Well, not live, really. I went camping last weekend and had no internet access (ack!), so let’s call it tape-delayed.

It falls to me to plan meals when we camp, especially if we’re not camping with a larger group and sharing the load. I’d probably be better at it, but my experience with camping as a kid involved bringing pretty much a full kitchen along with us, and this experience doesn’t translate to a backpacking stove very well. I mean, we ate spaghetti when we went camping back in the day, for pete’s sake.

Inspiration for this trip came from another childhood memory, which ironically we prepared and ate inside, always. However, it originated in my mom’s Campfire Girl days, and it’s a well-known outdoor cooking trip: folding individual meals into foil packets and cooking them in the coals. My mom called these “hobo dinners”, which probably isn’t very politically correct but is definitely more evocative and fun to say than “foil packets cooked in coals”.

You can cook damn near anything if you wrap it in foil and drop it onto the smoldering remains of your campfire (or your hibachi in the back yard, whatever). Fish is said to be particularly great cooked this way.  But I followed almost precisely the method my mom taught me for making hobo dinners, and then for the first time in my life I didn’t just pop the foil packets into the oven at 350 for an hour. I dropped them in the actual fire ring, and then I sat back and waited, wondering what the hell we’d eat if it didn’t work. But a half hour later, we were cracking those babies open and having an incredible meal.

My family recipe, with distinct 1950′s flair, follows. But foil packet cooking recipes abound, and you can create the spirit of a camping experience with charcoal and a grill and never have to forsake the comfort of your own bed.

Hobo Dinners

Lay out one sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil for each serving, and lightly oil (either spray with cooking spray, or smear it with the end of a stick of butter, or brush with a small amount of oil).

Place one ground beef patty on each piece of foil. Season with salt and pepper, and squirt with a little ketchup.

Add a layer of thinly sliced onions, and more ketchup.

Add a layer of thinly sliced potatoes, more salt and pepper, and more ketchup.

Add a layer of green beans (for this purpose, I prefer canned

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