Introduction: The Tin Foil Dinner (Hobo Dinner)

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We are all busy people and we all have to eat, one thing to help make our lives much easier when we don't have a lot of time to cook is to make a low maintenance dinner when your camping or busy on your next great project. This is a very popular meal for scout trips or trips with lots of people. This is because you can prepare all the ingredients in quantity and everyone can then put their own packet together.

You will need:
Ground meet (for patties)
Potatoes
carrots
onions

Green Peppers (thats what my live likes on hers)

a tspn of butter
spices (salt, pepper and what ever else you want to add)
Aluminum Foil.

An oven or coals from a camp fire.


Step 1: Preparation

Peel and cut up your potatoes, carrots, and onions.

you can cut your potatoes into strips (fries) or chips depending how you want them.

You will want to take your aluminum foil and cut off a sheet that is a minimum of 15 inches long. The width of the foil perfect so don't cut anything off.

Aluminum foil has a shinny side and a not so shinny side. With the "Shinny side" in take and lay the sheet on your work surface.

Step 2: Putting It All Together

With your Aluminum sheet on your work surface, place half of your potatoes near the center of the sheet being carful to stay away from the edges.

Next place carrots and onions on top of your potatoes remember not to use all of them because you will use more later.

Add half of your spices to the top of your potatoes and vegetables.

The "main course" is next, Take your ground meat and make a patty and place it over the carrots and potatoes.

Next add the other half of the spices

Next place more carrots and onions on top of your patty.

Finally add the 2nd half or your potatoes being careful to stay away from the edge.

For a little bit of extra fat add a tsnp of butter to the top right before folding.

Step 3: Sealing the Packet Up

Next you need to carefully seal the tinfoil up. if you have a hole in the tinfoil envelope then the heat, juices will leak out and the food wont cook properly.

Note: If you rip the tinfoil during the process you may want to put an additional piece (full size) around the outside of the piece the ripped.

Start by taking the two short ends of the tinfoil and fold them towards the middle. Slowly and carefully roll the two together till they are just above the food inside. You are trying to make a small pocket.

Next fold or roll the remaining edges towards the food so that all the seams are on the same side of the pocket.

I like to add a splash of tap water right before I seal the final end to help the vegetables cook.

Step 4: Bake


To bake you can do one of two things with an oven or place the packets in the coals of a fire.

Oven:
Place packets on a pan with sides I chose a shallow cake pan. Place the pan in a 4250 F. oven for 17 minutes per side.

Coals:
Place Packets on the coals of a fire and flip them after 17 minutes. Try not to build a large fire around the pockets but to have had a fire going for a while and reduce the fire to coals for cooking.

Step 5: Check the Food.

Once the allotted time has passed, you should check to see if everything has cooked. Carefully unroll the packets taking care to not put a hole in the foil and careful not to burn your self from the steam the should be escaping form the packet.

Cut into the patty to see if it has cooked to your desired temperature. Also depending on thickness check to see if the potatoes have cooked all the way through.

If they have not carefully roll the packets back up and put them back in/on for a few more minutes.

Step 6: Enjoy

Now that everything is cooked you can remove everything from the packet and "plate it" or you can use the packet as a plate and eat it right out of the foil. If eating out of the foil I do suggest putting a plate behind it to prevent yourself from becoming burned and to add some more stability to the foil. I also put my burger on a bun or bread.

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