Coal-Buried Meatloaf Packet
A pre-cooked meatloaf and root vegetables sealed in foil and buried in campfire coals for 45 minutes.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 51
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 60 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Meatloaf, cooked at home and frozen | 2 lb loaf | 85/15 ground chuck; the fat matters here |
|---|---|---|
| Potatoes | 4 medium | quartered, skin on |
| Carrots | 4 | cut into thick coins |
| Onion | 1 large | sliced thick |
| Celery | 2 stalks | cut in half lengthwise |
| Garlic | 4 cloves | smashed, left whole |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | |
| Hot sauce | 1 tbsp | optional, goes on before sealing |
| Heavy-duty aluminum foil | one roll | you will use more than you think |
| Crusty rolls | 4 | for the juices at the bottom |
Method
- Bake the meatloaf at home, cool it, and freeze it solid. It rides in the cooler as its own ice block and thaws over the drive.
- Build the fire early and let it burn down. You want a deep bed of glowing coals, not flame. Scrape a shallow pit in the dirt first so the coals collapse into a pile instead of spreading.
- Lay out a sheet of heavy foil. Put the thawed loaf in the middle, pile the potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, and garlic around it, and season everything.
- Fold and crimp the foil shut. Then wrap it a second time, seam turned the other way, and a third. A single layer will split on a rock or a hot coal and you lose the juices.
- Dig a hollow in the coals with a shovel, set the packet in, and rake the coals back over the top.
- Give it 45 minutes. Pull it out and press it with the flat of the shovel; it should feel firm. Open a corner and stab a potato. The potatoes decide when it is done, not the meat.
- Cut the foil open across the top and eat out of it. Tear the rolls into the pooled fat at the bottom.
This is a car-camping recipe and it stays one. The loaf is baked and frozen at home, which does two jobs: it keeps the cooler cold on the drive in, and it means the coals only have to heat the thing through and cook the vegetables, not cook raw ground beef in the dark. Forty-five minutes is honest for a thawed loaf and quartered potatoes.
The foil is the actual technique. Three layers, seams turned different directions, because a packet that splits in the coals dumps the rendered fat into the fire and you end up with dry meat and ashy carrots. Fat from the 85/15 chuck runs down into the potatoes while it cooks, which is why the vegetables go around the loaf and not under it. Cleanup is one crumpled ball of foil packed out.
Packing
Freeze the loaf in a doubled freezer bag and pack it at the bottom of the cooler. Cut the vegetables at home and bag them together so camp prep is one bag and one knife. Foil, tongs, and a shovel or trowel live with the fire kit.
Variations
- Swap the meatloaf for four thick sausages and shorten the burial to 30 minutes.
- A splash of beer or broth poured in before sealing steams the vegetables faster in a cool fire.
- No campfire: the same packet cooks on a grill grate over medium coals in about an hour, turned once.
https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/camp-food-recipes.5804