One of my favorite ways to cook while camping is cooking with foil packs. This method of campfire cooking is very simple and has an easy clean-up compared to cooking with pots and pans on a camp stove or fire. This short article will show you the basics of foil pack cooking.
Why not Just Cook in Pots or Pans?
Cooking in pots and pans can be an option when cooking, and a great one at that. Many times, the camping trips are short, and the effort needed to pack or carry a camp stove or other device to support a pot over an open fire, may not be worth the reward. Perhaps you are camping in an area where freshwater isn’t readily available and cleaning the pots and pans would be difficult due to the lack of running water. Foil packs can be disposed of once used and the camper would have very little to clean afterward. Basically, unwrap the food and enjoy it in most cases.
| Pros of Pots and Pans | Cons of Pots and Pans |
| Easier to see the status of the food while cooking | Lots of water is needed for clean up |
| Great for stews and soups | Bulky packing into and out of the campsite |
| Great for searing meat | Noisy metal while cooking |
| Great for boiling water | Utensils needed when cooking |
Would You Use That Wood?
The first thing to prepare is the fire of course. Great firewood for cooking is oak and almost any species of oak. Black, Pin, Water, Red, White Oak all work well for cooking wood. Most other hardwoods work well also. The dryer the wood is when starting the fire, the easier is to get started and the faster it burns. Freshly downed wood can be moist or “green”. It’s difficult to get a good fire started with “green”, wet, or moist wood. Look for wood that appears to have been on the ground for a while. When camping in remote locations you may have to track down dead trees, limbs, and branches as a source for your firewood but just be sure you are using hardwoods. Softwoods can be detrimental to your food and health. See more information related to this topic here.
Characteristics of good firewood to look for when searching the forest:
- Grayed in color
- Relatively lighter in weight
- Loosened bark
- Only use hardwoods
Coals
The heat source is of course a huge factor in cooking your foil-packed foods. Most will encourage the camper to use a well-formed coal bed for the foil pack to be placed. While some recipes may call for a raised cooking grill, most will call for the food to be placed onto the coal bed directly. Many vegetable recipes will call for the foil pack to be placed on the coal bed but be sure you aren’t allowing it to burn the food which can happen. For something as simple as baked potatoes, burning is not a large issue as most people do not eat the outside of the potato. To achieve this nice rich coal bed, patience is key. Letting the wood burn down to where there are very few flames and you left glowing red, large coals keep a more constant temperature and can consistently surround the foil-packed foods. Waiting until you have a great rich coal bed will reduce the smokey flavor a little as well. Another benefit of waiting until you have a rich glowing coal bed is the ability to remove the foil pack once it’s done. Most often, even if planning to cook with foil packs, I will bring a heavy set of welding gloves to be able to handle and hot equipment when cooking. While this may sound unnecessary and you could just bring a set of tongs or other kitchen equipment, the gloves are much easier to pack out into a backpack. The long tongs are stiff and unwieldy when trying to pack a backpack. You can easily find a decent quality set of welding gloves online for under $20.
Ingredients for Success
Some of the more common foods and ingredients to use will be vegetables and meats when cooking in a foil pack. Potatoes are very commonly cooked in foil packs, whether it be baked potatoes or scalloped or another preparation. Asparagus, green beans, carrots, corn, and many other vegetables can all be cooked in foil packs in a campfire. Cooking meats are a common option when cooking with foil packs. Beef, chicken, and pork are all commonly cooked with this method. Seafood can even be cooked in the way as well. I normally do not cook anything but beef while I’m camping only due to the effort needed to keep it fresh prior to cooking. I often use Skewers when I’m trying to make a very simple meal, if done right you will not need eating utensils. You can wrap the skewers and all and cook it in the coal bed. When you pull it out and let it cool, you will have an easy ready-to-go meal.
Oiled Foil
Keeping food from sticking to the foil can sometimes be challenging. It’s an issue even with household cooking. Cooking spray and oils can be a great remedy used to correct the problem. I will often use butter and cooking oil when cooking in a campfire, although butter has a low flashpoint in relation to other oils. At times I have used canola as the oil of choice, there are many reasons why I choose this oil, but I use it mainly for its more neutral taste. Packing out cooking oil works well in a repurposed soda bottle. The lids stay tight and they are durable enough to make most trips, at least once, and I can toss it once the cooking is done. Keep the foil oiled well when preparing the foods and the results should be positive.
Wrapping it Up
The act of wrapping the food in foil is not a very technical process. Foods are almost infinitely different in shape. Each potato is a different size than the other. Therefore, accommodations must be made for these different shapes and sizes. One rule to use when wrapping the food is to be sure is sealed well. While foil will rarely produce a full air and liquid-tight seal, wrapping well will be the difference between success and failure. To start, spread the foil sheet flat, place the food in the center of the foil, and roll around the food to create a pocket with the ends on the top of the food. Make the ends meet as well as possible and roll or fold the ends to seal up the food. Another rule is to use at least 3 layers. The first 2 layers can be burned through sometimes, not often but it can happen. Very rarely will the full 3 layers be burned through, thus the final layer protecting the food. See the pictures for the method of wrapping I use most often. I start with the foil flat, pull in two sides, then pull in the other two sides, then fold or roll on the top to make a pouch. I finish it off with two more layers of foil. If you are able to make a rolled bit of foil at the top, it can serve as a handle, and it will be much easier to remove the foil pack from the fire. Of course, always use caution when dealing with heat and fire.
