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Spaghetti is a good meal that doesn't need refrigeration, just a big pot and a camp stove. We tend to plan that for the last day. If you have time to sit around the fire and wait for it, I really love dutch oven potatoes. I don't have a recipe offhand, but it's basically bacon, onions, thinly sliced potatoes, shredded cheddar, and maybe some cream of chicken soup depending on the recipe you use. Takes a long time to cook but oh so scrumptious.
I gave up making a hot breakfast years ago - it's so much labor so early in the morning. And it can take forever - look up and it's 10:30... We're usually eating granola bars, poptarts, fruit, bagels, cream cheese, etc for breakfast.
Diab - if you get a good cooler (Yeti) it'll hold ice for days. And it'll last forever. Dutch oven - the two best things I've ever made were a crawfish etouffee and a Brunswick stew. I made a dry roux in advance and then tossed in the stock, veggies, seasoning and crawfish. Boil-in-a-bag rice. I made the Brunswick stew base at home and froze it (used as ice). The chicken was cooked in advance, seasoned and shredded and added to the base on site. I like stew and such because they're easier to clean up and you can almost always get away with one big pot. I gave up making a hot breakfast years ago - it's so much labor so early in the morning. And it can take forever - look up and it's 10:30... We're usually eating granola bars, poptarts, fruit, bagels, cream cheese, etc for breakfast. We also make the spaghetti in advance - just leave it in a ziplock and heat the sauce separately.
CFL-- I'm really interested to hear what you like to bring for backpacking food esp worn you're veggie bf!
Dinner - couscous (usually the pre-seasoned stuff that Casbah makes),with stuff, usually sun-dried tomatoes or walnuts. That just requires boiling water. Also, I've been taking dried soup - split pea or lentil, which does need to cook for 4-5 minutes. Dark chocolate for dessert.Lunch - if you can find a good instant hummus (good luck), that can be good with tortillas and cheese. PB&J also keeps well. I used to take dry sausage but those days are gone!It's a simple menu, but it works. This generally means that 2 people can eat for a 3-day trip out of one bear canister with additional room for stuff like sunscreen and toothpaste.
Diab - if you get a good cooler (Yeti) it'll hold ice for days. And it'll last forever.
Have you ever tried this stuff Luke? http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Garden-Traditional-Hummus-Dip/dp/B000V5IMSQI'm curious about, looks like it would be good for backpacking since it is shelf stable.
I haven't...personally, I wouldn't pack anything that already contained a lot of water. Unfortunately, the hummus powder that you can reconstitute just doesn't taste very good. Also, DBF is on a very different page when it comes to backpacking food. Last weekend, he packed the bear canister that I would end up having to carry. Unbeknownst to me, I carried three apples from a trailhead at 6,000 feet up to our camp above 12,000. And that was on top of the non-instant hummus that I DID know about.
I am obsessed with "baking cakes" on coals inside of citrus peel. Oranges are a good starter fruit because they are easy to hollow out. Cut one end off, scoop out the flesh (careful not to tear the peel... reserve any juice you can squeeze out of the flesh (press through a sieve or just get your hands dirty and squeeze in your fists over a bowl). Bring pre-measured and pre-mixed dry ingredients for the cake in a large ziploc... add the appropriate number of eggs and use the citrus juice for all or part of your liquid... mix right in the ziploc. When it's well combined snip a corner off the bag and use it like an icing bag to fill the hollowed citrus 2/3 full. Put the end back on the peel and wrap in 2 layers of foil by gathering foil from the bottom to the top then twisting a handle on top... make sure it's nice and tight to keep the citrus lid on. Cake takes about 25 minutes to cook on the fire... after about 10 you can roll it around to heat all sides without worrying about too much spillage.Chocolate cake in oranges is fantastic. Also poppy seed in lemons. Grapefruit cakes take longer to cook and are easier to burn. I want to try doing a ginger cake of some sort in limes but haven't fully thought it out.Also, you can make whipped cream in a mason jar by shaking heavy cream like you would to make butter, except stop before it becomes butter...
Do you make the cakes directly resting in the coals of a campfire? Or over coals in a charcoal grill?
You can also do thinly sliced potatoes plus all of the extras in foil packets on the fire. Yum!!
