Camping food help - what to cook with only one ring?

Tinned potatoes are great. Also things like pasta where you add milk. Will think of some more in a sec.

Bleugh, tinned spuds. and packet pasta ?

can't you eat out? ?

Hot dogs are really easy to cook on a camp stove. You can either chop them up with some baked beans, or heat them in water and then fry some onions in another pan (while the hot dogs are keeping warm in their water off the stove). Don't forget the buns & ketchup!

You could do a vegetable curry. Serve with naan bread rather than rice, or again take the curry off the stove & cook boil in the bag rice. You will need 2 pans as with the hot dogs, but the curry will keep warm while you boil rice

or, take a disposable BBQ with you. As long as you keep it off the ground on a couple of bricks you'll be fine.

I love camping ? I hope the weather says dry for you

Sadly, no. We've got to do it cheaply. Tinned spuds don't float my boat either, but desperate times and all that. I thought about fresh pasta with sauce, but it's all egg pasta, so no good for the boy.

Stir fry pot noodle sounds divine? I think we'll have that every day. Yum?

Boil in the bag rice is a great idea. We're already planning on the disposable barbies.

Fry bacon in a pot, remove the bacon and chop, but leave the grease... Add beans and tin spuds. Return the chopped bacon. Breakfast of champions.

Ah the basic life ? Thankfully my lot will eat packet pasta ?

Stir fries is another good one although you'd have to be careful with the noodles. Or you could always fry some burgers, then put some veg/pots onto boil and put the frying pan on the saucepan with a lid on top to keep the burgers warm. You get good at stacking stuff!

Alternitively buy another stove ?

Buy those disposable BBQs ?

Then you can have whatever you like. Maybe lamb kebabs with pitta and salad and some rice on the stove.

Sausages, chicken breasts, burgers...make your onion and mushrooms in the pan.

You could cook pasta and then heat some sauce through in the same pan.

Oh and lush bacon sandiwches, no sod that, fresh baguettes. Then while you munch the sarnies, heat through some soup.

I'm really hungry now ?

Chilli - Serve with nachos or in taco's with salad.

Risotto! A crazy suggestion for camping but it is in one pan!

Make something like chilli before you go,keep chilled then reheat.

If you have a titter of wit, there's almost nothing you can't make on a camp stove. (although some things probably aren't sensible, even if they are possible)

You just need to plan things a bit more.

Chili, curry, stew, soup... All dead easy one pot options.

But with a spot of pan jiggling you don't even need to restrict yourself to the single pan...

Bit of practice and you can manage multiple courses.

Pan fried chicken in pitta bread/tortilla wraps with salad.

Pork steaks with salad

Cook a big pan of rice, chuck in a few knobs of butter, salt & pepper chop in some spring onions, a can of sweetcorn and fresh tomatoes, serve. Sounds too easy to be any good but it really is delicious.

I make a batch of stovie (corned beef hash) and take it with me. Re-heat on the stove then serve with oatcakes, yum.

Thanks all, some good ideas there. How do I keep stuff cool though so it doesn;t go off (eg if I make a pot of chili)? Will keeping stuff in water be enough? I don;t want to give everyone food poisoning?

If poss chuck a couple of bottles of water in the freezer than store with the Chilli to keep it cool.On the bright side of this weather its hardly gonna get hot at the mo..

We take a portable bbq with us - one of those small barrel type ones that are pretty cheap nowadays (think you can get them from Robert Dyas). You can cook most things then and some campsites have issues with disposable barbecues.

xxx

Ooooh, what about those minute steak things? they would be nice in crusty bread with onions and mustard ?

Buy a cooked chicken and salad and cook flavoured rice.

or go to the local takeway!

You don't keep things..... Well not much.

What sort of camping are you doing?

It's a church camp - loads of families in a huge field. I'm planning on going out daily for provisions. Minute steaks are a fab idea, as is risotto, and taking a couple of things ready cooked is good too. If I took a cooked chook I reckon I could make a passable imitation of Sunday Dinner on the hob, as long as I can saute some tinned tatties. I may have to try this week and see if they're edible.

LaP, I'll keep the Pot Noodles in mind?

? Ginni

I'm on my way to bed, but imo I'd ditch the gas ring and build a campfire. I speak only from winning competition camp 3 years running with the girl guides...<ahem> but get a huge big pot and make a big stewy type thing, wrap some spuds in tin-foil and throw them on the fire - take yourself of on a hike for a few hours and come back to a fabulous dinner.

