Meal ideas for a long trip.

[Pinewood]

Got a 10 day trip coming up this fall with 3 buddies. We're going to be 3 hours(or more) from stores and electricity and wondering about meals that will keep in the bush. Let's hear some ideas about what all you fellas have done.

[Brew]

Mountain house breakfast, lunch and dinner. Joking:lol:

Looking forward to this thread.

[knothead]

Depends how your transporting these meals, if your hiking them in it's a bit different than driving in.

[Gone_Fishin_]

After witnessing how a friend brought dinners last year I'll be going this route come fall.

Pre cook meals and freeze in vacuume bags. When back at camp simply boil a pot of water and drop bag into pot for a few to heat up. The possibilities are endless. Saves so much time cooking and not to mention cleaning dishes and conserving water.

You can even do a roast pre cooked and cut in a bag, then mash potatoes in another, gravy in a small pack and pre cooked veggies in another. Toss em all in hot water for 5 and boom. Dinner no dishes.

EDIT**

Bags used are FoodSaver Freeze 'N' Steam bags. Forgot to mention that after reading comments on heating food in plastics and bags.

[Gone_Fishin_]

As mentioned above.

Hike in vs a camp is a whole different game

[RiverOtter]

I'm going to assume you have vehicle access.

Pre cooking and freezing regular "home cooked" meals is something we've done in the past. Greatly reduces prep time when you get back to camp in the dark. Prioritize what you eat first based on shelf life and risk of food born illness. Chicken and fish meals go first, with pork and then red meat meals last. Run 2 coolers and plan accordingly, so the 2nd doesn't need to be opened until the first is done. Bring some canned veggies and fruit along to compliment the main course and your golden. I would still pack a few MH meals as a backup for later in the trip.

[Pinewood]

We are boating in. We'll be bringing coolers. There will be no power. We'll have a camp stove/propane. Should be able to keep ice for several days at the end of September.

[r106]

Pre cook, vacuumed pack and freeze is what I like doing. Beef stew being one of my favorites.. pre cooked ribs and roasts are another favorite. Usually bring potatoes and veggies and cut them up in camp wrap in tin foil with butter and throw them next to the fire for a bit. Sidekicks are another handy side to make. Pasta and premade or canned sauce is easy to.

[RiverOtter]

While it does work, I'm not a fan of boiling plastic of any variety, as it releases chemicals. Paper plates are handy and wash up great in the fire....:-D
A pot and frying pan are not much of a washing burden and add a bit of insurance as you can re-cook any food a bit more for peace of mind, especially later in the trip.

Eggs and bread keep well and pre cooked bacon is a nice addition to the breakfast menu. Lunches are rarely eaten at camp, so the usual granola, dried fruit, energy bars and possibly a MH as an emergency backup in case you get stuck out over night.

[375shooter]

Don't forget to pack lots of homemade jerky. Great stuff whenever out hunting.

[charlie_horse]

Frozen Chillis and Pasta sauce worked good for us last year. we will probably do that again this year.

[tigrr]

4 guys for 10 days. Plan every day, what is on the menu. Pack accordingly. Big breakfast, light lunch, good sized supper meal. I have ran into groups that one ate nothing but meat and another that ate mostly veggies and fruit. Sit down with the guys and discuss who likes what. Then assign cooking and cleaning up details. Warning Chili for 10 days would be a rough tent experience.
My breakfast would be pancakes eggs and bacon. And the leftovers are light lunch!!

[Gateholio]

Most plastic bags- ziploc,vaccum pack or otherwise- are not rated to be boil in the bag meals. You can purchase them, but don't assume that the ones you are using are not releasing chemicals into your food.

