How to eat well when camping

How to eat well when camping

I’m not the best cook in the world but I do love food. My general mantra is start with good ingredients and do as little with them as possible. I also find that this approach works brilliantly when camping. The key is to find the good ingredients in the first place. When we’re off camping in unfamiliar surroundings it’s not always easy to find amazing produce, all too often we end up relying on supermarkets. Sometimes, however, we manage to strike gold. Our last two camping trips have provided us with great local produce so I thought I’d share some of our recent meals.

Our first trip this year was to the Peak District. Just down the road from our campsite we came across a fantastic little farm shop, Stanedge Grange Butchery, where we were able to stock up on home reared meat, veg, eggs and cheese.

The road leading to Stanedge Grange

We bought some delicious Lincolnshire sausages and black pudding for breakfast, plus we were able to rustle up a two course feast for our dinner with just a few ingredients.

Our old favourite, field mushrooms and Stilton

Sticky maple pork steaks

Sticky maple pork steaks

 

The highlight was definitely the juicy pork steaks. We simply barbecued them (without overcooking them!) and served with coleslaw and couscous salad.

For our second trip this year we headed to the coast and so were eager to indulge our love of seafood. This proved to be harder than expected! Who’d have thought that fishmongers would be so few and far between in Devon? We live in central Northampton and have a massive fish shop round the corner! Anyway we did find a great fishmongers in Ilfracombe Harbour, S & P Fish Shop, which doubles as a cafe. We treated ourselves to some gloriously fresh sea bass and lovely smoked mackerel. Again we kept it simple when serving them.

Smoked mackerel lunch

Smoked mackerel lunch

The mackerel was served with beetroot salad (classic combo!) and a heritage tomato salad (we picked up the tomatoes from Gloucester Services on the way down). This was sliced tomatoes, with torn up mozzarella and basil (a rather sad looking specimen-the only fresh herbs I could find in the Co-op!) drizzled with plenty of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

For the sea bass, I seasoned and put a wedge of lemon inside each one, then wrapped in foil and cooked on the barbecue. Unfortunately I don’t have a great photo (was too busy eating) but it’s very similar to how we cooked these herring. We served with leftover salads from lunch and crusty bread.

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Beautifully fresh sea bass

Of course, we do also like to spoil ourselves from time to time. It was rather an indulgence, but we popped into Espresso Seafood Bar and Grill in Ilfracombe for a decadent lunch. Even campers need a bit of luxury once in a while!

We enjoyed some delightful sharing plates (and a well earned cold beverage)

We enjoyed some delightful sharing plates (and a well earned cold beverage)

 

Feel free to share your own tried and tested campsite recipes, I’m always looking for new ideas.

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Comments

  • Tentsniffer Tentsniffer August 23, at 05:49

    Thanks for linking up. The seafood sounds delicious, I always forget about fish when camping, I’m off to the Isle of Wight next week so will have to try to get some.

    Reply
    • TheHelpfulHiker TheHelpfulHiker August 23, at 07:17

      We’re massive seafood fans so it’s the first thing we look for! I bet you’ll find some gems on the IOW, hope you have a great time 🙂

      Reply

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