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Delicious Camping & Backpacking Recipes

Planning to backpack the world or hitting the road in your camper? Here are a few staple backpacking recipes you’ll love to make when you’re out enjoying the wilderness.

(Photo: Flickr clappstar)

Beef Stroganoff

There are a few one-pot wonder meals I make on a regular basis and this beef stroganoff is one of them. Double the mushrooms and skip the beef for a scrumptious and filling vegetarian camping recipe option. I prefer to use dehydrated mushrooms because they keep so well in my backpack and cook a full pot which feeds two of us. If traveling alone, make sure you always have an empty Tupperware container for leftovers. This stroganoff makes for a wicked next-day lunch on the run.

Beef Stroganoff
 
Ingredients
  • 200gms (1/2 lb.) beef strips
  • 1 cup dehydrated mushrooms
  • 1 brown onion, finely diced
  • 8 oz sour cream (1 tub)
  • 2 tbsp grated cheese
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 mushroom stock cube
  • 200gms (1/2 lb.) pasta spirals
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
  1. Heat up the oil in your camping skillet and brown the onions and beef together, until onions have softened
  2. Add the mushrooms and fry for 2 minutes
  3. Add the water and stock cube and stir until cube has dissolved
  4. Bring the mix to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent sticking
  5. Add the pasta and cook for 7-8 minutes until it is al dente. Stir often to ensure that all noodles cook evenly
  6. Add the sour cream and simmer for an additional 2 minutes, stirring well. Salt and pepper to taste
  7. Turn your camp stove off and serve immediately!
 

camping, camping recipes, backpack, backpacking, recipes, travel, TropicsGourmet, breakfast, bacon, eggs

Smokey bacon & eggs

One of the best things about camping out in nature is waking up to a smokin’ hot serve of this scrumptious bacon and eggs. Make sure you have a pack of aluminum foil in your backpack – it’s a genius multitasking tool that acts as a pot lid, leftover container, and cooking pot – and your breakfast will cook splendidly over a roaring campfire.

Campfire Bacon & Eggs
 
Ingredients
  • Large square of aluminum foil
  • 2 fresh eggs
  • 3 bacon rashers
  • Garlic Salt and Pepper
Instructions
  1. Lay out three rashers of bacon on a generous square of aluminum foil, bending the sides in to create a pocket
  2. Crack 2 eggs on top of the bacon
  3. Wrap up the foil pocket up at the top, around a long wooden stick
  4. Hold your parcel of yumminess over a campfire and cook for approximately 5 minutes. It really doesn’t take long for this to cook over an open flame as foil is an excellent conductor
  5. Devour on its own or in a bread roll
 

orange blueberry muffin, blueberry muffin, backpack, backpacking, camping, camping recipes, travel, TropicsGourmet

Orange Blueberry Muffins

I came across this recipe on ApronStringsBlog a couple of years ago and although skeptical at first, thinking the muffins would turn out to be a hellish mess, they actually turned out stupendously well.

For those lazy camping days when a preparing a sweet treat over the campfire becomes the day’s main event, this camping recipe really hits the sweet spot.

Orange Blueberry Muffins
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pack blueberry muffin mix
  • 6 oranges
  • 18 Aluminum foil squares
Instructions
  1. Prepare the muffin mix as per packet instructions
  2. Cut up the oranges, scooping out the flesh and preserving in a container for straining and drinking later on
  3. Fill one half of every orange with one tablespoon of muffin mix, top with half an empty orange
  4. Wrap each orange in three aluminum squares
  5. Place directly on campfire and cook for 10 minutes, turning them over and moving them every minute or so
  6. Remove from fire, unwrap carefully and savor them up with a spoon
 

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(Photo: Joy)

Tortilla Pizza

Along with eggs, whole-wheat flour tortillas are a staple which I carry all the time. They take up little space and are about as versatile a food item as you will find. Filled with savory or sweet treats, the trusted tortilla wrap works great at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Plus, they make for ideal pizza bases! If there’s one camping recipe that’s guarantee to top off a brilliant camping day, then pizza would definitely be it.

Tortilla Pizza
 
Ingredients
  • 4 tortillas
  • 1 small can tomato puree
  • ½ cup water
  • Italian mixed herbs
  • Grated cheese
  • Your toppings of choice (shredded ham, black olives, salami, diced peppers etc)
  • Aluminum foil
Instructions
  1. Prepare your pizza sauce by adding ½ cup of water to the tomato puree in a bowl, and sprinkle a good dose of Italian herbs
  2. Cut the aluminum foil into squares about twice the size of the tortillas
  3. Place one tortilla in the center of a foil square, spread one tablespoon of pizza sauce and sprinkle with your favorite toppings, finishing off with some grated cheese
  4. Wrap the foil around the tortilla, ensuring the top of the foil does not touch the pizza toppings at all
  5. Place the parcel on the edge of the campfire and allow to cook for about 7-8 minutes
  6. Carefully remove from fire, unwrap…and devour!
 

 

 

Written by

Laura Pattara is a modern nomad who’s been vagabonding around the world, non-stop, for the past 11 years. She’s tour guided overland trips through South America and Africa, travelled independently through the Middle East and is now, along with her partner in love and travel, riding a motorbike from Germany to Australia. Laura moonlights as a freelance travel writer and, between adventures, loves sharing her travel ramblings on her personal website:Laura's Travel Tales