What's it Like to Cook While Camping? It's in Tents!
December, 2014

There comes a time in many boys' lives where they go camping, whether willingly or with light coercion. For me, it was probably both, which led me to enroll in the Boy Scouts of America. I don't remember exactly when I joined, but my earliest memory was while I was in the third grade - it could have been earlier, but it was a long time ago. Scouting activities consists of things like knot-tying and hiking, but there are a lot of camping trips - as little as one night to as many as six or more, though the longer trips are usually only for older Scouts who don't need to have their parent(s) or guardian(s) present. There are many activities involved in camping, such as tent pitching, fire building, games, and songs, but an essential part of camping is cooking - everyone needs to eat and a hungry Scout is an unstoppable force.

When a person who doesn't camp thinks of camp cooking, they likely think that it's only done by campfire, which is partially correct - in addition to the campfires that the Scouts are conscripted to build, camp stoves fueled by propane were more commonly used. The reason being that they are safer, can be used in more environments, and there are some things that one can't cook over a fire. No matter what method is employed, the results are what matters - as long as there is food to be eaten, Scouts will eat, as growing boys are wont to do.

The campsite kitchen in our Troop (i.e. our chapter in Oregon) consisted of a Coleman propane stove, propane canisters, a lighter or matches, and a "kitchen box:" a Rubbermaid tote that held all of our cooking utensils, plates, cups, and cloth towels - these were all washable and reusable, but often we used disposable versions, which we used as fuel for our fires or were recycled if they weren't safe to burn. There were also wash tubs, dish soap, bleach for sanitizing, and sponges for the times we actually washed our things. Mismatched, second-hand pots and pans rounded out the box and completed the set.

Cooking over a fire requires specialized tools - namely a fire ring, either metal or made of rocks, and a grate, which often supplied by camping sites, but all fires require wood, kindling, tinder, matches or a lighter, and rarely "Scout water" (i.e. lighter fluid). Of course the usual utensils - hatchet, axe, saw - were necessary along with a fire poker, which usually was a heavy, iron poker from someone's fireplace set and not a large stick, and water, was always on hand along with the occasional fire extinguisher.

Fire is very exciting to young boys, and the lure of playing with fire even more so, though of course we were taught not to play with fire. However, almost every boy poked around in the fire with a stick or held a piece of paper over the flames to blacken or burn. This fire play was still discouraged, but when the adult leaders weren't around, safety rules were lax.

The iconic campfire food is the s'more - the marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker sandwiches that everyone loves. It is probably everyone's first fire cooking experience, unless a fire-roasted hot dog dinner preceded it. The activity of toasting a marshmallow is a fun experience, where Scouts would wave them slowly over the flames or dipping it precariously close to the embers before pulling off the browned - or blackened - sugary, sticky, melted mess and squeezing it between two halves of a Honey Maid graham cracker and half a Hershey's chocolate bar before devouring it in one or two bites. Often the crackers: chocolate: marshmallow ratio was off, so we were left with an abundance of one or two ingredients, which were then eaten separately with little complaint.

There is one bit of safety advice that I would give to ANY camper - if your marshmallow catches fire, do NOT fling it around to put it out; when a marshmallow melts, the inside softens and isn't always well secured to the stick, which means that it could fly off, potentially setting a tent, a person, or a forest on fire - and only you can prevent forest fires. While this has never happened to me or anyone I've camped with, it is a phenomenon that does occur. The proper way to extinguish a conflagrated confection is to slowly remove it from the fire and blow softly on it until it is no longer aflame.

Potatoes are probably the next step up from hot dogs or s'mores when it comes to campfire culinary experiences, and they as easy to make while outdoors as they are indoors. One only needs to poke holes in the potato, slather on some butter, double wrap it in aluminum foil, and bury it carefully in the coals for thirty to sixty minutes; a long time for hungry campers, but the act of placing and removing them helped alleviate the wait. Once the time is up it can be carefully removed, seasoned, and eaten once cool. The same condiments used at home can be used while camping - salt, pepper, chives, sour cream, butter, and even bacon bits, assuming a cooler is present for the last three, which they often were.

A step above potatoes is what's colloquially called Hobo Stew, but may more appropriately called a Mulligan stew. It's made in individual portions in personal aluminum foil pockets which hold meat, vegetables, and seasonings. Once sealed, with room for steam to escape, the pockets can be set on the coals to cook, usually ten to fifteen minutes. From experience I can tell you that it's important to mark what packet is yours so you don't have to spend five minutes poking through every pocket to find your own. This was also an important lesson in the proper preparation of meat, though no sickness occurred - just complaints of having to wait.

