Go to Pop Up Times.com Click on forums and scroll to the cooking thread. Enough of the type of info your looking for to last a life time. Bless you for your efforts with the youth group

Hi there!

I have found from working with the Boy Scouts that they like to make their own campfire meals. If your youth group is so inclined, they can too! The best in terms of kid involvement and minimal clean-up are the tin foil meals. Here's one from my book that you can try:

Hobo
This is the first one I ever learned as a Scout. Thinly slice carrots, onions, and potatoes. Tear off a 12" strip of tin foil. Place a hamburger patty on the foil. Place a layer of vegetables on top. Add salt, pepper or other spices to your liking. Fold the foil over the top and bottom. Fold up the corners so it wont leak and place on the coals, hamburger side down. It should take 20-30 minutes depending on the heat of your coals. When done, open it up and use a knife and fork to eat directly from the foil.

Want that barbeque flavor for your Hobo? Put a squirt of BBQ sauce on the hamburger before you put on the vegetables.

Enjoy!

my uncle took me up half dome when i was 12 and the dinner after hiking in was spam and kraft mac and cheese. that meal was heaven after a hard hike! in the morning cooked up the leftover spam with maple syrup and scrambled eggs and i was able to run the rest of the way!! well, not really. now with my own son those are the sacred campfire meals at least once a year.

Some great campfire meals that have worked for us are pizza, nachoes, quesadillas, and foil packs. If you can get your hands on an old oven rack that would be good (we found ours at a re-fit type store). Cover the rack good with heavy duty tin foil then wait till your fire has a lot of nice hot coals like you would have for roasting hotdogs. Put your oven rack over your pit (note: if you don't have a pit then you can also get an old washing machine barrel at a re-fit type store, these work great as fire pits). Let your new grill warm up a bit then place the pizza on top, watch carefully that the bottom doesn't burn, and if the cheese is not melting then you can use a large pot lid or a make shift tin foil lid to hold in the heat. You might want to either spray your grill with a non-stick spray or some oil before putting the pizza down, and we have found it best to use a store bought pre-made pizza shell. Pizza is fun because everyone can do their own toppings. Nachoes is very simple, and works best if you make your meat sauce ahead of time, then you can simply heat it up over the fire in a big pot (make sure it's one that you don't care about getting black) then once again everyone can load their plate with chips, choose their own toppings and the meat sauce should be hot enough to melt the cheese. Qusedillas work the same as a pizza except that I would spray the quesadilla rather then the foil and if you are using chicken or ground beef I would pre-cook it rather then chance it over the fire. It's also a good idea to wet the seam of the quesadillas the same way you would do for a pie crust so that the cheese stays in. Really you can do almost anything this way with the grill. We have done hamburgers, smokies and even baccon and eggs this way. Another fun snack thing to do over the fire is popcorn, and you can make your own popper using an old coffee can and metal roasting stick. Use the big metal coffee can or a big metal juice crystal can. I used a hammer and nail to punch two holes into the can about 2" down from the top and punch the holes about 1.5" apart. Next get a metal roasting stick (or even an old coat hanger would work) and stick the two poke ends into your holes then bend the poke ends around the can so that the roasting stick is fairly secure to the can (you want it to wobble a little so your popcorn doesn't burn). Get your fire to nice hot coals then fill your popper with pop corn so that just the bottom is covered in a single layer. Next put in a little oil (this depends on how big your can is, but I ues about a Tbsp. for ours). Cover the top of your popper with tin foil, then put it over the fire. Let the popcorn and oil heat up a little and as soon as you hear the first pop start shaking, then shake until either the lid pops off or the poping slows down, it might take a couple of tries before you get this part down so that you don't burn it, but that's all part of the fun. The best way to eat campfire popcorn is to dump the whole lot into a large paper bag. Melt your butter over the fire in an old pot, then have someone shake the bag while another person pours the butter on so that everything is evenly covered, then the salt next. everyone gets a paper towel and the bag is passed around and around. When you are done throw the bag and towels into the fire. There's nothing better then hot buttered popcorn done over the fire. And our kids always fight about who gets to do the shaking, like it's some kind of magical art to get it just right. Bless you in your work!

Get a hobo pie maker!! They can make anything from pizza to apple pie. You can fill them with whatever you like.

What you do is buy Pam (butter spray) or butter, a loaf of square bread, pizza fillings, mushrooms, cheese, onions, what ever, pie fillings in the can. Then you take your pie maker, stick it in the coals and sterilize it. Butter two pieces of bread. Pull out the pie maker and set it on your table, careful its hot. Its nice to have a big flat log for a table. Now, open the maker and put the butter side of the bread on each half. Then put your filling in/on the bread. Make sure the bread is slightly larger than the maker so when you close, it seals the two pieces of bread together. Now, stuff it in the coals. This is where you have to get a feel. You have to have a nice, not too hot coal bed. Then you have to get your timing down. Check it every now and then, nice golden brown is what youre looking for. Then once you think its done, plop out the pie onto a plate. (try to avoid styrofoam plates, they will melt to the pies.)
If I had to choose one cooking instrument for the rest of my life, this would be it. I have been camping with these for my entire life. Whats neat too, is you can use it on your stove top at home.

I believe that the site I gave you sells iron pie makers. (dont get the aluminum ones, they can melt away if you are cleaning your maker and forget about it). I have done that a few times, your ready for a nice pie. You stick the maker in the coals to clean it up. Then you take it out about 5 min later and have nothing but two metal poles cause the maker disintegrated! Should be able to buy these at any outdoor store in the country.

Try the link below, if the link below does not come up, search google for 'hobo pie maker'.

Check this link out, at the bottom they have recipes for the hobo pie maker.

Its at greatcamps dot com