I thought it would be a good idea to have inmates post up some road food recipes. Please note that Mountain House and Cliff bars do not constitute recipes. After a long time camping outdoors, I've found that a diet of freeze dried food and and oatmeal packets rarely satisfies. Eating at restaurants is too pricey in many areas. I'm not focusing on zero-prep meals, but ones that can be prepared quickly with minimal hassle. I recently found several sources for bulk dehydrated/freeze dried ingredients from companies specializing in long-term food storage and emergency preparedness. I'm using ingredients for Auguson Farms out of Salt Lake City here. Auguson packages a number of their products in what they call "everyday size cans." These are slightly smaller than a 12 oz coffee can. It's a good way to try stuff. The smaller cans are reasonably priced. http://www.augasonfarms.com/ Here's a nice recipe: Road Potato Pancakes Potato pancakes were a big part of my childhood. Both my mother and grandmother would cook them often. They would shred potatoes and chop onions by hand, and fry them in an iron skillet that was passed down from my great-grandmother. It was quite a production, and I'd be drooling long before the first pancake was done. While I've tried some commercially available mixes, they tend to be made of potato flour and lack the crispness and mouth feel of the ones I'm accustomed to. These are not Grandma Laura's, but they are good, hearty, and reasonably easy to prepare. All ingredients are available in Augason Farm's "everyday" cans. Dry ingredients: 1/2 cup shredded dehydrated potatoes 2 tbsp dehydrated onion 1/2 cup "potato gems" mashed potato mix 4 tbsp scrambled egg mix garlic powder salt pepper Optional: 2 tbsp bacon bits Sour Cream Boil before preparing: 1 1/2 cup water Add: Vegetable oil or cooking spray. Mix all dry ingredients together and blend thoroughly, seasoning to your taste. Pack in the container of your choice. No special handling is needed for this. The mix will travel pretty well in a heavy zip-loc bag. At the camp site, place all ingredients in a bowl or similar container. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water and mix thoroughly. Let stand for appoximately 20 minutes to rehydrate. Fry until golden brown on both sides in a skillet with either vegetable oil (better flavor) or cooking spray (easier, and less messy.) Makes about six good-sized pancakes, which is enough for two people for breakfast or one person as a hearty dinner. These are traditionally served with sour cream. As made, the recipe is vegetarian-friendly for those who consume milk and egg products (without the bacon, of course.) A vegan variation of this would be to substitute plain potato flour for the "potato gems," which contain dairy, and substitute four tablespoons of high-gluten wheat flour for the egg mix. Although the resulting batter wouldn't hold together as well, it would work. Potato pancakes are a traditional Lenten dish, and have hundreds of variations.
Another supplier of food storage products is Honeyville Grain, http://www.honeyvillegrain.com/ They only do #10 cans of product, so if you are not certain what you are buying, there will be considerable waste. I bought a lot of textured vegetable product meat substitute from them. I don't like it much, but it's edible. In my opinion, the Taco flavored TVP is the best of the lot. It's not like biting into a beef taco, but it's not bad. Their sausage flavored TVP is pretty toxic stuff, but it burns cleanly and gives little smoke. The ham flavor TVP is OK, and can be mixed into a lot of dishes. You'll be aware that this isn't real ham, but it works to a certain extent. It makes a nice omlette. They do have several brilliant products for the survivalist or cyclist. Their instant refried beans are cheap, delicious, and take absolutely no prep beyond mixing with hot water.
Thanks for starting this thread. I have a large trip planned for next year, and am looking for new ideas in (vegan) camp cooking.
I lived with a lacto-ovo vegetarian for 15 years. It was often hard finding vegetarian food on the road in out-of-the way places. Being vegan adds an additional challenge. On one memorable trip, which lasted for several months, we survived largely on beans and rice, cornbread, and tea. (We were broke at the time, which went a long way toward keeping the diet meat-free.) There's some good stuff to be had for the grazer from the above suppliers. They both have a range of dehydrated potato products. They offer a wide range of either dehydrated or freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, and two types of quick-cooking beans which are animal-product free. The prices are significantly better than I can find at specialty stores, and shipping is reasonable. BJ's Wholesale Club stocks the Augason products in units of six cans. Augason Farms has a product called "vegetable stew blend" which really looks promising. It's a blend of dehydrated, diced veggies and nothing else. Strangely enough, the TVP "meat substitutes" are vegetarian, and appear to qualify as vegan. As people have different standards for this, I suggest they do their own research. If you're into baking your own bread, both companies offer a range of specialty flours for very good prices. Augason offers a range of gluten-free baking products that is comprehensive and often difficult to source locally.
chef boyardee pizza in a box cooked over my coleman stove. don't laugh, it was great, added some hami and extra cheese. mixed the dough on one pot,(just one package) then used half of that to make a pizza in my msr pan, cooked over low heat with lid on, I checked it often, (need a stove that will simmer, or better yet, a fire!) when cheese melted, bottom was nice and browned and the best pizza I ever had in the woods!
breakfast, I like store brand egg beaters cooked up with sausage, green chiles, cilantro, and cheese then eaten with tortillas. one small carton of egg beaters will make about 4 breakfasts.
another quicky, precooked rice like uncle bens, cooked up with some smoked sausage, shrimp, tomato, peppers cajun spices and anything else you want to get rid of makes a tasty and filling meal.
