What do you cook/eat when camping?

[Moving Pictures]

I’ve been reading much of this thread and thought I’d chip in on a couple thoughts.

First off. Bacon?!?! Are you guys NUTS? Maybe you don’t have bears where you come from, but as a Canuck, I can tell you right off the top that if you cook bacon in our backwoods, a whole slew of hungry critters are pretty much guaranteed to wake up and start skulking towards your camp if you cook stuff that smells that good. Ergo, bacon is verboten for campin’ in the toolies. That goes double in grizzly territory.

As background, I’ve done a bucketload of way-in-the-toolies, off-the-grid camping and fishing, and I’ve also done a lot of bicycle touring. The motorbike was simply a way of melding the best of the two. My camping/cooking gear is always pretty darn light. I avoid bulk at all costs. I use a whisperlite stove for the most part. It’s light, packs into a tight package and the spare fuel acts as a handy backup if there’s a major fuel supply meltdown.
Small note: NEVER pack fuel near food. Ever. Keep ‘em in different storage locations at all times.

Camp food has to be light and easily cooked, unless obtained from a store within the previous few hours. The various instant freeze-dried stuff is always viable, but a key factor in making camp food decisions is the availability of cooking water. I’m not above grabbing water from an alpine lake and boiling the crap out of it, but muddy and silty stuff I try to avoid. If I have to pack in water for cooking, it adds weight and bulk and limits my time-from-resupply.

Ergo, if I’m in the bush for a while without water, I’ll often pack in foods that I don’t have to boil to cook (rice and pasta) unless I know I’m going to be near a supply of fresh water.

If one can light a campfire, a wonderful meal can be made with nothing more than tinfoil. Wrap a potato and bury under the coals. 20-30 minutes later, add some foil-wrapped diced carrots and sliced onions with a little salt to taste. Let the latter package cook under the coals for 10-15 minutes. If you have meat of some kind (purchased from a store or obtained from nature) then you can toss this on as well – in foil wrapping - for as long as required. Pull the works, add some butter and eat. The plus side of this process is that you can pretty much ignore the food while tinkering on other stuff (like setting up a tent). If nothing else, this potato-cooking method is a handy trick.

Instant noodles are, surprisingly, not bad because of their salt content – good on hot days when one has been sweating all day long. Instant oatmeal is also great.

A can of beans is always a great standby. In fact, I’ve got this plan to add a little bracket so that I can slide a can of beans up next to the bike’s exhaust. Pop a can of something in there at lunch, ride all day – warm dinner when you get where yer goin.

For long trips, always carry fruit of some kind. It’s easy to forget the basics of nutrition sometimes, but an orange in the tank bag or some such can help. In ugly terrain (hot) or whatever? A can of fruit cocktail or something dried can at least help.

Other things I quite like:
Instant refried beans. Good stuff – as long as not consumed in excess.
+ 1 (sorta) on the insta-mix pancakes. Not a bad plus, if you wanna pack the trimmings. On a motorbike, I prefer not, but on a group ride – maybe worth looking at.

[ezrydr]

One of my favorites is Old Fashioned Bean Hole Beans. Here, I'll share it with you:

(1) Dig hole approximately 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot.
(2) Build small fire with locally gathered wood.
(3) Open can of beans and pour into pot.
(4) Heat beans over fire.
(5) Throw can in hole and cover up.

[Boon Booni]

Originally Posted by Media Weasel

In fact, I’ve got this plan to add a little bracket so that I can slide a can of beans up next to the bike’s exhaust. Pop a can of something in there at lunch, ride all day – warm dinner when you get where yer goin.

Watch this, myth busters made cans of beans explode by heating them.

[Stromdog]

Originally Posted by Media Weasel

I’ve been reading much of this thread and thought I’d chip in on a couple thoughts.

