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I'm heading off on an adventure across America with two friends, two tents, some cooking equipment, and a van, for the month of May. To save cash, I'll be doing a good bit of cooking whenever we camp, and need some ideas on interesting camp foods to prepare. The gear I have is 1 saucepan, 1 fryingpan, a 2 burner Coleman camp stove (propane), foil, tupperware, cheap bamboo kitchenware, rolled cutting board, knives, and a set of cheap utensils for everyone. I'll have a cooler and a pantry box, which will be filled with: Not quite Perishables: Olive Oil, Basalmic Vinegar, Mustard, White Sugar, Salt, Pepper, variety of spices (Chilli Paprika Garlic Basil) Siracha, Cans of Tuna or Chicken, Ramen Noodles, Pasta, Red Beans, Basmati Rice, Can Green Beans, Canned Crushed Tomato, Canned Fruit Cocktail, Flour, Choc. Chips, Marshmallows, Cookies, Coffee, Granola Bars, Soda, Water. Perishables: Bread, Tortillas, Citrus Fruit, Onion, Veg of choice, Cheese of choice, MEEEAAATTT (plan to use COMPLETELY within 2 days of purchase), Butter, Eggs, Bacon, Milk Perishables will go into the cooler, with a cold bag reserved for meat. Perishables will be bought as needed in quantities that will be plan to be eaten within 4 days with the exception of Onion, Citrus, and Cheese. I wont be buying anything that needs freezing, or in any kind of huge bulk. The idea is to keep us happily in breakfasts, sandwiches, road snacks, and dinners for a month, with restaurant visits saved for really awesome eating destinations if possible. I will consider this a success if we avoid the siren call of McDonalds. I'm pretty comfortable cooking and handling food, as I prepare a lot of family meals from scratch. I roast a darn good turkey and make biscuits that make a southern grandma proud. I'm used to a real oven for that though. Aside from some grilling outside, I'm used to having a full kitchen. Anyone have any familiarity with camp cooking and want to share their tips, tricks, or recipes? Any suggestions of what to put in my traveling pantry? The guys i'm traveling with have professed to eat and like anything, but I want to stay away from crappy instant meals and hotdog casserole. I'd love to try grilling some whole fish, and eating some weirder game meats if I come across them in my travels. The ramen is for emergencies. I'll be keeping an eye out for a used cast-iron pan. Thanks! Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Apr 28, 2014 |
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Apr 28, 2014 00:00
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| # ? May 3, 2024 09:03 |
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I always make eggs and pancakes for breakfasts when camping. Just bring a plastic container with all of the dry ingredients premixed, then add egg and milk and cook. Cold-cuts, cheese, and a loaf of pre-sliced bread makes an easy lunch (or make BLTs if you feel adventurous. If you have a large ice chest/cooler, fill up an empty plastic beverage containers (such as 2 liter soda, or just plastic water bottles) with water. Keep it in your freezer before you leave for a few days to freeze it solid. That will keep your cooler cold, and as it slowly melts you have clean, cold water to drink. Didn't see a Weber or other bbq on your list, I don't know how you can cook biscuits on top of a propane grill. They sell small Webers for $30, just put lit charcoal on one half, and the food on the opposite side, and it creates an oven.
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Apr 28, 2014 01:44
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You should pick up a cheap dutch oven and ditch the saucepan, especially if you plan on cooking on a fire at all. Also, you can make amazing drop biscuits in a dutch oven.
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Apr 28, 2014 02:59
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Maybe even a cast-iron griddle you can fit across both burners to make that Coleman worth a poo poo.
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Apr 28, 2014 03:09
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Saucepan is going to get a lot of use heating up water for coffee. I have a French Press and a quarter pound of Costa Rican Blue Mountain. The dutch oven's a good thought though, I'll keep an eye out. I will be looking for a griddle as well, but i'm leary of going all cast iron, as all this stuff has to travel, and I will be donating most of it to GoodWill after the trip, as we're driving from Florida to California, and then I fly home. The Coleman and the French Press are pretty much the only things that are required to make it on the plane home. Any recipes you guys know of? I know a pretty good fish-camp fry I want to try. You bread the fish in potato chips and cereal. Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Apr 28, 2014 |
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Apr 28, 2014 04:06
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Good luck getting the stove on a plane, in my experience they don't tend to let anything that had fuel in it/around it on there. You may have to end up mailing it back.
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Apr 29, 2014 00:48
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Massasoit posted:Good luck getting the stove on a plane, in my experience they don't tend to let anything that had fuel in it/around it on there. You may have to end up mailing it back. It's bottle propane, which will be discarded. I had worried about that, but the airline says it's fine so long as there's no fuel bottle. And that's five bucks, no big loss.
