First overnight car-camping trip, cooking suggestions

[sapblatt]

Generally you strain the dish water and pack out/throw out any food scraps. Grey water is the dirty water...
Depends on where I am camping...car camping I usually bring a couple of 2 1/2 gallon spring waters if I am going somewhere that does not have potable water...backcountry...water bags and water filters...
Most campgrounds that have water, have potable water.

 

[marty]

Water

In addition to what Sapblatt states, you might want to buy one of those 5 gallon Reliant water jugs. They are cheap, weigh next to nothing and the water will heat up if you leave them in the sun. If you are inventive, they can be mounted on a tree for use as a solar shower....

 

[dudley]

There's a lot of good advice here, only it sounds more complicated then it really is.

A container to carry water from the spigot can be any thing you have that's large enough
Cook what ever your family likes at home. If you forget the garlic powder or the parmesan, don't sweat it. Everything tastes better cooked outside anyway.
Try to eat and clean up before it gets dark.
For doing the dishes; Bring a dish pan from the dollar store. Heat up the wash water on stove in your largest pot. When it is warm (not too hot), dump half into the dish pan with your dirty dishs and a little dish soap. One person washes the other rinses in the water remaining in the large pot and dries.
It take no time at all.
A few campgrounds have a greywater disposale area. At most places you just heave it into the woods. Be sure there's nothing left in the dish pan.
Then relax around the campfire (bring chairs) and toast some smores.

 

[dave.m]

Set Expectations Low

I love car camping with the kids. Really, really love it. I hope you have 1/2 the fun that we do.

Since this is your first time camping, I strongly suggest keeping your menus as dirt simple as you possibly can. You've just driven 3 hours, its a little bit dark out, the tent and your kids are involved in a wrestling match, people need to go to the john, little joe has soaked his shoes and socks in a nearby stream and your back hurts!!! Not the time to be thinking about the 5 course meal. Not to worry though. After a few trips, the logistics of the other stuff becomes second nature and you can spend more time on cooking.

Some loose thoughts....

1) Boil, Don't Fry - Work with your wife to create a menu that can be done with only 2 pots and no frying of anything. This will keep scrubbing and grease disposal to a minimum later. Don't worry, even Kraft macaroni and instant oatmeal tastes magical around a camp fire.

2) Use the stove, not the fire to cook - It's way fun to cook over a fire. It sucks to have kids howling when you can't light the fire. There's an art to making fires. Practice just making a small fire for fun for the first few times. It just makes simpler to start with.

3) Get Block Ice, Ice Cubes and Buy Small Quantatiies of Milk - Keeping milk cold is one of the challenges faced with using a cooler. I don't expect to get more than a day out of our milk before it starts to smell.

4) Put all your cooking stuff in a single box that you can in/out of your car in one shot.

5) Get a good sized refillable water jug with a water spout. Daddie makes the water run since its heavy. Leave it on the end of the picnic table as a tap.

6) The advice to fire that stove up before you go should be repeated, so I'll repeat it. Here's a tip... make your evening tea in your back yard every night between now and the trip. The more you can make that stove second nature, the easier dinner will be.

7) McDonalds - Massive rain? Soaked sleeping bags? Grumpy kids? Put the clothes in a dryer a local laundramat and hit a McDonalds (insert your own comfort food here).

 

[marty]

2) Use the stove, not the fire to cook - It's way fun to cook over a fire. It sucks to have kids howling when you can't light the fire. There's an art to making fires. Practice just making a small fire for fun for the first few times. It just makes simpler to start with.

Dave - your point is a good one, especially if there are wet conditions or a campground with little dry wood lying around. Still, having a campfire is a big part of the car camping tradition. Sapblatt recommended Matchlight charcoal. That seems like a good compromise if you are not a seasoned fire starter and is safer than using charcoal lighter. It also makes a good bed of coals if you want to have a campfire after dinner.

 

[SherpaKroto]

Don't know if it was mentioned before but: make things the kids like! If they are well fed and dry, you'll be happy, regardless of what you are eating. I've also recently taken a page from shizzmac's bag of tricks: marinated steak tips on a long barbecue fork that you can pick up a Walmart/KMart, etc. No muss, no fuss and it can be cooked on either a small grill/hibachi or the fire. And best of all: no cleanup.

 

[Bluethroatedone]

Keep it simple

To keep it simple you can: Bring bread and cheese for lunch, Pasta for dinner and oatmeel for breakfast. Don't bother washing anything....

 

[dudley]

Pucknuts61 in post #5 mentions scotch for the kids, not so far fetched!

When we were kids, my parents aways brought a bottle of apricot brandy. It wasn't for them,it was just for the kids.
Just before bedtime the little plastic shotglasses would come out and tiny shots poured for me and my sister.
When we went to bed, it was lights out

If fact my sister still.........oh yeah....... never mind.


Cook fires are not the same as a camp fire. The kids will want the second one.
Use the stove. Think easy, like hamburger helper.

 

[nickdu]

Dave - your point is a good one, especially if there are wet conditions or a campground with little dry wood lying around. Still, having a campfire is a big part of the car camping tradition. Sapblatt recommended Matchlight charcoal. That seems like a good compromise if you are not a seasoned fire starter and is safer than using charcoal lighter. It also makes a good bed of coals if you want to have a campfire after dinner.

Since many people suggested using the fire pit so that we have less to clean up I assume the suggestion to use the stove is because I'm a novice? Is this correct?

 

[sapblatt]

Proably...stoves are great for easy things like boiling water, heating sauce etc...cooking things like burgers and dogs gets real messy. The fire pit, if you use charcoal is like grilling at home which most of us can handle! Others mentioned that starting a fire can be difficult, but with Matchlight all you do is light a paper bag on fire (some flammable liquid can make this part more "exciting!") NOW THATS A FIRE!!
Another plus to the charcoal (or a Duraflame log) is that you can easily get a fire going for your campfire after you are done grilling...just throw the logs on and enjoy.
Have fun and be safe!!

 

[marty]

Since the suggestion for using the stove comes from others, I will defer to them. My opinion is consistent with Mr. Sapblatt, who suggested using charcoal if you don't want to deal with making a fire. Just remember to bring some kind of grate so that you have a cooking surface....

Marty