6 easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

6 Easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

There's no better way of motivating your children to go hiking than to involve them in making simple snacks or meals that are both delicious and fun to prepare. As well as giving your child the pleasure of scraping out the bowl, this activity is also a great way to spend time together, as a family, before and during your hike.

And because nutrition plays a vital role, whether you're hiking for just a few hours or a few days, here are 6 recipes to help you escape the monotony of endless energy bars or ham sandwiches.

Savoury recipes

Because dinner is a special time, whether you're camping in permanent accommodation, in a family tent or a bivouac, here are some delicious ways of rewarding your children for their hard work.

6 easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

Sausage octopus

Preparation time + cooking: 1 min + 5 min

Enough for 2 people:

- 2 frankfurter sausages + skewers

1/ Cut the lower half of your frankfurter lengthwise to create the octopus tentacles
2/ Insert cocktail stick from underneath
3/ Cook your octopus. The tentacles will separate from each other

storage/transport:
Eat immediately!

6 easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

Pizza-frankfurter kebab

Preparation time + cooking: 15 min + 5 min

Makes 5 kebabs:

- 1 quantity of pizza dough
- 5 sausages

1/ Cut your pizza dough into strips
2/ Skewer the sausage
3/ Cut the sausage into a spiral shape. Begin by cutting on a slant at the bottom and then continue to the top of the sausage, twisting around the skewer
4/ Unwind the sausage like a spring, attach a strip of pizza dough to the top of your skewer then twist it into the sausage spiral that you have just created.
5/ Cook over the fire

Storage/transport:
Eat straight away. Before you start cooking, make sure that you keep the sausages and pizza dough cool during your hike.

6 easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

Omelette in a bag

Preparation time + cooking: 10 min + 13 min

Makes 1 omelette:

- 2 eggs
- 1 slice of ham or diced ham
- 50 g of grated cheese of your choice
- Salt, pepper
- (optional) You can add your favourite vegetables and season!

1/ Take an airtight plastic bag (freezer bag type) and break two eggs into it
2/ Close the bag, removing as much air as possible. Shake bag to beat eggs
3/ Open bag and add all the other ingredients
4/ Remove as much air as possible from the bag and close
5/ Cook in saucepan of boiling water for 13 minutes
6/ You should be able to remove the omelette from the bag easily once it's cooked

Storage/transport:
Eat immediately! Make sure the eggs are properly protected when hiking so you don't end up with an omelette in your backpack!

Sweet recipes

Your child's needs are very different from your own so here are some ideas for when he's feeling peckish. In fact, children have fewer reserves than children, which is why an afternoon snack is sacred. So try to keep things interesting so they don't become demotivated along the way.

6 easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

Barbecued banana/chocolate

Preparation time + cooking: 30 min to prepare coals, 1 min + 7-10 min

Enough for 2 people:

- 2 bananas
- A bar of dark or milk chocolate
- (optional) You can also add mini marshmallows if you want to
- Aluminium foil

1/ Split bananas open lengthwise.
2/ Slide in squares of chocolate and marshmallow. Make sure you put the chocolate in first and insert it deep into the banana so that it doesn't fall out when cooking which will make a mess and may burn your fingers.
3/ Wrap the bananas up into aluminium foil
4/ Place bananas one at a time on top of the foil and then onto barbecue
5/ Eat with a spoon. Be careful not to burn yourself!

Storage/transport:
Eat immediately!

6 easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

Marshmallow sheep

Preparation time + cooking: 10 min, no cooking time

Makes 1 sheep:

- 1 large white marshmallow
- 1 medium white marshmallow
- 1 small white marshmallow
- 2 flaked almonds
- 4 small pretzel sticks
- 1 handful of grated coconut
- 1 tube of condensed milk

You'll also need scissors to cut up your marshmallows (especially if you've only got large marshmallows from which you'll have to cut smaller marshmallows). You'll also need a skewer

1/ Cut the medium marshmallow in half to make the head.
2/ Stick it onto the large marshmallow using condensed milk. Make sure you put the condensed milk on both sides of the marshmallows. Wait a few minutes until it's properly stuck.
3/ Insert the pretzel sticks to make the legs
4/ Stick the small marshmallow at the back to make the tail
5/ Put some condensed milk on its back and sprinkle with grated coconut
6/ Then stick on two flaked almonds to make the ears

If you've only got pink marshmallows, don't panic! You can have a go at making a pig marshmallow, minus the grated coconut. For the corkscrew tail, heat a small section of the back of the body and use a metal skewer to draw out a tail.

Storage/transport
Eat straight away. They're usually hard to resist for more than 5 minutes!

6 easy outdoor recipes to make with your children

No-bake energy bites

Preparation time + cooking: 10 min + 0 min

Makes 15:

- 1 cup of porridge oats
- 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (preferably dark chocolate)
- ⅓ of a cup of honey
-  ½ cup of mixed crushed seeds
- ½ cup of peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
- (optional) For an even tastier recipe, you can add dried fruit or even some of your child's favourite cereals

1/ Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. You can use a wooden spoon or simply use your hands. A small tip: if you don't want the ingredients to stick to your fingers, wet your hands first.
2/ Place the mixture in the fridge for 20 minutes so it's easy to shape into little balls.
3/ Roll into small balls and then place them in a Tupperware in the fridge.

Storage/transport
Keep them in a closed Tupperware.
Eat within one week
The good thing about cooking yourself is that you can ensure your child is eating healthy, minimally-processed food, and have fun. So, head straight for your oven or, rather, your camp-fire!

You can find all the relevant pdf documents, which you can download and print, if necessary, here.


What are your favourite hiking recipes? Tell us in the comments section!

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