Upgrade Your Camping Meals

Ramen Bombs

Everyone knows how to cook ramen, right? Easy, cheap, low mess, all things a backcountry chef strives for. But ramen by itself is so bland and is not a healthy balanced meal. So let's spruce it up by making the ramen a base for a feast fit for a backcountry king! This recipe has a high caloric density and is fairly lightweight, so more ideal for a backpacking or mountaineering trip.

• Ingredients
• 1 packet of Ramen Soup, ramen noodles broken up
• 1/3 cup Iinstant Mashed Potatoes
• 14/ cup Dehydrated Vegetable Medley
• 1/4 cup Salami, diced into cubes
• 1/4 cup Cheese, diced into cubes
• Handful of Nuts (peanuts, cashews, sesame seeds)

Directions

Boil two cups of water. Turn off heat once boiling and add ramen noodles,seasoning packet, and dehydrated vegetables. Let sit for five minutes to cook noodles. Then add mashed potatoes, salami, and cheese. Mix it all together and top with the nuts for a nice crunchy texture. As with all backcountry foods, tastes better with hot sauce and a beer.

• Tips
• -Feel free to substitute all different types of meats and seasonings to the Ramen Bomb to suit your own style!
• -For cold weather camping or mountaineering, mix in an ounce of coconut or olive oil to gain some extra calories.
• -This dish can be eaten right out of the pot it was cooked in. Just be sure to immediately wash the pan so you don't have flavor bursts in your next meal!
• -If you are going extremely light and fast, this recipe can be all mixed up in a sturdy ziplock bag ahead of time. For preparation, simple add water to the bag and let it sit. The noodles and vegetables will rehydrate and make for a nice meal. Allow for around 20-30 minutes for the noodles to absorb. No stove needed!

Peach Foil Wraps

This is one of those recipes that I stumbled on years ago and that I have been making for a while now. It is a recipe where you can feel "healthy" since the base is a peach but after adding the toppings I am not sure if that is actually the case. If you are camping though then you have been outdoors all day so you deserve the treat right??

• Ingredients
• Aluminum Foil
• Peaches
• Butter
• Orange Juice
• Brown Sugar
• Caramel Sauce (not required)

Directions

Cut the peach in half, remove the pit then set the halves on a sheet of foil. I like to set the halves on top of some brown sugar to let it soak into the bottom of the peach as well. Add a tablespoon of butter to the top of the peach and sprinkle more brown sugar on top. I usually add a few tablespoons of orange juice to the top of the peach as well to keep it from drying out then just wrap it up in the foil. Make sure to have enough foil so that the juice isn't dripping out and making a mess. Remove from the fire and let it cool. Add a drizzle of caramel sauce if you are feeling extra crazy and enjoy.

Biscuit On A Stick

If you are looking for a meal that's just as fun to cook as it is to eat, then look no further than Biscuit on a Stick. This was a favorite meal of mine back on family vacations to the Boundary Waters. The challenge of cooking a perfect biscuit is very real (and for a kid, also really exciting). An easier alternative is to purchase pre made dough in tubes, but that option is only available if you have a cooler to store them in.

• Ingredients (makes 8 biscuits)
• 1" Diameter Sticks
• 1 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Dry Milk
• 2 tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• optional but delicious:
• Honey
• Nutella

Directions

Combine all the mix ingredients except for the olive oil at home. When you're ready to make the biscuits, add the mix, olive oil, and 1/3 cup water to a medium-sized pot. Stir to combine, and then slowly add water until the dough is consolidated but still has a very sticky consistency. It's important to not make the dough too runny or it won't be able to stay on the stick, so err on the side of being too dry.

Find an assortment of 1 inch diameter sticks that are about 3 feet long (feel free to strip the bark off one end, but it's not necessary), then, get a small fire going. The goal is to get a small bed of hot coals to cook over.

Once the coals are ready to go, grab a lemon-sized piece of dough and twist it around one end of the stick. Cook the biscuit over the coals while also rotating the stick to keep the dough from falling off. As the biscuit firms up it will become easier to cook. Try slowly roasting it for a thoroughly cooked biscuit or quickly roasting it for a doughy center. A golden brown coating means it's time to eat.

Slide the biscuit off of the stick and then fill the hole with honey or nutella. Repeat until you're full. Make sure to burn the sticks to remove food particles when you are done.