Hope the Fall season is going great for everyone so far ! I’m headed out for four days starting Wednesday and can’t wait!
I’m pretty sure I’ve posed this question on the forum in the past, but there are a ton of new folks here now, so thought I’d try again. I camp when out shooting, and am always looking for new and good ideas for what to bring to eat while out. Every time I camp with friends and see what they have, I always seem to say, “why didn’t I think of that!”
So, tell me what you all like to have when out and about. Looking forward to some new ideas, and thanks ahead of time!
PS, I do take a good Coleman camp stove, so looking for stuff to cook, but also any other ideas too, quick type meals.
Idahoan mashed potatoes (the 4 cheese ones are the best), pouch of chicken, pouch of gravy and some craisins and you got yourself a thanksgiving meal in one pot :) You can also substitute taters for box of Stoaffer's stuffing but you have to bring butter for that. I trust you travel with a cooler and might save an inch of (otherwise beer) space for a stick of butter ;)
Posted by Doug Koepsel on October 3, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Easy for me is heating thawed Stouffers Lasagna for 20 minutes in a covered pan/pot of boilling water. The 20 minutes is a good time for beer and crackers. Leave the plastic film on while boiling. Heating the frozen Bertolli pasta dishes that come in the green/yellow foil pouches is easy in a pot and they taste OK. Prebake the potato and heat on the grill while the steak is grilling. Scrambled eggs/potatoes/sausage/ham already cooked and frozen in a good sealing ziplock or in a vacuum bag can be heated in hot water for breakfast.
Posted by Jim Casteel on October 3, 2011 at 4:56 PM
While I was up at Capital Creek this weekend I saw someone who had those cast iron sandwich griddles. They had a squeeze bottle of pizza sauce, some pepperoni in a bag and some mozzarella cheese and were making some amazing pizza sandwiches. It was great for a car camping setup where you will have a fire.
I do the car camp thing with a BA cooler and Coleman stove so my menus depend on whether I'm in the same spot for a few days or moving every day. I do all the cooking at home so I usually end up cooking a bunch of stuff and freezing it the week before a trip.
Breakfast: If I'm moving every day I keep it simple by making a bunch of breakfast sammiches (eggs, cheese, ham or sausage patty) wrapped in foil and frozen. It's easy to fire up the Coleman and warm one up while I'm making morning coffee and in a pinch I've been known to put one on the exhaust manifold of my vehicle while driving to a location. If I'm in the same spot for a few days it's wakey wakey, eggs and bacey. Sometimes if I'm with a group of folks I'll make a hash after returning from a sunrise shoot. (Taters, onions, some meat, and eggs)
Lunch is pretty spartan: I toss in a loaf of bread and sandwich makings. I bring along assorted chips and crackers to supplement this meal. This spring for the Moab Shindig I fired up the smoker and cooked a pork shoulder and brisket to bring along for the Saturday lunch which was a nice change from bologna and the like. (Made a lot of new friends that day)
Supper: Someone Stop me! If I'm by myself I usually cook up some chili or shepherd's pie or some sort of casserole before the trip and freeze it for heating later. If you use the Ziploc heavy duty freezer bags you can toss em in hot water like the Stouffers Doug mentioned.
If I'm with a group I'll usually do the chili and stew thing but in larger portions though I have a great selection of cast iron cookware and like to grill stuff from time to time. If it's a group of people that I like and everyone ponies up some cash I'll do a crab and shrimp boil one evening. I've also been known to make a pretty decent Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler for dessert.
Of course, there are always the days when I'm too worn out to cook supper. Cold Spaghetti O's from the can.
Posted by Paul Martin on October 3, 2011 at 7:42 PM
I'm hooked on the minimalist approach -- Mountain House freeze dried meals for dinner. I take peanut M&M's, crackers, Eazy Cheese and some trail mix for lunch. I round things out with pop tarts and my favorite granola bar -- Clif Crunchy Macadamia Nut White Chocolate Chip.
Posted by Grant Collier on October 3, 2011 at 11:49 PM
Beef jerky, Baked Lays, and Gatorade. What more could you possibly need??
Posted by Art Escobado on October 4, 2011 at 12:37 AM
ramen noodles but incorporate your favorite fresh veggies (chopped) and hard boiled eggs when you add the water and close the lid to cook the noodles for more nutrition.
on a separate note plus one for peanut m&m's! i'll add them to raw whole nuts for a sugar boost.
Posted by Jon LaBass on October 4, 2011 at 1:05 AM
If backpacking, then pretty much eat bagels and Mountain House. If car camping with a fire, then I like to make a little tin foil oven over a fire and cook some frozen pizzas.
