Camping OS

Feral_Moon

This is a great thread for advice on equipment to take camping but I wondered whether it would be a good idea to share meals that you've successfully cooked too?

I'm fairly new to camping and although I've got all the equipment (I think) so far I've only cooked the obligatory bacon butty or heated up beans and HM soup which I've taken along with me (frozen flat in ziplock bags) as I've only been away for a night or two.

I've got a twin gas burner plus portable barbecue for grilling meat and fish. I've recently bought a ridge monkey (to make toasted sandwiches, omelettes etc) but I've yet to actually try it. I was also thinking of taking along my large paella pan I recently bought in Aldi as its perfect for cooking one pot meals such as curry, bolognese, paella, chilli etc, enough to feed a family of four.

What sort of things do you seasoned campers cook whilst away?

thriftwizard

I carry a number of "quick & dirty" meals in my van, ready to roll. (I'm reduced to van camping now, after an early hip replacement; it's my work van & I'm often camping whilst trading.) Packets of cous-cous, savoury rice & veg., dried pasta-in-sauce & paneer curries in sachets are all easy to make up and/or reheat; sachets & packets of dried stuff are easier to "house" than tins. I usually take a couple of "living salads" for easy fresh greenery; it'd be very easy to sow these a week or two in advance to DiY for best nutrition, but I'm afraid I don't baulk at the 99p cost! I keep some fresh fruit & veg in baskets, too - tomatoes, apples, tangerines, carrots; things that aren't particularly likely to attract ants or wasps. Biscuits are a great quick-energy standby, and oatcakes or Ryvita keep much better than bread.

When tent-camping with hordes of kids, we invested in a 3-way camping fridge to ensure that milk, cheese & meat were well-kept; it's been worth its weight in gold over the years & now does sterling duty keeping the beer, cider & wine cool in the shed when the main fridge is full! Back in those days, it was not usual for tent pitches to have EHU, and many of the less mainstream, cheaper sites still don't have it for tents.

I've also been known, space allowing, to stick our little pot-bellied BBQ stove & a bag of wood in. There's not a lot to beat the taste of freshly-cooked fish or steak cooked over wood in the open air, and very few sites are too remote to be able to source fresh food - one way or another! Some sites do allow fire-pits, BBQs or similar as long as they're off the ground. HTH!

jackyann

I used to take a "one pot" meal for the first evening. I would make it ahead, in the camping pot (we had saucepans with detachable handles) and freeze it. It then went into the cold box, defrosting and keeping everything cool.
It then went on the camping stove to heat through. Our 2 favourites were chilli and a "pot pie" which we usually made like a lamb stew, then make a thick topping to a scone recipe.

Since we had a car/van we have always carried an emergency meal with us: a tin each of corned beef, potatoes, tomatoes & sweet corn.
Like thriftwizard, I take "living salad" and whilst away, often buy herbs in pots so hey will be useful for the whole holiday.
Feral Moon - paella was one of our camping standbys - we often camped near a fish port and would buy shellfish. I was once told that paella was a traditional camping dish in Spain - families would take rice, saffron & herbs with them, then catch rabbit &/ or fish to make it. It does beautifully on a charcoal BBQ if you let the fire die down so it cooks very slowly. On a camping gas cooker you have to watch it carefully.

gilly1964

Feral_Moon wrote: »

This is a great thread for advice on equipment to take camping but I wondered whether it would be a good idea to share meals

For the first night, I used to always make a curry, chilli or bolognese.
Freeze it and use as cooler whilst travelling then just rice or pasta to cook to go with it

Although now we have a motorhome, it tends to be a lasagne or moussaka that goes in the oven on low heat whilst we are setting up

My other standbys in the tent were the "3 Tin Dinner", stewed steak, potatoes and peas, Corned Beef Hash, "Campfire Casserole" sausages, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, Worcester sauce, all cooked together and served as one after browning the sausages

Definites when in Devon or Cornwall are pasties, either on the move or double wrapped to keep warm for later.

Feral_Moon

I'm just wondering whether it's worth buying the ration packs they use in the military. I've actually sampled some and they're very tasty indeed. I don't know how much they cost to buy though.

