pack c/o food

[Scoutfish]

Yeah, in my neck of the woods, you can buy steak on either Weds or Thurs and get a great deal because the next batchj of anything comes in the next day.

 

Grocery store discount it a bunch to get rid of it. Let them know it's for scouts and they chop the price a bunch more.

 

But truth be told...I lean towards bratwursts and smoked sausage dogs when camping. They are just like campfires on chilly nights...it just feels right!

 

[Scoutfish]

Anyways, back to the origginal question. I have taken spagfhetti to a family reunion ( 3 states away) before and cooked it 4 days ahead of time.. I drained the noodles( do not rinse) and dumped them into big ziplock bags . I cheated and used ragu sauce.

 

I brown regular ground hamburger to a ratio of one pound of hamburger to 1 large bottle of ragu. I think I usd 8 of the regular sized noodle packs.

 

Anyways , I pour about 4 spoonfull of canola oil ( any kind works) into a big cook pot ful of water . I bring it to a boil and basically I am just reheating the noodles. The oil keeps the starch from becoming glue.

 

I dump the sauce into a cookpot and just reheat it too but added about 3 spoons of sugar to to ccut back on the acidity of the tomatoes.

 

It's not gonna be award winning spaghetti, but it's not dumpster fare either! It's pretty good...depending on your tastes.

 

You can do it , but it means more cleanup, thats all.

[Austinole]

We did a very popular tinfoil dinner. It was buffet style with the choices of fish, shrimp, chicken, scallops and hamburger. There was also canned whole potatos, peas, baby carrots.

[Basementdweller]

I was thinking chunks of sirloin or something like that cut up. Ground beef is expensive in your neck of the woods....we are $1.29 /lb for the cheap stuff and $1.99 for chuck. We did fajitas one campout for the adults and youth that would eat them, cream of green chili soup....it was excellent.

 

 

We have a fairly high density of scouting and the retailers don't cut us a break on price for anything. I imagine that would be the benefit of scouting in a small town.

 

 

 

So how do you do tin foil dinners for 50 people successfully at the same time?

 

Large groups and tin foil dinners don't mix. I have had several poor experiences with large groups and tin foil dinners. I will say that when we camp as a family we make a great tin foil dinner.

 

Tilapia fillet

olive oil

cilantro

hot sauce

red, green and yellow peppers

onions

Lemon pepper to taste.

 

Add all ingredients to personal taste....cook for 10 minutes a side....

 

Now we are talking 4 people verses 50

 

 

bear dad,,,,,,as you can see, camp food can be as plain or elaborate as you want.

[Twocubdad]

One pot meals are great for big groups, you just get bigger pots. But with the temp at a record-setting 98, it's hard to think about soups and stews.

 

One particularly successful meal the boys made hobo dinners and the adults used the same ingredients to make a really nice beef stew (I think someone even snuck in a bottle of something and technically turned it into beef burgandy. Nice.

 

Of course you can extend anything with a big pot of noodles or rice.

 

We've got a pile of cookbooks at the hut, but one surprising resource was a crockpot recipe book I picked up for $4.95 in the checkout aisle of the of the grocery store. Everything translates well to a dutchie or just a big pot simmering over a campfire. And different stuff, unlike what you would find in a traditional camp cookbook, like Curry Chicken and Peaches. Okay that sounds gross, but we've made a couple of really good recipes out of it.

[SctDad]

BearDad

 

Here is something that may work for you. YOu will need someone that has a pig cooker or just a very large grill.

 

Last year we had pizzas at camp. we made it simple. Got the 8" cheap pizzas from the grocery store (I think they were 3 for $2) and put them on the gas grill. Just read the directions. We cooked them until the crust underneath was just firm enough to lift without difficulty. THe cheese was melted and everything was good.

 

Here are some of the good parts.

- The boxes made great plates

- We were able to cook 48 of the 50 at one time.

- Kids love Pizza

- You can get a variety very easily.

- Very little clean-up

- Low Cost

 

Look into that. It can also be done with larger pizzas.

[Tampa Turtle]

Assuming you know how and have access to the equipment I would do Dutch Ovens. Can also do a Garbage can Turkey.

[KISMIF_Works]

We usually have about 50 people at a Pack campout, and spaghetti is one of our easier and cheaper meals to prepare. I agree with an earlier suggestion to use penne instead, since it holds up better. You can buy a very large bag of frozen, pre-cooked meatballs at Sam's Club or Walmart that can be warmed up in the sauce. We dish out the pasta and sauce separately because it seems some like lots of sauce, some like little and some like none.

 

At last year's summer campout we had sloppy joe sandwiches and mac-n-cheese for dinner, and that went pretty well. We prepared the sloppy joe in advance and just warmed it at camp.

 

We usually offer hot dogs, chips and s'mores on the first night of a two-nighter since they are easy to fix individually and families are arriving at different times.

 

I've been wanting to try the walking taco for lunch. Any guesses on the average number of tacos I can get from a pound of hamburger?

 

[Basementdweller]

Dutch oven fare is more often for the adults.

 

Kids don't care. Trash can turkey, maybe at the boy scout level, cubs, they just don't care.....

[bear dad]

thanks for all the help.

[frank10]

I hope I'm not too late to chime in...

I like baked potatoes cooked in tin foil and loaded as you like....

Chili, cheese, bacon, broccoli, mushrooms, Hot peppers onions, butter, sour cream and what ever else you can find.

 

Add in Corn on the cob if it is in season and fresh picked.