For camping I really like chili. You can go to the local .99 cent store and get a large can of organic stewed tomatoes and couple cans of Annie's Beans. I usually go for one pinto and one black bean. Mixed them up, add choice of spices, and cook over an open fire. You can add fresh ground beef, onions, and cheese as well. I suggest cooking the beef first and then adding everything else in. For less than $5.00 two people can have solid meal.
My other staple is a can or package of diced chicken breast mix it in with two packages of Ramen add pepper and dried peas just before serving for texture. We use this a lot when backpacking - it costs about 1/3 of what Mountain House does and like it a lot. If you are going to go for the store bought I think Backpacker's Pantry is a much higher quality brand than Mountain House.
Hmn. I should write up an article on camping and food. I camp about 30-50 nights a year on average; some (good) years more. Honestly, if you're car-camping, you can take and cook just about anything that you would at home. I only have three things that I consider "secrets": couscous, stove-top cornbread stuffing mix, and oil. Really, oil is fantastic stuff and makes everything else taste better. I keep an old plastic bottle and fill it 50% with olive oil, 50% with canola. After those three, I'd say that good spices and a black pepper grinder are good things to have. A salt grinder is nice, too, if you haven't tried it.
For a splurge on the first night out, most dishes will freeze and reheat nicely. Freeze some sausage or thin-sliced steak, then pan-fry it. Sausage over couscous with a tomato-curry sauce is a favorite of mine.
Here's a specific recipe to try: Rice, canned chicken, and canned white corn. Use the liquid from the cans as part of the liquid to cook the rice in; add the corn and chicken when the rice is done. Salt, pepper, and other spices to taste. I like chipotle flakes, but you might prefer something else. Cook the whole thing together in one of the deep MSR-style pots. Just before serving, add in a little sour cream or plain yoghurt and parmesan cheese. I know it sounds strange, but the parmesan adds a good flavor and doesn't clash with the other mexican flavors. Add a shot of oil, too. If you're starving, it feeds one (that is, if you just came off a week of strenuous backpacking). Usually feeds two. If I'm alone, I'll put the leftovers in a cooler, still in the same pot, and have it for lunch the next day: just add about 1/4" of water in the bottom of the pot and throw it back on the stove. When the water has evaporated, you're ready to eat again. This dish works nicely up to about 8000 or 9000' feet; above that, the texture of the rice goes a bit soft.
For a backpacking suggestion, try to find the packages of instant Pho (a rice-noodle Vietnamese soup). Similar to ramen, but a lot tastier. Throw some beef jerky into the water while it's heating and it's pretty darn tasty together. It's a good last-night-out dinner, since the rice noodles are so lightweight. Amazon has the Pho packets if you don't have an Asian market near you...
Hope that's a start,
Mark.
Posted by Rick Dunn on October 5, 2011 at 11:50 AM
Well I'm never sharing a tent with Michael!
+1 on the beef jerky, of course!
We take a variety of rice-a-roni and pasta-roni; trash the box and put the contents in a zip-loc to save space (tear off the prep instructions and put in the zip-loc). Lots of different flavors, and we add chicken, tuna or crab sold in foil pouches. Starkist has a good selection. You'll need a little oil to fry up the rice; we keep a small travel bottle with olive oil on hand. The Starkist sweet & spicy tuna on a tortilla or flatbread with a little mayo is a killer lunch. If any of the dishes call for milk, we keep a little dried milk on hand.
We have a small thermoelectric cooler in the truck, and our favorite meal is just cured meats, various cheeses, crackers/bread, apple or pear and wine. Ghiradelli caramel-filled chocolates for desert.
Not a big fan of the dehydrated meals with the exception of the fruit crumble/cobbler.
For breakfast, it's rice-krispie treats or instant oatmeal with raisins, craisins or dried fruit added int.
Lunch is PB&J tortillas or the instant Asian soup/noodle bowls. Some of the bowls can be prepared with just hot water, but many can't; look carefully at the instructions!
Posted by Brent Doerzman on September 16, 2012 at 12:33 PM
Hello everyone! Thought I'd bump up this thread from last Fall. Any other suggestions to go with all the good ones above?
When on my photo trips, on the move a lot and most often not even getting to a "dinner" until late, after shooting sunset and possibly driving to my camp spot to be ready for sunrise shooting. So always looking for good, easy ideas, as little clean up as possible. I know, asking for a lot!
Bring on the good food ideas!
ps: I have found one really good food/road trip solution--hang out with Jimmy Gekas, he knows all the great small town restaurants!
