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I recently went on a short motorcycle camping trip to the belgian Ardennes and the Eifel. It was lovely, but i was running into an issue: food. I'm a vegetarian and i dislike having to rely on restaurants, because in the tiny villages there usually aren't many vegetarian meals. Traveling by motorcycle means i don't have a refrigerator with me. So while i can cook up a chili or whatever with some canned beans, veggie mince and whatever, it does mean that i have to throw away literally half of the food. Half of the veggie mince, half of the beans. Vegetables will keep if it doesn't get too hot, but at 30 degrees C i think that everything except onions will go bad. So the question is: does anyone have suggestions for foods available in western europe, that can be kept outside of the fridge, and can just be fried in a pan together with the protein? For other people struggling to cook nutritious meals, here are some things i already figured out: Ben's Originals (Uncle Ben's, branding differs per country) pouches of rice. They're pretty much single servings. Also available are pasta with tomato sauce and with pesto, from a different brand in the same pouch. Some supermarkets also offer the traditional can of ravioli, but vegetarian. So the carbohydrate base is pretty much accounted for. Hell, i could just cook fresh pasta/potatos/rice if i feel like it, but i am taking only one pan so i'd have to prepare the pasta and the rest of it one after another. Vegetables are not my biggest worry. But suggestions are welcome. Does broccoli have any chance of withstanding 30 degree days? The hardest part is the protein part of the meal. I can buy jars of seitan (praise him) but i fear that once opened, they'll go bad quickly in hot summer weather. Some supermarkets also have pouches of meatballs in sauce, which are really convenient, but again can't be kept without refrigeration when open. One thing that can absolutely be kept without refrigeration, is TVP/soy chunks. Essentially you can just add them to any kind of stew or dish with a lot of moisture in it, and the stuff will suck up the moisture and go tasty (or at least boring and unoffensive). Problem is that this only works for moisture rich dishes, or dishes prepared in a sauce. Of course the first thing i thought of, were MREs. But those are almost exclusively sold by prepper shops in western europe, and that means that you'll easily pay 10 euro for a single meal which is just ridiculous.
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Aug 8, 2022 19:23
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Idk if they're available in Europe, but there's a brand of Indian retort pouches that you can just boil in the bag and are super cheap and delicious and usually vegetarian. Tasty bite is the brand I think? They're p much the perfect size for a single meal. We would take the car camping a lot and eat em with tortillas or flatbread.
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Aug 8, 2022 23:33
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You could also look into cold soaking stuff. Toss some dried chickpeas or lentils or something in water when you start out for the day and just warm em up with a random canned or pouch sauce in the evening.
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Aug 8, 2022 23:35
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Time for a triple post cuz I'm too lazy to find the edit button on the app. It might not hurt to try asking one forum down in GWS
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Aug 8, 2022 23:45
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E: I'm dumb and can't read. You're a vegetarian. Try prepping beans and splitting them into single serve containers. There's a brand here in the states called "RightRice" that is a rice shaped vegetable medley filled with protein and fiber. If you can get that, it cooks fast, and has three servings per bag. If you eat dairy, try a hard cheese for protein: parm; manchego; reggiano; etc. Hard cheeses keep well for several days even at high temps. EE: Hearty vegetables tend to last longer than we think they will: celery; potatoes; carrots; parsnips; broccoli; etc. Not sure where you stand on eggs, but an unpasteurized egg (like y'all have in Europe) will last a long time before you wash it. A raw egg cracked over a freshly cooked portion of white rice and mixed in with some salt is delicious. They're easy to find in outdoor/camping/etc stores in the US, but I'm sure you can find an egg container. Something like this. its all nice on rice fucked around with this message at 06:22 on Aug 10, 2022 |
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Aug 10, 2022 06:08
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TVP is definitely the easiest way to add protein to anything. The dish itself doesn't need to be very saucy, if you prepare the TVP by itself first. If you have a some sort of cooking set up, you can fry 2dl of TVP in oil for a bit and then add 4dl of water and let it rehydrate. Salt and spices (and maybe some tomato paste) and you got the easiest and cheapest protein ever. It's also very light, cheap and easy to carry which is nice.
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Aug 10, 2022 13:37
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Fresh fruits or vegetables are pretty much right out in any kind of sustained way, so just forget about that. I usually bring some oranges or fresh whatever and just eat it all during the beginning of the trip, but if temps are reaching 30C nothing is going to keep well. Chickpeas + canned crushed tomatoes + spices + onions if you have them, over rice or whatever, is a favorite of mine But anyway imo just adjust your expectations of what "nutritious" is, make sure you get your macronutrients, and just bring whatever dried or canned shelf stable foods you like. You can get fresh stuff here and there when you pass through civilization or just at the end of your trip.
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Aug 11, 2022 01:30
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Thanks for all the advise so far  The issue with a whole can of chickpeas and a whole can of tomatos, is that i'll be throwing away half of it, that's the bit i want to prevent. Doesn't cost much and i can get it in every super market, but it just feels so wasteful. But the eggs and TVP seem to be a good option in the protein department I bought some freeze dried vegetables to see if they can be reconstituted into something palatable. They were €3,50 per package, so not too bad.
