Tasty camping food?

June 26, 2010 12:09 PM

I'm going camping for 3 days. I want to eat as well as I can. No refrigeration. What can I take?

Ok, so I'm a professional chef, but I'm a novice camper. I'll be out camping in Minnesota (Cass Lake) over the 4th of July weekend. I'll probably have a cooler, but no refrigeration. So I need things that won't rot in the summer sun. I will have a car nearby for what it's worth. (And yes, I've read this thread.) I'd love to be eating some classic French lunches: baguette, salami, and cheese.

Also, I want to avoid canned or freeze-dried food as much as possible. No ramen, no canned chili, etc.

Obvious things: oatmeal, polenta, rice, other grains, fresh bread, vegetables and fruit, snack food (ie trail mix, crackers, etc), Biscuick

Questionable things: cured meats/salamis, cheeses, eggs, butter

Not possible: milk, fresh meat/fish, other highly perishable items

So, what else can I take? Or creative ideas? Suggestions, tricks, or tips? I probably won't be fishing...

posted by BradNelson to Food & Drink (28 answers total)

Cured meats can move right on up to "obvious things." Get some variety of jager sausage (y'know, hunter-style) for snacking or slicing into other meals.
posted by desuetude at 12:15 PM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

In your obvious things category I'd make sure and include cous cous, because it cooks so easily. Bring along some bouillon cubes to add to the water. Add some vegetables and same cured meat, delicious dinner.
posted by ORthey at 12:30 PM on June 26, 2010

Since you're a professional chef, you may want to invest in a good dutch oven- it makes a ton of recipes available to you when out in the woods (and if you're car camping you don't have to carry the damn thing too far). Here's a list of recipes.
posted by jenkinsEar at 12:36 PM on June 26, 2010

Questionable things: cured meats/salamis, cheeses, eggs, butter

I'm pretty sure the entire point of curing meat was (originally) to preserve meat before the advent of convenient refridgeration, so that's fine. Eggs don't need refridgeration at all. Butter should be OK for a couple of days - we never refridgerate it but the heat might make it go off a bit quicker than usual.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:38 PM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Milk and meat will keep just fine if your cooler works decently. Fish I'd try to eat the first night. My car-camping cooking habits orbit around dishes with few ingredients so there's not a lot to keep track of, mix in a bowl, wash, or what have you. A fire with a grate over it is the perfect temperature to throw a cast-iron skillet on and make pancakes.

Did you know that curing meat was invented in order to make it last longer?
posted by rhizome at 12:41 PM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

One of my favorite camping tricks is to freeze some chicken thighs in marinade. They go in the cooler with the drinks, etc. By the time the thighs are thawed, my fellow campers and I are usually ready for a hot meaty meal. (this is usually the second night.)

I've also been known to make a huge batch of beef stew to share around neighboring campsites on the first night. This usually gets me offered a beer, which I appreciate. Of course, I'm a woman, usually camping alone, so I don't feed everyone, just people I get a good vibe from. YMMV.

(As in just about any venue, I find that camaraderie can be built around food when car camping.)
posted by bilabial at 12:46 PM on June 26, 2010

A small amount of dry ice will keep anything frozen inside a cooler for a few days. At Bonnarroo we took two coolers, one for cold and one for REALLY cold so we didn't need to open the second one until the third day. Using this method, the possibilities are endless, really. For the frozen one, cover it and raise it off the ground, keep it in the shade. We took ziplock bags of pasta salad and bean salad. We ate the mayo stuff in the first two days, the oil-based stuff later. The cooler with the dry ice kept a bag of ice frozen for three days. Don't put beer in it!
posted by raisingsand at 12:55 PM on June 26, 2010 [4 favorites]

When I go moto camping, I take instant miso soup. The one I get comes in 2 packets, one of miso goo and one of dried seaweed and tofu and stuff.

Pretty much the best thing after a long day of riding (and, I'd assume, hiking).
posted by mollymayhem at 12:59 PM on June 26, 2010

Seconding bilabial's suggestion to bring some frozen meat. Frozen bacon in the cooler should give you a nice breakfast on your second day, for example.
This can be used generally - freeze ahead of time anything you can so that you can bring more (less ice) and so that everything in the cooler will stay colder longer.
Also, I'll second rhizome's suggestion of cooking over the fire on a grate. Mmmmmm.
posted by Quizicalcoatl at 1:01 PM on June 26, 2010

Parmesan cheese, dried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, herbs and spices, and canned green chilis are high on my camping list to make many things better.
posted by kch at 1:12 PM on June 26, 2010

Best answer: For three days, with a cooler (and sufficient ice), you can take anything you want. Milk will be fine, as will meat. You might want to eat any fish on the first day, but otherwise, what are you worried about? A cooler with plenty of ice is pretty much equivalent to a fridge. Cheese and good quality salami are fine for longer than three days without refrigeration.
posted by ssg at 1:26 PM on June 26, 2010

You might be interested in the Lipsmackin' Backpacking books (there's a vegetarian one, and a non-veg one). These recipes are written for someone who wants to do a little prep-work.

