annieb123's Review of The Family Camp Cookbook

by Emily Vikre

Easy, delicious, family-friendly recipes to cook at your next campout—whether that’s in the woods or in your own backyard!

The Family Camp Cookbook is a book for everyone who enjoys cooking and eating outdoors. Whether you need to learn how to pack your first cooler or you’re looking for kid-friendly recipes to enjoy after a day spent outdoors, you’ll learn how to plan, prep, and cook as a family when you don’t have the comforts of a full kitchen.

Start out by learning how to build a fire easily at your campsite, or use the “sure-fire” guides for mastering any grill. With planning lists and prep steps for the recipes, you’ll quickly go from unpacking to firing up your first meal. The recipes inside include a wide variety of updated camp classics and dishes you’d never have thought to cook at camp. Cooking techniques range from live-fire roasting and foil-pack cooking to family-style dinners in the Dutch oven. (Yes, you can almost “set it and forget it” like a slow cooker if you know what you’re doing!) Chapters and recipes include:

Breakfasts cover a whole range of options to start the day right, like Make-Ahead Granola, The Best Fluffy Pancakes (with topping bar!), Dutch Oven Coffee Cake, Skillet Biscuits, kid-friendly Frittata, Chilaquiles, and a Hash Brown Breakfast Burrito.
Lunches and packables: If you’re camping, chances are the mid-day meal is fuel away from the campsite. (These ideas are also great for day trips and picnics!). Recipes feature a variety of handhelds such as Farmer’s Lunch Sandwiches and Chickpea Salad with Pitas as well as easy-to-eat salads and soups and a few trail mixes and snacks to eat by the handful.
Dinners: Ah, the main event after a hard day of hiking, paddling, or whatever else floats your boat (or inner tube). Settle in with DIY Ramen Bowls, One-Pan Picadillo, Naan Pizzas, Italian Sausage Burgers, loaded Foil-Baked Sweet Potatoes, or a Skillet "Lasagna," among other options.
Treats: Break out the S'mores Galores, but don’t stop there! Build a Banana Boat, fire up a Dutch Oven Strawberry Cake, or treat everyone to a Campfire Cobbler or Cracker Crust Pudding Pie.

Of course, there’s nothing quite like waking up in the woods…unless you don’t know how to make camp coffee. Not to worry: tasty (and essential) beverages are included as well, from that rustic cowboy cup of caffeine to restorative fruit punches. There are even a few cocktails for the adults to enjoy by the fire a little later in the evening. No matter the size of your group or the time you have to spare, make your next adventure a delicious one!

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Family Camp Cookbook is such a friendly and fun collection of tips and recipes for outdoor dining by Dr. Emily Vikre. Due out 29th March 2022 from Quarto on their Harvard Common Press imprint, it's 192 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

Wow, this was a really fun book. I grew up in a family who loved camping and RV'ing and some of my fondest memories of growing up were related to food and family. This book is full of funny (and some cautionary) bits of advice about camping and food, preparation and selection of tools and supplies, and getting the most out of enjoying the great outdoors.

I liked the accessible and logical layout. The introduction has some good tips for equipment and tools recommendations (the author doesn't mention brands, but does a good job of giving a balanced overview). The following chapters contain the recipes arranged thematically: breakfast, lunches (includes trail food on the go and dishes to prepare and eat in-camp), dinners, and treats & drinks. The author has included a LOT of recipes.. there are more than 75 at a rough count).

Recipes contain a description and background introduction, ingredients in a bullet list, and step-by-step cooking instructions. Ingredient measurements are supplied in American standard measurements with metric measurements in parentheses (yay!). The nutritional information is not included. Extra tips or recipe alternatives are listed in text boxes in the recipes. The recipes themselves are fairly straightforward and are made for the most part with easily sourced ingredients. Many are very simple, none of them are overly complex. Recipes with pre-preparation to do at home are listed in a sidebar.

The photography is well done and abundant; most of the recipes are illustrated with photographs which are clear and well done.Vegetarian recipes are not marked as such. Many of the recipes which aren't vegan-friendly could be made plant based with a little experimentation. (Almost all of the recipes are streamlined and don't contain many ingredients).

This is a nice collection of recipes and even allowing for the fact that some of them are very similar to others in the same category, this will keep camping/outdoors fans going for ages. These are simple "everyday" recipes which are anything but boring. We tried several dishes and all of them were tasty and well written.

We're definitely going to try more of these recipes. Well written book, tasty recipes.

Four and a half stars. This is a solid recipe book which will be used. It would make a superlative housewarming gift to a friend or family member who enjoys camping as a hobby.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The Family Camp Cookbook

by Emily Vikre

Reviewed by annieb123 on Jan 29, 2022

Reading updates