by Tracy Wever

Created on: March 09, 2010

Everyone in your camping group has had a full day of outdoor activities. The day is winding down and everyone is hungry. They want something good to eat and they want it right now. There is nothing more versatile and easily prepared as hamburger. We are going to look at three fast and easy camping dinner recipes using hamburger. All of these recipes can be cooked on a campfire or cooking stove.

The ingredients for our first recipe are, 1-lb hamburger for every four people, one medium onion, one medium green pepper, and two medium potatoes for every pound of hamburger fixed. You will need two skillets. The first skillet needs to be sprayed with pan coating. In this skillet place your potatoes sliced for frying or cut in small chunks. Let the potatoes get about half done and add your diced onion and pepper. When you have your potatoes onions and peppers cooking, use your second pan to brown your hamburger. When the hamburger is done, pour off all but a small amount of the grease and mix the two skillets together. Cover and let this cook until the potatoes are done. Right before serving add cheese of your choice and let it melt over the top. This skillet fry seems to please hungry campers every time.

Hamburger steak is the second fast and easy camping recipe. One pound of hamburger will make two good sized steaks for the hungry adult camper. You will need about half an onion and half a pepper for each pound of hamburger. Make each pound of hamburger into two balls. Lay a piece of waxed paper on your table. Place another piece of waxed paper on top and mash the balls flat with your hand. The thinner you get them the faster they will fry. Work them into an oblong shape. Remove the wax paper and place the steaks in your skillet to fry. Slice your onions and peppers and fry in the same pan as your hamburger. In a sauce pot mix a package of brown gravy with water and boil. When your hamburger steaks are done put them on a plate, cover with peppers and onions and spoon brown gravy over the top. This can also be served over a bed of rice.

Meatball sandwiches on a camping trip? Really easy, but some work needs to be done at home. Cook your favorite meatball recipe at home. Place the cooked meatballs into freezer bags and freeze. When you pack for camping put the frozen meatballs in your cooler on top of the ice. When you are ready to cook, the meatballs should have started to thaw out. Place them in a skillet and thaw them the rest of the way on low heat. When they have completely thawed pour in a small jar of spaghetti sauce and heat until the sauce boils. Place three or four meatballs in a split hoagie roll, spoon on some extra sauce and sprinkle on some mozzarella cheese. Meatball sandwiches on a camping trip.

Now you have three easy camping dinner recipes using hamburger. Use your imagination and experiment and you can come up with many more. To speed up the preparation time you can chop or slice the onions,  peppers and potatoes for these recipes at home and place them in Ziploc bags in your cooler.

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