We really enjoyed Ketchikan CousCous which you can see in on p. 16 of Google Books online. Basically you put all the dry ingredients together in little ziplocs before you leave, and then once you're camping/backpacking, you just boil a little water, and add the bag, stir, wait, eat, delish!

We've also made really tasty Indian lentils with rice and Indian potatoes, using the same 'measure and pack spices before you leave' trick. Red lentils cook relatively quickly, even on a camping stove.

Pad thai can also be done while camping with a little creativity. Tofu doesn't need to be refrigerated if it comes in a box. Bring a lime with you!

Also pesto on pasta is tasty, and if you have a cooler with ice, pesto on raviolis is even tastier. Have fun!
posted by franc.o.bolos at 1:43 PM on June 26, 2010

If you're car camping, you can bring pretty much anything. Bacon and eggs, steak and hamburgers, whatever the hell you want. You can surely bring enough ice to keep this for at least a day or two.

One thing you haven't thought of is canned oysters and sardines. These are a great addition to starches like couscous or quinoa - add some tomato paste and avocado or something like that. Also work well in sandwiches.
posted by PercussivePaul at 2:15 PM on June 26, 2010

Response by poster: I'm aware of the point of cured meats. But many commercial meats have questionable shelf lives. I think I like the idea of taking some frozen foods to keep everything else cold, though. I guess that leaves nearly endless possibilities for a three day stretch.
posted by BradNelson at 2:17 PM on June 26, 2010

Heidi from 101cookbooks just went camping and blogged about the great food she prepped beforehand and brought with.
posted by purpletangerine at 2:24 PM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

A bag of lemons and something to get the zest off with, that will improve almost any kind of dubious camping food!

Wok ready noodles.

Before you go, fry up a batch of nuts in spices. Then once you are there, eat them with brown rice, caramelised onions and butter.

Those packs of fresh ravioli keep well enough for a couple of days, I avoid the meat ones though.

Eggs should be fine.

Jars of antipasti type stuff to eat with your cured meat and your baguette.
posted by emilyw at 2:37 PM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm just a dirt-bag camper, so I probably have different standards than you, but I would put everything in your Questionable list into the Obvious list since you've got a cooler, and probably all of your Not Possible list into a Possible list.

I've gone on 7 day long river trips in the desert with coolers solely devoted to meat/dairy. Your questionable items list can last just fine for 7 days, and your not-possible items can last for 2-3 days if you do it right. People have already mentioned the trick of freezing meat beforehand. You can freeze a milk cartoon and have milk too if you want. Just make sure that if you bring these sorts of ice substitutes that you still bring some ice as well, so you can keep the rest of the stuff cool once you've eaten the frozen food.

Some tricks to keep your cooler cool while camping for an extended period of time:

Always start out with more ice than you think you need.

Make sure to park the cooler in a consistently shady spot.

Bring a big thick towel, keep the towel wet and keep it draped it over the lid of the closed cooler (evaporative cooling). Don't let the towel dry out. If you happen to have a burlap sack lying around, a burlap sack with a towel inside it works even better as a cooler-cover (when it's wet, of course).

Make sure everything you put in the cooler is water-tight, and if you're using bags of ice, only bleed the water out if you've got over 3 inches of water in there (the cold water will still help keep stuff cool).

Milk jugs full of water make good ice containers (make sure to not fill them all the way before you freeze them, and start freezing them about a week in advance). Bonus: once they've melted, you've got a jug of really cold water.

Never leave the cooler open. Treat it like a fridge when you're trying to save electricity. Know what you want to get out beforehand, get it, and then close it again.
posted by colfax at 3:03 PM on June 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

I've gone car camping (with kids!) for nearly two decades; a week or more at a time. (for a value of "car camping" which includes a car but no "hook-ups" on site.) You're overthinking your beanplate, here. Three days barely requires special planning, imo (other than actually making sure I pack enough food for four people).

Eggs and butter should be fine in a cooler -- the butter may soften, but it should be OK to eat, and it's certainly OK to cook in. Same with eggs and cheese. Some cheese may get a little greasy on the edges, but it's still fine to eat. Unless you leave the cooler in the sun, most lunch meats will be good until the third day. Freeze half of it before you leave-- it may actually have thawed before you get home. :) Get your cured meats from a butcher shop that does their own, if it really concerns you, but we've used the Oscar Meyer zip-lock prepack lunchmeats for *years*. Milk will be fine probably into lunch of the second day -- and that's if you open the cooler a lot. We've never had milk go off before we finished it.