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Apr 29, 2014 03:38
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It's late notice but if you plan to have a fire at all at some point instead of a dinky coleman stove, you should look into a reflector oven. You can make actual baked goods like bannock or cook fish, meat, braise a thing, whatever. Bring along some powdered milk. No, it's not as good but it gets the job done. A sachet or two of instant mashed potatoes wouldn't hurt. They'll bulk out a meal or thicken a stew gone wrong. Calories are calories. Instead of having granola bars, maybe make some flapjacks ahead of time. Smoked sausages will keep well enough in travel and make breakfasts easier. Eggs do better than you would think. Get a big roll of heavy duty tinfoil. You seem to be going by car and it has a lot of uses. Ditto ditto duct tape. You can wrap the duct tape around something like a shovel, it won't mind.
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Apr 29, 2014 04:31
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angerbot posted:Instead of having granola bars, maybe make some flapjacks ahead of time.
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Apr 30, 2014 01:22
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TychoCelchuuu posted:I searched this on Google and Wikipedia says that "in other countries, including Canada, the United States, and South Africa, such products are referred to as 'granola bars'." What's a flapjack if it's not a granola bar? I immediately thought of thick pancakes; I had no idea flapjack meant anything else. I was a little confused by the idea, but also amused by the thought of some guy packing huge containers of pancakes for a road trip. 
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Apr 30, 2014 02:45
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flapjacks are thick pancakes? what is this granola bar nonsense
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Apr 30, 2014 04:32
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I make pancakes ahead of time and freeze them, but that's at home. I figured he was either talking out of his rear end or meant something else. Camp cooking is going well! Burnt a bit of bacon, but I figured it out pretty quick. I really want thicker pans, aluminum is poo poo on the gas burner.
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Apr 30, 2014 21:18
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapjack_%28oat_bar%29  You can add whatever you like to them, which makes it easier to have as a ready-go snack. That or GORP. And yeah aluminum pans aren't great, they're just light.
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May 1, 2014 02:19
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angerbot posted:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapjack_%28oat_bar%29
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May 1, 2014 04:39
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I usually pack oats. Make oatmeal or toss it in with other cooking. If I know I'm gonna feel lazy I just bring instant flavoured oatmeal for breakfast at least.
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May 1, 2014 09:18
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TychoCelchuuu posted:Okay but that link you just gave us says that they are known as "granola bars" in the country I live in, so I'm asking why you said "don't get granola bars, make flapjacks." Because I still don't know what a flapjack is if it's not a granola bar. maybe the words "granola bars" in the UK refer to pancakes. everything about his post would make sense then. I think.
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May 1, 2014 09:26
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mindphlux posted:maybe the words "granola bars" in the UK refer to pancakes. everything about his post would make sense then. I think. In the UK, it would be "granoula bars" 
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May 1, 2014 16:34
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Campside curry is super easy and one pot. Can of thai curry (pick a color) add to pot, cook til fragrant, add meat, coconut milk and water/stock add veggies add rice or noodle to thicken if you want place into bowl. eat.
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May 1, 2014 17:17
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Foil packs are tasty and easy campfire food. If you're looking for cheap cast iron go to a farm supply store like Atwoods or similar. I bought my cast iron pan for $10 and dutch oven for $20 from there.
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May 8, 2014 00:34
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Premeasure your pancake/biscuit mix into gallon ziploc bags. Write the amounts of water/milk/oil/eggs you need to add to the mix on the outside of the bags in permanent marker. When you are ready to prepare, measure your wets and add them to the bag. Zip it up and mix it around by mashing the bag. Carefully cut a corner off the bag and pipe your pancakes onto the griddle(frying pan) or your biscuits into the oven or your dumplings into your soup, etc. Either wash the bag out and use it to contain dirty clothes, trash, whatever or just throw it out. I love this because my food is premeasured, there are less dishes clean and less boxes of stuff to store. You can do even more with gallon zips. Measure out some minute rice as above. Add some dried blueberries or dried strawberries or whatever dried fruit and/or nuts and powdered milk you want. Zip it up and write out how much boiling water you need to add to "cook" the rice. When you're ready, boil up the water and add it to the bag. zip up the bag and mash it around to evenly wet the contents. Set the bag into a clean pot, a sweater, jacket or anything that will keep it from cooling off too fast. Now work your french press with the rest of the boiling water. 15 minutes later enjoy your breakfast.
