Alright so I haven't been camping in ages but I was stuck home today with no desire to actually go crazy with cooking (mostly because I had just cleaned the kitchen and didn't want to make a mess of it again), and realized that camping could be done at home. By that, I mean camping food.

Ladies and Gents, the foil dinner (sometimes called the hobo dinner!).

I search around here pretty often for new food ideas and haven't come across this, though I'm sure someone, somewhere has put it on this site.

It's super easy. Preheat the oven to 400, and grab yourself a few sheets of aluminum foil (I do 2 layers of the foil to keep it safe!). Spray down the inside sheet of foil with some sort of cooking oil to keep things from sticking.

I use ground beef but you can also sub for chicken, etc. I get a few ounces of ground beef and add in some diced onion and ball it all up, and then flatten it out (about a 1/4 inch thick), taking up about a 3X5 space on the center of the foil.

I then add in cut up carrots, potatoes (I get the canned, peeled ones that are already cooked just because they take ages to fully cook if you use raw), and corn on top of the meat patty. You can pretty much add anything you want though. Season as desired. I typically add seasoned salt and/or garlic powder. I add two tablespoons of chicken bullion broth (you can also just do Water or something) to keep everything moist, and wrap that puppy up. Leave some room above the food for the steam though!

Depending on what you put in, oven time is anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour. The hour would be for your raw potatoes, more meat, etc.

Unwrap and add a little cheese if you so desire. Voila, easy dinner that literally has ZERO cleanup other than pitching the aluminum foil. Takes a while to cook but putting it together is super fast.

You can put anything in it, make any combos, and you can customize depending on your fill level, and what you can comfortably eat.

Hope at least a few folks are inspired!

A great idea....easy and no clean up...I like that! I can use the idea for chicken and frozen vegetables. Thanks for the help!

we do this for camping and at home too. we call them hobo dinners. we have tried several different things to change it up. its excellent if you add cream of mushroom or chicken Soup. my sister in law uses brown gravy.

thanks for the post. we havent had these for a while now and they sound great!

We LOVE Hobo Stew!

I've done it outside on the grill too so I don't even have to turn the oven ON!

I dice the potatoes and carrots pretty small, easy to eat for my little one and it cooks faster. I put the veggies on the bottom, crumble the raw ground beef on top, seasoning each layer as I go, throw a dab or two of butter on top and wrap up tight! Good to go in no time!

I will also throw in a variety of veggies too. Always onions, potatoes and carrots. Others I've been known to use would be garlic cloves, bell peppers- any color, mushrooms, broccoli, sweet potatoes (I'll leave out the reg potatoes if I use the sweets), cauliflower, beets, leaks, fennel bulbs, really anything I would roast in the oven or steam, I'll toss in the stew! The possibilities are endless! Oh cabbage is another good one too! Greens of any kind would work as well.

We haven't done this in awhile. May be time again soon! Thanks for bringing it up!

We love it with chicken breasts and our favorite smoked sausage. Italian dressing is good to add moisture.

Alright so I haven't been camping in ages but I was stuck home today with no desire to actually go crazy with cooking (mostly because I had just cleaned the kitchen and didn't want to make a mess of it again), and realized that camping could be done at home. By that, I mean camping food.

Ladies and Gents, the foil dinner (sometimes called the hobo dinner!).

I search around here pretty often for new food ideas and haven't come across this, though I'm sure someone, somewhere has put it on this site.

It's super easy. Preheat the oven to 400, and grab yourself a few sheets of aluminum foil (I do 2 layers of the foil to keep it safe!). Spray down the inside sheet of foil with some sort of cooking oil to keep things from sticking.

I use ground beef but you can also sub for chicken, etc. I get a few ounces of ground beef and add in some diced onion and ball it all up, and then flatten it out (about a 1/4 inch thick), taking up about a 3X5 space on the center of the foil.

I then add in cut up carrots, potatoes (I get the canned, peeled ones that are already cooked just because they take ages to fully cook if you use raw), and corn on top of the meat patty. You can pretty much add anything you want though. Season as desired. I typically add seasoned salt and/or garlic powder. I add two tablespoons of chicken bullion broth (you can also just do Water or something) to keep everything moist, and wrap that puppy up. Leave some room above the food for the steam though!

Depending on what you put in, oven time is anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour. The hour would be for your raw potatoes, more meat, etc.

Unwrap and add a little cheese if you so desire. Voila, easy dinner that literally has ZERO cleanup other than pitching the aluminum foil. Takes a while to cook but putting it together is super fast.

You can put anything in it, make any combos, and you can customize depending on your fill level, and what you can comfortably eat.

Hope at least a few folks are inspired!

Hey there: I was hoping maybe I could email or talk w/ someone who has similar weight and get some helpful ideas tips as I was just banded on 10/5 no fill yet-would u be interested in conferring and helping me w/ some general questions?

Hey there: I was hoping maybe I could email or talk w/ someone who has similar weight and get some helpful ideas tips as I was just banded on 10/5 no fill yet-would u be interested in conferring and helping me w/ some general questions?

Hi, there! Welcome! There is an excellent site for you... a mentor's thread called "I'm here to help". This link will take you to a recent post. Then save it by using your "Thread tools" at the top of the page and click on "Subscribe to this thread". Great place for newbies to get questions answered. Any questions, PM me, or anyone else, by clicking on the screen name above the avatar on any given post.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f260/im-here-help-64725/index355.html#post1350317