How to Cook Over Open Fire

If you had to cook over an open fire, would you know how? Such basic knowledge as how to cook over an open flame is something we all should know. Knowing how to cook over a campfire can help you feed your family under adverse circumstances, plus it’s a great family activity just for fun. 

Campfire Cooking

There are all kinds of propane stoves and grills. We even have an article about how to choose a camp stove for your emergency kit. They are great to have on hand, but you might not want to haul one while camping, or you might run out of propane in the middle of a snowstorm. Most of us have access to some type of wood that we could burn and an open fire can provide a source of heat for cooking, and add a little smoky flavor too. Ok, I confess. I’m not a huge fan of the smoky flavor, but smoke is better than starving.

How To Best Build A Campfire by EarthEasy

It shows aspects of how to best build a campfire and includes a whole bunch of good recipes for outdoor cooking.

23 Secrets To Cooking On A Campfire by Design Mom

Lots of beautiful pictures and good, practical information to end up with delicious meals.

How to Make Homemade Bread Over an Open Campfire from Judith on HubPages

Here is a simple way to bake bread with a campfire. There are a few accommodations but nothing difficult that we can’t easily prep for.

Emergency and Outdoor Bread Manual from Patriot Resistance

A whole ebook that you can save and/or print filled with tips and recipes.

Campfire Accessories

It’s not necessary, but it’s helpful to have a metal rack to put over the fire; it makes it much easier to cook meat evenly. You can purchase a “camp grill” or save a rack from that old grill you want to replace. 

Roasting forks are always fun and in a pinch you could cook a lot of different things on them!

A hamburger grill basket is, of course, great for cooking burgers; but don’t limit yourself! It works good for making toast for breakfast or, if you are feeling fancy, you could cook a steak or two.

You can purchase pan sets for camping, or you could do like my mother-in-law did and find old pans at yard sales. In an emergency you can use the pans right from your kitchen.

Pie makers don’t take up much space and can be used by children with supervision. I recommend the square ones so that you don’t have to cut off the corners of your bread. The cast iron pie makers are more expensive but will obviously last longer. We call them mountain pies – not totally sure why; some people call them hobo pies. Whatever you call them, you can make a lot of different things in them, even fry eggs. The food can be as healthy or decadent as you want.  Creative Pie Iron Cooking Book has over 100 different recipes that you can try.

With all this campfire cooking it is a good idea to have some heavy oven mitts ready. My husband got some 2nd degree burns as a teenager when he tried to “rescue” some burgers off the camp grill. The trip to the hospital wasn’t a fun way to spend vacation time.

Dutch Oven Cooking

Cooking Over A Fire With Dutch Ovens by y2kchaos

An excellent post on cooking over an open fire with cast iron Dutch ovens as well as how to care for the pieces. A very informative piece, indeed!
P.S. Aren’t you glad we really didn’t have anything to worry about for y2k?

Dutch Oven Cooking – Know How and Be Prepared by MomPrepares

How to get started with a dutch oven and some things to watch for.

Dutch Oven Recipes by MomPrepares

From simple to elegant, a lot can be cooked in a dutch oven!

There is a lot more to becoming an expert at outdoor cooking but that means practice, practice, practice! If you are new to it, why not plan a backyard campfire meal to get some practice? Your family will love it and it’ll give you the practice so if you ever have to do it in an emergency situation, you’ll have some background experience to draw from.

Do you have any tips on outdoor open fire cooking?

Learn more:

How To Build A Fire On Snow
How To Make A Fire Last All Night