This is what we do. Also take pre-marinated lamb chops or other chicken/steak/fish and veggies for grilling. If lamb, we'll also grill up a bit of havarti No cook breakfasts and sandwiches for lunch. Not a fan of dishes while camping, so the more we can cook over the grill, the better!
When you say grill up a bit of havarti, do you mean make grilled cheese sandwiches, or actually grill the cheese? I do a thing where I take a slab of feta and drizzle it with olive oil and thinly slice some red onions over it, and grill it in a foil packet -- that is really good. I never thought to try it with other cheeses, though. Is this what you mean?
I came back to this thread to see what brand cooler was mentioned. Then I went to amazon... those things cost as much as a fridge!
I do a thing where I take a slab of feta and drizzle it with olive oil and thinly slice some red onions over it, and grill it in a foil packet -- that is really good. I never thought to try it with other cheeses, though. Is this what you mean?
i do this with feta, garlic, oregano, and lemon rind - so good.
I just ordered the 22 qt of this. It's supposed to be a replica of Yeti, but half the price. It's backordered so I don't have it yet.https://www.rticcoolers.com/shop/coolers/roto-molded
that's quite a big difference! We ended up buying a Coleman Xtreme for our trip and were VERY pleased. It held the cold in so well that when I followed the advice above to bring frozen coffee that would warm to iced coffee, it did not. I had to heat my slushied coffee to drink coffee.
I wish I'd noted the brand of the one we rented in Utah. I was pretty impressed. It was the giant size and we started out by putting 8 blocks of ice in it to precool it. But the next day the blocks of ice were still in good condition so we just stacked our stuff on top of them. Granted-- we had a cooler that was WAY bigger than we needed and we weren't in and out of it all that much (usually 2x/day) but we were in the desert and it was sitting in the back of the pick-up on a black liner Saturday through Thursday and there were still ice block remnants from Saturday on Thursday. Two of the days it was sitting in direct 104 degree temps all day-- the rest of the time was more like upper 80's in the afternoon. But still-- pretty impressed. I read a lot about dry ice, layering, and other techniques that I might try out sometime. But we aren't really car-camp-for- a-week folks and I own two coolers. So, usually I have a sacrificial cooler for things like drinks and snacks and a "do not touch on penalty of death" cooler that contains spoilable foods that must stay cool.
Might want to check into recycling the small propane containers before you buy a propane stove. I shelved a car camping stove and bought a white gas unit because I couldn't figure out how to get rid of those canisters safely.
That's supposed to be a good alternative to the Yeti, but they're having production problems and just cut their warranty from 7 years to 90 days. :O
Any camping wine suggestions? Going away for a weekend with some ladies and some little kids in a pop-up trailer.
I checked my copious notes from our last trip. Apparently, eight bottles = too many.
I just reread this entire thread. Tons of great ideas in here. I STILL haven't made these cakes but really really want to!!!
I think I've mentioned my friend Karen's spice business before
why are you holding him off teetime?
Mia culpa. We camped this weekend. Back in May when I was talking about holding my husband off on getting a stove, he'd already bought one a few months earlier. It was great. So useful. It poured Friday night so wood was wet and when I wanted coffee early Sunday morning I just popped on the propane, perked 8 cups, and was so happy. It also made grilling sausages, etc. so easy. Something new from this trip ... I had a giant green cabbage for some reason and just to see what would happen cored and sliced it (thick pieces), coated a large piece of tin foil with olive oil, sprinkled the cabbage with oil, salt, dried herb and some chicken broth (left over from cooking potatoes on the camping stove), and wrapped it up. Then just put it on the grate over the fire for a couple hours. It roasted perfectly, was a little charred and smokey but still had good firm texture.
we are packing up for a camping trip now...on the way to the campground we drive past this highway-side bakery/diner... we will pick up turkey and dressing sandwiches on the way... this place roasts a fantastic turkey, the sandwiches are essentially turkey dinner between two slices of bread (well, no gravy, but cranberry sauce and stuffing are on the sandwich)... this is the base of christmas dinner hash... we'll sautee an onion is some oil & butter, then cube the sandwiches and fry it all up... cold green bean salad on the side
BA-- where/how do you do the cleanup for all of that? That's the part that always gets me. Like how do you dispose of the fat from your fryer?
SO awesome!! Talk about making lemonade out of lemons. Sounds like you had a great trip?