Our neighbor and dear friend, Skip Name, invited my husband over for a Cub Scout meal the other day. He has a little wood stove in his garage, and when out there tinkering, Skip will sometimes have a couple of these foil dinners nesting in the stove’s coals.

Are you acquainted with this dish? Cub Scout dinners (aka Hobo dinners) are popular because they’re family-friendly, hearty, and prepared with a sense of community involvement (they’re so quick and easy to make, that they’re perfect for an impromptu gathering).

It’s a meal cooked entirely within aluminum foil packets, often used during camping trips by Cub Scouts, where various ingredients like meat, vegetables, and seasonings are layered together in the foil, then cooked over a campfire. The result is a self-contained, easy-to-clean meal with minimal dishes.

You can’t get any easier when it comes to convenience. And the concept works well with a wide variety of ingredients. You can customize the meal with all sorts of meats, veggies, and spices depending on preference.

While this meal can be cooked in an oven (which is what I’m doing now), it really tastes best when cooked in the coals of a campfire or fire bowl. Cooking it this way allows for some of the veggies (especially sliced potatoes) to get crispy and a little charred. This adds incredible flavor to the entire meal.

Here’s the combination Skip typically uses (and I’m following suit): thinly sliced potatoes, thinly sliced onions, a little corn or green beans, a big (uncooked) hamburger pattie, finished with salt and pepper. There are all sorts of variations of this idea found on the Internet, but if you’re new to the concept, then this is the place to start.

You’ll want to use a generous double-layer of foil. Lay out the foil (maybe a strip 14- or more inches long) and butter the side facing up. Place a layer of potatoes, then some onion and any other veggie you may want to use, lightly salt and pepper it, and place the hamburger atop that. Then repeat with these layers of veggies, add a little more salt and pepper, and tightly close the packet. Make sure the folds are snug. The idea is to lock in all the juices that result when cooking.

You can see how this technique lends itself well to creativity. Why not try this with chicken and mushrooms with a cream sauce, for instance? Or maybe layers of tortillas, beans, cheese, and ground beef plus seasonings for a Mexican foil dinner? You get the idea…go crazy.

With gardening season approaching, and warmer evenings in the forecast, wouldn’t it be fun and clever to have dinner cooking away over in the fire bowl while you’re still getting your gardening done? How about a Scout’s salute to Cub Scout dinners? My mouth is watering already!