Camping Recipe: Hobo Burgers and Taters

Growing up my parents owned three acres of land out in the country in Illinois. As you can imagine it was three aces of land lost in the middle of fields which in the summer had corn or soybeans growing in them. We used to camp out there often and when my parents would cook they would make hobo burgers and taters. They are easy, yummy and can be wrapped in foil and cooked right over the fire. As I thought about what we would eat on our camping trip last week they were the first thing that came to mind. For these there really isn’t such a thing as exact measurements because it depends on how many people there are. You will need the following:

• carrots (optional)
• potatoes (any kind will do – I grabbed up what I had in my pantry)
• ground beef
• french onion soup mix
• onion
• butter
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Every person will get their own packet so start by cutting the foil. Make sure each piece of foil is big enough to hold the food and then wrap it up for cooking.
• Cut up you onions, potatoes and carrots. I used about one potato and three baby carrots (one large carrot) per packet. I divided the onion up among the packets which ended up to be a tablespoon or two each. (There is no such thing as measuring when you are camping – you just have to eyeball it!)
• Then I grabbed a patty size piece of burger and crumbled it up over the top.
• I took the french onion soup mix and used it as my seasoning. I used about 1/3 of the envelope for each foil packet. Be sure to shake up the mix so you get some of the flavor from the seasoning on each one. Then use your hand to mix it all up.
• Put a few pats of butter on the top of the mixture and fold ‘er up.
• Cook them until the beef is browned and the potatoes are fork tender. If you overcook them the potatoes will burn onto the foil. You have to be especially careful if you are cooking over the campfire – we cooked ours on a propane grill and we should have rotated them because one on the outside wasn’t quite done and one in the middle was a little too done if ya’ know what I mean!?

To fold the packets up try to get all of the food in the middle and bring the two longer ends together. Fold them down and then fold the sides once and fold up over the middle fold. Cook them with the folds up so that the butter and seasoning don’t leak out. WARNING: Be careful when you open the packets because the steam is very hot as you can see from the photo below! I have a few more camping recipes coming soon! If you missed the pictures from our staycation you can see them HERE. Just a side note – you don’t have to be camping to make these. They would work the same on your regular grill too! I love nights when we grill out because once it is prepared I pass it to my husband who does the rest!Enjoy,
I party HERE