First off. Bacon?!?! Are you guys NUTS? Maybe you don’t have bears where you come from, but as a Canuck, I can tell you right off the top that if you cook bacon in our backwoods, a whole slew of hungry critters are pretty much guaranteed to wake up and start skulking towards your camp if you cook stuff that smells that good. Ergo, bacon is verboten for campin’ in the toolies. That goes double in grizzly territory.

As background, I’ve done a bucketload of way-in-the-toolies, off-the-grid camping and fishing, and I’ve also done a lot of bicycle touring. The motorbike was simply a way of melding the best of the two. My camping/cooking gear is always pretty darn light. I avoid bulk at all costs. I use a whisperlite stove for the most part. It’s light, packs into a tight package and the spare fuel acts as a handy backup if there’s a major fuel supply meltdown.
Small note: NEVER pack fuel near food. Ever. Keep ‘em in different storage locations at all times.

Camp food has to be light and easily cooked, unless obtained from a store within the previous few hours. The various instant freeze-dried stuff is always viable, but a key factor in making camp food decisions is the availability of cooking water. I’m not above grabbing water from an alpine lake and boiling the crap out of it, but muddy and silty stuff I try to avoid. If I have to pack in water for cooking, it adds weight and bulk and limits my time-from-resupply.

Ergo, if I’m in the bush for a while without water, I’ll often pack in foods that I don’t have to boil to cook (rice and pasta) unless I know I’m going to be near a supply of fresh water.

If one can light a campfire, a wonderful meal can be made with nothing more than tinfoil. Wrap a potato and bury under the coals. 20-30 minutes later, add some foil-wrapped diced carrots and sliced onions with a little salt to taste. Let the latter package cook under the coals for 10-15 minutes. If you have meat of some kind (purchased from a store or obtained from nature) then you can toss this on as well – in foil wrapping - for as long as required. Pull the works, add some butter and eat. The plus side of this process is that you can pretty much ignore the food while tinkering on other stuff (like setting up a tent). If nothing else, this potato-cooking method is a handy trick.

Instant noodles are, surprisingly, not bad because of their salt content – good on hot days when one has been sweating all day long. Instant oatmeal is also great.

A can of beans is always a great standby. In fact, I’ve got this plan to add a little bracket so that I can slide a can of beans up next to the bike’s exhaust. Pop a can of something in there at lunch, ride all day – warm dinner when you get where yer goin.

For long trips, always carry fruit of some kind. It’s easy to forget the basics of nutrition sometimes, but an orange in the tank bag or some such can help. In ugly terrain (hot) or whatever? A can of fruit cocktail or something dried can at least help.

Other things I quite like:
Instant refried beans. Good stuff – as long as not consumed in excess.
+ 1 (sorta) on the insta-mix pancakes. Not a bad plus, if you wanna pack the trimmings. On a motorbike, I prefer not, but on a group ride – maybe worth looking at.

+1 Bacon or ham is a definite no-no in bear country. So are any kind of fresh berries, etc. Not sure about citrus, apples, etc. We always hoist all our chow up in a bag, over a tree limb, 15' up, well away from our camp. No candy bars, for late night snacks, deoderant, etc. EVERYTHING. Foraging bears are out there. Let them go to the next campsite.

Ever had a bear stick his nose against the bug screen of your tent? Making funny noises-snuffling, pulling air in and out of his nose with a whistling sound? You won't forget it. Believe me.

MediaWeasel has it right.

[R_W]

Originally Posted by Media Weasel

I’ve been reading much of this thread and thought I’d chip in on a couple thoughts.

First off. Bacon?!?! Are you guys NUTS? Maybe you don’t have bears where you come from, but as a Canuck, I can tell you right off the top that if you cook bacon in our backwoods, a whole slew of hungry critters are pretty much guaranteed to wake up and start skulking towards your camp if you cook stuff that smells that good. Ergo, bacon is verboten for campin’ in the toolies. That goes double in grizzly territory.

Dat's true. The worst of my worries is a 50 lb raccoon. or a skunk.

If in bear country all the rules change.

