Moo2moo throws down the gauntlet

cafecreme

my favourite camping food is couscous... dead easy. Ainsley Harriot's spice sensation is really nice. We have it a lot with some dried sausage (easier in france where it's everywhere but maybe pepperoni would work here?) and salad (I'm sure toms at least would keep for a few days) You can get wholemeal couscous as well and add spicing yourself, maybe this would work better for the diabetic, and that way you could be sure there would be no lactose in it (sorry, I don't know much about diabetes so that could be crap advice!).

purenotions

Once you decide on your food:

Dig a 'fridge' hole when you get to your field (I guess you'll have a spade for the toilet pit) in the shade or most shaded spot of your camp (north side of your tent) and keep your food box in it with all the frozen and perishable food in it - take something to cover the hole with like a piece of hardboard or similar. It'll keep cool for ages longer. Also keep the frozen stuff on top of everything else as the cold air sinks keeping stuff below it cool. We freeze all our juice, some milk, bread and whatever frozen meals you take, and sometimes sausages or bacon. Remember that, if it's warm, the frozen stuff will only stay frozen for 2-3 days depending on how often you open the cool box and how good it is.

As to food, no idea about slimming world, but we usually self cater festivals and used to live somewhere similar to where you're going camping and it's easier to go vegan!

You could try:

take chick peas and mash them with a fork, mixed with cumin, salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. serve with crisp breads, pita bread or rice cakes and a selection of olives, tomatoes, cucumber (or hardier salads for the later days like celery and carrot sticks) and other antipasti as suggested.

quinoa cooked and cooled mixed with chopped veg/salad and herbs, olive oil and lemon or lime juice.

potatoes cut into wedges, tossed in oil and spices, wrapped in foil and popped into the camp fire embers for 'campfire chips'. Remember the bananas and dark chocolate for the same method for dessert

veggie curry (think it's already been mentioned)

courgettes cooked down with cumin and garlic in olive oil till they disintegrate, then cool, add mint and lemon juice. also versatile for pasta, potato topping or a dip.

red lentils are good as they cook quickly, don't need soaking and are filling and thicken soups or stews and take up hardly any space when packing.

stir fry veg with nuts and noodles added

definitely eggs! and fruit: bananas, oranges and apples last well. and supermarket unripened fruits like pears and peaches will ripen beautifully out there by day 2 or 3!

when we get sick of veggie protein like beans and chickpeas, we usually have tins of fish on hand like sardines or tuna to make tuna mayo which is versatile for baked potatoes, salads or mixed in with pasta. also, take along whole salami or chorizo to snack on or add to the non veggie meals as it keeps well.

found this too, might have some helpful ideas: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0820/is_n214/ai_16930497

and this one:
http://www.bayareaveg.org/recipes_trips.htm


hth

tattoed_bum

if they are all old enough get them all in the kitchen and ask who can eat what from the cupboards ,once you have a rough idea of that whittle the list down ,eg will the vegetarian option suit everyone ,or the diabetic meal suit everyone ,
i know its not much help and i can only say hope you have lots of fun as you as it sound as though it going to be a toughy

Dreamaday

moo2moo, What a challenge!
What do you all normally eat at home? do you have separate meals or all pretty much eat the same thing with some variation? I would imagine if you all eat a pretty similar diet (eg all follow the diabetic / veggie diet) then it shouldnt be too difficult.

We have done long weeknds with only a coolbox but then we probably werent quite so off the beaten track!! I usually freeze as much as I can before we go so it will last longer and keep the box cooler.
Can you make any of your regular meals and freeze them down? perhaps something that can be reheated in a pan.
How are you cooking by the way? are you making your own camp fire, or do you have a gas camping stove? If you have a gas stove, can you invest in a gas powered camping fridge?

Purenotions has some very good advice, especially the fridge hole. We have also put bottles/cans of drink in streams to keep cool, wedge them in though, or put them in a carrier bag tied to something solid so they dont float or get carried away. All totally useless if you forget to retrieve a bottle wine when you leave!! ;-)

Tinned stuff (fridged before you go) is a good staple, you can make a basic tomato sauce quite easiliy from tinned toms, although tins will increase the bulk and weight you have to carry with you.
Dried stuff is also very useful, although lightweight and doesnt take up so much room, it will need additional water to make it up.