[Bison Fats]

Dehydrated meals can be a fantastic way to stay healthy, light and reduce the amount of effort needed to keep frozen or fuel to thaw. We dehydrate alfredo sauces, spag sauces, fruits vegetables etc. you can always add dry sausages or dehydrated tuna. Cheeses, honey pb and jam are great for lunches with dense breads or crackers. Breakfast can be oatmeal or dry cereals with powder milk and dehydrated fruits like prune plums My personal rule of thumb is to not change my diet too drastically from what I eat at home. I've looked a few times at the amount of sodium ingested by hikers and hunters and it is often many times what they should be taking in. Constipation can be a very real problem and not receiving enough calories.

[srupp]

In past we have made pan cakes bacon eggs..breaky,,, lunch trail mix crackers cheese..sometimes boiled some water..soup

We have asked the wives for 2 ice creme buckets each..of spagetti sauce..or chili. .those made 3meals..and several days later 3 meals again.

Now we will be using the new Vacmaster 215 chamber sealer..using 4 mm bags double sealed.its of course food grade quality. .really thick bags...re heater the stuff to hot is quick easy, safe..its simmilar to Sous vide Cooking done by the french.
These same bags are the same ones we used for fish and game for the freezer however they are capable ofbeing placed in a pot gentle rolling simmerring heat 10..15 minutes the water, and bon appetite...

These bags are designed for reheating food by placing these bags in a pot of simmerring water..thanks for the heads up on those using non designed bags.

Cheers
Steven

[AlexPdHJ]

My flavourite pre-cooked meals we've done are:
Moose or venison Bourguingnon. Julia Child recipe. Best thing I know how to cook.
Shrimp and Scallop Creole from Epicurious.com
Moose Dutch style meatballs, (moose mince, onion, slice of bread soaked in milk, s&p, nutmeg, make balls, roll in eggwash, then breadcrumbs, brown in Dutch oven with margarine, add stock and simmer for 25 minutes.) it keeps well in the gravy.

[Amphibious]

2014 moose hunt. 1 wall tent, 3 men, 5 days, 8 liters of frozen chilli. I don't recomend.

[XPEIer]

for our group of 4 we each make one pre cooked meal and freeze it, this ranges from Fish Chowder to Lasagna. If you have access to a cooking grate for over an open fire then buy two large rectangle tin foil trays and set up a double boiler system, this way the bottom of your lasagna or whatever does not burn while the center is frozen. Once the double boiler is set up cover the entire thing with heavy duty foil and it makes like an oven. Buy a couple of those cheap garlic breads and done deal.

Like SRUPP, having 4 litres of sauce/ chowder or stew frozen into a Chapmans (they are square and take up less room) ice cream container will last about 4-5 days frozen, and since it is already cooked it can last a few more as long as it is cold.

We quit doing the bacon and eggs thing, switched to a pre cooked ham, much less mess, can be eaten cold for sandwiches and is great as you dont have to worry about raw food.

The big thing is planning on what your going to have on which night and taking it out before you leave camp in the morning, getting back at dark to a solid block of supper makes for a long evening.

We also have a few cans of something along in the event we drop something late in the day, 3 guys work on the moose and one guy slips into camp to prep a fire and supper.

xpeier

[HarryToolips]

While it does work, I'm not a fan of boiling plastic of any variety, as it releases chemicals. Paper plates are handy and wash up great in the fire....:-D
A pot and frying pan are not much of a washing burden and add a bit of insurance as you can re-cook any food a bit more for peace of mind, especially later in the trip.

Eggs and bread keep well and pre cooked bacon is a nice addition to the breakfast menu. Lunches are rarely eaten at camp, so the usual granola, dried fruit, energy bars and possibly a MH as an emergency backup in case you get stuck out over night.
This is pretty much what I do, except pre-cookin bacon..I get the extra salty version so I don't have to worry about it going bad:mrgreen:

[tomahawk]

maybe I'm missin something but you have coolers, cooking stoves and means of getting it all to your camp spot?? why would you eat any differently then you would at home? pork chops, burger, steaks, casserol's, bacon and eggs, spaghetti, you name it. your going to be expending a lot of energy if your doin any serious hunting so need to eat. we even have had Prime Rib roasts, hams, whatever works!!!!! don't understand all the dried foods or foods in bags or plastic bag cooking at all.

