Camping meals on the fire; what do we love?

There’s nothing quite like food cooked over a fire. I don’t know whether it’s the smoke, or the open flame, but everything cooked well on a fire tastes better. We were never into cooking over a fire, and I decided to give it a whirl one day, and now when we are allowed, and have time we cook a huge portion of our meals on it.

On our 3 week Pilbara trip where timber was easy to get, fires were permitted everywhere and we had plenty of time, we cooked a massive number of meals.

Chicken on the fire — Everything tastes better when its cooked on a fire

Our go to meals on the fire include

Spuds and Pumpkin on the coals

As a side, there’s almost nothing better than cooking spuds and pumpkin on the coals. Simply wrap them in alfoil, toss them in and turn them a few times over an hour, and you’ll get the most amazing tasting vegetables ever. A bit of butter and salt and you are onto a winner every time! Just be aware that pumpkin tends to cook faster than the potato, so cut it larger or keep it in a cooler part of the fire.

Campfire baked potatoes in the fire — Vegetables in aluminium foil on the fire are always a big hit

Split or Butterfly chicken on the Camp Braai

The Camp Braai has been a game changer for us, for cooking on the fire. We do everything that fits in it, and you almost always end up with a good result.

One of our favourites these days is to get a split chicken, and to lay it out nice and flat and let it cook over about 40 minutes to an hour. If its windy, we’ll stand the Camp Braai up and let the wind do its thing, or we just sit it over the fire and turn it or rotate it as needed.

Chicken at Running Waters — If you want amazing chicken, give this a whirl

Sausages, rissoles, steak or chops on the Camp Braai

Any sort of meat is good cooked over a fire, and that includes the cheapest sausages that you can get. We’ll often cook a couple of sausages and rissoles, or chops on the Camp Braai and have them ready in no time.

Cooking meat on the fire — You can’t go wrong with any meat cooked over the flames

Camp Oven Damper

Whilst its not really a meal, we do love a good damper, especially with a bit of butter and jam!

Apple and peach damper — Our most recent damper with apple and peach was delicious

Stew

You can’t go wrong with a good stew on a cold night, and its so simple and easy to make, with whatever you have available. This always goes down well with some fresh bread, and our kids love it too.

Apricot Chicken

Anything you can cook at home in a pot, you can cook on the road too. We’ve done Apricot Chicken a number of times and always enjoy it, served with a side of mash potato. This is easy, cheap and really simple to do.

Roast lamb

Any roast is good, but there’s something delicious about roast lamb, and its Sarah’s favourite by a country mile.

Camping Kebabs

You can’t beat a good vegetable and meat kebab done over the open flame. Pre cooking some of the vegetables is the way to go or its hard to get the right balance, but you can pick and choose what you like most and build kebabs that are truly awesome.

Cooked Kebabs on the fire — Kebabs done on the open flame are amazing

Camp oven Cob Loaf

Last, but absolutely not least is the Cob Loaf. If you haven’t made one of these at home, you need to. They are nothing short of delicious, and you can cook one in a camp oven very easily, with truly awesome results.

Cob loaf filling — A cob loaf in a camp oven is such a good feed

We also quite like doing Camp Oven Pizza (although its easier in the weber), and basically anything else you can cook over a longer period on a stove (or in an oven) works well.