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May 26, 2014 19:17
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ChuckHead posted: First you probably want 3 types of food storage: Cold/Wet - liquids, milk and juice stored in a cooler with ice. Cold/Dry - meat, butter and cheese. I have a small electric (12VDC) cooler for this. It cools while we drive we use frozen cold packs to completely fill the cooler, It will stay much colder while stationary the more packed it is. Cool/Dry - bread, cereal, crackers. Coolers are nice if it is going to be hot. That some good advice from Lord Brand. Every camping trip my family has it's chicken n dumplings first night. Buy chicken parts with bones/skin on, vegetables, herbs and canned biscuit dough. Simmer chicken in a pot until it starts to fall apart (90 min) take chicken out and remove bones, skin, whatever. Return chicken and add vegetables, herbs and biscuit dough rounds cut into 8 little pie shaped pieces. and to pot and simmer covered for 20 minutes. uncover for 10 min. Done. It is the most awesome camp food. We usually buy a whole chicken for this and the 3 of us eat the whole thing. I don't know why we never make this at home. I think your taste will change camping, at least that is my experience. So it is probably better to not plan meals ahead too much. ChuckHead fucked around with this message at 02:41 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 02:25
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Double post.
ChuckHead fucked around with this message at 02:38 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 02:28
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When I camp, it's usually backpacking in the Sierras. Here's what I bring: Beans Rice Salt Tea Tobacco w/pipe Water filtration device / iodine tabs Premade spice mix of granulated garlic, hot chiles, black pepper, cumin Small pot Tinfoil A fishing pole w/bait I obtain the majority of my protein by fishing for trout and/or crawfish in the abundant waters of the Sierras. I totally would not ever bring a small gun and shoot squirrels or rabbits or anything like that because that wouldn't be allowed by some state and federal laws I'm certain but if it were why by gosh I'm sure it would be tasty. Dried beans go in an extra Nalgene bottle at the beginning of the day and slosh around in there with water during the hike and they're ready to cook with the rice in the evening. There's good foraging for vegetables and such if you know what you're doing (don't go eating poison sumac or anything). It's pretty good. If I'm doing a long trip via canoe or some other luxurious method, that's when I'll bring along flour and powdered milk, etc., and do fireside pancakes and so forth.
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May 28, 2014 00:53
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Pre-soaking in a Nalgene? Decadent bourgeoise bastard. I use some twist-cap thingy that should have died years ago but keeps plugging on for free at maybe half the weight of a Nalgene. But I still use a brace is original clearish white Nalgenes for my drinking water because I am apparently too curmudgeonly to get something light weight. Hikers have the weirdest mix of preferences.
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May 28, 2014 17:17
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Butch Cassidy posted:Pre-soaking in a Nalgene? Decadent bourgeoise bastard. Those are all my Nalgenes. Early to mid-nineties vintage. Well, one finally broke actually so I had to buy one of those modern ones but it's not nearly as good.
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May 28, 2014 17:50
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I would never eat these things at home, but boxed mac & cheese mixed with fried Spam tastes heavenly when you're camping.
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May 28, 2014 17:59
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Those are all my Nalgenes. Early to mid-nineties vintage. Well, one finally broke actually so I had to buy one of those modern ones but it's not nearly as good. Tell me about it. I wrote them an e-mail after I hosed up and ruined my old one: quote:Good day, They sent me a replacement free of charge which was very nice of them. Then the ring holding the loop connecting the cap with the neck of the bottle snapped the gently caress off three days later. Wrote them about it, they sent a replacement cap...same loving thing happened. Now I just deal with a lid that comes completely off. Not to mention something weird happened when I went trail running with it...not sure if it was the heat from my hands or something but the plastic actually warped. It now bubbles out on the side, all misshapen. Come back to us old Nalgene 
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May 28, 2014 18:22
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The Midniter posted:Come back to us old Nalgene This is the bottle you're looking for. Like the old fashioned, sort of soft ones. Have to order them online since I've never seen one in a store (which is how I ended up with that silly "every day" one.)
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May 28, 2014 18:40
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E: ^^^ My local outfitter still carries those last I checked. They are the best. My brother once ran over an - Eddie Bauer, I think - Nalgene knockoff with a skidder. He popped the side back out to as round as it would ever be from then on and still uses it.
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May 28, 2014 18:42
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| # ? May 3, 2024 09:03 |
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Bubbacub posted:I would never eat these things at home, but boxed mac & cheese mixed with fried Spam tastes heavenly when you're camping. I like that too, especially with turkey spam. A similar thing which I'd never ever do at home is bring some Lipton instant soup packets, cut fresh-caught fish fillets into cubes and cook them in the soup - quick and easy and a nice change after a week of fried or foiled fish twice a day.
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May 28, 2014 20:55
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