Fresh veg like cauliflower, carrots, onions, leeks, swede should all keep well if kept in the shade for the weekend.
What about our fave camping food? corned beef hash!! tin of corned beef and packet mash, with optional tin of low sugar baked beans. You could substitute the mashed potato for mashed swede for the diabetic, or do half potato and half swede. You could subs the meat for a tin of mixed beans for the veggie. Or invent your own mixed bean/veggie hash for everyone.

We are off camping again in September, with our new 12v coolbox that I picked up for £9 in Woolies the other day! It was £10 reduced from £29.99, I had another £1 taken off as the handle was broken, which my handy dad has now "fixed" :-)

It will be interesting to hear what you come up with, let us know how you get on.
Hope you have a fantastic time and the weather stays good for you.

xx

meanmarie

Travelled in Australia with one of those plug into cigarette lighter fridges and it was really good.

When children were small we always travelled with stew or casserole frozen to reheat when we arrived, worked well, so with even an ordinary coolbox or bag you can expect dinner to last 3 days and still be ok to eat. Once main meal has been dealt with you can all exist on salad/ham/cheese sandwiches.

May be wrong but is it necessary to refridgerate soy milk? Use long life milk too if you can't all bear the thought of soy. Couple of disposable barbecues are good for heating beans ( in a pot!!), making toast , cooking eggs or heating soup, giving you a hot meal if it is really cold.

Enjoy!

Marie

DdraigGoch

Best of luck - all the ideas I had have already been posted. All I'd add is the following:

Wellies
Dry socks, dry towels, dry knickers [2 per person per day] kept in individual waterproof SEALED bags/boxes

Don't ask how I know - it's too horrid to remember!

oystercatcher

When I was a veggie and went camping, holland and barrat used to do tinned veggie sausages and veggie 'meat'balls they were easy to heat up and have with beans or mixed into a tin of tomato soup etc.

One of the childrens favourites is still noodles. I get a huge saucepan and bung in a layer of noodles per person, a pack of quorn (you could use the dry TVP instead if you wanted it to keep longer or tinned veggie mince from H & B as above) a large portion of frozen veggies (or tinned sweetcorn and tinned mixed veggies)or whatever was to hand loads of water and boil until noodles are cooked. Then make up a large jug of gravy to use as the sauce (I use gravy granules but you could do things with cornflour and marmite or stock cubes if you prefer) At home I sprinkle grated cheese on and a squirt of tomato ketchup but these aren't essential .

Have fun, I hope the weather is kind to you. I have happy memories of camping wish my back would let me do more now.

Oystercatcher

SavvyStudent_2

Your diabetic isn't insulin dependent are they? Insulin needs keeping in a fridge (unless its loaded in the pen and the one open for use so if you're only going for a weekend that might be ok!) L xx

moo2moo

Thank you all! In no particular order...

Yes, the diabetic is insulin dependant so that needs to be refrigerated and accessed twice a day. Have previously had dramas where on holiday in the middle of nowheere someone dropped a vial. Playing hunt the GP is fun, especially when the GP sends you to A&E a million light years away because you're not a patient. Obvioulsy this happens at the point you're about to require the insulin so by the time you arrive at A&E your diabetic is a gibbering wreck. Now I remember to take at least 2 sets of gubbins.

Its not as straight forward as it should be as the diabetic (Grandad) and the Slimming World Devotee (Granny) don't live anywhere near us and are meeeting us at the field.

Plan A. Successfully completed. Visit supermarket. Allocate a shopping trolley to each child and tell them to choose the things they want to eat, but nothing from the freezer section or the fridge. Result was long life soya yoghurts and longlife yoghurts, tinned fish, pasta and lots of peanuts.

Back up Plan B. 1 litre of vodka (for me).

Back up Plan C. OH is going fishing (so have thrown in a meal to cover that too).

Will take lots of eggs. Coffee mate, soya milk (which does require refrigeration once opened) but which hopefully will be consumed on cereals for breakfst removing the need for this.

Have borrowed a diesel generator and a mini 12v fridge so can at least cool the insulin and a small amount of meat and cheese. Now all I need is the rain to stop!

DdraigGoch

Best of luck with that! Love the backup plan B ....