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Aug 12, 2022 18:48
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Buy a dehydrator and look into vegetarian backpacking recipes online.
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Aug 14, 2022 19:49
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Dried meal brands like Backpacker's Pantry are my go-to. They're not cheap, but a lot of them are vegetarian. They're not all winners either (Red beans and rice? Delicious. The mac and cheese? Not so much.) Mountain House tends to make meals that are tastier, but are less vegetarian-vegan friendly. These are American brands but you might be able to get them where you are, or find something similar.
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Aug 15, 2022 03:43
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Natty Ninefingers posted:Buy a dehydrator and look into vegetarian backpacking recipes online. That sounds like a pretty drat good idea too.
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Aug 15, 2022 16:00
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LimaBiker posted:That sounds like a pretty drat good idea too. They turn out a lot less bulky, and you can control portions and carb content. Backpacking meals try to cram as much calories as they can in, and tend to be pretty heavy fare if you are doing something less physically demanding than a full day ruck.
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Aug 15, 2022 20:31
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If you have access to lots of water go with dry food. Simple as that. Split-peas and some cultivars of lentils can go from dry to cooked in half an hour. And they keep forever if stored dry. And because it comes loose in a big bag, you can just make enough for you to eat and reseal your bag. Make it as a soup in winter, as a risotata in summer. You can also get bags of dehydrated veggies for soups. Fancy variant of industrial soup powder. Dehydrated mushroom also reconstitute quickly.
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Sep 6, 2022 09:12
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your local asian supermarket will have a ton of vegetarian dehydrated stuff at the ready for you. look for glass noodles (which don't really require cooking per se - a long soak in some hot water should do just fine), dehydrated seaweed, and dried mushrooms (shiitake and wood ear fungus are almost always around). and also lots of fun instant noods. nongshim sells these vegan noodles that i could live off eta: you're also in the uk! buywholefoodsonline has a dried vegetables section, they're lovely people and have saved me and my recipes a number of times so it'd be sacrilege not to shout them out here https://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/dried-vegetables w4ddl3d33 fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Oct 3, 2022 |
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Oct 3, 2022 07:52
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Casu Marzu posted:Idk if they're available in Europe, but there's a brand of Indian retort pouches that you can just boil in the bag and are super cheap and delicious and usually vegetarian. Tasty bite is the brand I think? They're p much the perfect size for a single meal. We would take the car camping a lot and eat em with tortillas or flatbread. I can get these in Denmark at least and yes, they are excellent. Particularly the Saag and various chickpea dishes. They aren’t as good as dried food if you’re going to be hiking on foot with super light kit though. I’d love some more suggestions for shelf stable dried food. E: these guys: https://www.distacart.com/en-dk/products/mtr-paneer-tikka-masala There a lots of different brands. Inside is a foil bag that can be safely boiled. Most Indian diaspora stores should have them. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Jun 8, 2023 |
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Jun 8, 2023 17:08
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How many days is this? Also: If youre doing any hiking, or need easy energy, date paste is the best all round energy food to just nibble on all day. Usually comes in a small 250ml squeeze bottle, from the supermarket, its cheap because no one knows what it is,
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Jun 9, 2023 14:46
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I know some real groggy hikers and one of them just brings a thing of olive oil with him everywhere, since for caloric intake that's (apparently) one of the best pound-to-calorie ratios you can get. Kind of sounds like your bowel movements would be real nasty and it's not the best for nutrition, but technically. vv: I always thought so too but I'm pretty sure he's not joking. Your Uncle Dracula fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jun 16, 2023 |
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Jun 11, 2023 06:18
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Your Uncle Dracula posted:I know some real groggy hikers and one of them just brings a thing of olive oil with him everywhere, since for caloric intake that's (apparently) one of the best pound-to-calorie ratios you can get. Kind of sounds like your bowel movements would be real nasty and it's not the best for nutrition, but technically. As someone who spends ~200 days a year camping this is insane and please do not do this.
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Jun 16, 2023 03:27
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Telsa Cola posted:As someone who spends ~200 days a year camping this is insane and please do not do this. TGO diet thread when?
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Jun 19, 2023 13:09
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What do you all think about coolers? I have one of those old igloo ones that I was honestly fine with but it's aged and was always potentially leaky. I don't think I NEED five days of cool from a Yeti, but also it is the one that every review consistently is like "it didn't leak" and this thing does go into my trunk.
