Instructions: Serious campers may not be able to fit a bottle of Chardonnay and a couple of live lobsters in their backpacks, but those of us with cars and coolers can. So why not? Dont eat boxed macaroni and cheese and instant soup around a campfire.

Serve garlic and clam linguine.

The key to eating well while camping is to take along fresh ingredients, especially ones that need no refrigeration, such as onions and garlic. And using canned ingredients - such as clams - when you need to.

It really is true that food tastes better when youre camping, so take advantage of it. Thats probably because even though youre on vacation your activity level is way up, so youre burning as many as 4,000 calories a day instead of the typical 2,500 youd burn at home.

But enjoyable campfire dining is also about using as little cookware as possible, because its such a pain in the neck to wash it. Outdoors retailer L.L. Bean, in a nod toward the more refined tastes of todays camping crowd, sells a snazzy seven-piece nesting stainless cookware set for $50. But no camper wants to wash that many pots and pans. Better to cook it all in one or two pots.

Patricia McCabe, a physical education teacher in Brunswick, Maine, who often takes her family of four camping, prepares a couple of big meals in advance, such as lasagne, and freezes them in aluminum pans, so everyone feasts the first day or two.

"Then youre saying, now what do I do and youre resorting to cans," said McCabe.

But cans arent a bad idea. They can be used as a base for hearty stews and other dishes to which fresh ingredients are added.

"Nobody wants to spend a lot of time cooking over a campfire," said Marty Bennett of Titusville, Pa., an outdoor specialty trainer for Girl Scout leaders. She is an advocate of one-pot meals, such as American chop suey, which is macaroni mixed with canned tomato sauce and precooked hamburger.

It feeds a lot of people and kids always eat it. Or, she makes hunter stew, which is canned vegetable soup with onions, green peppers and any number of things added, including ground or canned meat.

Cliff Jacobson, author of Basic Essentials of Cooking in the Outdoors (where youll find a garlic-clam linguine recipe) and a number of other outdoors cookbooks, suggests making the most of tinfoil. Wrap vegetables in tinfoil, then wrap with a water-soaked paper towel and a second layer of tinfoil and toss onto the glowing coals of a campfire. Tinfoil wraps also work well with corn on the cob and potatoes.

Jacobson is also a fan of vacuum sealing, which extends the life of unrefrigerated food. Mold needs air to grow, so removing air from a bag of pita bread - a favored staple of campers because it cant be crushed - will keep away green spots for the duration of a trip. Thats true for wax-covered cheese, such as smoked gouda, or even cheese in blocks.

Thanks to preservatives, bacon can last three days in heat, longer if sealed or precooked. Eggs dont need to be refrigerated, so leave them whole to avoid bacterial contamination. Jacobson puts all those ingredients together in an egg, bacon and cheese pita pocket. And never wash breakfast down with instant coffee, take along a drip coffee maker and some decent coffee.

Probably the most important tip for camp cooking is to take along plenty of fuel. Campers spend an inordinate amount of time heating water, mostly to wash dishes. Take a gallon or two extra; it doesnt take up much space.

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.