handy tools at the campsite. Opinions vary as to each tool's importance. Oops, don't forget the can opener.

Camp Kitchen

There are varied opinions for the most important cooking hardware also. Some people argue that the Dutch oven is a must have for every outing, where others say frying pans are better. Oh, and what about a coffee pot? Is one necessary? Depends if you drink perked coffee or instant.

The truth is, there are as many choices about what to pack for camping, as there are personalities of outdoor campers. A camper takes whatever he or she feels they need for each particular trip...what ever is important to them...end of story.

Wait a minute. Not so fast. Who is to say that the campfire poker is the most important tool at camp? Let me explain my view and then you can be the judge.

You may already agree with me that the campfire is the heartbeat of the campsite. Here is where everyone meets, converses and cooks. It is where campers congregate to keep warm on those dark and cool nights. The campfire is also a handy source of light when a quick visual is needed.

A campfire serves many purposes and it needs to be well maintained to do so. This is why the campfire poker is the most important tool. Maintaining the heartbeat of the campsite and making the task easier for the campers to enjoy themselves.

Most campers agree that investing in a campfire poker that you can use for years is a great way to go. Why go foraging in the woods for a stick to maintain the campfire, or, use your feet to kick the logs and sticks around while they are burning? Don't burn your shoes; they are as expensive as the many times spent it takes to look for that burning stick.

A wrought iron campfire poker will last you a lifetime of camping trips. With the service end of the fire poker, you can adjust the coals, push or pull wood and stoke the fire when it needs it.

It is an important camping tool to have...but do not forget the can opener.

Campfire Poker - The Most Important Tool in Camp

Tom Watson is the owner of Black Iron Junction; a wonderful source of manufactured wrought iron decorative accessories, as well as, hand forged wrought iron items created by blacksmith Bill Jenkins. If you are interested in a hand forged campfire poker for your camping expeditions, or a smaller poker for your fireplace, please visit http://www.blackironjunction.com/site/1623467/page/805963

Safety Tips in Making a Campfire

People say that camping is not really camping without a campfire. Camp fires serve as the ultimate symbol of camping out. It is the center of attention when cooking outdoors or having camping outdoor activities at night. Undeniably, the pleasure of building a camp fire brings much delight to every camper - newbie and avid campers alike. However, despite the fun it brings, campfires can be really dangerous. That is why you should always take precautionary measures in setting them up.

a. If you are setting your camp in a popular camp site, look for a campfire pit. If your campsite has been used by many campers before, there is a high chance that a campfire pit already exists. As such, you won't have to worry about preparing the grounds for a safe camp fire.

Camp Kitchen

b. If your camp site is relatively new or if the last camp on your site is a month ago, then the task of setting up a fire pit lies on you. Building a fire pit is not really that easy. It requires very important steps that you should follow in order to ensure that the camp fire will be safe. In creating the pit, you can start by digging the soil up to 3 feet. Place some rocks around the fire pit. Make sure that there is no dried debris around it. When setting the actual campfire, place the combustible debris inside the pit. Keep in mind that if you fail to place the debris properly, they might fly out of the fire pit and cause a debris blow out.

c. All of the burning materials for the camp fire should be placed inside the pit area and inside the rocks that you arranged. The arrangement of the materials play a vital role in making sure that your fire will light up faster and that debris will not fly out of the pit. Make sure that you place all of the light materials first. After the lighter materials, place dry woods, and then the coal.

d. When setting up your camping kitchen, make sure that it is not near your camp fire pit. Avoid setting your fire pit near dried trees or hanging vines as well. This way, you can avoid causing a blow out or a forest fire the moment some of your burning debris flies out of the fire pit area.

e. When setting your camp fire, keep a handy water bucket or sand bag near you. In case the fire blows out, you can use these to stop the fire from spreading. These natural fire extinguishers are much preferable camp sites because gas fire extinguishers can cause a big wood blow out.

f. Do not leave your campfire unattended. Before you leave the campsite, make sure that you completely put off the fire and the flame. Also, if you leave the campsite, never leave any campfire ingredient such as dry woods, coal, or debris near the camp fire pit. Maintain a distance of at least 1 meter from the campfire ingredients to the fire pit.

Safety Tips in Making a Campfire

Springfields Army Surplus store is a leading online store for camping equipment. Partingtons Caravan Parks provide an excellent alternative to camping sites.