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Jun 20, 2023 02:29
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I like to haul as much fresh food into the backcountry as will allow and eat the stuff that has the potential to spoil first and then resort to "science food" depending on how many days I'm gonna be out there. When we went "portaging" for 5 or 6 nights a couple of years ago I brought a nice variety of fresh, par-cooked, and ready to eat stuff. For the first few days I had marinated steak, par cooked potatoes and fresh sandwich ingredients including a little container of mustard, fresh onion, salami and the likes. I find rye bread keeps pretty well. In terms of cheese look for low moisture cheddar or if you want stuff thats really going to last in the heat then parm is quite good. TVP is really good, just mix it with uncle bens. There are also these pre-cooked indian food packs that are quite good. Nothing like palak paneer in the middle of the woods. They do weigh quite a bit, but if you arnt gaining too much elevation they are quite good. That being said I will fully haul six tall cans of beer up a mountain so I shouldn't complain too much about food weight. Those little oatmeal things are perfect for breakfast and for simplicity sake we now just bring starbucks via pouches for coffee. Doing some car camping this weekend and a lesson learned about fresh meat and fish is that you definitely want to keep it in its own plastic container or bag if it comes wrapped in butchers paper. I had to drag the igloo cooler to the beach and rinse out the halibut juice with salt water lol. Otherwise the cooler worked well enough to at least keep the little beasties at bay and it did at least keep the meat somewhat cool. Reminder not to leave your car open for any period of time if you even have little granola bar snacks in there, the shrews or other tiny woodland creatures will find a way up your tailgate and into your food and nibble the ends off your prepackaged rice crispy squares. Also whiskey.
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Jun 20, 2023 22:03
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numberoneposter posted:Doing some car camping this weekend and a lesson learned about fresh meat and fish is that you definitely want to keep it in its own plastic container or bag if it comes wrapped in butchers paper. I had to drag the igloo cooler to the beach and rinse out the halibut juice with salt water lol. Lmao yes I ruined a fabric cooler with fish once. The insulated lining was fine but the polyester or whatever on the outside never smelled right after that. Par cooked veggies is a great idea, thanks. +1 on the oatmeal pouches, they are good. Somebody mentioned eggs before - if you don't want to take a lot of kitchen gear, it's also possible to make a pseudo omelette by mashing them up in a ziplock bag with some other vegetables and boiling it. Might give me cancer 20 years down the road, but its tasty. Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Jun 20, 2023 |
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Jun 20, 2023 22:41
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In the netherlands you can buy single-serve pouches of precooked noodles. You can buy them and a packet of wok sauce and just make a stir fry with chopped veg and whatever protein you like. For example: https://www.ah.nl/producten/product/wi151714/amoy-mix-en-wok-noodles
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Jun 24, 2023 06:51
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Rick posted:What do you all think about coolers? We’ve been super happy with the Igloo Trailmate Journey 70 that has wheels. We picked it up for summer swim meets and it is hilariously overkill for one day events. Often ice from a Tuesday night meet will still be there while we prep for Saturday morning. Granted that’s in a garage but I think almost any rotomolded cooler would be the same. Sure it isn’t bear proof or locking but a 200lbs man can sit on it without breaking and it has wheels. Works for us. Oh, and depending on color it is $200 right now.
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Jun 25, 2023 12:35
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Rick posted:What do you all think about coolers? I have one of those old igloo ones that I was honestly fine with but it's aged and was always potentially leaky. I don't think I NEED five days of cool from a Yeti, but also it is the one that every review consistently is like "it didn't leak" and this thing does go into my trunk. I have a Coleman Xtreme 70qt and an Orca ~75qt that I splurged on years ago. It really depends on your use case. If you're going on a weeklong fishing trip and are only opening the cooler at the end of the day to store your catch, a Yeti or Orca will keep your ice the best. If you're going car camping and are in and out of the cooler every ten minutes for another beer then the cost+weight to ice retention benefit ratio isn't that much better - the drat thing weighs like 35lbs dry and is a bitch to heave in and out of a SUV (and I'm an in-shape 6'3" guy). That said, it will keep ice longer in warm weather than the Coleman so it's great for my 3 night desert trips. The lockable lid tabs is a nice bonus if you're in mild bear country (i.e. not Yosemite or grizzly country) and don't feel like hauling it in and out of your truck every night. When I purchased it came with a lifetime warranty (Yeti did not) that I am about to use for a couple of issues on it, which is disappointing but not surprising as I do some pretty rugged-rear end camping. The Coleman is great for 1-2 nights in mild weather. It has not leaked on me, which I know is a concern - woke up one morning years ago in a remote part of the desert to find our truck had an active beehive formed around a queen hanging from the ceiling, as the ancient cooler had soaked the carpet and they smelled it from however many miles away. That was a fun bit of problem solving we weren't anticipating for the weekend.
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Jun 27, 2023 20:35
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just got back from 3 nights of car camping. food fared really well, although the campsite probably only got at most 15 C at the warmest during the day, we were under pretty heavy tree cover and right by the ocean that was constantly rolling in mist. my crappy igloo worked, but i think i want to upgrade, but then again we only have a toyota matrix (with roofbox) so space is a premium and the rigid cooler is the first thing i pack and work around it. any ways, didnt take too many pics of the cooking setup but this is what i was working with, cooking some asparagus on my recently seasoned cast iron, and some maui ribs the next night on the grill section. had sausages on the last night. sandwiches in between. everything held up, little bit of oxidization on the avocados but nothing spoiled. wasnt backpacking and wasnt in proper heat though.  
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Jun 28, 2023 07:52
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