Guilty camping treats

[flybouy]

Coffman's yes! I think they replaced the original steamer recently (as in the late 1970's) I remember the place in Cumberland. As a child we went thru Cumberland on the way to grandparents house in Morgantown, WV. Parents would stop at a large fruitstand IIRC was right begore LaVale.

[markcee]

Originally Posted by notanlines

And the ‘dog has to be almost black, but not quite. Numerous cracks help also!

Skin on, all beef.....and agree whole heartedly with some considerable burn marks and cracking. I don't mind the bun slathered with some butter and toasted face down hard with a bit of char on the edges either. Follow up with some nice raw onion and a good mustard........getting hungry!

[billsr]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

There were times when I was eating C rations (before the days of MRE's) that I would have "walked a mile for a can of SPAM".....

When I was stationed at Clark AB, PI in the 60's, we got C-rats every Saturday for lunch, for quite awhile. To me, most of it was good. There was always big garbage cans filled with cheese and crackers, jelly and crackers, etc. at the entrance to the chow hall, and I always stocked up when leaving the hall.

[Weldon]

I always marinade chicken in Italian dressing and then grill it. For any leftover chicken, we put it on a tortilla with a bunch of cheese, put a second tortilla on top, and grill until tortillas are crispy...chicken and cheese quesadillas!! We allow our kids to buy 1 large box of little debbies each trip. Fudge rounds and oatmeal creme pies are the most common. They dont get em at home and there are never any leftover to take back home.

[dutchmensport]

I suppose, because we have a fire pit at home, and we do a lot of fires at home, our diet at home is really no different than when we travel with the camper. We have our favorite foods, camping or not. But we do have 1 unique "tradition" we've been doing for about 35 years now (actually, the first time my wife and I went camping together using the back of a pick up truck for our bed)...

On the first camp-out of the season, upon arrival at the first campsite, first night there, we have wine and cheese and some kind of gourmet crackers. Even when the kids were little, we would bring along sparkling grape juice for them. When the kids were older and no longer with us, and now we had a travel trailer, we'd add a single candle to the dinette table. It was always romantic and elegant.

The second tradition, which started the same time, on the first morning of the first camp-out of the new season, or new year, (which ever came first), we'd celebrate breakfast with T-bone steak and eggs and later we added home-made hash browns. When the kids were still little and still with us, they got T-bone also. Our dog always got the bones when we were done. We've been doing this for 35 years now and have not missed yet.

In 2021, on January 2 this year, we headed to Georgia for 5 weeks. We had our wine and cheese that night at a KOA and the next morning, before breaking camp, I still fixed the T-bone, eggs, and hash browns. I think that's the earliest in the year we've ever done it.

[notanlines]

Dutch, I was a little worried when you started with " But we do have 1 unique "tradition" we've been doing for about 35 years now (actually, the first time my wife and I went camping together using the back of a pick up truck for our bed)..."

[travelin texans]

Hobo dinners!
Potatoes, carrots, couple leaves of lettuce or cabbage & a hamburger patty with a couple hotdogs along side. Place the lettuce or cabbage on a piece of foil followed the potatoes, carrots or whatever veggies you want with the meat on top, wrap all in the foil & place the packages over hot coals til you figure meat is done, ain't nothing better by the evening campfire except maybe the adult beverage to wash it down.

[Ellen]

Chocolate Chunk Cookies…chocolate chip cookies made with chopped chocolate rather than chips. Little bits of chocolate throughout the slightly crispy cookie. But now that sugar is forbidden, I’ll probably have to come up with something else except when the grandkids come along.

[takpak]

My my, everyone is forgetting the midday snacks one must have. And, what is a better snack (or dessert) than.....TWINKIES!!!

[colouiss651]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Haven’t been out in quite a while but it’s tradition to make a pork fatty. When DW and I first got together 20+ yrs ago, we would get a Mrs Smith Berry pie, but haven’t seen one in forever.

Stuff posing as meat (SPAM). YOU WOULD ACTUAY EAT THAT?! To each his own. Now Brats! That's a treat I dont eat at home.

[Bandit12]

Dad was a WWII Navy Seabee vet. There were three food items he refused to eat.

SPAM

Orange Marmalade

Cream of Wheat

Just about anything else was fair game. Ever heard of souse? He'd eat that. Think head cheese.

Now our go to camping meals are nearly the same as what we eat at home. Only difference is usually breakfasts. Eggs, bacon, hash browns, pancakes, sausage, French toast at camp. Home breakfast is usually bagel, muffin, and a cup of coffee.

Coffee is different at camp too. At home, it's run thru the drip machine At camp, French press coffee only.