I've got to concur on tortillas. Along with pitas and bagels, they are "indestructable bread" that travel well in panniers. This is also good stuff: http://www.vitacost.com/mestemacher-pumpernickel-bread-17-6-oz-1?csrc=GPF-PA-084213000712&ci_sku=084213000712&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw={keyword}&gclid=CKWCiOSHvLQCFal7QgodhDUAPQ The dehydrated egg products from the companies above are very nice. They do not spoil, and won't make a gooey mess if they spill. They have really come a long way from the dried eggs I remember.
oh yeah. corn tortillas vs german pumpernickel vollkornbrot - quality grain foods from opposite ends of the planet.
Augason farms has a product that makes almost ideal road food. They call it "Southwest Chili Mix." It's available in their "everyday" cans, which makes a half-gallon of bean chili, or a #10 can, which makes 34 servings for about $.50 (fifty US cents) per serving. The mix contains beef stock and chicken fat, which is unfortunate for you grazers and vegans. With proper petitioning, Augason may be willing to make a fully veggie version of this. It would not be difficult to substitute vegetable stock for the beef, and there would be little loss of flavor. The serving size is substantial. I could only find instructions for two servings, so that's what I made. Combine 2/3 cups of chili mix to 2 2/3 cups of water. Blend together and simmer for about 20 minutes. The resulting mix is a somewhat loose chili. It is not hot, but has a nicely balanced savory flavor. For them as likes to suffer, you can add hots later. It would be great over quick cooking brown rice as a fast beans and rice, or as a full-on experience with meats and cheese. This one's tasty enough that it's going into the pantry as an everyday staple. I can't see any down side to it, except that it has a rather high sodium content.
The vollkornbrot travels well, and is a really good addition to a road diet that may skimp on fiber. A couple slices of this grilled or toasted in a skillet with some cheese makes a meal. It's very hearty stuff, with tremendous flavor, and a loaf lasts a long time. You can't beat the price, either. It certainly beats the "mush bread" available in many places.
Check out the recipe section of www.trailcooking.com. Used to be freezerbagcooking.com. Lots of recipes and you can tailor them to your portions required. Look for the "recipes" link on the left side of the page. Freezer Bag Cooking<sup>TM</sup> minimizes these trade-offs by changing the concepts of traditional outdoor food. It offers simplicity, convenience and variety, then whirls them together with the philosophies of lightweight outdoor adventuring. The cooking gear needed is minimal, lightweight and can be bought, found or even made. Meals are prepared at home and put into zip top freezer bags. When ready to eat, the meal is prepared in and eaten out of the freezer bag. Mealtime becomes fast, effortless and cleanup is as easy as licking your utensil and sealing the zip top bag. Also, with meals portioned into individual freezer bags, making meals for multi-day trips, families or a group is painless.
One day the only food I had was about a quarter pound of ground beef and about two cups of hash browns. I wrapped the two ingredients in two layers of aluminum foil and attached it to my exhaust pipe with a hose clamp. Two hundred kilometers later it might have been the best breakfast on the road I've ever eaten. I'll try it again some time adding bacon.
A friend works on snowmobiles. He showed me a rig that clamps to the exhaust for the purpose of warming hot dogs while one zips across the snow. He hates the things, because he claims that there is about a 90% chance of finding a long-forgotten hot dog in one when pulling the muffler. Aluminum foil sounds more sanitary.
Pack of Ramen Noodles Pack of tuna/chicken Hot Sauce Chili Powder Various spices Put Tuna/chicken in pot with all ingredients except the noodles add water. Bring to a boil, add noodles boil 2 minutes. Cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Enjoy with crackers.
If you like curries, I have found at most Middle Eastern/Indian groceries you can get these great pre-cooked curries in a pouch. When I was seconded to a British army unit in Afghanistan, we had these in our meal packs. You can warm them up in a micro wave in a gas station, set them in cup of hot water or eat them right from the packet. I like to mix them with a small packet of tuna or chicken, like the ones packed in water by Starkist. Another plus is they only run about $2.49 ea and are enough for one person for a meal. They are quite tasty!
My Mum just bought a raft of them for me as a Christmas present, as they are a road staple. They are pretty healthy if you don't mind the sodium, which can be on the high side. I like to cook up a pot of rice to have with them, preferably basmati.
