Newbie cooking for 10 people
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2009
Location:
Posts: 60
Newbie cooking for 10 people
I started taking up camping in Ohio this year (camping in zero degree weather in January and February). I'll be camping a few more times before I have a big August camping trip planned in Vermont with my sister and my nephews. There will be about ten of us and I'm looking for ideas about what kind of cooking equipment would be good. There are a lot of options out there, so I'd like to hear about equipment that has worked well for you.
Thanks!
Thanks!
#3
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2009
Location:
Posts: 60
RE: Newbie cooking for 10 people
ORIGINAL: jmstevens2
Dutch Ovens!
Dutch Ovens!
#5
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location:
Posts: 100
RE: Newbie cooking for 10 people
There are a lot of things that can be cooked by wrapping in foil and placing in the coals. Coleman and camping stoves are out there too. Look at scoutmaster.org and there is a lot of cooking ideas and cookbooks there to look at. If there is a scout troop close they could help a lot.
#6
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location:
Posts: 1
RE: Newbie cooking for 10 people
I have a CampChef 3 burner stove with the oven box that you can put over two burners or leave it off. It is great for cooking for a large group or a couple of people. We camp 30-35 days a year from big groups to just me and my wife. They are not the cheapest stove out there, but we think their worth it. You can buy a copy of it on ebay that is cheaper. A friend of ours bought one of them and they seem to be just fine also.
#7
camp kitchen
It's not the prettiest stuff in the world but you can pick up great cook ware a yards sales cheap. Over the years I have put together my standard cook ware set that is nothing more that an assortment of pots , pans, and utensils that I paid practical nothing for. If one gets left or damaged no big deal. We (3-5 hunters) do week long back woods trips every year and I have rarely not had it covered. The list is prety simple.
2 frying pans ( 1 happens to be iron but both could be aluminum)
1 small/average pot
1 large pot (double as a dish washing pot)
1 coffee pot
typcial assortment of cooking utensils
It all packs into a med size box with handles/carrry straps and weights very little. Everything but the iron frying pan is aluminum.
Proabably the handiest item but funkiest is the stove rack. My father showed up many years ago with this home made stove rack made from an old walker. I could barely allow him to come into camp with when i first saw it and now wouldn't leave home without it. It folds flat, weights nothing and hold the stove and cooking ware perfectly. Everyoine who see it laughts, but once they use it love it. If you need any details on how it is put it together let me know.
2 frying pans ( 1 happens to be iron but both could be aluminum)
1 small/average pot
1 large pot (double as a dish washing pot)
1 coffee pot
typcial assortment of cooking utensils
It all packs into a med size box with handles/carrry straps and weights very little. Everything but the iron frying pan is aluminum.
Proabably the handiest item but funkiest is the stove rack. My father showed up many years ago with this home made stove rack made from an old walker. I could barely allow him to come into camp with when i first saw it and now wouldn't leave home without it. It folds flat, weights nothing and hold the stove and cooking ware perfectly. Everyoine who see it laughts, but once they use it love it. If you need any details on how it is put it together let me know.
#8
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 39
With 10 people, I wouldn't try to get huge equipment to feed everyone all at the same time. Not unless you are going to cook for this size group a lot. Most of the time you'll cook for way less people and that size equipment would be overkill.
Cook for 3 or 4 at a time, so everyone gets fresh, hot chow. Better to do that then cook, say, all the bacon for everyone at once, then all the hashbrowns, then all the eggs, etc., and by the time everyone eats, its all cold and stale. This is especially true in the cold or at altitude where food cools off tremendously fast.
I've also found that cooking for that many, and especially buying food for that many, is a major logistical challenge not to be underestimated. Double this challenge if you are camping far away from a reasonable trip to a nearby store. Quadruptle this challenge if you are in the backcountry. I've found it absolutely essential that a menu for each and every meal is planned and food bought accordingly. Plan for at least 1.5 times the food you would normally eat at home.
Also, discuss said menu with the rest of the crew to see if someone has an allergy or other issue with their diet. With a group of 10, someone likely will.
The quality of food is a major issue in determining whether an outing is fun or not. After all, you can't control the weather or the game, but you can control the food you enjoy. The person who is responsible for this task will determine, at the outset, the baseline for camping enjoyment or lack thereof. Some, like me, enjoy it. Others should never, due to lack of organizational skills, temperment, dietary choices, hygiene, etc., be allowed to inflict themselves on the entire crew.
Cook for 3 or 4 at a time, so everyone gets fresh, hot chow. Better to do that then cook, say, all the bacon for everyone at once, then all the hashbrowns, then all the eggs, etc., and by the time everyone eats, its all cold and stale. This is especially true in the cold or at altitude where food cools off tremendously fast.
I've also found that cooking for that many, and especially buying food for that many, is a major logistical challenge not to be underestimated. Double this challenge if you are camping far away from a reasonable trip to a nearby store. Quadruptle this challenge if you are in the backcountry. I've found it absolutely essential that a menu for each and every meal is planned and food bought accordingly. Plan for at least 1.5 times the food you would normally eat at home.
Also, discuss said menu with the rest of the crew to see if someone has an allergy or other issue with their diet. With a group of 10, someone likely will.
The quality of food is a major issue in determining whether an outing is fun or not. After all, you can't control the weather or the game, but you can control the food you enjoy. The person who is responsible for this task will determine, at the outset, the baseline for camping enjoyment or lack thereof. Some, like me, enjoy it. Others should never, due to lack of organizational skills, temperment, dietary choices, hygiene, etc., be allowed to inflict themselves on the entire crew.
#9
Not sure if it will work on fire but i think it will. i saw on tv a ceramic coated iron skillet They said they are for people who dislike normal iron skillets or for some reason can not cook with them. i am thinking there coated as to not pick up iron in the food. But also though i am properly wrong i do not think the new iron skillets put off iron in the food. Check this link out it is for enamel coated iron skillets might ask your doctor before buying. http://www.amazon.com/Enamel-Coated-.../dp/B000N4YD9W
#10
Spike
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 1