[EvilClown]

Originally Posted by Gramps

Watch this, myth busters made cans of beans explode by heating them.

+1 I've made them explode by heating them. Thankfully no one opened that compressor door. Sounded like an explosion echoing across Lake Champlain. Split pea soup disappeared into a mist. Not a trace. Can pretty much molded itself to the manifold. One and only time but it can happen.

[wheatwhacker]

Her's my setup

http://wheatwhacker.smugmug.com/photos/230753265-M.jpg

http://wheatwhacker.smugmug.com/photos/230754254-M.jpg

[wheatwhacker]

Did my gourmet meal in Yosmite really stop this thread?
Come on guys..........

[Oldrice]

Ok, I did it again this last weekend. Everyone liked it but you have to know what makes it so good is how fast it is and how little cleanup there is!

What do you like on your eggs?

Bring a lot of ziplock baggies. These are your friends. You can really do so much with these things.

Take a Jetboil and fill it 2/3 water.

Drop in two Folgers coffee pods and turn it up.

Crack two eggs into a snack size ziplock baggie and squeeze out the air, seal it shut and drop it in the jetboil WITH the coffee.

Boil.

In a few minutes your eggs are done.

No. There aren't any eggs in your coffee and no coffee in your eggs.

Pull out the baggie and open it up. Set it on something and let the eggs cool a bit - they're really hot. Pour yourself a cup of coffee. One for your company too and there's a little left over - add water and do it again!

Add ketchup or tobasco or salt & pepper or whatever you like on your eggs. Just add to the eggs in the baggie! Eat the eggs right out of the baggie and when you're done, put your plastic spork, napkin, egg shells, the two used up coffee pods into the baggie and zip it up. That's your mess. Ready to place into your trash without stinking up the place or leaking or ....

In a short time you have eggs and coffee in you. You can also put pre-cooked meat into a baggie and boil to heat-n-eat along with your tea or coffee or soup or broth or....whatever. The baggie trick kinda doubles your meal possibilities. Do it like this once for two that eat light, or for one solo meal or do it again to feed up to four fast. With lots of coffee.

Special tip - freshly caught fish, in a baggie, in a jetboil with 2/3 water makes a GREAT meal. New meaning to poached salmon or trout. Perch makes "poor mans shrimp" in a jetboil this way. It curls up into small white popcorn shrimp like thingies that are GREAT with tobasco. (what isn't?)

Open baggie, add curry or salt & pepper or tobasco or....? then place in tortilla... so friggin easy.

I have SO many more baggie meals!

Oldrice-
Baggie King

[Squeaky]

Originally Posted by Oldrice

Bring a lot of ziplock baggies. These are your friends. You can really do so much with these things.

I've been worried about putting the baggies right into the Jetboil - someone said to put a towel/bandana around it so that the hot water can get to it but not the hot metal inside the cup. It would obviously mean discarding the liquid though and that eliminates the coffee from your equation.

Is there a brand/type of baggie that works best? Freezer bags or regular?

[Oldrice]

Good question.

I use any type ziplock baggies - Zip-Lock brand is good as well as cheap store brand zip style baggies. But I don't use the larger sandwich size - gotta use the snack size. Also it's a good idea to use coffee, tea or a broth even soup but if your liquid (stew or heavy soup, oatmeal, grits) is too heavy it won't allow the baggie to move away from the bottom and it might...melt. I try to keep it free flowing so if you stir it it'll keep moving. If it stops when you do it'll probably burn on the bottom. Unless you turn it waaay down in which case a magnifying glass might be faster.

I have done tests and I don't advise the 2/3 water and TWO baggies of eggs - water boils right out, not enough in the J'boil and the eggs will burn and well, it's just a mess.

If you stick to coffee, tea and a snack size baggie of food, one at a time, you can do quite well with very little mess. I would think oatmeal with water/milk & butter in a baggie would cook well enough in coffee. Grits, same thing. The two egg idea is great - three takes too long and one egg just makes you want to try two because it's so cool!

