Easy Camping Recipes Using 5 Ingredients or Less
Nothing's better after a day outdoors than a delicious meal that can be pulled together quickly and easily over an open fire. These dishes all require five ingredients or less (not including some staples such as salt, pepper and cooking oil or butter) and minimal tools — in most cases a pot or pan, a bowl and one or two utensils — allowing you to pack light but still enjoy a fun and tasty meal around the fire. For some of these camping recipes, you’ll need to cover your pot to get things simmering; if you don’t have a lid, use a tin plate, foil or anything else that’s heatproof to create a tight seal on the pot.
We used a metal grill grate over a log fire in a firepit to make these recipes. Build your fire to create heat sources of varying intensity — high, medium and low — so you can control the heat under your pot by moving it around. As a general guideline, for low heat, set a pot over logs that are mostly ash with flickering flames. Medium heat will be an active fire several inches under the pot. With high heat, there will be flames licking the bottom of the pot. Use cast-iron or another heavy-duty material and avoid plastic handles as the flames could melt plastic.
Smoky Campfire Queso
Combine 8 ounces cubed processed cheese (such as Velveeta), one 10-ounce can diced tomatoes and green chiles (such as Ro-Tel), 1/4 cup chopped pickled jalapeños and 1 teaspoon smoked paprika in a medium pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon and moving the pot around as needed to keep the bottom from burning, until the cheese is melted and the queso is smooth, about 5 minutes. Serve straight out of the pot with tortilla chips or your favorite dippers. Serves 4
