Camping Hacks :: Cooking

Hey guys. So yesterday I blogged about my recent trip to Samburu with Onetouch Live. Did you read it? If not, please do. I shall wait.

One of the things that give the most issues for people is food for camping. Thinking about this just gives headaches. It used to do the same for me  when I started but now I am better at it. Every trip teaches me something new and an easier way to do things. I haven't gotten to a place where I actually prep a whole meal while camping but so far I have become well acquainted with open flame grilling. It's the easiest and fastest and has the least clean up to do after. It also needs the least ingredients.

See the box on the right with plates and olive oil? That's my camping mobile kitchen. It's got all I need.

First, you have to have a container just for your camping cooking. This way you always know when something is finished and replace it. Also, you won't use the camping ingredients for your home cooking. Always have the basics in the container; Salt, Black pepper & Olive Oil (or your oil preference).

Olive Oil

Mixed Spices (or Black Pepper. They just didn't have it at Nakumatt)

Coarse salt.

Always think about what you are going to eat by meal. This way you have a list of ingredients and know how to store them. For example, you have chicken for dinner on Tuesday and fish for dinner on Monday. You store your chicken in the bottom of your cooler box and fish on top. That way, you get out the fish without affecting the chicken and it stays cool. Also, freeze all the meats the night before or buy it frozen (if you are buying on the way to your destination). Frozen meats stay fresher longer. Use ice packs instead of ice cubes in your cooler box. Ice packs don't defrost into water and occupy less space. If you have to buy a bag of ice cubes, keep it in the cooler box in the bag, then the water won't mix with the food.

For this trip, we knew we'd stop at the Nakumatt in Nanyuki for supplies and buy fruit and sweet potatoes on the road in Nyeri or Nyahururu or Meru. The fruits are always fresher here anyway. We decided to only cook dinner, have ready made stuff for breakfast and eat lunch at restaurants. So we bought bread, sweet potatoes and juice for breakfast. We bought baguettes and chicken legs for dinner. The chicken legs were already chopped up so no cutting up chicken at camp. Pre-done work is always better than doing it at camp. We also bought some rosemary for the chicken.

Prep was so easy, apply some olive oil on the chicken and sprinkle some salt and black pepper on both sides of the chicken then let it hit the heat. Apply butter on the baguette and let it also hit the heat (butter side down).

Prepped chicken legs ready to hit the heat.

Baguette (with the rest on the fire)

Flame grilled rosemary chicken. Yum!!

So there. I plan to these more deliberately when I camp so please ask anything you'd like to know about it. I hope you aren't afraid of camping because of food next time.

God bless you and do have a great week.