Angie, How old are the kids in his camp? Thatmay make a difference in what you might want to pack.

Linda

Spiced nuts? Cheese and crackers? Even "Aerosol" cheese...or Kaukana cheese spread and pretzels for dipping, beef jerky, pringles chips ( the cans make for easy packing) and some kids would love olives or cans of sardines of smoked oysters...others would ahte it...cans of potted ham and crackers crackers and more crackers!
Linda c

Caramel Cheetos :->

You missed something, Linda.

"...they have to be homemade."

Jim

CAJUN BAGEL CHIPS

6 plain unsliced bagels
1/2 cup margarine or butter, melted
1/4 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1/4 tsp. onion salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400º F. Cut each bagel vertically into 1/8-inch-thick slices. In a small bowl stir together melted margarine or butter, thyme, onion, salt, red pepper, black pepper, and garlic powder. Brush one side of bagel slices with margarine mixture. Arrange slices in a single layer on baking sheets. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes or till top edges are crisp. Turn chips over. Bake about 4 to 5 minutes longer or till crisp. Cool on a wire rack.
For giving as a gift, place chips in clear plastic gift boxes or bags. Makes about 60 chips, 2 gifts.

Basil-Garlic Bagel Chips: In a small saucepan combine 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 1/4 cup margarine or butter. Cook over medium heat till margarine is melted. Remove from heat; let stand 30 minutes. Remove garlic. Stir in 1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed. Brush on bagel slices and bake as above.

HERBED CHEESE-AND-CRACKER BITS

2 (10-1/2 oz.) boxes Ritz Bits cheese crackers (not peanut butter flavor)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (1 oz.) pkg. Hidden Valley Original Ranch salad dressing mix
1 heaping Tblsp. dried dill
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. celery salt

Place the crackers in a large sealable freezer container. In a bowl, mix the oil, salad dressing mix, dill, garlic powder, and celery salt. Pour this mixture over the crackers, cover the container, and invert it to coat the crackers with seasoning. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, turning the container every so often to keep the crackers coated. Let the mixture come to room temperature before serving. Store in the covered container in refrigerator.

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen.

I'm confused does it mean that the overall boxes of stuff have to be homemade (as in you can't buy a premade basket of goodies from some company) or every item in the basket has to be made from scratch? If so where do you draw the line?.... You can't send a box of cereal or bag of pretzels, but you could use them in a homemade Chex Mix and send that? Weird rule!

How about dehydrating some apple slices if you have a dehydrator?

Grace

How about pretzels dipped in white chocolate. Yum...
Or is that not homemade enough??
I just saw this recipe in a magazine that I get at the local Raley's store:

Grandma's Soccer Bars
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 20 mins. Cool time: 5 mins
2 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/4 cup raisins or dried mixed berries (optional)I use dried cranberries.
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ground flax seed
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, beaten
Preheat oven to 350oF and generously coat a 13 x 9 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Stir together oats, flour, dried fruit, brown sugar, flax seed,cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well using your hands. Press the mixture evenly into pan and bake for 20 mins or until bars are lightly browned on the edges. Cool for 5 mins before cutting. (do not allow bars to cool completely before cutting. Makes 24 square bars.
130 calories, 4 g protein, 4 g total fat (5 g sat, 0 g trans) 21 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 13 g sugar, 10 mg cholesterol,80 mg sodium.

Linda

I know, isn't that funny?! Especially in this day and age where you can't take anything homemade to schools etc. It's an old fashioned Y camp in Upper Michigan. The boys in his cabin are entering 9th or 10th grade. They'll be leaving for a two week back packing trip on Monday and I'm hoping to have something waiting for them when they get back. Lots of good ideas, thanks!

I know this is heresy on the cooking forum, but consider sending non-food items. When I was a camp counselor, my heart sank when food came into the cabin -- because it would be followed by stickiness, spoilage, and BUGS! We dumped everything into one big bowl, had a junk food orgy, and then disposed of the rest. Like Halloween.

I don't know how old your kidz are, but my kidz, who went to a camp with a (generally ignored) no food packages policy, liked

books
magazines
stickers
yo-yo
July 4th doodads
silly putty
slinky
hair accessories
batteries!

It's easy for kidz to share this stuff, too, without having to have one for each child. When a new Harry Potter book came out in the middle of the summer, that was always the best choice!

I always made homemade gorp for my kids and they loved it:
Mix a bag of goldfish crackers, pretzel nuggets, raisens, peanuts and other assorted nuts, regular M&M's and peanut M&M's. Makes a lot and travels well!

Opkikid, I don't have any ideas for you, but I just wanted you to know that it is nice to see you here again. I still love your crock pot taco recipe. Yum.

Aren't you sweet! I still check in on the board once a week or so but, for some reason, I haven't been posting much. I'm still doing a lot of cooking (especially with three bigger and bigger boys!) and rely on a lot of T & T recipes that I am grateful to have picked up here!