Can I just tell you all how excited I am about our 2 weeks of Summer Camp?!? Like Amanda, I always loved summer camp, and these two weeks are taking me way back!  Don’t be surprised if I break out into old camp songs… My kids and poor hubby are already inundated with the old tunes.

The first thing I knew I wanted to make were hobo meals!  When I came home from camp, I always had mom and dad make these for us – I loved the way the flavors melded together in the little foil packets of goodness.  So here’s what you’ll need:

• ground meat (beef or turkey)
• carrots
• potatoes
• onions
• any other veggies that would roast well (mmm, broccoli! asparagus!)
• salt and pepper
• butter
• cheese (optional)
• aluminum foil

Cut the potatoes and carrots into bite-sized pieces, and slice the onions up however you like them!  I left them kind of big so I could pick them off the kids packets in case they didn’t like them.  Make a 3-4 oz. patty with your ground meat and place in the middle of a piece of aluminum foil, and salt and pepper the meat patty a bit.  Line up your ingredients and then let your kids add the veggies to their own packets…

Notice the only things in Elias’s packet are meat, carrots and cheese.  He decided he didn’t like potatoes – but that’s OK, because he ate everything he put in it!

This is what a real hobo meal should look like – pile the veggies high, add cheese if desired, put a pat or two of butter on top and sprinkle with more salt and pepper.

Wrap the aluminum foil up around the food, folding at the ends, and let your 4 year old “write” each person’s name on the top of their packet.  If you are adding this to a real campfire or a fire pit out back, wrap your packets with 2 layers of foil.

Bake in your oven at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes (ours only took 45 minutes), or grill or place on a campfire for 15-30 minutes, flipping once. Open your foil packet, and you can eat right out of the packet – no need for cleaning plates!  I have no “after” pictures for you, because the after shots looked a lot like the before shot… but I can tell you that these things are delicious!  The boys each ate everything that they put in their own packets, and I scarfed mine up quickly, too!  We will be having these again soon.

What were/are your favorite camping meals (besides the s’mores, of course!)?

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