As fun as camping out can be most people would agree that preparing meals can be somewhat challenging. Not that it’s hard to make things to eat while you’re outdoors but you just don’t have the same setup as you do at home. Without counter tops, chopping blocks and the usual things we use at home preparing meals outdoors can be a little messier and a little harder to clean up afterwards. Many people keep meals rather simplistic when camping out; meats, baked potatoes – things that don’t require a lot of preparation. However, if you change your outlook on how to cook while camping you can have virtually any meal you want from omelettes to burritos to cakes and other goodies.
Canning jars make it easy to prepare delicious meals that would otherwise be too much trouble to cook outdoors. The jars are glass and feature a flat lid with a ring that screws down over it. Although most people use the jars for shelving homemade canned foods the jars work perfectly to create meals you would normally find too cumbersome to create outside. It’s really easy if you do most of the cooking at home, place the foods in the canning jars, then cart them along with you to the camping area. Remember to keep the jars in a cooler until you are ready to prepare them.
At home, you can place everything from soup to omelette ingredients in the jars. First, spray the entire inside of the jar with non-stick cooking spray and allow that to sit for a minute. Now fill the jar with virtually anything you want. If you want omelettes, break a couple of eggs, put in cheese, ham, onions or other ingredients. Place the lid on the jar but not too tight. If you want burritos, fry the hamburger, drain it, then put it in the canning jar. Add refried beans, cheese and any other ingredients you want. Simply set these prepared meals in a cooler and take them with you on the camping trip.
There are certain things that you won’t want to put in the jars ahead of time. For example, if you’re making burritos, prepare the jarred food at the campsite, but serve the warm tortilla shells on the side. After heating the jar burritos eaters can tear the tortillas and drop them down in the jar or can place them on a plate and pour the burrito concoction over them. Rice is another such food. It can get mushy after sitting for awhile, so instead, use boil-in-bag rice, and when it’s done you can simply open it and pour it over the cooked, jarred burritos.
To prepare the meals-in-a-jar start with a large pot of water. Place something in the bottom of the pan to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pot. You can place Ball jar rings in the bottom or even clean rocks. However, the jars should sit upright and not lean while cooking. Also, as the jars are lowered into the pan of water don’t allow the water to rise up above the lid. In fact, add or take away water so that it stays at least a couple of inches below the top.
The average jar meal takes about 10 minutes or so, after the water starts boiling, to cook it through and through. Some dishes, like eggs, can take a shorter amount of time. To remove the jars from the water, first remove the pan from the fire, then use canning tongs or oven mitts to retrieve the jars. Set them off to the side for a few minutes just to allow a little cooling time. When you’re packing stuff at home to take on the trip cut the tops off of some clean, mismatched socks. Slip these sock rings over the ball jar and the individual can easily hold the hot jar while they eat. There’s no need to pour most meals out on a plate; simply grab a spoon or fork and get busy eating! You can recycle the water you used to cook the meals by using it to wash the Ball jars. They’re usually easy to rinse out because of the non-stick spray applied before adding the meals to the jars.
Although hot dogs, s’mores and similar foods are classic and delicious you can add much more variety to your camping meals by taking along some jar foods. You don’t absolutely have to use Ball jars to make the meals; most any glass jar with a screw-on lid will work fine. In fact, you can use these smaller jars to make smaller meals for kids. It’ll become the way of the future for you and your family and will become just one more thing you love about camping!
