My dad showed me how to make these little foil-wrapped meals back when we were frugal and needed dinner to stretch us out without feeling frugal. He called them tramp dinners, and they were our way of turning a pound or two of ground beef and a few vegetables into individual feasts. This slow cooker version keeps the same spirit: just four simple ingredients, placed in their own little trays and cooked over low heat and slow until the potatoes are soft, the carrots are tender, and the beef is perfectly juicy. It’s the kind of convenient, uncomplicated Midwestern cooking that fills the house with good smells and the table with coziness. These tramp dinners are a meal in themselves, but I like to round them out with something cool and crunchy, like a simple lettuce salad or sliced cucumbers in vinegar. A basket of warm bread or dinner rolls is handy for soaking up the rich brown juices that collect in the foil trays. If you want to stretch things out for a larger gathering, serve with buttered peas or green beans on the side and finish with something homemade for dessert, like applesauce or a pan of brownies.
Slow Cooker Hobo Dinners with 4 Ingredients
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 (28 g) package dry onion soup mix
Simple Hobo Dinner Ingredients Set Out on a Counter
Simple Hobo Dinner Ingredients Set Out on a Counter
Directions
Tear up 4 large sheets of heavy-duty aluminum foil, each about 12 x 18 inches (30 x 45 cm). Gently press each sheet down into a shallow, individual foil tray with raised sides to contain the juices. Set the trays aside.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin slices, about 0.6 to 0.6 cm thick. Peel the carrots and cut them into thin slices. If the slices are fairly even, this will help everything cook at the same rate and become tender.
🔥 Don’t miss the full recipe — it’s on the next page! 😍💕
