Camping means enjoying nature and the outdoors. Plan your meals and food you want to bring ahead of time to make your trip a success. While cooking outdoors can be one of the highlights of camping, it can also be the most dangerous. Take the right precautions to make your meals safe and scrumptious.
Significance
Raw, undercooked or contaminated food is more likely to occur when camping because of the lack of refrigeration, cross contamination and improper storage. It is important that you handle food properly; otherwise you can become ill. One of the biggest downfalls to eating a contaminated food source is that it causes gastrointestinal distress. This distress is caused by food poisoning. Toxins including bacteria, parasites and viruses as well as infectious organisms can begin to attack your immune system and your gastrointestinal tract, making you very sick.
Cooling
Meat and dairy are foods that many campers bring along on their trips. It is important that these foods be kept cool or at consistent temperatures at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, explains Infoplease.com This will prevent bacteria from developing on the food. Some bacteria can lead to serious illness such as clostridium botulinum, camphylobacter jejuni, clostridium perfringens, escherichia coli, salmonella, listeria and strep A. Using a cooler with ice and a thermometer is the only way to monitor the temperature of thawed meat and dairy.
Supplies
Having the right supplies will help make sure your food stays clean and safe until consumption. Aside of two coolers, one for thawed foods and one for frozen, make sure you have a steady supply of ice to replenish what melts. Have plenty of fresh water available for disinfecting cookware and boiling items to rid of contaminants. A meat thermometer will also help determine the internal temperature of the food you cook. The Toronto website explains that a bleach solution of 2 cups water to 1 tsp. bleach is essential to use when water is scarce; it helps kill germs and keeps food prep surfaces contaminant free.
Preparation
Preparing and serving foods is an important part of camp cooking. Keep cooked or fresh foods separate from raw foods. The raw foods could be contaminated and leave behind parasites or bacteria that could invade or seep into fresh or uncooked foods. This spreads the contamination through a dirty surface, utensils or the food itself. Keeping the food area clean at all times is a key safety measure and avoids cross-contamination, explains the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Cooking
Cooking your food completely is crucial with camp cooking. The USDA explains that most food-borne illnesses do not survive over 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Even if your food appears to be cooked through and is no longer pink in the middle, it could still be undercooked and make you and others ill. Always use a thermometer to be safe. Poultry should reach 165 degrees, most ground beef and lamb 145 degrees, pork 160 degrees and roasts and steaks 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
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