Sometimes I pull up the baggie and look at it, drop it back in, 20 seconds later I pull it out again (ADD maybe?) and repeat until I'm satisfied. Drives my wife nuts.

I'm working on another right now. Cookie dough, bread mix, muffins and cake cooked in a baggie in water.

We'll see.

Oldrice-
Baggie King

[allan16]

Originally Posted by ownst1100

Everyone seems to want one of my platforms until I tell them the price. I have made 6 plateforms, #1 and 5 others. If you look at the pictures in my previous posts you will notice a difference between the one with the LED light (#1) and the one on the back of my bike. The first platform, #1 has the light. It has camloc's that hold it all together for use with a $20 Bar-B-Que light I was trying out. The one on the rack is one of 5 I have made and uses knobs with a 10-32 threaded fastener and nut plate for assembly. Im out of knobs so the next batch will have something else of equal quality.

I put many hours into each cooking platform. I layout and cut everything out by hand. Every part is debured and all edges polished on a 3M scotchbrite wheel for a nice quality finished look. Every hole is drilled,debured,countersunk (I like flush rivets),and then a aircraft quality solid AD rivet is shot in place. The windscreen is made of a composite called G-10.I use G-10 because it is resistant to heat and cleans up easy after use and will flex rather than bend during transport. The hinges are aluminum aircraft quality and held in place with the same flush AD rivets. Its all very time consuming but the results is an aircraft quality product that if treated right will last many many years.

One of the things that turns everyone off from the get go is the price of the grills. Made by a company called Purcell Trench in Washington State are $35 each and requires 2. They are made from aircraft quality 600 series stainless steel 1/4" tubing. Strange thing about the grills is how well they disapate heat. You can actually touch the grills just a couple of inches from the heat without getting burned, So the platforms itself does not get hot. I've called Purcell Trench and asked about a better price if I bought a few grills all at once. Was told their is no wholesale price, same for everyone. I bought mine awhile back through Aerostich and the price was the same. Aerostitch no longer sells these grills.

When all is said and done the whole settup runs about $150. So you really have to want one to buy one. My GSA has Jesse Bags and I made the platform to breakdown flat and fit in the lid of one bag. It sets up in about 3 minutes and is ready to go after placing your stove inside. Ive made 5 and sold 4 at requests The 5th one is mine and seen in my pictures.

#1 is no longer being used and just sits on the shelf. I'll discount #1 and include the light as I feel its no longer needed with the use of headlamps.

The rack mount is a one off that fits my one off Rackman rack.

This weeks mid-week camping trip was GREAT! weather was picture perfect, could not have asked for anything better. Temps were 82° with no wind, perfect. The bike mount is basicly done unless I see a need for another mod but i really doubt it. These last changes were covering the top of the mount with an abs plastic and moving the bungee hold down points on the bottom side.



Secure enough now that by pulling out your stoves you can now move or ride the bike with everything attached.

My friend, your grill set up is a work of art. You are a master. $150 is dirt cheap. Draw that sucker up and patent it. I'll have to wait until next year, but will be in touch.
When we consider how much we spend farkleing up our bikes, cars, snow blowers, etc. your set up would be money very well spent.
I am honored to be allowed to read the posts of such an artisan !

[allan16]

For you MRE fans, Ive used this company for quite a while. Pretty good selection, very good service:

http://www.longlifefood.com/

[Uthor]

Originally Posted by ownst1100

I can carry 2 days of food, breakfast,lunch and dinner keeping what ever needs to be kept cold cold. A nice breakfast of eggs,bacon,and coffee. A snack lunch and then a nice dinner, usually salmon, steam veggies and a nice glass of wine.



This meal takes about 15 minutes total to make and clean up takes less. This cooking settup (not counting the one 442 stove and cookware) folds flat and fits in the lid of one Jesse bag.

Okay, you officially eat better in the middle of no where than I do cooking a meal for myself at home.

[40MileDesertRat]