Camping Mealplans

eselt · 7 June 2009 at 10:20PM

Hi all- really hope you can help!

I am taking two teenagers camping for the first time in a few weeks and haven't a clue how to go about mealplanning. We won't have a great deal of money, so I want to avoid eating out, or relying on expensive camp shops, and take as much as I can with me - but obviously with all the camping stuff in the car space will be a premium.

We will have:
2 X Basic gas one ring butane gas stoves.
Some disposible BBQ's
A cool box (not sure how long stuff will stay OK over a week?)

Any mealplanning ideas or recipes would be great and I'd love to hear any tips from experienced campers out there.

Many thanks in advance.

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Bitsy_Beans · 7 June 2009 at 10:28PM

Do you have any ice packs to go with the cool box? Milk won't keep fresh very long without them, especially if it is warm. Many campsites will refreeze ice packs for you during your stay.

when we've gone camping we've stuck to simple meals such as meatballs (tinned yes but very easy to heat), new pots and peas or carrots. You can boil pasta and add say cooked bacon or chicken to this with creme fraiche. I've done cajun chicken and salad and wraps (cajun sauce is from a jar) with rice. There's pasta with a jar of tinned tomatoes as the sauce which you could just have with cheese or add some tuna to.

with a two ring burner your meals will be limited (if you have a steamer part to your camping saucepans it helps) but it's possible to do some basic meals as you can see from above.
With the BBQ the usual fare of burgers, sausages etc with salad.

Olliebeak · 7 June 2009 at 10:43PM

Worthwhile trying to find out where the nearest large town is and which supermarket is there.

May be a good idea to get some savings cards with credit on (say Iceland/Asda/Morrissons etc) so that you will have shopping funds available in advance.

Tins are always useful, but weigh very heavy to carry. How about packs of Savoury rice/pasta in sauce/couscous/packs of noodles - quite easy to reconstitute on site, much lighter to carry AND don't need refrigerating.

eselt · 7 June 2009 at 10:50PM

Hi- thanks for that. I will check with campsite re: refreezing icepacks- good tip. I suppose if not I will have to plan to go through the cool box stuff in the first couple of days, then leaving tinned stuff for the end of the week.

Can you keep bread and salad in the coolbox too?

tori.k · 7 June 2009 at 11:01PM

take a bucket and fill it with cold water and put it in the shade will keep milk and wine

better then in a cool box, super noodles are great and pasta packets, the kids love it because i buy those tins of all day breckfast and hot dogs (its the only time they get them horrid mother that i am) i found the moo milk doesnt taste so uht as some other brands, tho i cheat a lot when camping and buy fish and chips etc if im on a proper site(well its my holiday too

Olliebeak · 7 June 2009 at 11:02PM

How about some of that bread that's guaranteed to stay fresh for a week? Mind you, with two teenagers, it probably won't last a week

!

Powdered milk? Not fabulous tasting, but useful in an emergency - same with long-life milk (doesn't need refrigerating until after being opened). Coffee whitener?

Back in the days when we didn't have a fridge, my nan and mum used to fill a bucket with cold water and stand bottles of fresh milk in it. But that may not work in a warm/possibly stuffy tent

.

Bitsy_Beans · 7 June 2009 at 11:24PM

eselt wrote: »

Hi- thanks for that. I will check with campsite re: refreezing icepacks- good tip. I suppose if not I will have to plan to go through the cool box stuff in the first couple of days, then leaving tinned stuff for the end of the week.

Can you keep bread and salad in the coolbox too?

We keep bread and salad in ours. One night whilst camping the Lake District we had a noctural visitor in the form of a badger who snaffled our loaf of bread and managed to leave the plastic bag behind :eek:

chnelomi · 7 June 2009 at 11:43PM

pasta n sauce is a good thing to have on stand by. different flavors are available and are a tasty snack. take rice and smash if you like it tinned stuff is good and can be made better with a couple of herbs put your favorite herbs in little bags because the bottles drive you nuts and take up space.

when we are away i add the odd peace of bacon to dishes for flavor frying an egg and adding to rice makes it more interesting etc.
and dont be afraid of just doing noodles with meatballs and tinned veg you'd be surprized how they love it when camping but would go in a right strop at home lol

geordieaussie · 8 June 2009 at 7:30AM

Why don't you make a couple of meals that can be frozen (say chilli and sausage casserole, for ex). Leave one in the cool box and one out of it. The one out of the cool box will be defrosted in time for the first night and the one in the cool box will be defrosted in time for the second. Also, having a big frozen lump in the box will keep the rest of the contents fresher longer.

I would say pasta, rice and tins will be your friend. How about a tuna curry made with tinned toms and tuna? Tastes a lot nicer than it sounds. Or a corned beef hash with fried potatoes (or even Smash) and loads of ketchup. Or tins of soup/big frozen tub of homemade that will take ages to defrost. Tinned tuna, tinned creamed corn and pasta all mixed up together is yummy.

Little cartons of UHT milk will last well and taste fine in tea and coffee.

A none food tip, but whenever we camp I always try to take a couple of naff plastic trays with us. Invaluable when you're trying to cook and have nowhere hygenic to put stuff. And don't forget your washing up bowl to put the dirty/clean dishes in!

Penny-Pincher!! · 8 June 2009 at 7:40AM

You could buy the ready cooked or rotisserie chickens and grab a bag of salad, french stick and tin of new pots?

PP
xx

JayJay14 · 8 June 2009 at 7:54AM

The real OS way to keep milk cool is to thoroughly soak a teracotta plant pot, stand the milk bottle in it and drape over a wet cloth. Keep the pot and cloth wet - could stand it in a bowl with water in the bottom with the cloth dangling in the water.

The evaporation of the water draws heat out of the milk bottle (see, science lessons have their uses and this was how my DDad used to do it when he was a scout master in the 60s)

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Camping Mealplans

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