People love “participatory” foods – make it exactly the way you like it! Here is a basic guide for making delectable packet meals. These are only suggestions. Once you get the idea, get creative! The internet is full of great combinations. The classic Girl Scout recipe is: a thick slice of onion, ground beef patty, 1/4 c frozen vegetables, 1/4 tsp onion soup mix, 2 Tab water.
Ingredients:
- One 1/4 – 1/2 inch slice of onion for each dinner
Meats:
- hamburger, ground bison, ground lamb
- fillet of fish or beef, with even thickness not too thick, about 1/2 inch
- chicken breast cutlet, again- thin ( or chicken tenders)
- chopped (3/4 inch cube or so) meat – chicken, beef, pork, bison, lamb
- sliced sausages (1/2 inch) – kielbasa, brats, any cooked sausage
- shrimp, scallops, firm fleshed fish (salmon, swordfish, etc.)
Veggies:
- any frozen vegetable
- zucchini or summer squash, sliced
- peppers
- canned corn
- mushrooms
- fresh spinach
- snow peas
- chopped, canned, or cherry tomatoes
- diced onion
- asparagus
Starch:
- thin sliced or frozen or canned potatoes
- instant rice, grains
- fresh (not dried) pasta
- tater-tots
Seasonings:
- anything that goes with what you are making
Flavorful liquid:
- wine
- stock
- citrus juice
- soy sauce
- fish sauce
- marinara sauce
- sweet and sour sauce
- any bottled/canned sauce
- a bit of melted butter or oil, if desired
- any other sauce or marinade you love
You only need 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid to create the steaming effect and to infuse the other ingredients with flavor.
Directions:
- Preheat grill to 350°. Or use charcoal. Cook 10-20 min directly on coals or 20-30 on grill. Requires a medium hot fire. The number of seconds you can keep your hand over the coals will tell you how hot they are. Two or three seconds is a hot fire, four or five seconds is medium hot.
- For each serving, assemble an individual portion of ingredients in a large piece of heavy duty foil (or two layers of regular foil) and seal. (See below.)
- Label each packet carefully with marking pen or nail polish.
- Using tongs, place packets over indirect heat on a well-oiled grill – onion side down.
- Let the packets cook (essentially steam) for about 20 – 30 minutes, depending on your ingredients, turning once towards the end to ensure top products cooked but not burned.
- You may need more time, or you may need a little less. Be patient.
- Using tongs, remove the packets and let cool slightly before serving.
- If you are careful, the foil covers the plate and there is no cleanup!
SECRET – don’t tell- you can cook them in the oven!
How to Make a Foil Pouch – Important!
- Make sure you have a flat surface to work on.
- Pull out a sheet of heavy foil at least 12 inches long. Minimum length to make a proper foil pouch – 12 inches. The key to making a good foil pouch is to have lots of extra foil. First off, you need it to properly construct the foil pouch. Secondly, there needs to be extra room around the contents of the pouch so heat can build up inside the pouch creating a mini-oven condition. The worst thing that can happen is the foil pouch is too tight or overfilled and it falls open as you are handling it. Don’t be responsible for ruining dinner!
- Place a slice of onion in the center of the foil. (It will keep meat from burning – girls are not required to eat it!)
- Place your food directly on the onion in the center of the foil pouch.
- Add other ingredients and oil and and seasonings at this point.
- Hold the two long edges of foil and bring together in the center above the food. If there is no apparent long edge and your piece of foil is more like a square – choose the side that is facing you to keep things simple.
- Fold edges down creating a small lip – about 1/2 inch along the entire length of the foil. Pinch tight to seal well. Make to sure there is room between the food and the foil so heat can build up inside the packet.
- Fold lip over once more so it lays flat on top of the foil pouch. The top of the foil pouch should be nicely sealed now leaving two open “short” edges.
- Press one of the short edges together and fold over once to create another 1/2 inch lip.
- Fold again to Make sure there is plenty of extra room from the edge of the foil to the contents of the foil packet (1 ½ to 2 inches).
- Repeat with the other short edge.
Your foil packet should be tightly sealed on all sides and stay closed when you handle it.
Source: Many, many Girl Scout camp outs.