[Northern Lights]

My Dad told me that SPAM was included in the rations he & his buddies received overseas in WWII. They tired of it in a short period of time.
Apparently his family at home didn't know they were being sent it. The used rationing stamps to buy a supply of it & mailed it to him.

[notanlines]

Bandit, "Ever heard of souse? He'd eat that. Think head cheese." Pick up a pack of souse from, say, Oscar Meyer and read the ingredients. Item number one says 'hog snout.' All my grandgirls just cringe when I kid them about it. The very best is from small butcher shops, think Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, where they make there own. And only serve it COLD!

[Weldon]

I may be alone here, but i really like spam. Mom would fry it in the cast iron skillst in slices, and 2 would fit on a sandwich with mustard and ketchup. I made the mistake...scratch yhat, 2 mistakes...of cooking (1) spam and (2) fried bologna when the wife was preggo with #1. It made her nauseous. She still won't let me cook either one, and our kids are 8 and 10.

[sourdough]

I guess for us the "only" thing(s) we eat camping are pretty much what I do all the time. Years ago when I REALLY camped (no RV) my stuff was on a fire pit or in tin foil on the side; no lights etc. but the fire - loved that. Whatever you could throw on the fire, including birds, game animals, steak, fish etc. was fair game. After the embers went down it was bunk time; 7pm or whatever.

Nowadays it's in an RV. We don't cook things "particular" to camping. We fix what fits where we are. Maybe I'm cooking clams from the E side of FL, oysters from the W side, gator from the glades, homemade sausage from TX, shrimp from TX, LA, MS or FL..... I guess my special camping "foods" vary all over the place. But, fried potatoes and onions with bacon and fried eggs is a good start for "every time".

[notanlines]

While not exactly camping, DW did do a little cooking yesterday while nursing her knee and this is what was cooked up: Catfish Atchafalaya over Ellis Stansel rice. Crawfish tails were frozen out of Louisiana, but every thing else was fresh.
Even the baguette from Publix wasn't half bad.

[HANGAR]

Twice a year, for our longer stay trips with friends & family, we always do a surf n' turf night with lobster tails. I'll boil the tails to make sure they're cooked good and then throw them on the BBQ for a few minutes just before the filet mignons are ready to be taken off. I can't remember the last time I had lobster for dinner at home, probably because I have it a couple times a year camping and it's a real low-cal meal!
Another camping only meal is $*it-on-a-shingle (aka - chipped beef or SOS). Once in awhile for breakfast, we'll bake biscuits in the oven and pour the SOS all over the biscuits. Again, can't remember the last time I had SOS at home. Just another one of those camping only meals.
It was already mentioned, but you have to cook-up some marshmallows over the fire pit to make Smores at least one night!

[Gumby52]

I actually still like SPAM. We used to always have it when I went on camping trips with the Boy Scouts. Still like it when we're camping and no food police around to pass judgement. I didn't even care when in the 70's they started requiring food to list ingredients. I know Hormel took a hit when it was shown that SPAM's first 4 ingredients were Squirrel Possum And Mouse, but I still like it - albeit on the Blackstone.

We do have a new guilty pleasure just discovered this past week while in Maine.
Pot Stickers on the Blackstone! 4 minutes to amazing - We buy the pot stickers at a local market and thought we would give it a shot while camping. 3 minutes on medium low with just a little oil to brown them, hit them with one good squeeze of water and put the dome on top for 1 minute to steam them. Simply amazing!

Add an adult beverage and I'm good for the afternoon.

[JRTJH]

Since we've "sort of" transitioned to recipes, here's one for a SPAMwich that we have when we want a quick lunch but not another "PBJ sammich"...

On a hamburger bun, lay a 1/4" slab of SPAM, top with a thick slice of beefsteak tomato, a thinner slice of purple (or Vidalia) onion and a slice of pepperjack or cheddar cheese. Place under the broiler or on the grill (on indirect heat/not on the lit burner side) close the grill cover and let the SPAMwich warm until the bun is toasted and the cheese is melted.

Serve with chips and jalapeno slices.

[Weldon]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Since we've "sort of" transitioned to recipes, here's one for a SPAMwich that we have when we want a quick lunch but not another "PBJ sammich"...

On a hamburger bun, lay a 1/4" slab of SPAM, top with a thick slice of beefsteak tomato, a thinner slice of purple (or Vidalia) onion and a slice of pepperjack or cheddar cheese. Place under the broiler or on the grill (on indirect heat/not on the lit burner side) close the grill cover and let the SPAMwich warm until the bun is toasted and the cheese is melted.

Serve with chips and jalapeno slices.

Now THAT sounds like a camping sammich!! A Cammich?? I will be trying this on our next trip (likely next Thursday).