Week long trek with 5 people - Ideas needed

[Lost in Texas]

We are planning a week long overland trip to the Yellowstone area over the summer. Our biggest obstacle both with room and budget is food. Eating out along the way is a sure way to blow the budget with 5 so we are planning to prep all our own food. We have a Coleman, Skottle-type wok and solar oven.

Hoping to have a number of items we can pre-prep and keep frozen.

Any food ideas are appreciated. We eat a basically clean diet.

 

[Ripley1046]

We recently started making something called crack slaw.

Ground Beef
Coleslaw mix
green onions
garlic
ginger
sesame oil
crushed red pepper
soy sauce

It makes a pretty hefty potion, that sticks to you, and it's pretty cheap. We've been using some beef/venison ground meat and I can't get enough. I imagine you could make this ahead and vac seal, or make it on the spot. I add some Asian style mustard on my plate. I haven't tried this camping yet, but at home it is almost better reheated the next day. It's coming on our next trip.

Here is the link where we found it. Adjust as needed. We make half this recipe, and it feeds my wife and I for about 5 or 6 meals.

http://mandyjo.com/low-carb-crack-slaw/

 

[Smileyshaun]

From time to time Costco has a good deal on mountain house freeze dried food , great for traveling and taste good

 

[Craig M]

On our last longer trip (8 days) we did something a little different than we normally would. In the weeks leading up to our trip my wife made a number of different soups / stews for dinners, but always made double batches. The excess was seperated into individual portions and frozen (just used ziplock bags). Once frozen she pulled them back out, removed the ziplock bag, and vacuum sealed them. So when we left we had a loaded cooler.

To heat and eat them we would throw the whole package into water and boil until it felt thawed and hot. Then you just cut open the package and pour it into a bowl. After the meal the heated water was poured into our wash basin and used to was the bowls and utensils.

The added bonus was that we didn;t have to eat the same thing, or even at the same time!

Granted, it's a good amoutn of effort up front, but it was soooo nice in the field!

 

[Lost in Texas]

We recently started making something called crack slaw.

Ground Beef
Coleslaw mix
green onions
garlic
ginger
sesame oil
crushed red pepper
soy sauce

It makes a pretty hefty potion, that sticks to you, and it's pretty cheap. We've been using some beef/venison ground meat and I can't get enough. I imagine you could make this ahead and vac seal, or make it on the spot. I add some Asian style mustard on my plate. I haven't tried this camping yet, but at home it is almost better reheated the next day. It's coming on our next trip.

Here is the link where we found it. Adjust as needed. We make half this recipe, and it feeds my wife and I for about 5 or 6 meals.

http://mandyjo.com/low-carb-crack-slaw/

That sounds really good... Kind of like an egg roll without a wrapper. I bet it is easy too.

 

[Lost in Texas]

On our last longer trip (8 days) we did something a little different than we normally would. In the weeks leading up to our trip my wife made a number of different soups / stews for dinners, but always made double batches. The excess was seperated into individual portions and frozen (just used ziplock bags). Once frozen she pulled them back out, removed the ziplock bag, and vacuum sealed them. So when we left we had a loaded cooler.

To heat and eat them we would throw the whole package into water and boil until it felt thawed and hot. Then you just cut open the package and pour it into a bowl. After the meal the heated water was poured into our wash basin and used to was the bowls and utensils.

The added bonus was that we didn;t have to eat the same thing, or even at the same time!

Granted, it's a good amoutn of effort up front, but it was soooo nice in the field!

I really like the idea of a lot of frozen items that will help with the storage options and as they thaw we can use them. We did pre-marinated frozen kabobs one time and they thawed out just about the time we were ready to fix them. The less fresh stuff we need to carry the more likely it will be good when we are ready to use it.

 

[Truckee]

One option is to invest in a thermal cooker. You can fire up some stew during lunch and most of it will be ready by dinner. Cheap meat will be tender. Throw in items that don't need refrigeration like potatoes & carrots. When you get to camp, just serve it over pasta or rice. At night, you can prepare porridge, steel-cut oats or soup and it'l be ready when you wake up in the morning. Search "thermal cooker recipes."

http://a.co/5rULkB8

 

[Lost in Texas]

One option is to invest in a thermal cooker. You can fire up some stew during lunch and most of it will be ready by dinner. Cheap meat will be tender. Throw in items that don't need refrigeration like potatoes & carrots. When you get to camp, just serve it over pasta or rice. At night, you can prepare porridge, steel-cut oats or soup and it'l be ready when you wake up in the morning. Search "thermal cooker recipes."

http://a.co/5rULkB8

Well that is honestly the first time I have ever heard of thermal cooking. Very intriguing, will definitely be researching it. Thanks.

 

[Adventure Bully Rig]

We used to go houseboating with 45-120 people and the biggest thing was pre-cooking. Half cook potatoes, pre-cooked bacon, freeze dried items etc. The biggest thing is teamwork! Everybody pitch in. That along with paper plates you can use for kindling!

 

[Nomad00XJ]

I can get some recipes for you, but my wife and I will make chilis and stews and then dehydrate them. One meal easily fits in a sandwich size ziplock bag, you control the ingredients yourself, definitely stores and travels well, doesn't take up a lot of space. The only cons I can think of would be the obvious need for water and making sure you allow enough time to rehydrate the food. Happy to give more ideas and pointers if you're interested.

 

[CJ Adventure Oregon]

Great idea ( the post about cooking soup and then heating the bag later). I’m definitely going to do this our next trip!


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[Boort]

@Nomad00XJ

I can get some recipes for you, but my wife and I will make chilis and stews and then dehydrate them. One meal easily fits in a sandwich size ziplock bag, you control the ingredients yourself, definitely stores and travels well, doesn't take up a lot of space. The only cons I can think of would be the obvious need for water and making sure you allow enough time to rehydrate the food. Happy to give more ideas and pointers if you're interested.

I'd be interested in knowing more about this. Mtn House and kin are good but I'd like to know what's in my food as much as I can these days.
Boort

 

[Nomad00XJ]

@Boort I totally agree, not only do we control the ingredients but it's less trash, less expensive and each meal takes up less room.
This is the dehydrator we use (top and side view). We run it overnight while we're sleeping so that part doesn't take any additional time out of our schedule. The last picture is one meal in a sandwich bag and I set it on top of the silicone mats we put in the dehydrator (on top of the metal racks you see in the second picture).

 

[Red Earth Runner]

I used my thermal cooker for the first time along with my trusty cast iron skillet for a 14 day trip in SE Utah. The thermal cooker did a great job with three different stews thrown together in the morning by browning meat and boiling it along with the rest of the ingredients for ~10 min and snapping it in to the insulating pot to come out in the evening.

It worked so well, I think it will replace the crock pot in the house.

 

[Slow Poke]

Never heard of thermal cooking before. I’ll have to take a close look at it.

One option is to invest in a thermal cooker. You can fire up some stew during lunch and most of it will be ready by dinner. Cheap meat will be tender. Throw in items that don't need refrigeration like potatoes & carrots. When you get to camp, just serve it over pasta or rice. At night, you can prepare porridge, steel-cut oats or soup and it'l be ready when you wake up in the morning. Search "thermal cooker recipes."

http://a.co/5rULkB8

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