How much food, and what types?

Hi, George. We learned a lot on our first "big trip" 2010(tent camping) which we applied to our second "big trip" 2011 (stayed at KOA from Seattle to Necedah, then picked up trailer - and met you!)

Before 2010's trip, I made 4 batches of chili and froze each in 2 bags - so 8 meals. By day 4, they had all defrosted and were starting to leak and mess up the cooler - so 5 bags were sacrificed. Never did that again. What was successful was: batch of hummus, deli cheese/turkey/ham in a plastic container (so melting cooler water doesn't mess up the cheese), loaf of bread, grape tomatoes, mandarin oranges, cucumbers, cans of chili, shelf stable boxes of soup and "boil-in-bag" rice, cheese and eggs (ate quite a few meals of chili/cheese omelets.) The second trip we also packed a box of "quick" oatmeal which, when boiling water was added to thermos cups w/lids, reconstituted almost as well as making regular oatmeal. That with raisins or frozen/defrosted-over-time blueberries made for good breakfast with easy clean-up. We used Starbuck's instant coffee except for that one morning in Necedah when we brewed "real" coffee.

I think it makes sense to do more elaborate meals if one is staying in one place for a day or more. If one is changing sites every day, we've learned that simple is better. We use one storage bin to fill with non-perishables and have a plastic bin in there for bread. The other bin holds a plastic bin with spices and oil, vinegar, sugar, flour as well as paper plates & flatware. For cooking, we have a chipped porcelain/cast iron dutch oven; a small pot w/lid; a coffee pot we use for boiling water and a small camping frying pan that has a handle that folds in. We also pack eating utensils, cups, plates, bowls, a spatula, spoon, etc. We also "ate out" when we arrived in an area that had a type of food we really liked and tried not to feel guilty about spending that money!

We have the Camp-Inn stainless cooler and found we had to add ice every other day.

We've been pondering the idea of buying a small toaster oven.

I'll be anxious to hear what others offer in response to your question.

Kathy

 

Um...dangerous question for me. ...Our tear stays packed to go with both non perishable food staples & kitchen stuff. & over the years, I really haven't changed the cooking gear that goes along...

Cooking Gear

Stock pot
Nested aluminum camp cook set - includes 4 pots w/ lids
10" CI fry pan
8" Calphalon omelet pan
Grilling tray
Silicone steamer

Prep Gear All of these are collapsible

3 nested bowls (small, med lg. mixing/serving)
colander
serving tray
A few container bowls w/lids, gallon, quart, sandwich ziplocs
funnel
flexible cutting boards
magnetic measuring cups

good set of knives
The usual utensils (for me) rubber scrapers (lg & sm), ladle, straining spoon, wooden spoon, whisk, pancake turner, mini chopper, adjustable Table & teaspoon measures, jar opener, can opener, pot scraper, basting brush, tongs - I know there is more; I just can't remember it all, but the drawer is full.

If we take a DO (or 2, 3 or 4 ) , it/they travel in their cases in the car.

Don't get me started on spices, seasonings, oils, condiments, etc.

The usual plates, mugs, bowls, silverware & the same in paper/plastic.

What people take is such an individual thing...how/what you eat, how you cook (or don't), where you are going & what you are doing...what works for me most likely doesn't work for someone else, but it's always fun to see what others do.

 

Love the idea of keeping hot water in a thermos for the next morning. Makes a lot of sense.

Kathy

 

Last summer I met someone who kept hot water in a thermos for hand washing. Thought that was a great idea.

 

Good subject, George.

Jim and I like to pack as light as possible depending on the length of the trip. I make one-bowl dinners and freeze them into handy dandy solid blocks. That way they can help keep the cooler cold as they thaw during the trip to where ever. This is good for maybe three days and then you have to go to canned or dry goods (no spam) or find a local market.

Now that can be fun, too: sampling the local fare along the way. After all, when we picked up Spamalot and faced three days of weather so nasty we couldn't use the galley, we survived on a slab of cheese(aged Wisconsin white cheddar), a hard smoked beef sausage, fresh wheat bread and local apples. It kept us going and was darned tasty.

