I shuddered as the thunder cracked loudly, the wind increased in force, and rain began to fall heavily. As lightning flashed a crooked path across the darkened sky my stomach growled. Wally and I were sheltered from the storm, but only by our small tent. We had been fishing earlier in the day, but bad weather had forced us to hunt a hole. I knew I could go for a long time without food and any fire right now was out of the question without a lot of work. Oh, I could have a bag of chips, bread and peanut butter, but I really wanted a real nice meal. A meal cooked on the open fire. For me the outdoors and cooking go together like ham and beans. I just can't have one without the other.
When I cook I consider many different aspects. I consider the type of wood, the size of the fire, the type of food to be cooked, the cooking method (boiled, roasted, baked, etc.) as well as my eating utensils. At times the weather has to be considered, the time of day, or if I am in a survival situation. It is more difficult to cook in the dark and cooking in a blazing snowstorm or heavy rain is a little more challenging for all of us. In a survival situation your cooking utensils and food choices may even be limited. But, all things considered, I do love to cook out of doors.
Depending on the length of my stay I carry different foods for different trips. If the trip is only an over nighter, or for a couple of nights I will use fresh products. A trip longer than a few days has me considering other vittles. I dislike canned foods because they are so heavy, especially if I am backpacking. Now, if you don't have to carry them very far they are fine, but anyone who has done much backpacking knows you sweat for every pound you carry. Unneeded weight is a real killer. If you travel light, you will travel well.
In my opinion most people attempt to cook with a fire that is way too big, or they cook directly over an open flame. I usually only cook on hot coals and keep my fire small. The reason for this is with a small fire it is easier to control the temperature and it uses less firewood. An open flame may be, at times, good for boiling, but most foods cooked on it will just burn. It is just too difficult to control the temperature of a flame. Coals, on the other hand, can be added or removed to control the heat. I also, at times, use a small grill that has folding legs. I merely place the grill on its legs over a bed of hot coals (or take a rack from the oven). My food is usually done in short order. Save the open flame cooking for marsh mellows or a nice burned black hot dog.
A normal menu for me when I can carry fresh food is just like at home. I usually have steak, chicken, chops and lots of veggies. I always use the fresh stuff up first and save the dried or package stuff for later in the trip. I take a small ice chest to keep the food cool and safe. Pancake mixes, dried soups, or other items not requiring temperature control can be premixed in most cases and stored with your other dry goods. By premixed, I mean all the ingredients in it with the exception of water or milk. Milk, by the way, is best on long trips if it is powdered or the type sold that does not require refrigeration (powdered milk can be added to your mixes in the bags). Due to weight problems of the un-refrigerated milk and the bulkiness of the containers, I carry additional powdered milk in zip lock bags. Keep in mind, most of the foods you eat at home, you can eat while camping. At least you can for the first few days.
As I said earlier, there are many different ways to cook foods. Of course the type of food often determines the method used to prepare it. One meal my kids used to love to take camping was what they called a “country TV dinner.” Let me explain in some detail.
The night before a camping trip, I let each camper (especially a child) select what they want for dinner the next day. Let’s use chicken in this example. I place a chicken leg with thigh attached, some cut-up potato wedges, sliced carrots, and maybe an onion half on a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Seasonings are added as individually desired. I then fold the aluminum up and over the sides of the meal, and lastly the top. I place the whole works on another piece of heavy aluminum. This time I fold the metal carefully over the first one. I make sure the aluminum is sealed well and not torn. All the meals then go into the freezer.
The next night at the campsite all the kids have to do is place the dinners on a bed of hot coals, turning every few minute’s. The aluminum traps the steam and the food cooks very quickly. If the meal is not cooked enough for your taste, just re-wrap it and place in back on the coals. Believe it or not, it makes a very easy and tasty meal. Best of all, the kids love it because they made it! Oh, before I forget, dessert can be cooked the same way. Wrap an apple, banana, or even pineapple in aluminum and add it to the coals. As far as I am concerned, heavy-duty aluminum foil is as necessary as water when I camp.
Now, let’s discuss how to get the most out of a little meat. Let’s say you are camping and your friends show up unexpectedly. Do you still grill that piece of round steak and just give each person a smaller share than you had planned? I suggest you simply modify your menu. You will get more from the meat if you add it to the stew pot. Add few potatoes, carrots, and perhaps some onion and you will have a nice soup. Also, if food is scarce, as in a survival situation, you will retain more vitamins and nutrients if the meat is boiled. When meat is roasted the juices (vitamins and nutrients) just drip onto the coals and burn.
