Hobo dinner ideas

[Twocubdad]

Does anyone have a good way of identifying/tracking hobo dinners? Will a name written on the foil with a marker survive the fire? We've got about 30 boys camping in two weeks and are planning to let them make hobo dinners to satisfy their Outdoorsman and Wolf cooking requirements.

 

If we prepare them identically en masse, that defeats the purpose of them making their own dinners. But if we do it individually, then we need someway to keep track of them. To avoid having hot coals scattered across two acres, we need to cook them together in one fire pit.

 

Is there a good way to know when the dinners are done? How long should they cook? I know to keep the veggies cut small.

 

Ideas?

[SagerScout]

Write initials on the foil with mustard. That side is cooked "up" first, which dries out the mustard, and then when you turn them it burns it on.

 

Go over the folding instructions carefully as young scouts will just wad them up and have dry and inedible food as a result of leaking packets. Be sure to TELL THEM how large a piece of foil they'll need to avoid waste from too large or too small a piece. Tape marks on the table help - pull a piece THIS long.

 

You'll need a big fire pit to do 30 hoboes at once, a sheet of corrugated metal on cinderblocks will do nicely as you can spread the coals out in a layer one-coal-thick (make sure they are well and truly lit first!). Also, keep an extra bunch of coals hot as it can happen that you lose fire just before everything's done. If you have leftovers, well, that's a good time for the baked apples.

 

On timing, it depends a lot on the amount of stuff in the dinner, tiny packets cook much faster than fat ones do. 20-30 minutes usually gets it for us. I have not been happy with the results of any arrangement other than packet directly on coals, as we always tend to get too busy to cook and are always STARVING. Tried 'em on a rack once, way too slow.

 

Don't forget the sacrificial cabbage leaf on the bottom of the packet. It will lay down its life for your burger or chicken...

Also don't be shy with seasonings.

 

If you want to eat especially well and have the kids get knife practice, by all means have them cut up fresh vegetables and mush their own burger meat or steaks. If you have an otherwise full plate for the day and just want edible food in minimum time, we've done well with a big sack of frozen boneless chicken tenders, one of frozen broccoli cuts, one of frozen corn, one of frozen chunky-style potatoes, one of chopped onion, maybe one of chopped green pepper and one of green beans for them that like 'em. Ya throw all the frozen things in one cooler with the chicken on the bottom on Friday, and maybe a milk-jug of ice on top, it's all still nice and cold but not dripping nor frozen by Saturday night. Setting up the assembly line to fix hoboes with this arrangment would take adults 3 minutes so figure 15 for the boys. Well, maybe 20 for that many boys... It's reasonable to send the firemen to the pit and the cooks to the cooler at about the same time. The first packets built go on one end of the fire and you just keep going across until you get to the other end. Don't make the mistake I did once of randomly placing them on as they came. IT makes it hard to keep up with how long they've been on , we made some crunchy potato chips that way.

 

Provide lemon-herb seasoning, an assortment of dried soup mixes for seasoning, butter, salt, pepper, maybe parmeson or grated american cheese (or leftover sandwich slices from lunch). Cheese gets melted on after the rest of the supper is cooked.

 

Now, MY packet might have scallops and shrimp, baby new potatoes, fresh green beans, and a niblet ear of corn, with a little 3 oz cream cheese to melt on later. But that's another story.

 

[le Voyageur]

No need to repete good advise...however, with that number of people I would have to break up group into at least 5 messes (patrols) of at least 6 each just to keep things under control...I would also consider a minimum of three cooking fires spread out a bit to minimize traffic...

[nldscout]

Last December we did a Cub Scout Outdoor Skills Day for our district. The lunch Was Hobo/Foil dinners. We did 350 people in about 1 1/2-2 hrs. Each cub den had 2 leaders/parents that we instructed on making and folding the dinners. After each cub made his own dinner the leader took them to the fire pit wher we layed them out in groups. Each was marked with Magic marker on both sides with the cubs initials. The leader timed there group and Boy scouts with hot gloves flipped them. Worked fairly well with out too many problems. The fire pit was foil layed on Gravel parking lot 3 ft wide and 60 ft long. It took almost 300 lbs of charcoal. It was a sight to see.

 

Paul Lamson

[SagerScout]

Wow. Thanks for posting. I wish I'd thought of the long skinny fire pit.

 

Julia

 

[Twocubdad]

Thanks for all the good info. Since this will be a Cub campout, every kid will have a parent, so we'll be well supervised. I had also thought of using charcoal -- easier to control and replinish, if needed.

[nldscout]

Make sure you stress to the parents how important a proper fold on the packet is, otherwise burned food will be the order of the day.

 

As far as heat, charcoal is the only way to go, when its all burned up the ashes are easy to scatter and cleanup is easy.

[firstpusk]

I was trained to fold them like an envelope and set them on their edge. The dinners never need turning (this avoids causing tears and puntures). This has the added benefit of requiring much less space for cooking the dinners. A standard fire ring can easily handle 20-30 dinners. If you build a key, it is even better. Simply wait until they puff out and pull them, open them and eat.

 

Identifying the dinners is easy. Have a permanent marker at the prep table and the scout writes their initial or mark on their dinner.

 

This even works for cubs.