Deer Camp Meals That Feed a Crowd

A good deer camp meal can be cooked ahead, finished in one pot, kept hot for whoever walks in last, and carried safely in a cooler for a few days. If a recipe needs a full kitchen or has to be eaten the minute it comes off the heat, it belongs at home.

Camp food runs on its own schedule. Hunters come off stand at different hours, the woodstove is either freezing or ninety degrees, and the coffee pot is older than the youngest hunter. The cook usually wants to hunt too. Below is a make-ahead plan and seven meals scaled for about 10 to 12 people.

The make-ahead plan for a 3 to 4 day camp

Do the messy cooking at home, where you have a sink and a real stove. At camp, you mostly reheat.

Raw ground meat keeps only 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator, according to the FoodSafety.gov Cold Food Storage Chart. That is a good reason to brown it at home and haul it cooked and frozen.

A week out

Cook the chili, cool it, and freeze it flat in gallon freezer bags.
Cook the pulled pork and freeze it in meal-size bags.

Make and freeze the breakfast burritos.
Freeze water in clean jugs or milk cartons. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) notes that a block of ice keeps food colder longer than ice cubes.

The day before you leave

Thaw the stew meat in the refrigerator.
Chop the stew vegetables and bag them apart from the meat, as FSIS recommends.
Pack the coolers.

A sample menu

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Supper
Day 1	Travel	Travel	Chili
Day 2	Breakfast burritos	Stand lunch	Dutch oven stew, cobbler
Day 3	Breakfast burritos	Stand lunch	Pulled pork sandwiches
Day 4	Breakfast burritos	Leftover chili	Pack out

When someone gets a deer, add the tenderloins that night.

Seven deer camp meals that feed a crowd

1. Deer camp chili

Serves: 10 to 12. Make ahead: yes, freeze up to a few weeks out.

4 lb ground beef or ground venison
2 large onions, diced
2 green bell peppers, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
3 cans (15 oz) kidney beans, drained
2 cans (15 oz) pinto beans, drained
1/3 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the meat in a large pot in batches. Cook ground meat to 160°F, per the FoodSafety.gov safe minimum temperature chart.
Add the onions, peppers, and garlic and cook until soft.

Stir in everything else and simmer, partly covered, for an hour.
Cool it fast in shallow containers, then bag and freeze flat.

At camp, reheat it in a Dutch oven or stockpot until it comes to a rolling boil. Set out cheese, onions, crackers, and hot sauce.

2. Make-ahead breakfast burritos

Makes: 24 burritos. Make ahead: yes, freeze.

2 dozen eggs
2 lb bulk breakfast sausage
2 lb frozen diced hash brown potatoes
1 lb shredded cheddar
24 burrito-size flour tortillas
Salsa and hot sauce for serving
Heavy-duty foil

Brown the sausage to 160°F. Drain and set aside.
Crisp the potatoes in the sausage fat in a big cast-iron skillet.
Scramble the eggs until firm.
Mix everything with the cheese. Let it cool before rolling, or the tortillas get soggy.
Roll each burrito tight, wrap in foil, and freeze in gallon bags.

At camp, heat the foil-wrapped burritos on the woodstove top or a grill grate, turning them now and then, until the center hits 165°F. That is the FoodSafety.gov number for reheated leftovers.

3. Dutch oven stew

Serves: 10 to 12. Make ahead: prep at home, cook at camp.

4 lb beef chuck or venison roast, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
3 tablespoons oil or bacon fat
2 onions, chopped
4 ribs celery, sliced
2 lb carrots, cut into chunks
3 lb potatoes, cut into chunks
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 quarts beef broth
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 bay leaves

Toss the meat in the seasoned flour. Brown it in batches in hot fat in a large (7- to 8-quart) cast-iron Dutch oven.
Add the onion and celery and cook a few minutes. Stir in the tomato paste.
Add the broth, thyme, bay leaves, and browned meat. Cover and simmer low for about 2 hours.

Add the carrots and potatoes and cook another 45 minutes to an hour, until the meat and potatoes are tender.

A slow cooker works too, but FSIS says to always thaw meat before it goes in.

4. Slow-cooker pulled pork sandwiches

Serves: 12 or more. Make ahead: yes, cook and freeze.

8 to 9 lb bone-in pork shoulder (two smaller shoulders also work)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons each paprika, salt, and garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 cup apple cider vinegar or broth
Barbecue sauce, buns, and a bag of coleslaw mix

Rub the pork with the sugar and spices.
Cook it low in a slow cooker or oven until it pulls apart with a fork, usually 8 to 10 hours on low. That is well past the 145°F safe minimum FoodSafety.gov lists for pork roasts.
Shred, mix with some of the cooking juice, cool in shallow pans, and freeze.

At camp, heat it on the stove to 165°F, then hold it in a slow cooker at 140°F or above. FSIS says to do the reheating on the stove and use the slow cooker only to keep food hot. This is the meal for a night when people drift in over a few hours.

5. Fresh venison tenderloins

Serves: a camp’s worth of tastes, as a side or appetizer. Make ahead: no.

Tenderloins from one deer, trimmed of silver skin
1 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, sliced

Slice the tenderloins into medallions about 1/2 inch thick.
Dredge them in the seasoned flour.
Soften the onion in butter in a cast-iron skillet, push it aside, and brown the medallions on both sides.