They would certainly provide a nutritious meal whilst taking up very little room or weight. Certainly no more than a packet of couscous or dried pasta sauce type meals.

[Deleted User]

Military Ration Packs are available, from Ebay, Amazon and other suppliers, although they weigh quite a bit more than a packet of couscous, or dried pasta sauce type meals.

These don't look bad, for the price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/331909784291?format=1&hlpv=1&cond=1&clk_rvr_id=1073241738678&rmvSB=true

Many moons ago, I used to buy the British Army 24 hour Ration Packs. In those days they contained tins (complete with the P51 can opener), rock hard biscuits, the disgusting tea powder, and tracing paper/toilet paper.

The apple flakes were delicious.

esmy

When my friend was having a new kitchen installed, she was without a cooker for a while and borrowed our camping stove (2 rings and a little grill).

I told her under no circumstances was she to tell my OH about the wonderful meals she made with it in case I was expected to produce something similar!

Like others, curry, chilli or a stew of some kind is a favourite for the first night, the packets of microwave rice can be warmed through in a small amount of water, eggy toast (bread dipped in beaten egg and fried) is a breakfast favourite, eggs tend to keep well without refrigeration, corned beef stew is easy from tins, 'cowboy' casserole (tinned sausage and beans, tinned potatoes and peas).

Oddly enough, these meals that you probably wouldn't consider eating at home taste great outdoors.

FurryBeastOz

Re. The Rat packs. Rather you than me! I was devastated when the mice finally got to our store of 'biscuits brown' NOT.

The breakfasts are ok. But be aware they are HIGHLY calorific. The tea is still vile, and the orange drink has got so many additives you'll be climbing the walls. (Useful in the army, but Absolutely NOT Suitable for children's)

culpepper

We took some eggs, already broken and vacuum sealed, last time we camped. They were easy to just shake and dispense into the pan as omelettes. Some people carry the same but in a jar and mark the jar's depth per amount of eggs.
We are going again soon and I plan on taking some smoked sausage with us to see how that copes without a fridge or cooler.
For breakfasts we take porridge oats ,dried apple slices (from our trees) and raisins. You could easily just take enough per meal and dispense them ready combined, into ziplock type bags. Take seasoning etc in tiny bags or cut a bag and make it into smaller bags with tape ,or make little packets from foil.

If you can vacuum seal things,they will last much longer unrefridgerated although obviously not for ever. E.G. Bacon I sealed on thursday was fine on the following Monday night. It was in a coolbag but we didn't add cool blocks or anything.
One of the most useful things we took last time was a pot cosy that I made following instructions on youtube. It is a cover for your lidded cooking pot made from that silver foiled bubble wrap stuff they sell in DIY shops as radiator reflective material and stuck together with gaffa type tape. We were able to boil up water in our biggest pot and then take what we needed and cover the rest in the cosy for use after dinner as tea making or wash up water. In the morning it was handy for tea ,and personal washing water. It is really light weight and you just put the pots in it and then the whole thing in the bag when you are packing it away.

SmarterNotHarder

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

They're not terrible, but they're also not precisely controllable, so they take a bit of getting used to.

Of course, the downside is, the weight of the liquid fuel you'll need to carry.

BTW. Instead of using Meths, which is pricey and smelly, and tends to stain the outside of your cookware, I'd suggest using Bio-ethanol.

Thnaks for the tip As it was £20 and in theory "stormproof" I thought I'd give it a go. I.m guessing I should be able to get bioethanol in most outdoors/hardware type places?

Feral_Moon wrote: »

This is a great thread for advice on equipment to take camping but I wondered whether it would be a good idea to share meals that you've successfully cooked too?

What sort of things do you seasoned campers cook whilst away?

This was a brilliant idea, thank you for posing the question, and thanks to everyone else for your responses. For some reason I'm not sold on the "Ratpacks"...

Would it be considered bad form to get Asda to deliver to the campsite? I'm half joking.... I was thinking their refridgerated vans would keep the food fresher than my coolbox!