Camping food for veggies

Chell

We bought a tent at the end of last year but haven't actually used it yet.

My family and I (three children 2-7yrs) are all vegetarian. I cook most foods from scratch so the children don't really have a taste for processed foods. They don't like things like jars of pasta sauce as they are used to homemade.

I don't fancy camping and living off of BBQ'd veggie sausages! Any ideas of what we could easily store/cook when camping for a few days?

Many thanks,
Chell

soupdragon10

I used to take basic seasonings and flour and dried pasta which gave me the basis for any number of veg based one or two pot meals (depending on your camping stove. You could add dried soya if your kids will eat it, if not red or green lentils are a good alternative.

If I only had one pot I'd cook the pasta first, then the sauce and just bung the drained pasta in to reheat.

Veg stew is another good filler that can be done in one pot, and you need only pack flour and veg fat/suet and buy veg when you arrive.

Stuffed pancackes, again using the same flour and veg / lentils / seasoning. Depends really how long you are going for and what your family like to eat. I used to have a couple of big plastic containers to store all the dry stuff, you can buy things like tinned tomatoes etc. when you get there if you don't want to carry them. Do make sure it's secure, you don't want to wake up and find the local wildlife are munching the lentils or eating your flour.

Kate78

That Ainsley Harriot couscous is on special offer in our ASDA (not sure if it's everywhere) - 3 packs for £1 - should be good for camping.

Tinned beans, tomatoes, ratatouille, risotto anything that you can make a one pot meal from on your stove should be fine.

Oh and how about a bean chilli with nacho chips instead of rice - just serve in a bowl.

Have fun on your trip!

Petlamb

Another one suggesting veggie stew - exactly the kind of food you want when camping imho!

Molly41

I thought the whole point of camping was that you simplified life and ate accordingly. So no fussy foods but good old camping nosh. That should be exciting for the kids so you might be surprised what they will eat when out of their normal routine and environment. You could take a few of their favourite snacks with you and kids wont harm if they dont eat so healthily whilst on holiday! Have you seen the CamperVan Cookbook?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Camper-Van-Cookbook-Wheels-Cooking/dp/1444703897
I know my friend makes and freezes a big chilli or Bolognese and then takes it out of the freezer in a cold box and that its just nicely defrosted by the time she gets there so ready for the first night.

valk_scot

I've been camping for 30 years now and we just eat what we do at home, but simplified. There's a few basic concepts you have to keep in mind though.

1)It's more difficult if you don't have proper cold storage facilities so first questions are...are you taking electric hook-up and if so have you an electric cool box or fridge, or are you relying on a cool box with ice packs? Secondly, how long are you going for? It's perfectly possible to take enough home made food for a four day trip in a coolbox or two for example but it gets more difficult for a week or more.

2) I don't belive you don't use any processed foods at all. Tinned tomatoes? Tinned veg? Baked beans? Make a list. Have a look round your local supermarket and see what they've got. Try a few. Look for anything that doesn't require refrigeration ...dried, tinned, vacumn packed. My lot like tinned ratatoullie for example as a side dish and as a sauce base but we never eat it at home tbh.

3)Keep in mind you're going to be cooking on a two burner stove with less than half the power output of home per ring plus, if lucky, an inadequate grill the size of your palm. Actually the only use for a camping grill is to keep food warm while you cook the other half. It's worth considering a small BBQ at this point. But don't take anything that needs longer than 20 minutes to cook or trust me you'll be tearing your hair out. Pasta? Take the 3 minute variety. Rice? 3-minute boil in the bag. Have bread as the filler rather than spuds if possible, think cold veg like salads, tubs of coleslaw, raw carrot sticks.

