Hobo Foil Packets – Cooking with Gina

You place a portion of meat & vegetables together and double wrap them in kitchen foil. You can have marinated meat, sausages, or even mince. This is super fun as every one gets their own little parcel at dinner time & there is limited cleaning up too!

These are really handy for your first night away camping as you can pre-prepare them and have them all wrapped up and ready to throw on the fire/coals or the grill plate when you get there.

Hobo Foil Packets

Ingredients

These foil pack meals aren’t complicated, but you’ll want to make sure you have the ingredients uniformly prepared (to recipe specifications) so that everything can be cooked in time. Here’s a quick run-down on the main ingredients:

• Meat of choice: sausages, diced chicken/pork/beef or mince
• Potatoes: You can peel the potatoes, but don’t have to The important thing with these potatoes is to make sure they’re thinly sliced
• Carrots: use full carrots here, again no need to peel (lots of flavour and nutrients are in the peel), just wash them thoroughly. Thinly slice these and cut large rounds in half.
• Onion: the onion also needs to be very thinly sliced. (For Low FODMAP you could use shallots)

Seasoning

As far as the seasonings go, we’re keeping it simple while adding delicious flavour to these hobo foil packets. Here’s what we use:

• Italian seasoning
• Dried basil
• Dried parsley
• Paprika
• Dried thyme
• Salt and pepper – always add to personal taste preference, but remember, if the meal feels like it’s lacking or dull, it may be as simple a fix as adding a bit more salt and pepper!

Toppings

If you’re familiar with hobo foil packets, you know they basically require loads and loads of SAUCE ?

• Tomato is our favourite topping and it goes exceptionally well with all the ingredients
• Freshly grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
• Fresh herbs such as thyme or Italian parsley
• BBQ sauce is another great sauce to drizzle on

How To Fold A Hobo Pack

1. Rip out 4 strips of heavy duty foil, each one about 60cm long.
2. Separate the seasoned potato, carrot, onion, and sausage mix equally into the centre of each square of foil.
3. To seal the foil packet, bring the short sides together in the middle and gently fold down to completely seal. Then, roll up the ends.
4. The foil packs are ready to cook!

INSTRUCTIONS

1. PREP: If you are using the oven, preheat it to 200 degrees C. Tear off four sheets of heavy-duty foil and lightly spritz with cooking spray.
2. PREP VEGGIES: Cut the sausage into coins. Thinly slice the potatoes. Thinly slice the carrots and cut large carrot coins in half. Thinly slice the onion. Add the meat, potatoes, carrots, and onion to a large bowl.
3. SEASON: Drizzle in 2 tablespoons of oil and all of the seasonings (Italian seasoning, dried basil, dried parsley, garlic powder, paprika, dried thyme, and salt and pepper). Add salt and pepper to personal preference( I add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper). Toss everything together until well combined.
4. DIVIDE: Divide the mixture evenly among the four prepared sheets of foil. Cut the butter into 1 tablespoon pieces and cut each tablespoon piece into 4 smaller pieces. Add four pieces of butter to the foil packs (1 tablespoon per foil pack). Seal the foil packs tightly so no air escapes. To seal the foil packet, bring the short sides together in the middle and gently fold down to completely seal. Then, roll up the ends.
5. COOK: To bake foil packs, place foil packs on a sheet pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until veggies are fork tender. Campfire: add to hot coals and cook for 20-30 minutes. Be aware they can take up to 40-45 minutes depending on the actual coals temperature, actual thickness of cut veggies, outside temperatures, how many foil packs are on the coals, etc. There is great variance in cooking these over coals.
6. GARNISH: Carefully open the foil pack, expecting steam to be released. If desired, garnish with fresh herbs (we like fresh thyme) and serve with ketchup drizzled over everything or on the side.

Hobo Packet Tips

• Seal the foil packets tightly. Since these packets need to be flipped, make sure the seal is good and tight on these so liquid isn’t seeping out — they’ll burn and have much less flavor without that liquid.
• Use heavy duty foil for best results on the grill. There is no need to double-wrap these packets in multiple layers of foil (and if you do, they will take longer to cook).
• Time can vary depending on actual size of veggies and actual heat of coals/oven/grill, so when checking for doneness, only check one packet at a time. Remember, every-time you open a packet to check, it releases all the steam and will take an extra couple of minutes to cook through in comparison to the other packets cooking.
• Campfire cooking is the hardest time to estimate because of so many varying factors (heat of the coals, how many packets are cooking, the outside temperatures, etc.) I recommend checking one hobo foil packet at 20 minutes, but be prepared that they can take up to 40-45 minutes to finish. (If it’s taking longer than that, the coals are not hot enough).
• Transfer the cooked meal to a plate or another layer of foil before eating; once cooked, the foil gets pretty charred and flimsy — it won’t hold up well to eating.
• Foil – it doesn’t matter if the shiny or dull side is touching the food; it makes no difference.

Can You Make Foil Packets Ahead Of Time?

Yes! Prepare hobo foil packets according to the directions and seal up the packets. Throw them in the cooler and they’ll be ready to go when it’s time to throw them on a grill or coals over a campfire. I don’t recommend making these more than a day in advance. I also don’t recommend freezing pre-assembled foil packs.

For more information visit chelseasmessyapron.com

Recipe supplied by Gina from Yandina Butchery. Yandina Butchery can deliver their amazing free range and chemical free meats anywhere on the Sunshine Coast. Shop online or text on 0417 779 374