I have seen old timers bake cakes, pies, and even biscuits in a cast iron Dutch oven. I have seen cast iron skillets carried all over the state by backpackers who swear it is the only way to cook. I say go for it, if that is your choice. I prefer to carry an aluminum frying pan, a large aluminum pot, a coffee pot, and a roll of aluminum foil. Yep, aluminum cookware is my metal of choice. I like it because it is lightweight and heats up quickly. Just be very careful with the heat of your coals and the food cooked with aluminum won’t burn. Additionally, I have each person carry their own mess kit.
If you are forced to do so, you can cook with much less equipment. A sharpened stick, chunk of food, and a fire is all that is really needed. Just turn the food occasionally to avoid burning and you’ll have a meal done in no time. Of course, in a survival situation there are many alternate methods to cook by.
First, it all depends on what types of foods you have to cook when faced with survival. In most cases we are caught ill prepared and are forced to survive, thus we may not have much food with us. If that is the case, look around in Mother Nature’s supermarket and discover what is available and plentiful to eat. I suggest you purchase a good dependable survival manual that has clear photos of plants in the wild that are eatable. Also, make sure any survival manual you purchase has the U.S. Army’s edibility test listed in it. I suggest the Army Field Manual 21-76 or the U.S. Air Force Aircrew Survival Pamphlet 64-5 as excellent small survival aids.
Cattails, usually found in shallow water of ponds and lakes, are usually easy to find and the root can be pulled out of the mud and cooked right on the hot coals of your fire. Dandelion greens, poke salad and other plants can be found in most places in North America as well.
A word of caution here, eat no plant you are uncertain of. Many plants can kill you or make you seriously ill if ingested. Additionally, any plant (with the exception of the dandelion plant) that has a “milky” colored sap is considered unsafe by most survival instructors to eat.
Also, if you don’t know your berries, avoid all white and red ones, some of them can cause serious illnesses or death as well. However, the odds are, you’ll be forced to eat plants, insects, and small game.
You may like a mushroom with your steak, but avoid them in the wild. There are two main reasons for this, 1) many are very poisonous and 2) they have absolutely no nutritional value at all, when compared to the potential danger they present. If you are one hundred percent sure of your mushrooms picking skills, then the decision is yours. I suggest they all be avoided.
Insects, which are unappealing to most North Americans when it comes to eating them, can be fixed in a number of different ways. I do not suggest eating them uncooked because that may make you ill as well. If you wish, they can simply be roasted over the fire, but I dislike the appearance of insects (grasshoppers, worms, crickets, etc.,) when it comes to eating them. Usually, I will roast them in a piece of aluminum or on a stick until they are semi-dried, then I will pound them into a paste or flour-like mix. At that point I can add them to soups and stews and still get the needed protein I want without looking at the bug’s body. I know from my military experiences that many cultures in the world quickly eat insects and without a second thought of doing so, but for most North Americans it is a quick turn off.
Small game is at times easy to catch. The more remote you are the easier it may be, since the animal may not have had much contact with humans. Keep in mind though most animals in the wild will be very cautious as a matter of simple survival. Most small game can be caught with snares, nets, or perhaps clubbed with a large limb. I have caught squirrels with a fishing pole and a hook (using a small piece of bread as the bait), rabbits with a forked stick (the rabbit ran into a hole in the rocks and I pushed the forked stick against his flesh and twisted the stick to secure him), birds with baited fishing hooks, and snakes with rocks. As I suggested earlier, boiling small game is preferred so you retain the nutrients you need from the animal. You can boil in a canteen cup, metal cup, aluminum foil, a birch bark container, an animal bladder or stomach, or even a paper cup. The key when using paper or bark is to keep the inside of the contain wet and not to place it directly in contact with open flames of your fire.
Survival is never easy and for most of us hunger is a big factor when placed in a life threatening situation. Just keep in mind that when you are surviving, lower your demands for quality food, eat what you recognize, and make every attempt to retain all the nourishment you can from your food source. Also, remember, most North Americans eat much more than we need to survive, so hunger is not as big an issue as we usually make it out to be. This is especially true when we remember that most folks are rescued within forty-eight hours of being placed in a survival situation.
At the same time, most of us prefer a nice meal when we camp. It seems to bring out the best as far as most of us are concerned. Plus, I many people find it fun and relaxing to cook when they camp. I suggest you go to a local bookstore and discover the many different types of books out there on camping and cooking. They are filled with original ideas that can add to your camping enjoyment. After all, enjoyment is the main reason we spend time out doors.
