What about camping food?

[KEVIN P]

I carry 1-8" skillet, and 1-very well used coffee brewer-minus the coffee stuff, i just use it to boil water. a propane single burner stove. I had a whisperlite for years but found it need lots of cleaning and care and didn't work well above 3,000 feet (pressure thing) breakfast can be as little as coffee and oatmeal or all the way with eggs, bacon, bagel, coffee. Lunch is on the road. Dinner we plan ahead about 2-4 o'clock as we gas up we pick up evening drink, and what ever we want to cook at a local grocery store, steak, pork, potato, mac. & cheese what ever. just plan ahead for that night and get it. Something I ALWAYS carry is those Lipton .99 meals(mac. or rice type) that you just boil water and add to the package or add to the water, they pack small and I carry 3-4 all the time just for that time when it's 8p.m. and just time to camp and your 30 miles from anything or just done for the day you have a back-up. And oatmeal packets they pack small too. PB & J, crackers are always good things to have. I have plastic utensils, a pop-up plate that doubles as a cutting board if you flip it over, cooking oils (not butter) I set-up a little kitchen zipper bag with all the kit. things. we sometimes get crazy with dinner, onions, peppers, steak/pork, rice. you can cook what ever you want on a single burner it just takes longer and you have to be willing to carry it. good luck and have fun.
Did you also know that you can camp in National Forests for FREE if there's a camp site there? Check out the maps and don't be afraid to go down that little dirt road if your in National Forest land. Example look @ the Blueridge parkway in VA & N.C. lots of this road pass thru. N.F. lands. With LOTS of side roads.

[Woodbutcher]

I tend to eat easy to prep stuff when I'm camping on the bike. Oatmeal and hot drinks if I even cook in the morning. Granola bars and dried fruit if I'm not cooking. Dinners are some sort of dried dinners. So my jet-boil covers all that stuff. I eat a restaurant lunch typically so that is my big meal of the day. Or I just snack during the day...dried fruit, snack bars, jerky.

I do have a single burner stove that I'll haul if I'm going to be more ambitious when cooking. I've had it since college when I back packed more. I've just gotten lazy in my cooking. No longer feel the need to expand my cooking horizons on the road. I'll do that in the comfort of my stocked kitchen at home.

[Newstar]

I'll drag along the french press coffee pot, and a small mess kit for boiling water and such. Otherwise, I find camp cooking to be more trouble than it's worth. I prefer to sit down and have a decent restaurant meal however, a sandwich and salad from a local deli will also work for me. Takes up less space that way too.

[Polarbear]

Always a good thing in food! My stoves are Peak1 and a Jet boil and I do not carry both, so I always have to decide which to pack. The wet fuel Peak1 is a bigger pain with its fuel. Cannister fuel is not messy on the JetBoil. Both are great stoves. REI and others sell the freeze dried foods, which have gotten a lot better with years passing. Soooo easy to fix. Jerky is a great quick picker upper in a pinch. Fresh fruit is always a great desert or add on to any meal. I don't drink coffee, but my better half does and we found the Folgers coffee bags are quite good, no coffee pots or presses needed. Just a tea bag style coffee, boil water in any pot. If you happen to tow a trailer, the bigger teflon style frying pan makes a nice add to the camp kitchen and easy to pack in a trailer. Some of these actually fold up and are not hard to pack in a saddlebag and always make a better, larger cooking area. Randy

[Visian]

I tend to eat easy to prep stuff when I'm camping on the bike. Oatmeal and hot drinks if I even cook in the morning. Granola bars and dried fruit if I'm not cooking. Dinners are some sort of dried dinners. So my jet-boil covers all that stuff. I eat a restaurant lunch typically so that is my big meal of the day. Or I just snack during the day...dried fruit, snack bars, jerky.

I do have a single burner stove that I'll haul if I'm going to be more ambitious when cooking. I've had it since college when I back packed more. I've just gotten lazy in my cooking. No longer feel the need to expand my cooking horizons on the road. I'll do that in the comfort of my stocked kitchen at home.

i pursue pretty much the same strategy you do, except for the restaurant for lunch part.

whatever you do, in the "easy-to-prep" department, don't try these Bumblebee tuna steaks. man, they were the definition of bad.



ian

[dadayama]

Dang!!!!!

When i started this, I thought I would get a few recipe ideas.... it has turned into much more... I say keep it going...

and thanks to every one who has contributed...

