Hi Everyone! I feel so ashamed that I have not posted a recipe for soooooo many months. Believe me when I say that there is no good excuse. I wish I had one. I wish that I could say that my life had become so busy with exciting new adventures, and I was conquering new worlds every day and had no time to put together a recipe and photos for you. But no. I cannot even give you a bad excuse or any explanation at all. I am still cooking and baking, although not quite as much because I have no outlet for the finished products. The agency where I work was fully remote for over a year and now that we are back, I am unsure how home-baked goods would be received because of the dreaded Covid germs. I haven’t been brave enough to try it yet. Anyway, for some stupid reason that only exists in my head, I could not make myself write up an article to post. Which is incredibly weird because I love doing this. I am just going to apologize and move forward.
So, I hope that everyone is surviving. I know that none of us are back to normal. I am not sure when we will ever be something close to normal. My husband and I both had Covid-19 many months back. It was very mild for both of us, and we feel fortunate for that. We did lose our sense of taste and smell. Ok, that was super weird! I, of course, had lost some taste or smell before when I have had colds and congestion but nothing like that. Luckily, it came back quickly. Although maybe if I could not taste for a long time, I might not want to eat so many sweet things and I might lose some pounds. Nah, who am I kidding? I know that chocolate is wonderful so I would probably eat it anyway.
Since I have been away for so long and since we are all struggling to feel warm fuzzies these days, I decided to share a comfort food recipe with you. This is a meal that my mom used to prepare, and I have always loved it. Likewise, my kids have always loved it and I am confident that you will too. Most of you have probably had these before but I have found that many people don’t make them at home because they don’t know how. I am speaking of what I call Hobo Burger Packets. They have many names. I have seen them called burger bundles, foil packet burgers, and boy scout burgers, to name a few. I realize that Hobo might not be the politically correct term to use but that is the one I know. And, I don’t mean it in a derogatory way. I think that they are called that because they are in a little bundle. They are your basic foil pouch dinner, and they are endlessly customizable. My mom always did them the same way. I have only changed the seasonings so far but, Holy Cow, you could also change the veggies and the meat if you felt so inclined. But this is the basic, no fuss, no frills, super-easy, always delish recipe. Please forgive the quality of these photos. I took them on a dark day and the colors are not great. And…full disclosure I took them several months ago. You will notice that the picture of the finished product shows a snowman plate. I quit using my snowman dishes in February normally. So, yeah, it has been that long. Sigh.
You will need your favorite ground beef or ground beef mixture, a stick of butter, shredded carrots, sliced potatoes, sliced onions, salt and pepper, and some foil to wrap them in (duh). That’s it! You probably already have all this stuff but if you don’t it is sure easy to pick up on the way home.
Now, this is not a super quick meal. It does take a little bit of prep time and some baking time. I do mine in the oven, but I have seen recipes to do them on the grill or even on an open campfire. I am no authority on those methods, but I am sure they are really good with that smoky flavor added.
First of all, you should preheat your oven to 400 degrees and grab a large cookie sheet. Then you will need to pat out your burgers. I normally buy the 2 to 2 ¼ pound package of burger and I can get 5 or 6 good size burgers. I am normally feeding men and they like a nice big burger. But, as I always say, you do you. So, pat out the burgers to about an inch thick (maximum). The thickness will be the deciding factor on how long these take to get done. My family does not mind rare beef, but this is not the recipe for that. You want all the juice to be completely cooked since your veggies are going to be mixed in with it. Set the burgers aside.
Next, slice your potatoes and onions. I like to have the equivalent of about one medium potato to small per packet and about 1/4 of a large onion per packet. Slice the potatoes and onion about ¼ inch thick. It is better to have potatoes that won’t fall to pieces and if you slice them too thinly, they will disintegrate on you. I try to kind of divide my potatoes and onions into as many piles as I will have packets. Set these aside as well.
Now for the carrots. I like to buy whole carrots for this. Wash and peel them and then make shreds using the peeler. You could also run them through your food processer or use a box grater. I like the long thin shreds that the peeler gives you though. I have been lazy and purchased the matchstick or sliced raw carrots and that is great if you are in a big hurry and don’t have a lot of time for prep. Set the carrots aside too.
Cut 1 tablespoon slices from your stick of butter. You will need one for each packet. And grab the salt and pepper and any other spice or spice blend that you want to add.
Tear off a piece of foil for each packet. I usually try to tear off about 15 to 18 inches or so for each one if I am using the normal width foil. If you are using the wide width, you can adjust as needed. You will need enough room for a good size burger and a mound of veggies. It might be a good idea to tear off one piece as a test run until you have a good idea how much you will need.
Once you have everything prepared you can start assembling the packets. Place a burger in the center of a piece of foil. Add a tablespoon pat of butter. Pile on as many potato slices as you want. Do the same with the carrots and onions. You may have to redistribute some of your veggies until all the packets have pretty well equal amounts. Salt and pepper each pile of ingredients to taste. Add any other seasonings that you want. I really like to add a little Montreal Steak Seasoning. Yum!
Fold the foil over the packet horizontally and then fold up the ends tightly so that everything is contained in your foil pouch and there are no openings.
Place the packets on the large baking sheet. Use one with a rim. Sometimes the juices do escape just a little while baking.
Place the baking sheet loaded with packets in the oven and bake for 40 minutes to an hour. The cook time depends on how thick the burgers are and how thick you cut your veggies. Check one at about 40 minutes to make sure that your burgers are not getting too done.
Once the burgers are cooked through and the potatoes are soft, you are ready to serve these bad boys up.
Carefully remove the packets and open them even more carefully. There will be steam inside. We like to just serve the whole packets and give everyone the option to either slide the contents out onto the plate or eat it right out of the foil. I personally like to eat it out of the foil because then I don’t lose any of those yummy juices.
Well, that’s it. Easy-peasy! I hope you make these and are rewarded with the warm-fuzzies! And I hope that you all take care! Until next time…ta ta!
Hobo Burger Packets
Equipment
- Aluminum foil
- rimmed baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef or ground beef mixture
- 4 – 5 large potatoes
- 2 large onions
- 3 large carrots
- 5 tbsp butter
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- steak seasoning to taste optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Tear sheets of foil for as many packets as you plan to make. Make them large enough to hold your ingredients.
- Pat out burger to make 5 patties that are no more than 1 inch thick. Set aside.
- Slice potatoes and onion in 1/4 inch thick rounds. Set aside.
- Peel and shred or thinly slice carrots. I like to use the vegetable peeler for this. Set aside.
- Cut butter into 1 tablespoon slices. Set aside.
- Assemble each packet by placing a burger patty in the center. Add a pat of butter. Cover with slices of potatoes, onions and carrots. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to your liking. Add optional seasoning at this time.
- Fold the foil over the mound of ingredients horizontally. Then fold up the ends so that everything is enclosed tightly.
- Place the completed packets on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for approximately 1 hour. Check at 40 minutes. Cooking times varies with thickness of burger and veggies.
- Carefully open the packets. They will be steamy. Serve and enjoy!