FoodSafety.gov lists 160°F as the safe minimum internal temperature for venison, wild or farm-raised. Check with a thermometer, because FSIS says color is not a reliable sign of doneness. If you hunt where chronic wasting disease (CWD) is found, read “Handling a fresh deer” below first.

Plenty of hunters cook backstrap and tenderloin medium-rare. 160°F is the federal guidance, and it’s the number this post uses.

6. The stand lunch

Per hunter. Make ahead: yes.

A lunch in a coat pocket sits outside the cooler for hours, so build it from food that doesn’t need to stay cold. FSIS lists jerky, peanut butter, nuts, and whole or dried fruit among foods that keep without refrigeration. A good kit is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on sturdy bread, a stick of jerky, trail mix, an apple, a candy bar, and a thermos of coffee or soup.

Meat-and-cheese sandwiches are perishable, and FSIS says perishable food shouldn’t sit out more than 2 hours.

7. Dutch oven cobbler

Serves: 10 to 12. Make ahead: no, it goes together in ten minutes.

2 cans (21 oz) cherry, apple, or peach pie filling

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, sliced thin

Spread the pie filling in a foil-lined 12-inch Dutch oven.
Sprinkle the dry cake mix over it evenly, then lay the butter slices on top.
Bake with more coals on the lid than underneath until the top is golden, about 45 minutes to an hour. In an oven, bake at 350°F.

Food safety and cooler management at camp

The numbers to know

What	Number	Source
The danger zone, where bacteria grow rapidly	40°F to 140°F	FSIS
Max time perishable food sits out	2 hours (1 hour if 90°F or above)	FSIS
Cold food holding	40°F or below	FSIS
Hot food holding	140°F or above	FSIS
Ground meat and sausage	160°F	FoodSafety.gov
Venison and rabbit, wild or farm-raised	160°F	FoodSafety.gov
Pork and beef roasts, steaks, chops	145°F, then rest 3 minutes	FoodSafety.gov
Egg dishes	160°F	FoodSafety.gov
Reheated leftovers	165°F	FoodSafety.gov
Soups, stews, cooked meat leftovers in the fridge	3 to 4 days	FoodSafety.gov

Running the coolers

All of these come from FSIS guidance:

Use two coolers. Drinks go in one, since it gets opened all day. Perishable food goes in the other.
Keep raw meat separate. Give it its own cooler, or pack it double wrapped below ready-to-eat food.
Pack in reverse order. The first food packed should be the last food used.
Use plenty of ice. Several inches of ice, block ice, or frozen gel packs, with food in watertight containers.
Cover it. Throw a blanket or tarp over the cooler and keep it in the shade.
Watch the ice. Leftover food in a cooler is safe only if the cooler still has ice in it.

Keep coolers away from the woodstove, and put a cheap appliance thermometer in each one to confirm it’s holding 40°F or below.

Leftovers and thawing

Divide big batches into shallow containers so they cool quickly. Reheat soups and stews to a rolling boil, and FSIS notes they can go into the pot still frozen. Thaw other food in the cooler or in cold water in a leak-proof bag. Penn State Extension says never to thaw meat at room temperature.

Handling a fresh deer

Chill the carcass. If the air is above 40°F, Penn State Extension advises putting sealed bags of ice or snow in the body cavity. Get the carcass below 40°F as soon as possible. It can hang outside if the air stays below 40°F.
Keep raw venison wrapped and away from ready-to-eat food.
Check your state’s CWD rules. The CDC recommends that hunters in areas with CWD check state wildlife and health department guidance. The CDC says to strongly consider testing a deer before eating it, to skip the meat if it tests positive, and to field dress with gloves and knives that never go back to the kitchen.

Deer camp food packing checklist

Cooking gear: 12-inch cast-iron skillet, 7- to 8-quart Dutch oven with lid lifter, stockpot, slow cooker (if camp has power), instant-read food thermometer, cooler thermometers, two coolers with block ice, heavy-duty foil, zip bags, shallow containers, a separate cutting board for raw meat, coffee pot, ladle, tongs, can opener.

Pantry: coffee, sugar, creamer, salt, pepper, chili spices, cooking oil, bread, buns, tortillas, peanut butter, jelly, jerky, trail mix, fruit, canned beans and tomatoes for an extra pot of chili, hot sauce, barbecue sauce.

Cleanup: dish soap, scrub pads, dish tubs, paper towels, trash bags, drinking water if camp water is untested, and hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol (the FSIS minimum).

Extras: cards, a lantern, and something warm to wear around the stove.

Deer camp food FAQ

What do you eat at deer camp? Mostly food made ahead and reheated in one pot, like chili, stew, pulled pork, and breakfast burritos. Add a fresh meal when someone gets a deer.

How do you feed 10 hunters for a weekend? Cook big batches at home, freeze them, and rotate them through the weekend. A pot of chili, a batch of pulled pork, and two dozen burritos cover most of a weekend for 10 people, with bread, snacks, and coffee.

What can you make ahead for deer camp? Chili, soups, stews, pulled pork, sloppy joes, and breakfast burritos all freeze well.

What’s a good deer camp breakfast? Breakfast burritos made at home and frozen. They reheat in foil on a woodstove or grill, and hunters can eat them on the way out the door.