For desert - we used to wrap peeled bananas in tinfoil too - slice them first and stick a chuck of dairy milk in the centre before wrapping - delicious!

Some ideas here https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles/cat.asp?catid=5 not sure if they're for 1 ring or 2, but they might help

One of the nicest one pot meals I did last year was macaroni cheese. Cook macaroni, drain. Add creme freiche and lots of the ready grated cheese you can buy.

Another good thing is raking ready cooked chilli (frozen) as it works as an ice block for one day, and then you can eat it.

If you're shopping daily, you don't really have an issue with keeping stuff fresh. Milk etc will keep in the shade of the tent on the grass. If you've got a coolbag, buying a bag of ice when you go shopping will keep everything colder than a cold thing. We managed on a super hot weekend last year like that - even kept ice lollies for a couple of hours like that!

Camping is the ONLY time that tinned potatoes, tinned frankfurters etc come into their own. My favourite is possible on one ring - boil kettle and put frankfurters in boiling water with pot lid on - it warms them through fine. Meanwhile, fry onion then add sliced tinned pots and diced onion. Cut up the frankfurters when they've heated enough and add them to the mess. Fabulous with bread and butter!

Lateral thinking on the cooking on 1 ring thing...

Aldi are selling 2 ring cookers with a grill for £30. We've just bought one. Camping gas type things. (We also bought a big stand thing for it for another £20).

They are also seling double inflatable beds for £10, electric pumps (car or mains) for £5, electric remote controlled led lantern £10.

We already got a 10 man tent from Costco for £115, so we're nearly all ready to start endless camping holidays ?

2 weeks in Cornwall, here we come!

We just need a water container now.

Oh I love one pot cooking....

Make a mince dinner with carrots, veg, a gravy of some description for day one and then on day two add in a load of chili, some pasta and a couple of tins of toms.

A meat stew of some description with dumplings and veg all cooked in.

A premade pasta dish that just needs reheating.

Fondue??

Drunken chicken was always our favourite. Before leaving home, buy a chook and make meat balls and stuff the chook with the meat balls and small peeled shallots. Place into a large stock pan and add one bottle of wine or stock if preferred, loads of veg such as carrots, small potatoes, celery, peas etc. Bring to the boil and then simmer for a good couple of hours. Loads of crusty bread to mop up the juices, or when the chook is cooked, remove from the heat, boil up a tin of potatoes and mash them with some garlic, butter and cheese.

We've only got one ring and it doesn't stop H rustling up some fab meals. We do have ordinary pasta too - he boils up the water, adds the pasta and then takes it off the heat and lets it cook in the hot water - then he gets on with the sauce - fries onions, adds mushrooms and whatever and then puts the pasta back on to finish it off. Some things will cook slowly in their own water so you don't have to do everything in one pot just because you only have one ring.

Duggo, that mac cheese sounds fab. Might do that next friday with some bacon, I'm taking Small on his first camping trip <nervous laugh>

One-pot meals:

corned beef hash

risotto

Veggie stew with potatoes - you can use real ones, don't have to be out of a tin. Or if you want potatoes as an accompaniment, just boil the kettle before you start cooking, put boiled water in vacuum flask, then make instant mash as you're about to serve the main course.

Seeing as it's gone on a while, I dug out my recipes. Unless otherwise stated amounts in these are for one/two people so adjust as required.

Just a few faves:-

Corn Chowder

1/2 pint milk
1/2 pint water
2 1/2 oz. instant potato
3 oz. cheese, grated
1/2 tsp. mustard powder
7 oz. can peppers & sweetcorn
Salt & pepper

Combine milk & water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and add potato powder stirring all the time until lumps are absorbed. Add remaining ingredients and stir until cheese is melted. Season.

Simple Risotto

2 rashers bacon, rinded & chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 mushrooms, chopped
oil for frying
3 oz. cooked rice
1 cup stock

Fry the bacon and vegetables together in a little oil. Add rice and fry for 1 minute. Add the stock and bring to boil. Cover and simmer gently until stock is absorbed.

Chinesey Chicken

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
oil for frying
1 portion chicken
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
soy sauce
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 carton beansprouts

Fry onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add chicken, soy sauce, ginger & sugar. sir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the beanspouts and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Hobo Stroganoff

1/2 green pepper, sliced
few mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion chopped
1oz butter
1 tsp. flour
soy sauce
2 tbs. natural yoghurt

Fry the pepper, mushrooms and onion until soft. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add soy sauce and yoghurt, heat very gently. Serve sprinkled with paprika.

