Karen_216 Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 My pack is going to the council scout camp for a pack weekend next weekend. I spoke up that I wanted to do foil cooking so they learn to do some things on their own (stupid me). I'm shaking now as we have 65 people going- 35 are cubs. I guess I figured adults would prepare their own too. I thought to keep it simple with hamburger patties, canned veggies and spices. With this many indivualizing may be a problem so I figure- what you are given after cooking is what you get. I also had the idea they could mush up the meat after and put on salsa and cheese and letuce and turn into a taco if they wanted. I have another version with ham and pineapples and sweet potatoes as another type to try for those that don't watn hamburger. Didn't think all the cubs would go for that though. Does it seem reasonable for 60 people to do foil cooking- they've given me 1 hour and 15 mins to do it all. I'm doing on charcoal. My husband says it takes about 20 minutes fro them to be cooking temp. i asked for at least 1 1/2 hour for lunch but the schedule does not give me that long. I was going to do an assembly line type of thing and have 9 at a time with parents come up - This will be inside. I can also have another prep area at cabin next door. Should I scrap this idea all together or does it seem possible?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnniePoo Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 It's do-able if you have more than one grill going. For a large group, assembly line works great with multiple options. Go with canned veggies, frozen hash-brown potatoes (cheap brand), and hamburger balls, among other stuff, to keep it cheap. Have volunteers rip the foil to size before you start. Have one parent handle place the hamburger inside the foil packets to limit kids handling raw ground beef. have parents at the end helping wrap, and some making sure everyone labels the packets darkly with sharpie so the writing is visible after cooking. We've done this on big pack campouts with a lot of success. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnniePoo Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Oh, and we cook the ham/sweet potato/pineapple stuff on our own family camping trips, and my kids love it. It's a bit more expensive to make in bulk, though, unless you can get the ham for low cost. I love foil pack cooking, and we've tried lots of combinations on our own family camping trips. Corn on the cob works particularly well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen_216 Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Actually doing them in huge fire ring under charcoal briquets. I can also borrw the 1/2 oil drum grill form the troop which let me borrow dutch ovens for cobbler. They offered it to me. Like the idea of having the adults wrap and put the hamburger on the foil. Maybe we can just start off that way and let them add the veggies and spices. I'm going to see if I can break into groups. I have another cabin next door we can creat line at. Was thinking of getting a canned ham to use for the pineapple version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottteng Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Foil packs do real well on charcoal. The best cooker I have seen was an old AC drain pan large pile of charcoal to start in middle then spread out in thin layer for foil pack cooking. Make sure there are plenty of tongs available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank10 Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 If you can't have more time for lunch, can you do it in waves? Den 1 makes their packets while den 2 is working on knots and den 3 is doing fire building (or such) then den 2 gets their chance to make thier packets while den 1's packets are cooking and den 1 is at the knot demo... Divide and conquer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutNut Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 A couple of assembly lines should work well. Have adults behind the tables with the food choices wearing disposable food-service gloves. The people walk down the table, pick what they want, and the adult with the gloves puts it in the foil. This will help control your portions somewhat. You will need to create patrols for dinner. One patrol starts the charcoal and is in charge of the fire, and the cooking. (Best if they keep a couple charcoal chimneys going at all times for spare coals.) One patrol is in charge of laying out, and handling the food. One Patrol is in charge of tearing foil squares (do a double wrap, with the name on the inside layer) and helping to finish folding the packet. One patrol can be in charge of trash pick-up. Etc. With hamburger, I like to use the cheaper frozen patties. Although, for a bit more, Aldi has some thicker ones with bacon/cheddar & spicy peppers/jack that would be real tasty. Again, easier to figure portions - 1-youth 2-adult 1-spare packets. While canned veggies cook faster, they also taste rather bland & leave a LOT of trash. I like to use fresh, cut up at home & put in zip-lock bags, veggies (grn peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes), with frozen corn and hash browns. If the veggies don't cook down to mush that's fine. Crunchy veggies are good! The unused veggies & hash browns can be used up the next morning in DO pots of farmer eggs. Don't forget the canned soup for flavor and moisture. You can also give the foil a spray of canned oil (Pam type) to help keep everything from sticking. OK, now I'm hungry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Skipper Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 We ususally do our foil packs with hamburger, tater-tots and fresh carrots, with optional onions and spices. Variations on this with chicken or pork would be great. I also like to substitute corn (on the cob) or any other veggie the scouts will eat, but we always use fresh veggies for this. Some of you probably know this but others may not. The real trick to foil cooking