[HarryToolips]

Don't forget to pack lots of homemade jerky. Great stuff whenever out hunting.
This too, and I also recommend lots of nuts/dried fruit for those out-of-camp lunches..

[Pinewood]

maybe I'm missin something but you have coolers, cooking stoves and means of getting it all to your camp spot?? why would you eat any differently then you would at home? pork chops, burger, steaks, casserol's, bacon and eggs, spaghetti, you name it. your going to be expending a lot of energy if your doin any serious hunting so need to eat. we even have had Prime Rib roasts, hams, whatever works!!!!! don't understand all the dried foods or foods in bags or plastic bag cooking at all.

It's a 10 day hunt. If we run out of ice, we'll have a lot of good food going bad. Temperatures could still be warm during the day at the end of September. Plus, it's a discussion forum, discussing shit is why we're all here.

[wideopenthrottle]

we always bring a fair bit of premade stuff simply to reduce time/work required....camping trips afford a ton of time to do it all from camp but hunting trips are for hunting as much as possible so reducing kitchen time is important...we always have a premade frozen big bag of spag sauce , a big chilli, a big stew and some homemade soups....we also do premade chicken with rolls/buns for the drive up.

[ruger#1]

Take some smoked salt. Makes everything taste better. Take some dehydrated foods.

[barry1974w]

I'm not sure how bad it is for us to cook food in freezer bags, but that's what we've been doing for hunt camp breakfasts for a while. Make omelettes and freeze em flat, drop in boiling water and its a nice big breakfast in five minutes with next to no mess. And we've started pre making and freezing most of our meals, mostly to save time in camp. Use good coolers and be organized, as it was mentioned, don't even open the second cooler until the first one is empty, and don't keep the beer with the food, cause that cooler seems to get opened a lot..... And if it's dropping below freezing at night I open the cooler were using and the beer cooler when we go to bed and close them again in the morning. I know this increases the chances of animal conflict, but so far, the food has kept and we haven't had any animal problems(well except for that one time with the pine marten, but it was -30 then, so keeping food cold wasn't an issue). We've also learned to keep any dry goods, like bread, pasta and canned stuff in totes.
As for meals, lots of stews, pasta sauce, ribs, chowders and other stuff that freezes well and is easy to heat up. Buddy built a little oven that sits on his wood stove in his wall tent, so when he's coming we've done pizza, wings, and my wife made individual sized pre cooked meatloaf, potatoes,and veggies in foil loaf pans that were frozen, then just tossed in the oven to reheat.

[MichelD]

My buddy brings frozen venison chili and other frozen bean type meals in plastic containers and they keep for a long time in a good cooler, all of them acting as ice to keep the other cold.

I bring canned salmon and sometimes canned meat too. Make rice or noodles, open a jar, heat it up and there's dinner. Wide packs me lots of veg and in a good cooler, most of them keep a week. Cabbage and carrots keep really well.

I like dried sausages from my local Serbian butcher and BBQ sausages from the Poles. The BBQ sausages are great on the grate and the dried sausages are good lunch item. All keep well in the cooler, but it's best to use up the BBQ sausages first.

I pack a big container of home-made granola and in a hurry eat a bowl of that first thing in the morning with sweet milky tea poured on top.

I bring along a bunch of home-made energy bars too for lunches.

[Ubertuber]

Pre-made and frozen may be easy, but I like to cook, so having actual raw ingredients is the way to go for me. Meats are vacuum packed, frozen, and kept in a cooler with things that need to be kept cold. Everything else, like veggies, fruit, and dry goods are in good quality totes.
The most important thing to do is plan your meals.

