Beer Can Cooking With Kids

Beer Can Cooking is More Fun for Everyone

When I take kids backpacking, I want us to be safe and I want us to have fun. I think the wilderness has a lot teach us all if we keep coming back to it, and if the kids don't have fun, they won't come back.

One of the things I do to make camping more fun and less stressful with kids over 10 years old, is to have each of us select, carry, and cook our own food with our own Beer Can Stove & Cook Pot.

Kids like the food planning. They like to choose the food and the snacks that they'll eat. Shopping for the food is also fun. I go shopping with them and help them count the ounces in their food budget.

Kids learn a lot food planning this way. We get a chance to talk about healthy foods and balanced diets. We put one day's worth of food in a pile and look at it. Does it look healthy and balanced? I supervise the kid's food choices when we meal plan and food shop.

When we pack up our food, I like to have the kids separate their food into separate bags for separate days. Then, when we began our backpacking trip, I can let the kids decide for themselves what and when they want to eat. They love the independence of eating and snacking whenever they want, and I know that over the course of the day that they'll have a balanced diet.

Kids love cooking their own food, and even giving out tastes during dinner. I don't have to try to get them to help with the cooking chores. It is their food, and they want to cook it because they want to eat it.

I can also step out of the role of making the kids clean up. After I show them how to clean their cook pot, I can let them take care of it themselves. They'll want to because they have a sense of ownership. And if worse comes to worse, I know that cooking the next meal will sterilize their pot!