Are you heading out on a camping trip this summers? Check out one camper’s tips on how to have great meals while roughing it in the woods:

As for camper Steve Bradt, of Nashua, he too likes to keep the dishes to a minimum and does so with the help of homemade dinners he puts together through companies such as Dream Dinners, one of which is located in Bedford. Bradt said he goes to one of the Dream Dinners centers and assembles pre-cut ingredients into bags. This usually includes different meats, sauces and veggies. After that, he just brings them home and freezes them, which provides a twofer for this camper: The frozen food keeps the rest of his cooler cold without having to take up space with ice or ice packs.

Don’t get him wrong: Bradt is a seasoned camper who likes to rough it.

But with the right preparation, roughing it can include gourmet meals like Buffalo Ranch Chicken, Grilled Chicken Mediterranean with Polenta, Grilled Chicken with Sesame Honey Butter or Hawaiian Chicken with Jasmine Rice, he said.

Check out the full story plus yummy camping recipes on nashuatelegraph.com.

Father’s Day is less than a week away, so if you haven’t gotten your father a gift – tick tock!  If you need ideas for what your kids can give their father (in addition to the hand print in clay) – then one idea is to take the dads to Dream Dinners, so they can have fun assembling meals together! Some stores are hosting special Father’s Day sessions, so make sure to call your local store.

My dad is big on BBQing and hiking – so I combined two in one and got him a BBQing apron that says ‘I’d Rather Be Hiking.’ The extra treat is that it uses a picture that he took while hiking.

If neither of those quite work, then there’s always the best go-to-gift there is – an amazon.com gift card!

Stephanie Allen recently posted a tip on her blog about using a baking sheet when cooking certain Dream Dinners. I want to emphasize how useful a tip this is – and really should be done at all times – any time you are cooking a Dream Dinners that is assembled in a foil baking pan, whether 3-servings or 6-servings.

True story: One customer was baking up a 6-serving of a Warm Cherry Cobbler, planning to serve it at a dinner party she was having.  When pulling the cherry cobbler out of the oven, the foil pan bent at the middle, spilling hot Cherry Cobbler all over herself, the oven, and the floor.  Fortunately, no one was hurt (although there were several smooshed cherries) – but it did leave a mess to clean up and ruined the dessert for her party. Moral of the story – USE A BAKING SHEET TO SUPPORT YOUR FOIL BAKING PAN!

If you don’t have one, you can try this one available on amazon.com. It’s multi-purpose and can be used for baking cookies in addition to supporting your Dream Dinners foil pans.