Thrifty Old Style Camping Trip

MrsChristmas

We (a family of 6) are digging out the tenting gear & setting up camp this bank holiday weekend.
The campsite alone is costing £75 for 3 nights so I'd really appreciate some meal ideas that can be put together for not a lot of pennies on a couple of gas stoves.

Any family camping memories of one pot meals from childhood? The campsite is pretty basic so also games you played perhaps?

Being an avid reader of this part of the forum I already hoard/prep a stock cupboard full of tins & dry goods & could use these to help keep costs escalating further.
Thanks

Steve059

This one of mine immediately springs to mind ...

THREE TIN BEEF STEW

Cheap, quick and easy, and also delicious, warming and filling. Useful as an emergency meal, especially if you have no water supply, as it uses the water in the tins. Also useful for camping or caravanning. Not recommended for backpacking, though.

Makes 4 x 250ml bowls

INGREDIENTS

1 tin of stewed steak in gravy
1 tin of new potatoes in water
1 tin of sliced carrots, sliced mushrooms or garden peas in water

METHOD

Open the tin of steak. Put the steak and gravy into a saucepan.

Open the tin of potatoes. Drain the water into the saucepan. Cut the potatoes into 2cm (1 inch) pieces. Add the potatoes to the saucepan.

Open the tin of carrots, mushrooms or peas. Add them and the water to the saucepan.

Stir thoroughly.

Put the saucepan on a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling (simmering). Put the lid on the saucepan and continue to cook for 5 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

ADDITIONS & ALTERATIONS

Add a beef stock cube.

Add a teaspoon of dried parsley.

You can, of course, use more than two tins of vegetables.

TIPS

If any of the potatoes are damaged, mash them up and add them to the saucepan. They will help to thicken the stew.

MrsChristmas

A friend who we are going with can remember her mum doing something similar when she was a girl (1970s)
Thanks Steve! I must have about 10 tins of new potatoes shame that I don't think mushy peas would work with this recipe. I have 2 trays of them purchased when they were on offer at @ldi for 4p a tin!

good_advice

Good for you getting away this week end!
When my 3 were quite small we went camping. Double buggy and travel cot used.
We had a little stove = 2 gas rings and little grill under.

When we arrived at the park, I use to eye up just whare the washrooms and fresh water tap was before deciding on a pitch for the tent. Far enough but not to far as it is a constant walk.

A small 2 ring paddling pool we also took. It was enough for some water play or to bath toddlers in.

Food = bangers and mash. tinned mince and pasta. eggs and bacon.

Peggybabcot

A BBQ is always a camping winner as is a full fry up. If you have hook up take a slow cooker if you have one. A spag Bol is quick too.
We usually take a pack of cards, monopoly as well as shuttle cocks and rackets (not as annoying as a tennis ball hitting others tents) as well as a frisby. Scooters are great depending on your kids age too x

lindadykes

We go camping to motorbike rallies throughout the year, and as you can imagine space is at a premium, so 1 compact burner is all we can manage. I sometimes try and fit a wok in! and below are the two recipes I have used in the past:

Singapore Fried Noodles
Pack of flame grilled chicken pieces
Pack of straight to wok noodles
Pack of stir fry veggies
2 Tbsp of Amoy Singapore Fried Noodle Sauce decanted into a small plastic container. (This comes in a jar and is available from oriental grocers, but if you can't find it any sachet of stir fry sauce would probably work.)
Spray oil
Spray wok with oil, add stir fry veg and stir fry for about 5 mins, add noodles and heat through. Add the chicken and sauce, combine and heat through - serve.

Provencal Potatoes
Tinned new potatoes
Pack of cooked tikka chicken
Can of petit pois and baby carrots
One of those stir through pasta sauces - I used a sundried tomato and garlic one.
Spray oil
Spray wok with oil, add drained potatoes, peas and carrots and stir fry till well heated. Add Chicken and sauce and stir until heated - serve.

Steve059

MrsChristmas wrote: »

<snip> I don't think mushy peas would work with this recipe. I have 2 trays of them purchased when they were on offer at @ldi for 4p a tin!

Add 250ml of water and a vegetable OXO cube to a tin of mushy peas and you've got 500ml (2 bowls) of pea soup. Mash it to the desired consistency or leave it lumpy. I had some for lunch yesterday, "jazzed up" with some croutons.

maddeningly

Oh my partners family have a caravan that we use a lot so I'm not an expert on camping meals but I've been reading the article in the press today about must do things for children that's given me some ideas for activities on our trip to Wales next week - den building, foraging for fruit, finding tadpoles (think its poss too early yet though), nature walks, long bike rides, fishing with a net and crabbing, and damming a stream. We also like to do 'Olympics' on the beach - races, shot putt with stones, long jump etc and of course good old wave jumping. I cannot wait for our old school trip now! X

kittiwoz

You can do pasta and sauce by bringing to the boil as many cups of water as you have people, mixing in an equal number of cups of pasta and packets of dried soup mix and simmering with a well fitting lid for 12 minutes. The pasta absorbs most of the water and also flavour from the soup and the remaining soup with the added starch from the pasta makes a thick sauce.

Porridge is a cheap healthy breakfast that is easy to cook on a Primus stove and you can use powdered milk which saves weight and you don't have to worry about it going off. A lot of people who really don't like powdered milk with cereal find it OK when it is boiled like this.

When I go camping for a long weekend I tend to take fresh veg (but not salad greens) and find it keeps OK out of the fridge for a few days. Root veg would be fine for a week but for a few days most things are OK. Eggs also keep out of the fridge pretty well and are very versatile. I also take a variety of flavouring agents, often decanted into smaller packets, such as stock powder, chilli sauce, tomato puree in a squeezy tube, pepper, soy sauce, lemon juice and so on.

I'd agree about taking a wok. It makes it easy to stir up loads of stuff together because of the width of the pan and you can also fry stuff in it. Eggs, bacon, tomato and mushroom can all be kept out of the fridge for a few days provided the bacon is in a sealed packet and the mushrooms aren't.

sonastin

Similar to Steve059's stew, tuna pasta tinned surprise (requires 2 burners/pans).

Pan 1 - cook pasta as normal
Pan 2 - add 1 x tin chopped tomatoes, 1 x tin condensed soup (mushroom is best, celery is OK), 1 x tin tuna. Stir together & heat till bubbling.

Mix contents of pan 1 with contents of pan 2 and serve.

Also, chopped up sausages & onions, fried together and then add tinned tomatoes and baked beans and serve with pasta. OH likes this with tabasco sauce to give it some kick.

cheeswright

pan haggarty
corned beef hash
sausages and beans (slice frankfurters - not all in one) served in long rolls

these days we also freeze a casserole in its pan and eat that on day 2
gnocci green beans and passata