Posted by Dave Nguyen on September 17, 2012 at 12:15 AM
Here are a few that I rely on for car and backpacking. I will get more elaborate with car camping but usually try to keep it simple and good. I love good food so even on backpacking trips, I'll put on some added weight to get a good meal at the end of the day.
Ramen = always #1 on the list, add some spam/veggies. Not the most nutritious but it always hits the spot.
Flat Bread + Tuna/Chicken = Tuna and Chicken in those single packages tastes similar, up to you.
Wild Rice/Cous Cous + Premarinated Chicken (Frozen) - You can vary how you marinate but throw in zip loc, add your marinate and freeze, portion to your size. (Some of you wonder how I do this on backpacking, this is always my first meal of the trip, frozen will last til evening, hmmm, hmm.
Go to Costco, buy some packaged-ready to serve Lentil meal (Indian Style) - serve up with your choice of carb, mine is flat bread
Posted by Brent Doerzman on September 21, 2013 at 7:09 PM
Its that time of year again....time for fall colors? Well yes, but I really meant its time for me to resurrect this old food thread..... again!
Any more good ideas for fall trip camping meals? Last year my best meals were some tortilla soup I froze and simply reheated on my Coleman. Oh man, so good! I just discovered Naan bread this year too, so imagine I'll take some of that along instead of regular bread for some chicken or tuna lunches.
Always looking for more cool idea, lets have them! :)
**photo above-- my new camp cooking set up. Sure miss the fold down back of my older 4Runners, so made a new "table".
Posted by Doug Koepsel on September 22, 2013 at 2:07 PM
Brent, I have no new recipes. For quick weekend trips, I like a pizza to go, but I also like cold leftover pizza.
Posted by Nathan Buck on September 27, 2013 at 3:41 PM
I love all of the suggestions in this thread. When I go on a scout backpacking trip with my son we always freeze brats and then take them and eat them the first night. We also like tortillas as our carb/bread of choice. All of the other scouts look longingly at our dinner while they try to eat their dehydrated dinners...
Nathan
Posted by Brent Doerzman on September 20, 2014 at 12:18 AM
Well, I resurrected this thread the last couple years, why not do it again!
Any new folks with their photo road trip/camping meal ideas? Would love to hear them!
Posted by Erik Stensland on September 20, 2014 at 11:35 AM
Brent, I think I'll just find where you are camping and drop in for my meals.
Posted by Brent Doerzman on September 20, 2014 at 6:13 PM
Discussion
19 repliesHope the Fall season is going great for everyone so far ! I’m headed out for four days starting Wednesday and can’t wait!
I’m pretty sure I’ve posed this question on the forum in the past, but there are a ton of new folks here now, so thought I’d try again. I camp when out shooting, and am always looking for new and good ideas for what to bring to eat while out. Every time I camp with friends and see what they have, I always seem to say, “why didn’t I think of that!”
So, tell me what you all like to have when out and about. Looking forward to some new ideas, and thanks ahead of time!
PS, I do take a good Coleman camp stove, so looking for stuff to cook, but also any other ideas too, quick type meals.
Breakfast: If I'm moving every day I keep it simple by making a bunch of breakfast sammiches (eggs, cheese, ham or sausage patty) wrapped in foil and frozen. It's easy to fire up the Coleman and warm one up while I'm making morning coffee and in a pinch I've been known to put one on the exhaust manifold of my vehicle while driving to a location. If I'm in the same spot for a few days it's wakey wakey, eggs and bacey. Sometimes if I'm with a group of folks I'll make a hash after returning from a sunrise shoot. (Taters, onions, some meat, and eggs)
Lunch is pretty spartan: I toss in a loaf of bread and sandwich makings. I bring along assorted chips and crackers to supplement this meal. This spring for the Moab Shindig I fired up the smoker and cooked a pork shoulder and brisket to bring along for the Saturday lunch which was a nice change from bologna and the like. (Made a lot of new friends that day)
Supper: Someone Stop me! If I'm by myself I usually cook up some chili or shepherd's pie or some sort of casserole before the trip and freeze it for heating later. If you use the Ziploc heavy duty freezer bags you can toss em in hot water like the Stouffers Doug mentioned.
If I'm with a group I'll usually do the chili and stew thing but in larger portions though I have a great selection of cast iron cookware and like to grill stuff from time to time. If it's a group of people that I like and everyone ponies up some cash I'll do a crab and shrimp boil one evening. I've also been known to make a pretty decent Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler for dessert.
