So, what should the Slapmister and I take on our real-life campout this weekend? I haven't cooked out in a dog's age. What's good over flame besides the standard hot dogs and chicken, and comes from the grocery? (We're not planning to catch our dinner, much less our breakfast.)

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002

Answers

D'you want healthy or do you want hearty? What kind of stove do you have? Are you car-camping or backpacking? If car-camping with a cooler, bacon's always better over a fire. Wrap corn-on-the-cob in aluminum foil with some butter and salt (I figure this could work: we do it on the grill). Instant oatmeal, boiling and well peppered with raisins or cranberries or other dried fruit, warms you up but good and puts only water in the pot--scrubbing pots and pans at camp sucks hugely. Canned cooked potatoes make yummy hashbrowns if you have a stove (if you have a stove, you can make anything). Don't forget marshmallows. If you're stoveless and really only using a fire*, you can get really created with aluminum foil. You can cook anything in it and it's lightweight to pack in and out.

*Where are you going? There are fire restrictions throughout the Rocky Mountains and I thought in California too.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002