[tomahawk]

It's a 10 day hunt. If we run out of ice, we'll have a lot of good food going bad. Temperatures could still be warm during the day at the end of September. Plus, it's a discussion forum, discussing shit is why we're all here.

I've done a lot that were 2 weeks long and more, 7 to 10 days is the norm for us. You leave with everything frozen that can be and only the frozen stuff all in one good cooler and when it thaws its the same as being in the fridge at home. Never go bad in 10 days.

[bcsteve]

maybe I'm missin something but you have coolers, cooking stoves and means of getting it all to your camp spot?? why would you eat any differently then you would at home? pork chops, burger, steaks, casserol's, bacon and eggs, spaghetti, you name it. your going to be expending a lot of energy if your doin any serious hunting so need to eat. we even have had Prime Rib roasts, hams, whatever works!!!!! don't understand all the dried foods or foods in bags or plastic bag cooking at all.
This.....

I've done a lot that were 2 weeks long and more, 7 to 10 days is the norm for us. You leave with everything frozen that can be and only the frozen stuff all in one good cooler and when it thaws its the same as being in the fridge at home. Never go bad in 10 days.
And this for us. Never had an issue.

[wideopenthrottle]

if the weather is too warm for coolers to do the job we will have a freezer along as well...we freeze and reuse bottles of water as ice.

[MB_Boy]

It's a 10 day hunt. If we run out of ice, we'll have a lot of good food going bad. Temperatures could still be warm during the day at the end of September. Plus, it's a discussion forum, discussing shit is why we're all here.

As a tip.....bury your coolers. We find a nice cool area, bury them in the ground and cover with a big section of moss.

[Deadshot]

http://timberlinetrails.net/ClimbingFood.html
This link applies more to packing light, but may help.

[two-feet]

I like the one pot meals, usually hunt hard and dislike spending time in camp doing more dishes than need be. Frozen in containers works well, or dehydrated if weight or spoilage may be an issue. Usually do oats with 1/8 pound of butter for breakfast, dried salami and nuts/apples/carrots for lunch, then something hot and hardy for dinner. Served with a nice red wine. Cigars and whiskey for desert.
Usually drink lots of good coffee and gallons of tea in camp. Bars of good dark chocolate are a hit as well.

[Fella]

Eggs and bacon for breakie, perogies, sausage and fried onions for dinner. Jerky, trailmix and clif bars for lunch.

[jeff341]

Anyone looking for "boil-able" vacuum seal bags (that don't release chemicals) try Enterprise Paper here in the LML. They sell all types and sizes. Good options are the ones that have the re-sealable ziplock style top.

They sell them in larger pack sizes...get a bud is you want to split it.

[Gone_Fishin_]

FoodSaver makes a bag called "Freeze 'N' Steam"

http://www.foodsaver.ca/en_CA/bags-and-rolls/foodsaver-16-freeze-n-steam-microwave-cooking-bags/FSFSBC0316-P00.html#start=1

BPA free

One the first page to this thread I mentioned vaccum bags and pre-cooking food then heating in water. Forgot to add they were BPA free bags meant for this such purpose.

[bcsteve]

Was at the new Cabelas in Abby this morning. I thought of this tread while I was in the vaccum sealer area and had a look at their sealer bags. They are labeled as microwaveable and boilable.

[srupp]

This is even more important when doing a fly in hunt . nutritious. .different meals selection, limited weights...limit cooler usage.
Froze up some steak recipe..will do the boil check next week or so.
Talked with the Vacmaster company today for some advice.

Steven

[boxhitch]

Dinner is always the best meal, but many times has to be fast and in the dark.

