Looking for camping food inspiration? Here are seven quick and easy recipes for campfire cooking.
When it comes to affordable UK weekend getaways, camping often comes out on top. Pitching up a tent in the great outdoors creates an instant sense of adventure. Sleeping under the stars makes for a wonderful way to just get away from it all, enabling us to relax and connect with nature.
However, while you’ll probably spend a lot of time wondering which UK campsites to stay at, what camping equipment to invest in, and even what to wear camping, the matter of what to cook while camping often goes largely overlooked. Sure, we might pack a couple of cans of baked beans to heat up on the campfire but, for most campers at least, this is usually as far as it goes.
In reality, there are countless possibilities when it comes to the question of what to eat while camping, whether you’ll be cooking on a traditional campfire, or a contemporary camping stove. Many of these foods can be prepared using tinned or dry produce which doesn’t need to be kept chilled; however, if you’re a committed camper, you might benefit from investing in a portable camping fridge (assuming you’re not staying in a campervan, in which case you’ll likely already have one!)
Read on for some campfire cooking inspiration.
Campfire cooking: what to eat while camping
Homemade baked beans
While many campers reach for a tin of baked beans to eat while camping, you can’t beat the taste of homemade baked beans. Cheap and easy to make using dried cannellini beans, haricot beans, or borlotti beans, this is a great dish to prepare in advance, and heat up to eat while on your camping trip.
For a tasty twist on traditional baked beans, try my recipe for homemade baked beans with Marmite and bacon. You’ll love them! Plus, they’re an easy recipe to cook with children – and a great way to teach teach them where their food comes from.
Grilled Padron peppers
Commonly served as bar snacks in Spain (where they’re known as “pimiento de padrón”), these plump green peppers are delicious grilled on a barbecue, until slightly blistered and charred. You might’ve pitched your tent up somewhere in the English countryside, but after devouring a few of these, you’ll feel like you’re camping in Spain!
Bangers
Baked beans aside, bangers (or sausages, as they’re otherwise known) are the ultimate campfire comfort food. Heat a little oil in a frying pan and let them sizzle away on the campfire, until browned and cooked throughout. Cut one of the sausages in half to check that they’re cooked or, for an even safer approach, invest in a meat probe to check the temperature; cooked meat should reach at least 70°C.
Enjoy your bangers with baked beans, or slot them into rolls and top with fried onions and ketchup for hot dogs.
Marshmallow skewers
If you didn’t roast marshmallows over an open fire, did you even go camping?
Roasting marshmallows over the campfire has to be one of my all-time favourite camping pastimes. I have fond memories of going camping with my local Brownies group as a child, and sliding marshmallows onto sticks to roast over the campfire.
While you can use wooden skewers soaked in water to make marshmallow skewers, metal skewers with a wooden handle tend to work best. Simply slide the marshmallows onto the skewer until full, and then carefully place the skewer into the flames until the marshmallows begin to melt, and brown.
S’mores
S’mores are another campfire cooking must and, once you’ve prepared your marshmallow skewers following the steps above, you’re already halfway there!
Top a digestive biscuit with a piece of chocolate, followed by hot, roasted marshmallow. Place another biscuit on top to sandwich your s’mores together, and tuck in!
Omelette
Omelettes are incredibly quick, easy and affordable to cook on a camping stove. Simply combine beaten eggs with fresh meat and/or veg, heat a little oil in a frying pan, pour in the egg mixture and cook for 7-10 minutes, until cooked through.
You can add all kinds of ingredients to your omelette, from bacon, and smoked salmon; to fresh or canned veg.
Frying pan pizza
Not only does frying pan pizza taste amazing, but it’s also pretty fun to make – especially if you’re camping with kids.
Prepare some pre-made pizza dough mix according to the packet instructions, and allow the dough to rest for an hour or so. Then, roll the dough out onto a flat surface or stretch it out using your hands (you might need to bring a chopping board with you!) Next, add your toppings. Tomatoes, mozzarella and basil are a great place to start, but feel free to experiment with any toppings you like.
Afterwards, place your pizza into a non-stick frying pan, and cook until the crust has browned, and the cheese has melted.
So, as you can see, there’s much more to camping food than canned baked beans! In fact, it’s surprising just what you can cook on the campfire when you go camping, when you put your mind to it.
Can you think of any other recipes that work well on the campfire, or any other camping foods you particularly like to enjoy?