pre cooked camp meals

[Trekker]

Vacuum seal cooked meals like chilli, soups, spaghetti sauce etc. Put the bags in a pot and simmer, no clean up and works great.

[caddisguy]

I am a big fan of the "no clean-up" these days.

Canned food from the pantry and carefully warm it up by the fire or let it sit in a pot of boiled water, then eat it out of a can with a plastic spoon. Just make sure it's vented and not heated with any direct extreme heat.

We used to eat a lot of Mountain House but it's harder to get and a bit too expensive these days.

Sardines in mustard are another new found favorite. Taste great cold.

As much as I like my food fast with no clean-up, I still bust out the frying pan from time to time. To make some wraps or quesadillas... usually just use some pre cooked bacon or deli meat, cheese and Louisiana sauce.

The egg mix and hash brown you can buy in the carton are pretty good too. Still minimal clean-up and carton hash browns don't require refrigeration... surprising amount of calories in one little carton. Can be half a main course for two or side for 4.

Umm... frozen pre-cooked chicken thighs (teriyaki and liquid hickory smoke) are great too. We can freeze those up in a freezer bag and eat them as they thaw out... taste great cold.

As mentioned I am really liking wraps these days, even if it's just Stag Chili wraps.

A couple weeks back we froze up an entire pizza from Jim's (Fort Langley) ... that was great too.

Anyway if you can freeze stuff at home and have ice or other cooling for the trip, the possibilities are endless.

If you dont have enough cooling, those cartons of hash browns, wrap bread, canned food and a little bottle of hot sauce will keep me happy.

And it's amazing how delicious a little can of chefboyaredee mini meatballs tastes if you are hungry after a long hard day.

Instant garlic mash, slices of fried spam are another couple tasty calorie dense things that only take a couple minutes and not too much clean up.

Most of the stuff I mentioned is just for 2-4 day trips for me and caddisgirl and we arent picky.

Some guys want to indulge at hunting camps and go all out, eating bigger and better than they do at home. I have prepped food for such camps... bust out a couple ziplock freezer bags of the hickory + teriyaki chicken thighs or some frozen steaks, warm it up and whip up the instant garlic mash and you have instant hunter hero status... next day "is there any more of those chicken thighs? I dont want to eat anything else now" lol

[REMINGTON JIM]

https://www.hungry-man.com/ RJ

[caddisguy]

Vacuum seal cooked meals like chilli, soups, spaghetti sauce etc. Put the bags in a pot and simmer, no clean up and works great.

That's a really good one

[boxhitch]

I like your thinking Caddisguy, lots of good canned food out there good enough for camp even though I'd never have it at home.
Try Brunswick herring instead of sardines maybe , Smoked flavour is a fav, Lemon&Pepper and Hot Sauce are good too.

We try to get in a breakfast snack with early coffee, something that sticks, have a home recipe for 'energy muffins' that works good
Good to have the pockets full of food and snacks to keep the stomach quiet til the big meal mid day.

[r106]

My favorite is breakfast wraps. Egg, onion, peppers, cheese, hashbrowns, and bacon or sausage wrap it up in tinfoil and freeze them. Some times i put some salsa in there. Chuck it next to the fire and heat it up. No pots, pans or cutlery needed. Ive made all sorts of meals like that so i can simply heat it up on the fire in tinfoil

[waserwolf]

My favorite is breakfast wraps. Egg, onion, peppers, cheese, hashbrowns, and bacon or sausage wrap it up in tinfoil and freeze them. Some times i put some salsa in there. Chuck it next to the fire and heat it up. No pots, pans or cutlery needed. Ive made all sorts of meals like that so i can simply heat it up on the fire in tinfoil

This is what I do for Breakfast to offset Porage.
Throw it on my Seek Outside Stove, turn often and Breakfast is done!!

[caddisguy]

I like your thinking Caddisguy, lots of good canned food out there good enough for camp even though I'd never have it at home.
Try Brunswick herring instead of sardines maybe , Smoked flavour is a fav, Lemon&Pepper and Hot Sauce are good too.

We try to get in a breakfast snack with early coffee, something that sticks, have a home recipe for 'energy muffins' that works good
Good to have the pockets full of food and snacks to keep the stomach quiet til the big meal mid day.

Funny you mention herring. I have a couple containers of herring in my "quick snack bag" (some tins, pot, pan, pocket rocket and fuel I kept in an old cloth cooler bag casing) I did a little cook session on one of my recent youtube vids (the arrow recovery one which I didnt post on hbc as it's looooong) and presented the herring as an option.

We're really liking the transition from freeze dried to canned. My favorite freeze dried is Mtn House breakfast skillet, but a lot of canned food is good or better... and last I checked Mtn House breakfast skillet goes from $14-20 a meal these days vs a $1-2 tin.

Favorites are:

Stag or Tim's canned Chili, Spam, Chefboyaredee (the lower trans fat ones like mini meatballs w/ pasta shells), Campbell's Chunky (Steak and Potatoes, Clam Chowder) Cream Corn with some S&P, canned peas can be a good side. Canned salmon right out of the can or on some crackers is good.

Heinz Beans is decent too if mixed with bacon, especially in a wrap with cheese (burrito style I guess)

Any of that stuff works fine for us. Add some fresh stuff like some garlic bread or some fresh raw veggies and it's a decent meal.

10 day hunt, I'd probably be craving something more wholesome come day 7. A lot of guys want a full on production every day... like having big pub style meals every day and that's part of hunting trips they look forward to. I understand that as well. I prefer to burn 10,000 calories and fast all day then pop a tin with my eyes dilating like a fiend lol ... but I have been in on hunts where food is a major thing/event. On those hunts we have split it, each hunter plans a big meal for the rest... for example 4 guys on a 4 day trip, then each person just has to plan one impressive meal, or 2 if it was 8 days... enjoyed (and prepared) some great meals for a couple trips like that.

Always a great surprise at a campfire when someone whips out a few tinfoil potatos and a handful of those butter and S&P packs you grab at A&W... into the coals they go... now the wait

[dasnake]

As everyone has stated we have frozen food, we have brats and buns, cheese and sliced meat, enough for two weeks usually, some fresh meats for burgers and steaks, etc.
I got one funny story from years ago, we were going away for just a week and one of the group didnt want in on the food program so he did his own idea, his daughter worked at MacDonalds, so he thought he was going to be smart, he brought enough big macs to last him for the week, I don't think he ever ate at mickey d's again.

[coastcrickets]

Dinners:
My favourite is to bring the dutch oven and some oil and fry up grouse, rabbit, fish, or chunks of tenderloin when back at camp. Bring some limes, onions, and cilantro and you can make killer tacos that only take 15 mins or so to do and pretty much no clean up. I've yet to see a guy no smile if you bust out a tin tray of cabbage rolls and some skyr yogurt to top them. They're super easy to make, cheap, and guys love them.
For a mid-hunt morale boost, go to a bakery and get pre-made pizza dough. Throw it in a cast iron skillet over the first, give it a flip and then put your toppings on. This is especially nice if hunting is slow and cold. Zero clean up as you can just chop pepperoni right onto the pizza, etc.

Canned chicken chunks over fresh chicken is great as you can eat them cold or through them in minute rice you've heated up in a pot (sous-vide) for some pretty good protein.

Fast:
If you're hiking a lot get those little energy gel packs: I try to eat very clean so I get the maple syrup type squeeze packs or the brand Noma. Save's you time for cooking breakfast and lunch and put more time into a nice big solid dinner, great for moral.
There are lots of options in at Superstore that are tastier than mountain house meals and about half the cost. Uncle Ben's type pre-made curries, chili's etc.