THE RESPONSES:

• Oooooh we LOVE camping! (And we're going tent camping this weekend.) Do you have a grill grate you could bring to set on the fire for cooking? That works out GREAT! (Then you can put pans on top of the grate.)

  -We cut up cooked chunked potatoes and onions and grated cheese and wrap in little foil packets. They can just literally be thrown on the fire till heated and they are yummy! Actually, any grillable veggies cut up can be done that way!
  -I marinate chicken in ziplock baggies and grill them there but you can also precook them and wrap in foil to heat up.
  -Eggs, bacon or sausage for breakfast
  -Bagels with cream cheese
  -Any kind of sandwich that can be premade and kept fresh in the cooler, or grilled cheese to make there.
  -Fresh fruit
  -Don't forget fresh water!

• We "camped" for 6 months while we built our house - the first 2 months with no hydro or water. We got water and then hydro at 3 months. We were still "camping" when we went to a home-school campout with the 4 kids and were in a tent. The other families commented how good we all were at camping. Our neigbours who were very helpful through our house building (friends & who we bought the lot from) were there too and they started laughing. We said we were "professional" campers!!

  Onto food. Breakfasts we made plain old cooked oatmeal or oatbran or rice cereal. We could bring it dry and boil the water. It was much more filling than "cold" cereal and required less milk if any. If you cook it so it is more runny than no milk. We also would bring granola too (homemade-much cheaper!) and it could double as a snack. We would bring one carton of juice for the cooler and for breakfast only. The rest of the time we drank water. We brought the almond milk I make. Here is a cool trick. One thing is to make sure everything you put in the cooler is already cold. Then freeze your water and milk in containers and use it to help keep things cool and then you can drink the water. My kids loved this idea for the water as we put it in water bottles.

  For lunch or dinner we would have eggs (can bring already boiled in cooler) or cook them fresh. I would bring already cooked and spiced chopped potatoes and then add olive oil and lemon juice (from fresh lemon) and make a pototoe salad. Another "trick" is I would make a soup or stir-fry, spaghetti sauce, etc. and freeze it and put it in the cooler, we could then eat it the following night after it had thawed and warmed it on the "stove." I would bring frozen cooked rice with veggies & spices added and then cook up hot water and add a can of beans and the spiced rice. YUMM!! Also I would bring frozen veggie dogs and burgers. We would bring bread for sandwiches of peanut butter (almond butter for me) and honey or jam. We would bring fresh veggies for the cooler like red and yellow peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, etc. We brought fruits too like bananas, apples, etc. Snacks were fruit, or healthy chips or granola or bread with honey, etc.

• Here are a couple of my favorite camping recipes.

  Baked Apples - Core apples. Fill with brown sugar, butter, rasins & walnuts. Cook in coals til soft.

  Mulligan Stew - Combine green beans, potatoes, other veggies of your choice, and kiebasa in a pot with water. Heat until 'taters are cooked. Eat.

• Baby carrots and tofu pate or hummus.
  Peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter (or almond, cashew, you get it...).
  Cold pasta salad
  Fruit - especially strawberry shortcake for dessert!
  Grilled Boca Burgers