I usually slice or dice meat for dinners and freeze it -- it generally thaws out by about the third or fourth day, and if I need it before then I can pull it out at lunch and it's thawed for dinner. Meals which require only a short time at high heat -- stir-fry over couscous, sloppy joes, fajitas, etc -- work well, as do slow cooked in a dutch. French toast for breakfast is always popular at my campsite.

Take lots of drinking water. It's the only time we use bottled water.
posted by jlkr at 3:18 PM on June 26, 2010

Best answer: You can take some frozen milk along, too. It will help keep things cold, and you can use it on the second or third day. And it won't kill you even if it does go bad.

Try adjusting your paradigm. Your are asking what can I take if I don't want certain things. That is starting from an empty plate.
Instead, think about what you would enjoy, and see if you can find a way to make it. It is easier to subtract and substitute.

Whatever you do, don't forget the marshmallows.
posted by SLC Mom at 3:25 PM on June 26, 2010

I have been on camping holidays in semi desert areas and we had all the items on your list in coolers with lots of ice and the food stayed perfectly cool for days.

I have also been on holidays in Italy in August (read hot and sunny) where we kept boiled eggs, salami and hard cheese in the car (no ice) for a few days as picnic provisions and again these were fine to eat.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:28 PM on June 26, 2010

If you don't want to freeze milk, there's always the shelf stable variety. Parmalat sells 32 ounce cartons and three-pack juice-type boxes, which might come in handy when camping. Unopened, they'll last for months.
posted by contrariwise at 3:40 PM on June 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

What raisingsand said is right on. One quart-size ziploc bag of dry ice will keep a medium-sized cooler chilled for 4-5 days depending on how well you treat it. Risotto works well, too, as you can do most of the sous prep. in your kitchen before you leave. Everything tastes better outdoors so your idea of keeping it simple is good. Remember to match-up caloric and activity levels. I always enjoy a bit of chocolate in the evening. Spicy cocoa, also pre-mixed, is nice if evenings will be cool.
posted by Pamelayne at 3:44 PM on June 26, 2010

Before you go, freeze water in clean plastic bottles. I use water of juice bottles. It keeps your food cold, and you can drink the water. Or, freeze tangerine juice, for tangerine margaritas, which are tasty. It's good to be concerned about food safety, so you could even freeze meat for nights 2 and 3. Pepperoni, hard salami and hard cheeses keep well. So do mustard and bread, so you sandwiches will be fine. Apples, carrots, edible pod peas, etc., all do well on hikes.

Peanut sauce keeps well, and rice noodles are fast and easy.

Mmmm, (instant)polenta, with olive oil, olives, and parmesan cheese, all of which keep well.

Have fun, and bon appetit.
posted by theora55 at 4:26 PM on June 26, 2010

I'm aware of the point of cured meats. But many commercial meats have questionable shelf lives.

Just to clarify, by cured meats I did not mean lunchmeat, which yes, is highly dubious regarding shelf-life. I meant getting some good, hard, cured charcuterie that is meant to have a long shelf life. I've been to Surdyks in Minneapolis, I think I recall them having sopressata?
posted by desuetude at 4:40 PM on June 26, 2010

My favourite breakfast when camping is bacon and pancakes fried in the bacon fat. Yum! I've also brought milk in the cooler and have never been sick from it. As everyone else has said, you can bring almost anything as long as you have lots of ice, and keep the cooler in a shaded area.
posted by cleo at 9:00 PM on June 26, 2010

You might find this thread of recipes that use no fresh ingredients useful.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:07 PM on June 26, 2010

Response by poster: I guess the question I should have asked is "how do I keep my food from spoiling while camping?"

Thanks for the tips. I think I should be able to prep a few meals ahead of time and freeze as much as I can. Clearly there is pretty much no limit other than my own ambition.
posted by BradNelson at 10:33 PM on June 26, 2010

Three days isn't that long. It is not hard to pack fresh foods in a cooler and have them last for 3 days. You will also being emptying your supplies as time progresses. Even plain bagged ice will last for that long as long as you don't leave it in a cooler in direct sun. Also understand even during July 4th, it gets cool at night that far north so melting will happen much slower during the night.

Plan your meals in advance and there should be no difficulty in making everything last even if you camped for a week. There is no point in freezing meats you will eat on your first day. At the very least you are near enough to a small town to easily purchase more ice if you need it.
posted by JJ86 at 5:35 AM on June 27, 2010