Some people go camping to simply enjoy mother nature, while others like to have the opportunity to make creative or unusual meals they normally wouldn’t make in the house. Listed below are a few recipes to get your creative wheels turning.

Cardboard Box Grill

Ingredients:

1 empty cardboard box with flaps

heavy duty aluminum foil

4 empty soda cans (I like using the smaller ones, like the ones that pineapple juice or V-8 juice come in.)

charcoal

Preparation:

Get the charcoal ready to cook by starting them and waiting until they are white. Cover box TOTALLY in aluminum foil, inside and out, flaps and all, better too much than too less. Fill the cans half way with water. Lay box flat on its side so the opening is facing you. Put soda cans in the box on the four corners so it can hold up what you are cooking. Place the dish with your food on the soda cans. Place one charcoal in the box under the dish for every 40 degrees you would want your oven to be.

Garbage Can Supper

Metal garbage can
Cement blocks and grate to sit across blocks
Build hot wood fire under grate

Fill can with:

1. Remove outside husk from sweet corn, leaving on the last few around corn.

2. Lay husks on bottom of garbage can.

3. Pour in cold water just to the top of corn husks. Do not cover the corn husks with water.

4. Add whole scrubbed white potatoes, whole scrubbed carrots, quartered cabbage, sweet corn, Polish sausage (regular, smoked, or plain sausage or large frankfurters will work also) or a mixture of each.

5. Set can or grate; cover with lid and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how full can is, you can lift lid a little near the end to check on doneness but don’t leave lid off very long.

Hint: When placing food in can, mix it up so when you serve it you aren’t digging around for something.

You can serve the following food for 20 adults and 12 children: 5 heads cabbage, 28 white potatoes, 3 - 3 1/2 bags of carrots, 10 links Polish sausage, 12 extra fat hot dogs, 2 1/2 lbs. smoked sausage, 4-5 dozen ears of corn.

Milk Carton Hot Dogs

Ingredients:

1 hot dog & roll

water

two paper towels

heavy duty aluminum foil

1 qt size cardboard milk or juice carton

Preparation:

Wet paper towels and wring them out, put hot dog in roll and wrap the whole thing in the paper towels, covering even the ends. Wrap that in aluminum foil, be carefull not to wrap too tightly, you want air in there. Place this in the Milk carton… put it in a fire ring and light milk carton with a match. It’s done when the milk carton is gone. Enjoy!

Bacon and Eggs in a Paperbag

Ingredients:

Two strips bacon (thick)

one paper lunch bag

one egg

one stick

Preparation:

Cut bacon strips in two, place at the bottom of the paper bag, covering the bottom. It is important that you have thick strips of bacon as thin ones will stick and adhere to the paper bag when cooked. Crack egg and put in paper bag on top of the bacon. Fold lunch bag down three times and poke a hole through it with the stick, so that the bag is hanging on the end of the stick. Hold over charcoal and watch the grease from the bacon protect the bag and cook the meal.

Ice Cream in a Ziploc

Ingredients:

One small seal top plastic bag

One gallon size seal top plastic bag

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup of milk

Crushed ice

8 tablespoons ice-cream salt(rock salt)

One tablespoon peanut butter or chocolate syrup

Preparation:

In a small seal top plastic bag, pour 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. Close the bag and place in a gallon-size seal top bag. Add some crushed ice and 8 tablespoons of ice cream salt(rock salt). Close the top and shake being careful not to bust the bags. You could also add one tablespoon of peanut butter or chocolate syrup… yummy!