6 Basic Food Hacks For Every Camp Cook

6 Basic Food Hacks for the Camp Cook

These are some 6 super basic food hacks every camp cook (or home cook) should know to get the best out of your ingredients. If you use any of our recipes (or even if you don’t) these tips will come in handy!

Tomatoes

File:Tomato je.jpg

I always thought I didn’t really like fresh tomatoes, I found them bland and never really bothered with them. As it turned out, I was making the basic error many of us make! I was keeping them in the fridge. Keeping them cold won’t help the flavour and will actually drain away the flavour.

Keep them at room temperature, stalk side down and out of direct sunlight and you will ensure they maintain the best flavour possible.  I genuinely love tomatoes since I stopped keeping them cold.

Eggs

Egg hack

How can you tell this egg is fresh?

Eggs are another item that doesn’t really need storing in the fridge, although it can’t hurt to do so. There is a simple hack to tell if they are fresh and good to eat before you crack the shell or cook them. As an egg gets older it begins to degrade and gases build up inside. As the egg gets older the buoyancy of the egg will change and this is a great indicator of freshness.

To check an egg fill a bowl or glass with cold water enough to cover the egg, place the egg inside.

  • A fresh egg will sink to the bottom and lay on it’s side, this is ideal.
  • An egg that is past it’s best but still ok to eat is likely to stand on its end but stay at the bottom.
  • A stale egg will float and should be discarded immediately.

Bananas

Banana uses

Bananas can be used to ripen other fruit and veg

Did you know that bananas can help ripen other fruit and veg. The wonderful thing about bananas is that as they ripen they give off ethylene gas, which speeds up the ripening of other fruit and veg. Putting some green tomatoes in a paper bag with a banana can really speed up that time. Avacado can also give off ethylene gas for a similar effect.

 

 

 

Boiling Potatoes

When boiling potatoes many people will boil the kettle to get their hot water, and pour it over their potatoes. This is a sure way to make your potatoes have that flaky almost furry texture on the outside. Always start your potatoes from cold water and bring to the boil for a lovely firm texture when cooked.

Peeling Ginger

Starr 070730-7818 Zingiber officinale.jpgPeeling ginger can be awkward but it’s an absolute doddle using an everyday tea spoon!

Peeling Garlic

Everyone has their own way of peeling garlic but as I found out, most of us are doing it the hard way.

There are two options here that make it super simple, the first doesn’t need much practice and will give a nice clean clove of garlic almost every time. We use a silicon garlic roller, place a few unpeeled cloves inside, roll 3 or 4 times and the clove will be peeled. Safe and hassle free.

The second approach is even quicker with practice. There are so many great videos out there, so we haven’t made one, instead here is a link to a channel I highly recommend with a great garlic hack video .This video is by Glen and Friends, check out his channel for lots of good cooking content.

So there you have it, 5 basic but hugely effective food hacks for the camp cook. Do you have any others? Please share in the comments!

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Posted on August 14, 2019 in Campervan Recipes, Safety

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About the Author

Matt loves campervans, the outdoors and photography. Combining the 3 is a recipe for happiness.

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