(On the subject of cooking remember you should observe the standard camp cookery safety precautions. Never leave a camp cooker unattended, even for one minute. Gas camp cookers can and do flare, camp kitchens are wobbly. Change gas cannisters well outside the tent area. Tents are highly flammable...a polyester tent can catch fully alight in under one minute...so never use a cooker inside one. Cook outside or under the front canopy, or get a kitchen shelter. Never let kids anywhere near the cooking area when in use. And take a fire bucket (you can use it for midnight wees when not cooking), fire extingusher and fire blanket. )

4)With all the above in mind, start thinking about what your individual family likes to eat and what recipes you already make that transfer over. Quick veggie pasta sauce or veggie curry? Wraps, grilled vegetables and quorn type things? I'm not vegetarian so can't advise very well here. Remember though that you only need to cater as many meals as you have nights away. Breakfast can be cereal, bread (forget toast, takes aeons on a camp stove), butter and spreads. Lunch can be eaten out or have sandwiches or a deli type buffet meal. Have at least one carry out as a treat on the last night and remember you can just buy chips to go with a cold main course.

5) You can freeze food and take it in a cool box..lasts longer. I take frozen milk, a couple of frozen main dishes like curry and a pasta sauce, frozen sausages and bacon. You could take the veggie equivalents. For a 4 night trip you can have the first night's food just chilled and ready to heat up, two nights worth of frozen food food in the cool boxes and have a BBQ or takeaway on the last night. Yup, I can do an entire long weekend with barely any cooking at all! It just takes planning. And practice. And a second cool box.

6) Incidentally my top tip for carrying foodstuffs that don't need chilled is to buy a couple of big zip up coolbags as food storage and use them without ice packs. Easy to pack and transport, moisture resistant in the tent (you get a lot of condensation in tents), proof against small vermin and ants.

7) And my other top tip is to go and join the UK Camp Site forums, here. Biggest online camping forum in the UK and you'll find the answer to every question in there. There's a huge campsite search database, equipment reviews and a recipe database. it's free and every UK camper should know about it tbh. I'm in there too btw, same user name, so say hello if you do join.

Have fun! Kids love camping.

Memory_Girl

The last time we went for 6 days - we had (evening meals only cos we d standard, bread sandwiches, fruit and veggies for lunch). My cool bag had a few staples and loads of veggies.

Dinner 1:HM Kidney bean curry and rice with chapatis (all made at home, bread warmed under grill, rice heated by boiling a kettle and standing in a bowl and curry heated in the pot)

Dinner 2 : HM Hummus and pitta breads and veggie dippers (by request of DS1 his favourite "dippy tea) Bread heated under grill and hummus made before we left

Dinner 3 : Pasta salad with feta cheese - cooked pasta, chopped cheese and veggies in lemon and oil.

Dinner 4: Cheese omlettes and huge tossed salads with fried potatoes (DS2's favourite is fried potatoes done outside)

Dinner 5: Bulghar wheat tabouleh with green salad and boiled eggs (I chop all the veggies whilst watching the wheat cook)

Dinner 6: Tortilla wraps(vacuum packed) with stir fried chilli veg and guacamole (yup it took six days for the avocados to be ready to mash up)


................... although veggie meals.............. the smell of the breakfast bacon did wrap around my heart a little.

Took a bit of planning - but we are not fans of packets and tins either. I figure if I am cooking something (like wheat) I need to be bythe pot so cooking and chopping whilst watching the kids is fairly easy.

MG

flea72

we eat exactly the same food as i would cook at home on the hob. however i would say that two rings makes life easier, as you can cook sauce and carbs at the same time

so spag bol, shepherds pie, pasta and sauce, risotto, frittata/omlettes, croque monsieur, curry, pizza/calzone, chapatis, falafel, etc.

also unless you are camping totally in the wild, you will have access to shops and fresh produce. we very rarely bulk buy when camping, we buy food daily as we need/see things, and just take the staples along with us like beans, tinned toms, rice, pasta, etc.

if your family prefer your homemade stuff, cook up a few batches of their favourite pasta sauce and put in jars and preserve. or freezing is good for short-stay camps. fresh food that you have frozen can easily stretch to 3 days in a cooler bag (longer if you keep changing the ice packs)

vegi sausages on the bbq would be a last resort for us, but that doesnt mean we wouldnt rule them out for at least one meal. as already said the bbq is a great back-up, even if just used for keeping food warm, whilst you cook other things on the hob

just make a list of what you normally eat, and then see if its doable, without the need for an oven

the main thing i miss whilst camping is jacket spuds, as they just take too long without the aid of a microwave (although we have now progessed to electric hook-up and im contemplating taking the combi microwave)

F