If hot dogs and hamburgers don't inspire you to camp out, how about sausage jambalaya bubbling over the campfire, followed by hot berry cobbler?

It's possible, it's easy and it's fast. Thanks to improvements in camping cooking gear and a bounty of easy-prep and in-store ingredients, the days of settling for the utilitarian campfire cooking of yesteryear are gone.

"There is almost nothing you can't do," says Don Philpott, who with wife Pam wrote "The Trailside Cookbook" and is a fan of campfire jambalaya. "People don't think you can have a three-course meal around the campfire."

The trick to making that happen is forethought — getting the right equipment and prepping ingredients before you leave home.

First, the equipment. The key is to keep it light. Though cast-iron pans offer campfire cachet, you wouldn't want to hike with one on your back. Reserve those for drive-in camping. The rest of the time stick with aluminum.

And choose just one versatile pan.

Don Jacobson, author of campfire cookbook "The One Pan Gourmet," says that with just a frying pan and utensils, he can cook walnut chicken, stir-fry and coconut fruit cups. If he brings the Dutch oven instead, he can turn out lasagna or hot berry cobbler.

The Dutch oven — which can serve as a griddle, a cook pot or an oven — is a favorite, especially now that newer, lighter aluminum models offer a packable alternative to the more common cast-iron behemoths.

When a campfire isn't an option, camping stoves are the way to go. Single-burner stoves can weigh less than a pound. Most run on white gas (sometimes called camp fuel) or butane and can handle anything from pasta to stir-fry to stew.

"Why are we going out in the first place? Because it's better than being at home," says Jacobson, who became a campfire gourmet after eating one too many boring meals while leading Boy Scout expeditions. "Why would you take that wonderful experience and ruin it by having a bad meal?"

PLANNING YOUR MEALS

With your gear settled, focus on the food. Start by figuring out what you'll need. If you'll be hiking or otherwise expending more energy than usual, plan your meals around supplying those extra calories.

Emily Mitchell, an education programs coordinator for the Appalachian Mountain Club, says learning which foods pack and keep well under camping conditions is essential. As is learning the correct order in which to eat them.

Fresh peppers and spinach, for example, are delicate and so should be eaten early in the trip. But hard cheeses, carrots and potatoes will keep longer and can be saved for later.

And try to select foods that do double duty, such as pita bread. Mitchell says pita rounds not only can be used for sandwiches, but also make great pizza dough.

PORTIONS, PACKING

How you pack your ingredients also matters.

Jacobson and Philpott suggest taking only what you need for each menu, which means transferring spices (a must) and oils into smaller containers (taking just what is needed for your recipe). Restaurant-style condiment packets also are a great idea.

If ingredients can be mixed ahead at home, do it. Soups, for example, could be made ahead at home, then divided into zip-close plastic bags and frozen. These are easy to thaw and reheat, plus they help keep other foods cool in the meantime.

Meats and perishables need special attention. Jacobson portions his meats out for each recipe and freezes it in foil for the trip. He wraps them in foil again just before leaving and, unless he has a cooler, counts on them being good for 24 to 36 hours.

Mitchell suggests cooking cubed chicken at home, but only if you plan to eat it the first night. He prefers dehydrating ingredients, even whole stews, at home. His book explains how to dry and rehydrate foods, though both steps take hours.

To make cooking at the site easy, Jacobson packs a separate bag of food for each day of the camping trip. Each bag contains additional bags, one for each meal of the day. Each of those contains all the ingredients needed for that meal.

Whatever your camping and cooking style, here are some easy ways to jazz up your campfire meals.