Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

[Shortpants]

Hidee-ho campateers! Been buried in snow up here in the Great White North (just dug out from the latest Nor'Easter, about 24" of the white stuff, ugh!) so haven't been thinking much about camping... BUT we just reserved a group trip for 5 days in July for 15 people and I am tasked with helping to figure out meals. We usually assign meals to each couple at our other gatherings, but we also have access to electricity and kitchens at those soirees, so that is a little different. Some of our group aren't exactly campers either, so not really well-versed in cooking over a fire or on a camp stove. I'm trying to collect simple, easy on the wallet, not too labor intensive meal ideas for a larger group that can be prepared over a fire or on a two burner camp stove.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions! Can't wait to go camping!!!!

[bluestar99]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

How do feel about Camp Oven cooking? For our groups we use these for everything. If you can make it on the stove or in the oven you can make it in the Dutch oven. We make every meal in one. If you're interested I can give you a few sites with recipes.

[toedtoes]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

Tacos and spaghetti. Tacos are great because you can cook the meat and beans on the fire or stove and the rest is just veggies, etc. Cook the spaghetti noodles on the camp stove and heat the sauce (you can pre-make it at home or use jarred) on the fire.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.campingforums.com/forum/s...-One-pot-meals

Several dishes that you can cook completely on site or prep ahead.

Find a recipe you like but it only serves say 4? Give a holler and we'll help increase the servings.

Another taco type dish is chicken gyros or shawarma

One person mans the meat grill for the chicken; another heats the pita bread and others wash and cut the salad, make the dressing. Much like tacos the eaters puts their own sandwiches together from platters of food placed on the table. Want to bulk up the meal? Serve rice on the side.

A pot of spaghetti w/ meat sauce , a big ol green salad and bruschetta or garlic bread.

Italian wedding sandwiches and an antipasti platter Use those loverly jarred foods like artichoke hearts, marinated 'shrooms; cherry tomatoes and oil marinated olives

Roast a pork shoulder/Boston butt at home, shred the meat, freeze it and make pulled pork sliders served on potato rolls w/ your fav type of slaw (carrot, cole, broccoli). Up to it? Grill some corn ears.

Right now, beef for stewing is on sale (bottom round) for 3-4.99/lb, my way. Could make a nice crock-potted beef stew at home that you freeze and add little potatoes roasted over the fire ( or just boil them before you leave home and reheat over the campfire wrapped in foil with baby carrots), add to stew and serve with wide egg noodles that cook faster than any Italian pasta except the 'spensive fresh variety. Sour cream on the side, sprinkle some fresh chopped parsley over the noodles and they'll love ya.

[MacGyver]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

not too labor intensive meal ideas

Cut slit in film. Microwave on high 4 minutes, peel back film, stir, replace film, cook an additional 2-3 minutes.

[ChadVKealey]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

Tacos and spaghetti. Tacos are great because you can cook the meat and beans on the fire or stove and the rest is just veggies, etc. Cook the spaghetti noodles on the camp stove and heat the sauce (you can pre-make it at home or use jarred) on the fire.

+1 for tacos, especially if there are kids involved. To make them even easier (and simplify cleanup), do walking tacos. Get snack-size bags of corn chips (like Fritos) or tortillas (Doritos), open them up, scoop in the meat, cheese, etc. and chow down! Also, try to vary up the eat choices. I mix up a bunch of my own taco seasoning (those little packets have way too much sodium and too little flavor) and use it on ground beef, turkey or shredded chicken. It's also really easy to cook the meat up ahead of time, freeze it, then reheat over a campfire or in a camp dutch oven.

Also, for breakfast, I'd suggest Baked Oatmeal. I've made that recipe on several scout trips and it always disappears. I triple everything except the brown sugar (only double that), skip the cranberries and add an extra 1/2 cup of milk, then cook it in a 12" Lodge DO with 9 coals around the bottom and 16-18 on the lid for about 30-40 minutes. To make life easier, I mix up the dry ingredients at home and put 'em into a gallon sized zip-top bag.

[toedtoes]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

Cut slit in film. Microwave on high 4 minutes, peel back film, stir, replace film, cook an additional 2-3 minutes.

Even better: Poke fork in film 3 times to vent. Microwave on high 4-5 minutes, let sit for 1 minute. Enjoy.

[toedtoes]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

For breakfasts, you can get the flavored oatmeal and/or cream of wheat individual packets. Heat water over the fire and let folks fix their own bowl with their preferred flavor. Add some cut up melons and you're good to go. You can also get a "just add water" pancake mix and pre-mix it the night before - or the shake and pour - and let folks fix their own in the morning. Bring some blueberries, chocolate chips, etc. and they can add them into their individual pancakes as desired.

Lunches go simple with fruit, cheese and crackers, salami, etc. They can grab when they're hungry and not worry about stoves or fires.

Tacos really are easy and simple. You can also do a search on foil packet meals that can get placed in the fire. Folks can put in their own ingredients as desired and then put them in the fire. Potatoes, meats, various veggies, cheese, eggs, etc. Corn on the cob cooked in foil in the fire.

