Crockpot Camping
Camping tends to bring out the hidden "MacGyver" in all of us, and can inspire us to use resources in unique ways. This brings to mind the time I went camping with my closest friend last Memorial Day weekend in Virginia's Shenandoah national park. We arrived at our campsite well before dusk and began preparations for dinner. As novice campers, we had our work cut out for us. After an immense struggle to put up our rented tent, with a little solicitous help from our neighboring campers, we set to work lighting the mini hibachi grill that my friend brought. A couple of beers and an hour later we had our meal: hot dogs, s'mores, and cherry tomatoes. Not very elaborate, but satisfying nonetheless.
In the meantime, at the next campsite over, we noticed a Korean-American family had arrived after the sun went down and began preparations for their meal. The first thing they did was set up an electric car converter into which they plugged a lamp, a rice cooker, and a barbecue griddle. Not long after that, to our amazement, this family had a complete multi-course hot meal set up on the picnic table. Although we had just eaten, the site of their spread was enough to make us want to have another dinner.
With that family as inspiration, I would like to introduce you to the idea of crockpot camping. When you need sustenance after a day-long hike, or are just setting up a tent in the backyard, consider the slow cooker. All you need is a campsite with an electrical hookup, an electric converter/inverter, or an extension cord, and you'll be on your way to a great home-cooked meal. If you are really roughing it and have no power source, Coleman even makes a propane powered slow cooker that keeps food warm for ten hours on low and five hours on high.
You can make the prep work easier by precutting and bagging any vegetables or using canned or frozen veggies. For fast cleanup, a baking bag or slow cooker liner can be inserted into the crockpot before adding ingredients. Some recipes that would be particularly suited to camping are simple beef stew, chicken and rice casserole, and cornbread. When dessert time rolls around and it's time to make s'mores, you can even pre-melt the chocolate in a crockpot and then finish assembling them with warm toasted marshmallows. No more dropping the graham cracker in the fire in order to completely melt the chocolate!
In the morning, you could skip the usual cold cereal and wake up to a warm, high energy meal such as porridge or oatmeal with dried fruit that you started the night before. If you plan well in advance, you can pack all the measured dry ingredients together in a gallon-sized plastic storage bag, and then add the liquid ingredients when you get to the campsite.
There's nothing like coming back to a hot meal that has been cooking all day; having it in the great outdoors makes it all that much better. Take your slow cooker with you the next time you go camping and don't forget the s'mores!
Made with honey or brown sugar, milk, ground cinnamon, apple, cracked wheat, rolled oats, warm water, raisins, wheat germ
Serves/Makes: 4
- 1/4 cup cracked wheat
- 3/4 cup rolled oats, not instant
- 3 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup wheat germ
- 1/2 cup apple, peeled and grated
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- milk
- honey or brown sugar
Combine the crack wheat, oats, water, raisins, wheat germ, apple, and cinnamon in a crock pot and stir well to combine.
Cover the crock pot and cook the porridge on low heat for 6 hours (or overnight on "warm") until the oats and wheat are soft.
To serve, spoon individual portions into bowls and top as desired with milk and honey or brown sugar.
Serves/Makes: 1 loaf
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup melted butter
Grease a 2-quart can (like a coffee can) or other 2-quart heat-safe container that will fit in the crock pot.
In a bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the egg, milk, and melted butter. Mix until just combined (do not overmix).
Place the cornbread batter in the greased can. Place the can on a trivet in the bottom of the crock pot. If you do not have a trivet you can use crumpled pieces of aluminum foil to keep it off the bottom.
Cover the crock pot and cook on high for 2-3 hours. Carefully remove the can from the crock pot. Let the bread cool for 10 minutes then remove from the can and place on a wire rack.
Store the cornbread in an airtight container.
Made with beef broth, salt, beef stew meat, carrots, onion, celery, potatoes, stewed tomatoes, dried thyme, dried oregano
Serves/Makes: 4
- 1 pound beef stew meat
- 4 carrots, cut in chunks
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 3 medium potatoes, diced
- 1 can (15 ounce size) stewed tomatoes, undrained
- 1 dash dried thyme
- 1 dash dried oregano
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 1/2 cup beef broth
Combine all the stew ingredients in the crock pot, stirring to mix well.
Cover the crock pot and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or until the beef and vegetables are tender.
Serve hot. Adjust the seasoning as needed before serving.
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2 comments
Good recipes, but you should warn your readers about running the battery down. A crockpot can use upwards of 300 watts an hour, and a car only stores about 1,000 watt-hours (1 kWh). At that rate, the battery could be dead before they finish cooking.
Comment posted by David
Is the low setting of crockpots going to drain cause less drain on the battery? I just want to keep my tailgate chili warm during a 3 hour football game.
Comment posted by tailgatercook
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