Another device we used while cooking with a fire is a specialty cast-iron pot with thick walls and a lid called a Dutch oven, which is a luxury that I didn't get to experience until my later Scouting years. It’s a squat little pot with stubby legs and a large wire handle from which it can be held or hung from a tripod or rod and it can be used to make all sorts of meals. Cooking with a Dutch oven requires hot coals to be placed under and on top of the pot, a task that all the boys wanted to do, because it involved more playing with fire. Our Troop made many things in "our" Dutch ovens - in reality they belonged to a couple of the adult leaders, not the Troop itself. We made many things in the Dutch ovens including stews, casseroles, cobblers, and donuts, which were just Pillsbury biscuits with a hole poked inside, fried, and then rolled in cinnamon-sugar; not great, but good enough for campers.

A camp stove is more practical for most cooking as it can be used in some shelters like a gazebo, a covered picnic area, and in lean-tos, which often served as our temporary homes for the trip. It also requires less skill and supervision because it is safer than a fire, which frees up the adults to cook their own meals - it's important to note that each Troop is divided into small "patrols" of several boys, usually a mix of young and old, and each patrol is responsible for cooking their own food and cleaning up after themselves. Camp stoves are often easier to use when it is windy or lightly raining, but there have been times where the weather simply wouldn't cooperate, and would turn our cooked meal plans into a session of eating dry, pre-cooked goods like hamburger buns or crackers. A disadvantage to camp stoves is the fuel canisters which are difficult to precisely measure their contents, which has left a patrol to being reduced to borrow a canister or even a stove from another patrol, or the adults, if they're truly desperate.

A particular moment that stands out in my mind as a somewhat distressing experience is one that I've been calling a "kitchen mishap." After campouts, one of the boys in the patrol is required to take the kitchen box home and clean everything properly, including the box itself and the towels. In this mishap, however, one of towels in our box went unwashed and unnoticed. On the next campout, breakfast in the morning was pancakes - an easy and simple meal for young boys to make - after which the boys on KP (kitchen patrol) cleaned the frying pan and dried it with the unwashed, now moldy - and still unnoticed - towel. When dinner rolled around - hamburgers - everything went well, but after dinner, another boy and I became ill, which got the adults attention and they discovered the contaminated towel. While the other boys in the patrol were fine, the other boy and I were both somewhat allergic to mold, hence the sickness.

A lesser "mishap," more of a memory lapse, was the time when a boy who shall remain nameless forgot to bring pancake mix for his patrol's breakfast, which is obviously important for the meal. Luckily pancakes are a staple for camping due to their ease and another patrol was willing to share their mix. Even though patrols were separate units that often competed in friendly challenges, we were all still one group and could work together when needed. However, the other boys proceeded to remind him of his mistake for the rest of the weekend, but as far as forgetting things is concerned, it's relatively minor. Boys have forgotten things like warm clothing, hats, and toothpaste, and once a boy even forgot his sleeping bag - in that case, no spare was available.

The essence of cooking while camping is this: "do whatever is easy, fast, and requires little work." While camping we never sautéed beef tenderloin or had oysters on the half shell, not only because they would be expensive, and unappealing to some boys, they would take a while to make. A hungry Scout looks for the simple answers to eating, which made a lot of meals commonplace for most campouts: breakfasts of pancakes, bacon, and eggs; lunches of sandwiches -both cold cut and PBJ - and soup; and dinners of hamburgers. This isn't to say that other items weren't present in a Scout's cookbook. Basic meals also included French toast, grilled cheese, spaghetti, tacos, "Scout McMuffins" - a McDonald's style "McMuffin" without the trademark - hot dogs, ramen noodles, and practically anything a can. These meals were easy for young boys to make, and the quick preparation resulted in a group of happy campers. There was often little discussion on what to eat during the planning stage of camping.

In times when cooking is impractical or when the group is worn out, meals that required little to no preparation were often feasted upon. Granola bars, chips, crackers, fruit snacks, fruit, and of course, snack cakes. I recall an incident where a Scout threw a Ding Dong at another Scout, upon request, who missed the catch making it to hit him in the chest, knocking him off the picnic bench; no one was hurt, some laugher erupted, and the others playfully flinched whenever the thrower picked up a Ding Dong for the rest of the campout. It was that event that I learned that the foil wrapped, heavily processed snack cakes could be "weaponized."

Cooking while camping is about fun, food, and simplicity, and no matter how it's prepared - with a stove or a fire - when it all boils down to it, if you make it, a Scout will eat it; there are no immovable objects in a Scout's way that will make them yield.