When you are out in the wild with your loved ones for a camping trip, making sure that there is good food is a must.
But as it can be already guessed, taking responsibility for food in the woods can be quite a daunting task, and the act of cooking is equally difficult.
Therefore, it’s quintessential that you prepare yourself for the event with not only food but also with all the required information so that a wholesome family & friends occasion doesn’t take the southern route.
Hence, here we are with a handy guide to tell you how to grill meat while camping in the woods.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s go!
1. Prepare yourself!
It’s a no-brainer that you should always equip yourself with the best items when you are in the wild.
So don’t forget to pack in ignitors, cooking utensils, food ingredients, water, and some fuel because you may not find the best wood by foraging.
But, of course, don’t overdo it. Crowding yourself with unnecessary items will only weigh you down in a considerably hostile environment.
Moreover, consider equipping yourself with a portable grill rather than relying on just campfire and utensils. If you’d like to know about the best smoker grill combos, grownupthinking.com is the place to be!
There are other things you can consider carrying on your next camping trip and we’ll talk more about them further down in our discussion.
2. Tips that will make your life easier!
Here are a few tips that we have for you that can ease up your next camping trip. Keep these in mind to make sure you can spend more time with your loved ones rather than sweating over chaos.
1. Take it easy
One key difference between grilling at home than in woods is that it takes way more time. Grilling is already a slow process and the woods where there is a lack of resources, it can take even more time.
So, be prepared to give it a lot of time. Pack other snacks and food items to keep the party engaged while the meat cooks at its own pace. And as with grilling anytime, patience is the key.
2. Take the right wood
Grilling out in the open would mean the wood will burn less efficiently. It can be due to management difficulties or the weather, but in any case, do carry some top quality wood to start out the fire as quickly as possible.
You can depend on foraging woods to keep the cooker going but foraging woods can be difficult and unreliable.
3. Keep your ingredients safe
Carry as few ingredients as possible. Plan out your menu well before heading out in the woods and carry all of your ingredients that can spoil – especially meat – in an airtight container.
And don’t tamper with your ingredients until the grill is fired up and heated. Don’t keep your ingredients in open as they’ll spoil much faster.
4. Choose the right
location
Of course, this takes way more expertise than just cooking. Scope out your location prior to the trip if possible. Some favorable features will be open beds of land, nearby a water source, and away from wildlife.
Food will attract predators and wild animals so make sure prior that the place is safe and an abundance of water will be helpful – even if undrinkable – to meet other cooking needs.
5. Don’t rely on forest resources
As cool as it may seem to hunt and forage food items from the woods and making it your dinner, we don’t recommend doing it at all.
Until and unless the members of your party are well-versed in hunting and foraging, don’t rely on food items that you collect from the wild. Even if you recognize the items, there can be numerous other hazards related to the item you are planning to ingest.
One ingredient that is immune to such pathogens is fish. You can rely safely on fishes that you fetch out of a lake if you can identify it and it can be used to make some delicious dishes! And you can easily learn cooking fish outdoors.
Otherwise, use safe ingredients that you use in your home.
6. Don’t underestimate aluminum
While packing food ingredients and other necessities, many campers – even experts – forget to pack crucial items like tissues, containers, etc. but the most important one by far is aluminum foil.
Not only will it help you to store your raw and cooked ingredients safe and prevent it from spoiling, but it’ll also help you to cook better menu items that would otherwise need special utensils.
If you are planning to cook venison, then foils can do wonders for you in adding a rich flavor to the meat. You should definitely give it a try and learn a smoked venison recipe for your next camping trip.
7. Cook it, cook it,
cook it a little more.
While grilling meat is already a time-taking process no matter the place, let the meat stay on fire even more when cooking in the woods.
Avoid rare grilling and let it cook to the core to be extra safe. In an open environment of a forest, there can be several pathogens that can affect the meat. But cooking it to the core will make sure that it’s as safe as possible.
8. Keep your meds in check
Relating to our previous point, if for some reason things do go south, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Keep some necessary medicines that can ease up the digestion of a suffering person.
Some of these include diarrhea medicines, nausea medicines, acidity meds, and vomit inhibitor. We’d also recommend going to a place where medical attention can be accessed in a reasonable amount of time if you are planning to consume meat in a forest.
Conclusion
So that’ll be it for this article.
Hope you found our guide helpful and it helped you plan out your camping trip better. Some of these points might already be known to you but reminding yourself of these before heading out is crucial.
And with that, we wish you well in your endeavors and thank you for reading.
Article Written By; Susan Jones