Pint-sized dehydrated hash browns are a new must-have on our list
Pre-cooked Rice-a-roni
Sidekicks pasta or rice mixes
Add a can of veg to any of these to round them out
Add a meat, sausage, burger, can fish, or cooked chicken and dinners done.

breakfast can be oatmeal with fruit , or meat and scrambled eggs with anything thrown in, in a bowl or in a wrap.
build a stack of bannock or pancakes, these can be kept a long time
lunch is a grab bag of a bread-type, meat, cheese, dried fruit and nut mix, can smoked kippers, can beans and/or fruit
Snickers, gotta have Snickers

Campbells Chunky Soups are always around for a fast hot meal
PBJs can be made trail side with condiment packs from restaurants

All this , plus a basic stocked pantry list gets it done with variety.

[jbruce]

precooked in alum toss away pans,wrapped in tinfoil,frozen for a month or so if possible,anything with tomatoe sauce must be covered with saran wrap first as it will dissolve the tin foil (remove be for heating), the pans stack neat in a cooler freeze water in 2l milk jugs and 1l tetra juice boxes these also stack neat and you can use the water as they melt,rotate though the meals as they thaw,we hunt for two week in October,warm weather, stuff has always stayed cool enough the whole trip.feeds three or four of us,we just heat them on top of our wood stove.

[Sharpish]

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but canned food is a good option for a few meals. We will can caribou meat with oil and spices and add it to water with potato chunks and you have a great stew. Same with bear ghetti sauce, you just need some dried spaghetti noodles for a calorie dense hot meal. The glass can be heavy, I have experimented with pressure canning using vaccuum dealer bags and they will survive the process, not sure about the chemicals coming out of the plastic.

[Sharpish]

You can make a stellar bush bread every night with just flour, oil, and salt. Spread some butter and jam on hot bannock, there's nothing better.

[Rugernator]

Smoked back bacon / smoked spicy or hot sausage / Jerky are a must.
I carry my Jet stove for boiling water for dehydrated food, and instant noodle soups in the evening or early morning to warm the body up.
Granola bars / Trail mix for snacks.
Canned food such as sardines / spam / pate are always good options.
I have the girlfriend make a loaf of bread or cheese filled pastries they last at least the first 2 days of the hunt, they are dense and keep me full for a while.
-Bo

[Brno22F]

You can make a stellar bush bread every night with just flour, oil, and salt. Spread some butter and jam on hot bannock, there's nothing better.

Now you're talking!

[tyreguy]

Plan your meals, cook them ahead of time and freeze them in foil containers. Freeze them in advance then when you're packing get dry ice (from welding supply outlet) and pack in dry ice. Your food will still be frozen in 10 days, bring a ice tray and you can make ice cubes. Also - have a good cooler as a regular gum wrapper wont work well.
I usually go to a thrift store and buy a comforter to wrap the cooler for insulation, pack it tight and don't open "to look" and you'll be good
Don't pack blocks of ice on a boat trip - too heavy - boat hunts need to pack light.

[albravo2]

If you ever get down to Trader Joe's in the US, buy a whack of their Lentils, Punjab Choli, and Eggplant. Very flavourful, calorie-rich and in a perfect foil pack for boil-in-a-bag. I don't mind them cold, but they are awesome heated up.

You don't even need a spoon, just boil, tear, tip back and enjoy.

[Backcountry Hunter]

Buy a camp chef propane oven. Pre cook and freeze any kind of meal like pastas, pot pies, chicken dinners. Whatever you want. Will last 10 days in a good cooler easy

[thedougler]

Check out some of the backpacker sites. Weight and size are their enemy the have some great advice.
I like to get a slab of bacon, freeze it solid and cut (saw) what I'm cooking and put it back in the cooler right away. pasteurized egg whites from a supplement store keep very we'll for longer than whole eggs . As well I plan for fresh meals at the start and tapering off to the soak and heat grub at the end keeping a special treat (fire roasted orange cakes with a whiskey soak!!!) for the end of the trip.
sounds like your heading out for
a good adventure.

[Pinewood]

Great replies everybody. Thanks for all the feedback.

[Glenny]

As a tip.....bury your coolers. We find a nice cool area, bury them in the ground and cover with a big section of moss.

Sounds like a good method. Dry ice even better.