Of course, there are always the days when I'm too worn out to cook supper. Cold Spaghetti O's from the can.
on a separate note plus one for peanut m&m's! i'll add them to raw whole nuts for a sugar boost.
My other staple is a can or package of diced chicken breast mix it in with two packages of Ramen add pepper and dried peas just before serving for texture. We use this a lot when backpacking - it costs about 1/3 of what Mountain House does and like it a lot. If you are going to go for the store bought I think Backpacker's Pantry is a much higher quality brand than Mountain House.
For a splurge on the first night out, most dishes will freeze and reheat nicely. Freeze some sausage or thin-sliced steak, then pan-fry it. Sausage over couscous with a tomato-curry sauce is a favorite of mine.
Here's a specific recipe to try: Rice, canned chicken, and canned white corn. Use the liquid from the cans as part of the liquid to cook the rice in; add the corn and chicken when the rice is done. Salt, pepper, and other spices to taste. I like chipotle flakes, but you might prefer something else. Cook the whole thing together in one of the deep MSR-style pots. Just before serving, add in a little sour cream or plain yoghurt and parmesan cheese. I know it sounds strange, but the parmesan adds a good flavor and doesn't clash with the other mexican flavors. Add a shot of oil, too. If you're starving, it feeds one (that is, if you just came off a week of strenuous backpacking). Usually feeds two. If I'm alone, I'll put the leftovers in a cooler, still in the same pot, and have it for lunch the next day: just add about 1/4" of water in the bottom of the pot and throw it back on the stove. When the water has evaporated, you're ready to eat again. This dish works nicely up to about 8000 or 9000' feet; above that, the texture of the rice goes a bit soft.
For a backpacking suggestion, try to find the packages of instant Pho (a rice-noodle Vietnamese soup). Similar to ramen, but a lot tastier. Throw some beef jerky into the water while it's heating and it's pretty darn tasty together. It's a good last-night-out dinner, since the rice noodles are so lightweight. Amazon has the Pho packets if you don't have an Asian market near you...
Hope that's a start,
Mark.
+1 on the beef jerky, of course!
We take a variety of rice-a-roni and pasta-roni; trash the box and put the contents in a zip-loc to save space (tear off the prep instructions and put in the zip-loc). Lots of different flavors, and we add chicken, tuna or crab sold in foil pouches. Starkist has a good selection. You'll need a little oil to fry up the rice; we keep a small travel bottle with olive oil on hand. The Starkist sweet & spicy tuna on a tortilla or flatbread with a little mayo is a killer lunch. If any of the dishes call for milk, we keep a little dried milk on hand.
We have a small thermoelectric cooler in the truck, and our favorite meal is just cured meats, various cheeses, crackers/bread, apple or pear and wine. Ghiradelli caramel-filled chocolates for desert.
Not a big fan of the dehydrated meals with the exception of the fruit crumble/cobbler.
For breakfast, it's rice-krispie treats or instant oatmeal with raisins, craisins or dried fruit added int.
Lunch is PB&J tortillas or the instant Asian soup/noodle bowls. Some of the bowls can be prepared with just hot water, but many can't; look carefully at the instructions!
When on my photo trips, on the move a lot and most often not even getting to a "dinner" until late, after shooting sunset and possibly driving to my camp spot to be ready for sunrise shooting. So always looking for good, easy ideas, as little clean up as possible. I know, asking for a lot!
Bring on the good food ideas!
ps: I have found one really good food/road trip solution--hang out with Jimmy Gekas, he knows all the great small town restaurants!
Ramen = always #1 on the list, add some spam/veggies. Not the most nutritious but it always hits the spot.
Flat Bread + Tuna/Chicken = Tuna and Chicken in those single packages tastes similar, up to you.
Wild Rice/Cous Cous + Premarinated Chicken (Frozen) - You can vary how you marinate but throw in zip loc, add your marinate and freeze, portion to your size. (Some of you wonder how I do this on backpacking, this is always my first meal of the trip, frozen will last til evening, hmmm, hmm.
Go to Costco, buy some packaged-ready to serve Lentil meal (Indian Style) - serve up with your choice of carb, mine is flat bread
Any more good ideas for fall trip camping meals? Last year my best meals were some tortilla soup I froze and simply reheated on my Coleman. Oh man, so good! I just discovered Naan bread this year too, so imagine I'll take some of that along instead of regular bread for some chicken or tuna lunches.
Always looking for more cool idea, lets have them! :)
**photo above-- my new camp cooking set up. Sure miss the fold down back of my older 4Runners, so made a new "table".
Nathan
Any new folks with their photo road trip/camping meal ideas? Would love to hear them!