is air (or lack of it). Wrap your foil packs tightly in heavy duty foil. Be careful not to puncture the foil and be sure to make a very good seal and remove all air (keep it tight). Then flip it over and repeat with a second air-tight layer of foil. Air (O2) causes things to burn and char. If you pack it all air tight, it can only brown as much as there is 02 in the food. Other related tips: if you see your dinner smoking or steaming, that is not good as there is air getting in (and out). A propery prepared foil will make a perfect dinner every time. For the cubs, we usually use a coffee can stove for cooking. Take a (#10) coffee can and make a ring of holes just below the top (1") and just above the bottom (1.5"). Run lengths of coat hanger through the holes. The bottom layer is for charcoal, so make sure you have enough to keep it from falling through. Use a church key to make venting holes below the bottom ring. The upper layer is to hold your dinner; two wires properly paced should do the trick here. Fire your coals in a chimney and when they are ready put 7-10 coals on the lower wires, insert your upper wires, and place your dinner on the top. It should be round and fit nicely into the top of the can. 15 minutes per side (depending upon contents) will do nicely. We did this for the webelos at our last campout and they had an absolute blast! And not a one of them left a single bite uneaten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunny2862 Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Karen_216, It's do-able, just put together your plan and then work your plan. Remember just because they've only given you x amount of time for lunch doesn't mean you can't start the preparations before that time. Have the foil pre-cut/torn to size before you even head out to this event. Put a cold patty on a foil pack in a Cooler 15- 20 minutes before you expect them (keep a couple of cold packs on top of the Meat until they actually show up) and let that be their starting point if you let them Buffet style choose their own ingredients. I really like the assembly line idea given before but absent any food allergies wouldn't stress about letting them pick their individual ingredients - identify those with food allergies and make special packets for them - use sharpie to mark those packets by name. Also remember that if the 30 adults know the plan you already have almost a 1:1 help ratio rather than that many additional problems. And if you pre-pack the whole packet then I'm sure you'll be food safe about it - if you let the parents and boys participate in making them monitor and ensure hand washing by EVERY person who enters the line. Good Luck, it'll be fine, just make your plan which ever way you decide to go and then work your plan.(This message has been edited by Gunny2862) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKlose Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Our troop did an overnight with a few Webelos from our town, and the SM suggested we put together foil dinners. But he had some modifications that he liked to do. We got a bunch of different "mains": ground beef, boneless chicken, italian sausage, steak tips, big hot dogs, and cut them all into small chunks. Ground beef was shaped into 4oz patties. Cut up some potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots. We had "Montreal Steak seasoning", salt and pepper. Put everything in an assembly-line. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the resulting "stew". Some kids stayed away from the vegetable matter, but they probably would have done that no matter what the setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnniePoo Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 "While canned veggies cook faster, they also taste rather bland & leave a LOT of trash. I like to use fresh, cut up at home & put in zip-lock bags, veggies (grn peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes), with frozen corn and hash browns" Just a word of caution - don't cut up veggies and keep in zip-lock or other gas-impermeable bags overnight unrefrigerated overnight. This is particularly true of onions & mushrooms. Either cut them up that morning, or store the bags of cug-up veggies in a cooler with ice. (potential botulism risk). Food Safety Annie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artjrk Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 A variation to Buffalo Skipper's two layer method. We have found that by adding a layer of wet paper towel between the two layers you create a steamer of sorts. With this method we have rarely have charred spots and vegetables come out fantastic. Don't forget your sharpie to mark each dinner as to its owner. I want to try that Ham dinner variation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutNut Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 If you are camping outdoors ALL perishable food should be stored in a cooler with ice, or a refrigerator if in a cabin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortridge Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Another alternative, maybe a bit simpler, is pita pizzas. Take whole-wheat pitas, spoon on tomato sauce, sprinkle on cheese, and place your pepperonis. Don't try to put it inside like you normally would with a pita - using it as the crust makes things a lot easier. No veggie chopping, makes for a real easy assembly-line arrangement, and kids will love it. I'm not sure how they compare on price, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxieman Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Lots of great tips. Looking for more foil-packet ideas? Go to Reynold's Wrap website and search the recipes section: http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/en/recipes/recipe_search.asp (may have to copy/paste to get the link to work). Under Advance Search, choose "Packet Cooking". You might never go back to burgers/taters/carrots in foil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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