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Many of us are all looking for the best tasting, most satisfying, healthiest, lightest weight, lowest cost camping food.
We look for the latest in offerings from the grocery, camping supply stores, and dehydrated food producers.
May I suggest that the future may be in the past.
I have read the packing list of our forefathers who took to camping either as recreation or as a means to head west. They brought dried beans, flour, corn flour, coffee as a staple.
I have been returning to those roots lately and have been so delighted with the results as have been my camping team.
Not only does this provide a greater variety to our menu, it really skinnied down my food storage needs and eliminated coolers and refrigeration completely.
Breads: In the old days, there was no dried yeast so baking soda bisquits were the norm and people got tired of them. HOWEVER, one nice advantage of today's modernization is powdered yeast. Bring it. Use it. Bake in a Dutch Oven. Bake in a fry pan with a lid. OR simply toss your dough rolls into the fire pit and cover them with ashes. You will be happily surprised with the results - perfectly scrumptious breads and not dirty as you might expect. Look up recipes for ash cakes. Yes, cornbread too.
Beans: Bring dried beans, lentils, peas. Bring a pressure cooker to cook them. 12 to 20 minutes from hard to cooked (no soaking) depending on your pressure cooker. GSI makes and excellent lightweight aluminum pressure cooker that I can personally recommend.
Dried vegetables: Have you tried drying vegetables at home and rehydrating them at camp? Usually not so good. Change your history. Use a pressure cooker. You can bring all your dried vegetables (including dried corn) back to life in an amazing way. OK, so you are a car camper. Even so, dried vegetables will small-size your food box, eliminate the need for coolers, and excite your camp cooking.
Beer: I dried beer in my dehydrator with great expectation. Completely sucking failure. Skip this one
Meat and eggs: eggs can last at least a week without refrigeration. I do it all the time. fresh Meats will last about three days without refrigeration. However, there are plenty of preserved meats you can use instead of fresh meat. Preserved summer sausage, pepperoni, beef jerky, and of course you can dry meat in your home food dryer and reconstitute it with your vegetables in your pressure cooker. You can also get dehydrated meats of all kinds even from Walmart online and the "end-of-the-world" preppers. Be sure to check out today's Texturized Vegetable Proteins (TVP) which have really come to excellence in the past decade or two.
Folks, sometimes we see forward best by looking in the rear view mirror. This, I believe, is the case when it comes to camp cooking.
We look for the latest in offerings from the grocery, camping supply stores, and dehydrated food producers.
May I suggest that the future may be in the past.
I have read the packing list of our forefathers who took to camping either as recreation or as a means to head west. They brought dried beans, flour, corn flour, coffee as a staple.
I have been returning to those roots lately and have been so delighted with the results as have been my camping team.
Not only does this provide a greater variety to our menu, it really skinnied down my food storage needs and eliminated coolers and refrigeration completely.
Breads: In the old days, there was no dried yeast so baking soda bisquits were the norm and people got tired of them. HOWEVER, one nice advantage of today's modernization is powdered yeast. Bring it. Use it. Bake in a Dutch Oven. Bake in a fry pan with a lid. OR simply toss your dough rolls into the fire pit and cover them with ashes. You will be happily surprised with the results - perfectly scrumptious breads and not dirty as you might expect. Look up recipes for ash cakes. Yes, cornbread too.
Beans: Bring dried beans, lentils, peas. Bring a pressure cooker to cook them. 12 to 20 minutes from hard to cooked (no soaking) depending on your pressure cooker. GSI makes and excellent lightweight aluminum pressure cooker that I can personally recommend.
Dried vegetables: Have you tried drying vegetables at home and rehydrating them at camp? Usually not so good. Change your history. Use a pressure cooker. You can bring all your dried vegetables (including dried corn) back to life in an amazing way. OK, so you are a car camper. Even so, dried vegetables will small-size your food box, eliminate the need for coolers, and excite your camp cooking.
Beer: I dried beer in my dehydrator with great expectation. Completely sucking failure. Skip this one
Meat and eggs: eggs can last at least a week without refrigeration. I do it all the time. fresh Meats will last about three days without refrigeration. However, there are plenty of preserved meats you can use instead of fresh meat. Preserved summer sausage, pepperoni, beef jerky, and of course you can dry meat in your home food dryer and reconstitute it with your vegetables in your pressure cooker. You can also get dehydrated meats of all kinds even from Walmart online and the "end-of-the-world" preppers. Be sure to check out today's Texturized Vegetable Proteins (TVP) which have really come to excellence in the past decade or two.
Folks, sometimes we see forward best by looking in the rear view mirror. This, I believe, is the case when it comes to camp cooking.
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