Camping breakfast
August 3, 2011 5:57 PM   Subscribe

Give me your best camping breakfast meals!

We're in charge of breakfast for about 20 people on the first morning of a four day camping trip this week. Car camping, and since it's the first day, we don't have to worry much about shelf-life of ingredients.

What's your favorite thing to cook while camping?

On day two, folks are doing homemade bagels with bacon and bagel fixings.

Day three, it's french toast, eggs and bacon or sausage.

We have a couple vegetarians, so easy vegetarian options are great. I'm not a big fan of eggs, so if I cook 'em, I want them mixed with enough other things that they lose that eggy taste. Love corned beef hash (I only eat it when camping).

Definitely want something with protein, to keep us going through the long day of drinking and semi-conscious kid-watching to come.
posted by purenitrous to Food & Drink (23 answers total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
Make your own omelettes. Provide a bunch of fillings and have people crack an egg or two into a ziplock sandwich baggie, add their fillings, mix it up and drop into a pot of boiling water. Cook until desired consistency.
posted by NoraCharles at 6:01 PM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]


Breakfast burritos work well on a camp stove.
posted by COD at 6:07 PM on August 3, 2011


Texas scramble. My version, which may not resemble a real Texas Scramble, is basically a hash brown base with one or more fatty meats (bacon, sausage) and whatever else you have on hand -- onions, peppers, cheese, eggs, etc. -- topped with hot sauce.
posted by stp123 at 6:14 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


Pancakes and waffles were always a big favorite of my old scout troop, and they take about 2 minutes each to cook. A fantastic option for when time is scarce.

For more laidback affairs, homemade donuts was a big hit (you can make them in a deep pan or a dutch oven easily enough), followed with the sort of texas scramble that stp123 mentioned.
posted by TheMidnightHobo at 6:23 PM on August 3, 2011


"... Definitely want something with protein, to keep us going through the long day of drinking and semi-conscious kid-watching to come."
posted by purenitrous to food & drink

This requirement is just so much easier to meet, if, the night before, you dig a pit and line it with 200 pounds of hot wood coals, slaughter a pig, clean it, and toss it into the pit, and then cover it with dirt and rocks. First people up the next morning dig up the pit, and pull pork as suits them. Lazy lie-a-beds pull what's left, as they wake up. And so on, all day long.

And, of course, after midnight, toss in some aluminum wrapped potatoes, turnips, cabbage heads, carrots, apples and whole pineapples, as side dishes for all, and as main courses for them as won't eat delicious roast pig, even if hungry, before you toss on the last layer of dirt and rocks.
posted by paulsc at 6:25 PM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]


Trader Joe's Danish Pancakes fried in bacon fat. seriously, I just had them this weekend, in El Dorado National Forest and they were ORGAAAAASMIC!!!!!!
posted by supermedusa at 6:34 PM on August 3, 2011


Monte Cristo sandwiches--basically a ham and/or turkey and cheese sandwich dipped in egg batter a la French toast and fried. Now, this may sound surprisingly similar to french toast planned for day 3, but the savoriness of the ham and cheese takes it into a different territory. Heaven for me is a monte cristo with a little spicy hoagie relish on the inside and raspberry jam on top. If there's any way you can get your hands on a large cast iron griddle, it will make your job of cooking for 20 much easier.
posted by drlith at 6:35 PM on August 3, 2011


bake extra potatoes the night before, do country fries (diced potatoes, onions, spice as needed) the next morning
posted by tomswift at 6:36 PM on August 3, 2011


Best answer: I've asked before about big beach-house/travel breakfasts and gotten the excellent advice to do breakfast tacos. I've made them several times for a big breakfast crowd and they always bring high praise. One thing people love is that they're customizable - if you're on a diet or have allergies, you can just use what you want - if you're going for it, you can use everything.

It's really simple prep. Bring corn tortillas, and start by putting them in a covered pot, wrapped in a napkin, with a few tablespoons of water at the bottom. Put this pot on the edge of your fire or Coleman stove, just enough to warm it, and let the tortillas gently steam.

Then, open up your bunch of containers of pre-prepped veggies and toppings that you made at home. This includes:

-a jar of jalepenos from the store
-a small can of black olives
-some red onion, chopped fine
-some black beans, rinsed
-some green pepper, chopped fine
-some jarred salsa - red and green for extra points
-some grated sharp cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
-sour cream
-cilantro, chopped
-whatever else you like

Then, just make a giant pan of scrambled eggs. Line this all up on your picnic table and let people make their own - taking a couple tortillas as the taco shells, and loading up with first eggs, then whatever toppings they want.
posted by Miko at 7:01 PM on August 3, 2011 [3 favorites]


German Pancakes/Dutch Babies - with sauteed apples if you like that.
Dutch oven worthy. Similar to Yorkshire pudding.