We also pack instant oatmeal, salad mix, cold cereal, yogurt, eggs, bacon, nuts, fruit, trail mix, instant coffee, cocoa, marshmallows...and Ghirardelli chocolates (our drug of choice).

I only use one pan: a Griswold 10 inch chicken fryer (you should love that, George). It is deep enough for stew and shallow enough for omelets. We have a large granite ware coffee pot for heating water. Then there are the usual utensils and stuff. Not that much, really and it leaves plenty of space for extra water and any goodies we come across along the way.

Oh! Jim want's me to mention the cooler and dishes. We have a vintage 1940s Coleman Diamond Quilt cooler-salmon pink (Oooooo!) and use a gallon jug of frozen water. It keeps things cool, we don't have to buy ice for about three days and we can drink the water later. The dishes are good old vintage Melmac from the 50s: pastels (pretty!) We picked up a couple of coffee mugs from the Spam museum-couldn't resist. Nothing says morning coffee like a mug that has "SPAM" plastered all over it. So subtle.

And that's about it. We still have a lot of shifting and stuff to do until we have it down to a science, but time and use will take care of that. After all, shifting from 30 years of tent camping to the luxury of a spacious CI takes some getting use to.

Camp On,

Jim and Sue

 

I use a spreadsheet like this below that I am getting ready for this camping season. In the columns under MDW or Vacation I put a check for the items I take. Over time I think my list will help me know what I actually take and what I do use.

Frozen Memorial Day Weekend Vacation
hambergers
hot dogs
pulled pork
stew meat
chicken breast strips
beef strips
red beans
canadian bacon
sausage
bacon

Refrigerate
butter
cream cheese
ketchup
mustard
mayo
dressing - salad
cheese
humus
eggs
tortias
potatoes
carrots
salad greens
onion
celery
pepers
maple syrup

Cans
tomatoes
spagetti sauce
refried beans
baked beans
chicken
beets
chilies
peaches
manderin oranges

Jars
jelly
salsa
pickles
olives
applesause

Dry Goods
graham crackers
marshmellows
choc bars
cookies
crackers
mixed nuts
raisins

Ingredients
sugar
salt
peper
garlic
biscuit mix
cornbread mix
rice
noodles

Package
tuna
coffee
tea

 

My post schrunched the Memorial Day column and vacation column to the left but they actually are separate columns.

 

Pat - we need to get together sometime and share spreadsheets!!! Looks like we have similar organizing styles.

Kathy

 

And if the two of you could figure out to infuse me with some of your organizational skills, that would be great. I am terrible at it.

 

Hey, Joan! Going to Mossyrock? (I've lost track of who is on the list). I am finding that if I don't write EVERYTHING down, I forget what I wanted to do. Also, I'm a real visual learner: I loved that Pat W practiced with empty storage containers to figure out how to best organize her frig.

 

Yes, I am going to Mossyrock. I am also a visual learner. I agree, Pat's idea of practicing with empty containers is a great idea.

 

Kathy, maybe Evan could find a way where we could upload spreadsheets. Wouldn't that be fun.

 

I cannot go camping till memorial day weekend so I amuse myself cleaning and reorganizing the tear. I do not know that I accomplish much but it rattles my brain and emotions with all the fun we had last year and all the fun we will have this year. So why do most food containers come round? The frig, cabinets, etc have coners why not use them?

 

Be still my heart!

 

THANK YOU, Evan. This could be fun! Kathy

 

I know we're probably in the minority here but we cook almost exclusively with electric. We only use the gas stove when we're at a site without electric. I'm very bothered by smoke so we rarely have a fire or use charcoal. We leave the refrigerator in the spot for the cooler and hardly ever move it out to the cooler table. That's convenient when it's full and heavy.

We take a 2 burner cooktop, a toaster oven and a small rice cooker (3 cups). We take a cast iron grill pan, 2 sauce pans, 2 skillets, and a variety of lids. We take all the normal utensils, knives, a collapsible bowl and a pasta strainer that doubles as a vegetable steamer.

We start off the trip with all the meats frozen - vacuum packed. We decide what's for dinner by what is thawed. If it's a long trip (we've been gone for a month), we pack a tub of staples (pasta, sauces, cereal, etc) in the TV and shop for fresh foods and fruits along the way.

Meribeth