How to Make and Cook Foil Dinners

Foil dinners are a great way to cook an all-in-one meal over coals. You can customize them to your own taste, prepare them ahead of time, and there aren't any pots and pans to clean up afterwards.

Heavy duty foil is the best to use, since it will be less likely to be punctured. If you use thinner foil, use two pieces with several layers of newspaper in between. This helps prevent the food from burning.

To make foil dinners, place the following in the middle of the shiny side of a large piece of aluminum foil:

1. Some type of meat--common ones are hamburger, steak, chicken, kielbasa. Season if desired.

2. Some sliced or cubed potatoes--sliced will cook faster, cubed may be less likely to burn.

3. Some vegetables--these could be carrots, onions, beans, peas, corn, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini or any other vegetable that you like. These should be cut into smaller pieces to reduce cooking time.

4. Other desired ingredients--rice, for example, can be added, as long as some liquid is also added to help steam the rice. Other possibilities could be creamed soups or garlic cloves.

Add any seasonings. There are endless possibilities for seasonings. Some ideas include salt and pepper, ketchup, chili sauce, tomato sauce, salsa, dry onion soup mix (or other dry soup mix), worcestershire sauce, seasoning used for grilling (many possibilities here), bay leaves, garlic powder, onion powder, or any other variety of seasonings that you have in your cupboard.

There are many other possibilities--you are only limited by your imagination. By creative and try new combinations.

When done, finish the package by making a drug store fold. Bring the long ends of the foil together above your food and fold over. Keeping folding down almost to the level of the food. Then roll or fold the open ends of the foil about 1/2 inch or so at a time towards the middle. If you are cooking the dinner later, put the package in your cooler and you are ready to go.

When you are ready to cook, your fire should be burned down to coals, or the briquets to white hot. Place the foil dinner on the coals. If you have enough, place coals on top of the foil package also. Cooking time will vary depending on your coals, the size of the package and the size of the vegetables. Turn over after about 20 minutes. Cook 10-15 minutes more. Remove from coals and carefully open to check to see if it is done. If not done, re-close, wrap another piece of foil around the package if needed and return it to the coals. Check again in 10-15 minutes. When done, open package and eat directly from the foil package, or transfer the food to a plate.

Foil dinners are an easy, quick, no-mess way to cook dinner when you are camping. They can even be cooked in your oven at home and are a great way for everyone to prepare their own dinner.

Scott Carey has many hobbies and interests, including outdoor cooking. Look for information on some of his other interests, such as computers, eBay, and gardening at InfoTesoro.

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