[tplife]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

The OP asks about over-the-fire or 2-burner stove for meals. Tri-tip is the BBQ go to for any and every big group. Pre-pressure-cooker pork shoulder for carnitas, fried-to-finish over the pan later is another one. A third is the stir-fry to mix pre-prepped and chilled meats like chicken to mix and stir with vegetables in a large wok. Forget the foil-packet cardiologist salt-monster stuff you might consider, it's not health for man nor beast. Think about Life After Tacos.

[ChadVKealey]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

Tri-tip is the BBQ go to for any and every big group.

Maybe on the left coast. Over here, particularly in the northeast, Tri-tip - when you can find it - is prohibitively expensive. My butcher occasionally has a "special" price of $8.99/lb, but it's usually $11.99. If I'm doing beef, it'll be chuck roast or brisket.

But, back to the OP's situation & question: the reality is that there are many options, but the secret to making them successful is preparation. As much as possible, measure and prep ingredients ahead of the trip. As an example, for scout trips, we'd usually prepare 5 or 6 desserts. A week ahead, I'd measure out all the dry ingredients into zip-top bags or plastic containers, clearly labeled with all of the stuff for a particular item in a larger zip-top bag or small box. That way, when we started on dessert prep I could just hand the box to someone and they'd be off. Most veggies (celery, carrots, onions, etc.) can be peeled, diced and frozen with little to no loss in flavor or texture.

Also, if the goal is to come up with some different ideas, why not just ask the people who'll be there what they want? If you have Google account, set up a Google Form survey for folks to fill out. If you don't, there are other options (Survey Monkey, etc.) that will let you collect and organize responses rather than try to coordinate a menu from emails, texts, phone calls and conversations. If there are kids involved, encourage parents to include them in the process. When kids get to pick what they're going to eat, they'll be more inclined to eat it.

[toedtoes]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

I agree with Chad that having the folks going give their input, however, I think in the OP's situation, there are 15 people camping and most have had electrical appliances, etc., to prepare their foods and only a few are familiar with cooking on a fire and/or a campstove. In addition, those campstoves really don't do well with large pots (which you need for feeding 15 people) - so you have to work that into the process.

For those reasons, I think giving the group suggestions on meals that can work and then letting them throw out some variations, etc., is a better way to go. Otherwise you spend all your time explaining why lasagna isn't going to work...

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

Maybe on the left coast. Over here, particularly in the northeast, Tri-tip - when you can find it - is prohibitively expensive. My butcher occasionally has a "special" price of $8.99/lb, but it's usually $11.99. If I'm doing beef, it'll be chuck roast or brisket.

But, back to the OP's situation & question: the reality is that there are many options, but the secret to making them successful is preparation. As much as possible, measure and prep ingredients ahead of the trip. As an example, for scout trips, we'd usually prepare 5 or 6 desserts. A week ahead, I'd measure out all the dry ingredients into zip-top bags or plastic containers, clearly labeled with all of the stuff for a particular item in a larger zip-top bag or small box. That way, when we started on dessert prep I could just hand the box to someone and they'd be off. Most veggies (celery, carrots, onions, etc.) can be peeled, diced and frozen with little to no loss in flavor or texture.

Also, if the goal is to come up with some different ideas, why not just ask the people who'll be there what they want? If you have Google account, set up a Google Form survey for folks to fill out. If you don't, there are other options (Survey Monkey, etc.) that will let you collect and organize responses rather than try to coordinate a menu from emails, texts, phone calls and conversations. If there are kids involved, encourage parents to include them in the process. When kids get to pick what they're going to eat, they'll be more inclined to eat it.

Agreed.
Tri-tip is a West Coast cut and rarely seen on the East Coast. Sort of like in NYC it's easier to get a pernil as opposed to Boston butt. You can use the 2 cuts in pretty much the same way but there are differences.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

Somehow I thought I'd posted the chicken shawarma/gyro technique here but I'm wrong.
Found it on this hopefully gonna be re-opened forum:

http://www.hometalkentertainment.com...icken+shawarma

It's much like tacos in ease of assembly but works best if the meat isn't cut into small pieces until cooked.

[NYCgrrl]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

And here is another reference thread dedicated to camping meals. It's pretty extensive (over 100 posts) and chock full of ideas:

http://www.hometalkentertainment.com...icken+shawarma

HTH!

[Shortpants]

Re: Easy-peasy meals for a large group... Suggestions?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5958[/ATTACH]How do feel about Camp Oven cooking? For our groups we use these for everything. If you can make it on the stove or in the oven you can make it in the Dutch oven. We make every meal in one. If you're interested I can give you a few sites with recipes.

Thank you for this bluestar99, I had totally spaced on the fact I have my monster DO that Hubby gave me that I could press into service for this trip. That opens up a whole other world of meal options for us. I have brought it every small family trip we've been on and done everything from sausage gravy and biscuits to pork roasts in it, so definitely a great option for feeding the crew! Any recipe sites you'd like to share would be greatly appreciated!