Or Breakfast Burritos!
posted by Seamus at 7:11 PM on August 3, 2011


Raw almonds and walnuts soaked overnight in water, fresh figs and dried dates. That's all the protein you'll need for breakfast.
posted by rmmcclay at 8:30 PM on August 3, 2011


I love corned beef hash from the can while camping. Fried up on the cap stove.
posted by ghharr at 8:30 PM on August 3, 2011


Best answer: I like Miko's suggestion of breakfast tacos - one thing I'd suggest you could add to that would be roasted peppers. You could either make a bunch in advance and bring with, or bring the plain peppers and roast over the fire. Red bell peppers and poblano chilis are perfect for this - poblanos are probably the mildest chili, just a tiny hint of spice heat. Roast them over fire til the skins blacken, then toss in a bag or covered bowl so they steam a bit while they cool down. Then peel off the black skin, pull out the seeds and stuff inside, and chop up.

Better yet, if you've got a skillet, make the roasted peppers, cut into strips - then cook up some sliced onions in the skillet until golden brown, mix in the roasted peppers. This is called "rajas," and it's awesome with scrambled eggs in breakfast tacos. Diced potatoes are great with it too.
posted by dnash at 8:43 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]


Bacon Strip Pancakes
posted by katyggls at 8:44 PM on August 3, 2011


I made this for a big camping trip a couple of weeks ago and it was a huge success:

Eggs Florentine Casserole
posted by arcticwoman at 8:57 PM on August 3, 2011


Ground beef. Hash brown patties. Shredded cheese. Salsa. Brown beef, add in hash browns, once they're cooked add in the cheese and salsa. Yum.
posted by azpenguin at 9:38 PM on August 3, 2011


Can't help you with the vegetarian side of the equation, but when we used to go camping we'd make (and still do on the bbq sometimes) a creation we call "big breakfast". Get a disposable aluminum tray, as big as you can find, and then make an aluminum foil pouch for it. Best way to do this is to put the tray on a table and then tear out strips of aluminum foil about 2 1/2 x as wide as the tray is, usually 2 or 3 will do. Then you take some potatoes (skinned), and chop them into discs about 1/2" thick and cover the bottom of the tray/pouch with a layer. Then you add some sliced onions on top, and then a layer of bacon. Then another layer of potatoes and then a whole bunch of sausages. Then a bit more potato at the top if you like and some pepper. Then you seal up the pocket and throw it unceremoniously on the fire/BBQ and let it cook for about 20 minutes or so. Remove and everyone can scoop out the delightful goodness for themselves.
posted by barc0001 at 11:10 PM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]


Oatmeal!

Has some protein on it's own, but when you add nuts it's even better. I like slivered almonds, you could do walnuts. check your group for allergies before you commit to this plan. Also serve a pile of whatever fresh fruit is in season locally. I'd be hoping for blueberries with my oatmeal.

Don't skip the brown sugar and milk for people who like that.
posted by bilabial at 4:28 AM on August 4, 2011


one thing I'd suggest you could add to that would be roasted pepper

Ooh, that and the rajas idea are fully endorsed by me!
posted by Miko at 6:07 AM on August 4, 2011


Migas con huevos! Spanish style migas, to be specific.

Use some day-old stale bread, douse it with some oil (olive is best), paprika (fresh pimon chile is best), and garlic (powder can work in a pinch).

Cook up some fatty chorizo or longaniza in a cast iron (even spicy Italian sausage would work), cook until the bread until it turns a nice red color. Crack a few eggs and either scramble in or cover and poach from the steam of the dish.
posted by wcfields at 10:31 AM on August 4, 2011


When we're camping it's always someone's job to bring a can of SPAM to slice and fry in the cast-iron skillet in the morning. I would never consider eating this any other time, but it's awfully tasty after a night in a tent.

You can make delicious donut-hole-ish treats by melting a few tablespoons of butter and pouring it into a bag of brown-n-serve rolls (these are like 3/4-baked dinner rolls that you would usually finish in the oven at home). Close and shake the bag, then pour in a bunch of cinnamon-sugar, then close and shake again. Fry these babies up in a big pan over the fire or on your stove. Delish!

For a main dish, I'll add to the chorus suggesting individually-assembled breakfast burritos.
posted by vytae at 2:31 PM on August 4, 2011 [1 favorite]


Oh, that brought back memories. In Girl Scouts we used to make donuts like that, just using tinned bread dough...the kind that make crescent rolls.
posted by Miko at 3:47 PM on August 4, 2011


Response by poster: Lots of fabulous ideas, and I'm saving them for next time. We ended up going with breakfast tacos, including poblanos roasted on marshmallow forks over the fire, peeled, and sauteed with onions. We also did a huge can of corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, cheese, tomatoes, cilantro and sour cream. They were easy and a hit.

Another morning, one group did homemade bagels (they'd made the day before at home), cream cheese, bacon, sliced tomatoes and hard boiled eggs, with a huge fruit salad.

The third morning, the family in charge actually did a short order breakfast, complete with a white board menu. Kids took orders, and yelled your name when your order was up. Choices included scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, pancakes, hash browns, dried cereal, and cantaloupe. Very creative, and it worked really well, since people tend to wake up at different times and stumble out.

Biggest hit every year? Mr. Coleman-a Mr. Coffee that works on a camp stove. Than and some Baileys makes camping so sweet.

Thanks all!
posted by purenitrous at 11:39 AM on August 14, 2011 [1 favorite]


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