Fish Cake

1/2 of 2 1/2 oz. packet instant potato
4 oz. tuna or salmon, flaked
salt & pepper
1 oz. breadcrumbs
oil for frying

make up the instant mash with 3fl oz. boiling water. Mix the potato and fish together. Season. Shape into rounds and flatten. Coat in breadcrumbs and fry on both sides till brown.

Onion & Sausage Rissoles

4oz. sausage meat
1/2 onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper
oil for frying

Mix the sausage meat & onions and season. Shape into flattened rounds and fry for 5 mins on each side.

Fish Creole (for 4)

1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
oil for frying
16 oz. can tomatoes
1 tsp. chilli powder
pinch mixed herbs
4 portions white fish, flaked

Fry peppers and onions in a little oil until soft. Add the tomatoes, seasoning and fish & simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Ratatouille (for 4)

3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large onions, sliced
1 large aubergine, cubed
oil for frying
1 green pepper, sliced
3 courgettes, sliced
6 large tomatoes, quartered
pinch mixed herbs
ground black pepper

Gently fry the garlic, onions and aubergine for 5 minutes. add the other ingredients, cover and cook gently for 40 mins.

Bean Stew (for 4)

15 oz. can kidney beans
15 oz can borlotti beans in chilli sauce
15 oz. can butter beans
14 oz. can ratatouille
16 oz. can tomatoes
2 tbs. tomatoe puree

Drain kidney and butter beans. Mix all ingredients together and heat gently. Add seasoning to taste.

Spicy Chicken (for 4)

1lb. onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
oil for frying
8 oz. can tomatoes
2 tbs. tomatoe puree
1 tbs. paprika
4 portions, skinned chicken

fry onion & garlic very gently for 10 mins. Add tomatoes, puree and seasoning. Add the chicken and coat thouroughly in the sauce. Place lid on pan and simmer for 45 mins.

Chilli Con Carne (for 4)

3oz. canned tomatoes
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
oil for frying
1 1/2 lb. minced meat
1 tbs. wholemeal flour
3 tbs. tomato puree
3 tsp. chilli powder
1 green pepper, chopped
2 jalepeno pepper finely sliced
1 1/2 lb. red kidney beans, cooked

drain the tomatoes, reserving 1 cup of the juice. Fry the onion and garlic in a litle oil until soft. Add the mince and cook until the meat is browned. Add the flour puree, chilli powder and some tomato juice. Mix well, add the tomatoes, pepper and chillis. Add the beans and stir well. Cover and simmer for at least 30 mins.

Easy Dhansak (for 4)

12 oz. red split lentils
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large onions, chopped
2oz. butter
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tbs. HOT curry powder
1 tsp. chilli
1 1/2 lb. chicken, cut small
8 oz. potatoes, diced
16 oz. can tomatoes
2 oz. sultanas
2 tbs. natural yoghurt
2 tbs. mango chutney
salt & pepper

Fry the lentils, garlic and onion in butter. Add the ginger and curry powder and cook for 10 mins. over low heat. add the chicken and potatoes and cook for a further 5 mins. Add the tomatoes and sultanas. Add enough water to cover the mixture, cover and cook till all water is absorbed. Add the yoghurt, chutney and seasoning.

Spicy Chick Peas

8 oz. can chick peas
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp tomato puree
1 small onion, chopped
butter for frying

Fry the onion in butter until soft. Mix all the ingredients together and heat through.

Tandoori Vegetables

5fl oz natural yoghurt
2 tsp. tandoori mix
squeeze lemon juice
1 onion, finely chopped
4oz. green beans, cooked
2 tomatos, quartered

Mix the yoghurt and tandoori mix with lemon juice. Add the vegetables and leave to marinade for at least one hour. Heat gently in a saucepan.

Peanut Stir-Fry

1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 carrot, cut into thin strips
1 red pepper chopped
oil for frying
1 oz. peanuts
1 tbs. peanut butter
8 oz. beansprouts
1 tbs. honey
1 tbs. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. chilli sauce

Fry onion, garlic, carrot and pepper in oil until brown. Add peanuts and beansprouts and fry for one minute. Mix peanut butter honey soy sauce and chilli sauce together and add to the vegetable mixture. continue to fry until sauce coats vegetables and mixture has heated through.

That should give you some food for thought.

We live on risotto, tins of soup, porridge, tinned rice pudding and stirfry when camping.