Campfire Hobo Stew

By Cora Knowles

As kids we went camping a lot with our family friends, the Ederer’s, during school breaks and holidays. One of our favorite recipes, and a great way to use up more ground beef or round steak from your Wholesome Beef Direct order (if you don’t have any beef from us, we have quarters on sale here), was Hobo Stew. It was fun for us kids and limited clean up for the adults.

I have a lot of fond memories of sitting at the picnic table and putting these tin foil “packets” together with all our favorite veggies and ground beef and waiting by the campfire for them to be done, telling stories, drinking soda, and putting a mix in my mom’s glass to turn her wine into a gel-like substance. We got a kick out of it; she was not as impressed.

The recipe is pretty straight-forward, which also makes it easy to pack when you’re camping. All you need is:

• Ground beef or cubed up round steak , 1/4 – 1/3 lb. portions per person
• Tin foil
• Veggies of your choice:
  • We’ve used potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, green beans, zucchini and onions
  • If you have a bit of a sweet tooth you can add apples or raisins as well
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Salt
• Seasoned Pepper
• Cooking Spray

Now comes the fun part–putting it all together. This is a great way to get your kids involved in cooking as well!

1. Rinse and chop all your veggies and fruit.
2. Generously spray 12-14 inch sections of foil with cooking spray.
3. Add ground meat to each section of foil and set them on paper plates.
4. Have your family load up their foil with toppings and seasoning of their choosing.
5. Fold and seal each tin foil section into tightly sealed packets.
6. Cook right on your camp coals (my favorite way), camp stove or in the oven (350⁰). Cook time will depend on how full each packet is. I usually aim for 20 -30 minutes before I check my packet for doneness.

And there you have it–Hobo Stew!

Give this recipe a try and let us know on our website your thoughts on the recipe, new ideas to try, and our beef!