camp meals

Souper Sloppy Joes

Ground beef and canned vegetable soup cooked down into a sloppy joe filling for camp rolls.

calories
540
weight
11 oz
cal / oz
49
protein
30 g
serves
4, scales
prep
5 min
cook
20 min
total time
25 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
  • Lunch
  • Campfire coals
  • Grill grate
  • Canister stove
  • Liquid fuel
  • Car camping
  • Basecamp
  • Canoe / raft
  • One pot
  • Grab and go
  • Needs a cooler
  • Basic

Ingredients

Ground beef 1 lb kept cold in the cooler, cooked the first night
Canned vegetable beef soup 1 can (about 19 oz) plain vegetable soup works the same
Ketchup 1 tbsp packets from the glove box count
Yellow mustard 1 tsp
Garlic powder 1/2 tsp optional
Salt and pepper to taste
Burger rolls 4

Method

  1. Brown the beef in a skillet or pot over the fire, breaking it apart as it cooks.
  2. Tip the fat off into a can or the trash bag. Do not pour it on the ground or into the fire ring.
  3. Stir in the whole can of soup, liquid included, plus the ketchup and mustard.
  4. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes, until it thickens enough to sit on a roll.
  5. Spoon onto split rolls. Eat over a plate.

This is a cooler meal for the first night out, when the ground beef is still cold and the fire is already going. The canned soup does two jobs at once: it is the sauce and the vegetables, so there is nothing to chop and no second pot.

Draining the fat matters more than it seems. Leave it in and the soup never thickens, and the filling runs straight out of the roll. Simmering after the soup goes in is what cooks the liquid down to something a bun can hold. It is not backpacking food, but it feeds four people out of one skillet in twenty minutes.

Packing

Beef goes in the cooler, frozen flat in a bag so it thaws on day one. The can, condiments, and spices ride in the food box. Rolls go on top of the pack, not under it.

Variations

  • Two cans of soup and the same pound of beef stretches it to six sandwiches, thinner.
  • No rolls: serve it over instant mashed potatoes or rice.
  • A can of chili beans instead of soup makes it closer to a camp chili.

https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/souper-burgers