Pedro

[marchyman]

When peeling off the label and poking a hole in a can of chili to heat over the stove make absolutely sure the hole is larger than the size of the beans in the can. No, I didn't do that. I did help clean up the explosive results.

[scoobs]

"Wally-World' camping departments sell a 6-compartment plastic container with salt, pepper, garlic salt, paprika, seasoned salt and cajun spices- a dash of whatever you fancy will make a big difference to a camp meal. I enjoy a good breakfast and it doesn't take long to heat up a can of corned beef hash over my old but still reliable Trangia stove. Runs on meths or isopropyl alcohol- readily available in most drug stores. I also use "Rice a Roni" style mixes and add a small can of chicken, cooks in about 7 minutes and is cheaper than the freeze dried options. There are various flavours of "just add water" instant mashed potatoes out their too, which can be paired up with a small can of beanie weanies for a basic but filling meal.
I usually cook most of my meals when camping, saving restaurant visits as a treat near the end of a trip.
Cheers,
Ian.

[marchyman]

... my old but still reliable Trangia stove. Runs on meths or isopropyl alcohol- readily available in most drug stores.

Denatured alcohol bought by the gallon at your local hardware store might be cheaper. That's what I run in mine, anyway. It addition to the standard trangia set-up I have a second trangia burner and a clickstand. It's a great way to keep dish one warm while I'm cooking dish two.

I haven't tried the rice-a-roni menu, yet. Sounds like a good idea.

Don't forget the old hot-dog-on-a-stick-over-the-campfire.

[Visian]

...and a clickstand.

nice!

Don't forget the old hot-dog-on-a-stick-over-the-campfire.

of course SPAM on a stick is food of the gods.....

[Holly]

of course SPAM on a stick is food of the gods.....

Spam

Sorry couldn't help myself. Back to the regularly scheduled thread.

[dadayama]

I grew up in Hawaii... and that state is the number one consumer of spam, a true fact. growing up it was normal.... Moved to Oklahoma and you would have thought you were talking about poison. I once had a BBQ at my place, with all kinds of grilled meat and such. I sliced a can of Spam in strips and put them on k-bob sticks, grilled them and they were the first things to go... you should have seen my friends faces when i told them...

Spam is good stuff.... fattening as hell... but a fried spam sandwich rocks this world...

This has turned into a great discussion... i have many ideas... thanks

[motocamper]

If we need to hit the road for a full day ride we start the jetboil french press coffee while we pack the bike. Drink the coffee while finishing loading. Ride until we need gas, breakfest or restroom break.
If we want breakfest while camping the simplest way for us is some type of precooked sausage (andouille or chorizo favorites) a pint of pre mixed scrambled eggs (hate broken eggs in the luggage) and Mini Babybelhttp://www.thelaughingcow.com/products/mini-babybel/ for a nice omlette. Cooked in a 8" camp skillet after our jetboil coffee.
Tony

[JOHNR100RS]

I hope this isn't too far off thread . I have an MSR- XGK stove (about 25 years old) that uses just about any fuel that I can come up with .
I have spent a lot of time on multi-day river and backpacking trips. I have done 4 course dinners on the San Juan river (not with the XGK) ,and somewhat less( with the XGK) on backpacking trips on the Fryingpan . You can do a lot with a little . Fresh ingredients are great, tempered with what is practical .
I am looking to buy some fuel bottle holders for my new Wolfman saddle bags . I will use the fuel for cooking and have it available for the R1150GS .
I bought the XGK( in the mid '80's( when REI was working out of abandoned grocery stores ) because I liked the idea that it could burn any fuel that was available, no matter where I was in the world ,I could find something inflamable .
Back to the point of the thread , I am creative as I can be . At the start of the trip it may be to the angst of some ,about the extra food and cookware ,but I perserve and now and then recieve compliments from the curmudgeon fellow riders .
In any case, if you start with something that you know how to cook and like to eat, you can get better with practice and have some fun learning how to cook over an open fire .

[rx35285]

I carry a French press Jetboil and gluten free oatmeal for breakfast. The oatmeal has to cook for 10 minutes but I usually have curious visitors anyway. A quick morning get away is rare.

Lunch can be trail mix and fruit or a fast food salad (ordering gluten free in local businesses is often a challenge, but I have run into some pleasant surprises).

Dinner is usually at a restaurant, but I need to find some freeze dried backups. The previous comments about Mountain House and the sodium cautions are much appreciated.

Gluten free tips are always welcome!