go to meals

Moved from ATC

Been camping for years. Often spend Sunday cooking stuff like stew, pasta sauce, pre-make burgers (with spices), pre-cook chicken or turkey breast and chunk it, Chili ... and then store/freeze in packs the right size for a meal.

We sometimes buy quantity of sliced turkey, chicken, ham, and the freeze enough for sandwiches in a separate package.

Then take one "meal pack" out, sit in sink for a few hours - fix it for dinner or lunch.

We often cook and freeze enough for a week on Sunday -- then enjoy the week camping without worries about "what are we gonna cook tonight" ...

We spend most of our time in National Parks and State Parks, and COE, and no time in private parks. So meal prep and ability to 'shop' is often limited. So, preparing a week of meals is very effective and efficient.

Check the camp cooks section of this forum. You can get great ideas for foil dinners at this thread.
http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28372720.cfm

We have an oven and a fridge in the TT and a camp fire and a grill in the back yard at home. When we are away we cook the same stuff and the same way as we do when home. We might use the slow cooker more in the TT then at home and we may cook over a wood fire a little more at home then when away.

There's a lot of things you can do that are quite simple. Spaghetti with meatballs / sausage is quite simple. Box of spagh, jar of sauce, and frozen cooked meatballs or sausage. Easy to make. We always do the deli route with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bread and deli packed ham / turkey, etc.

Didn't really start camping until I was in my early 20's. Back then it was burgers, bottled Italian salad dressing marinated steaks, franks and salad with the occasional ramen noodle addition.

Flash forward to now and my diet has change. I rarely use any dry seasoning packets , store bought salad dressings or Pillsbury canned biscuits, etc. Guess I'm what's called a perimeter shopper meaning I cook from scratch.
My go to meals depend on what types of cuisines I'm enjoying.
Right now it's Mexican, Asian, Italian and French.

Like others I do a lot of freeze ahead meals or ingredients.
This year's make ahead meals are :
lasagna, manicotti, stuffed shells. These dishes are frozen in foil pans so they can just be put on the grill directly.

a base tomato meat sauce that I add Italian or Mexican seasoning to as needed. Good for spaghetti, brunch eggs or taco filling.

wontons, empanadas, calzones, stromboli
broth/stock
vegetable stew (AKA ratatouille) can be served as a side dish, main or omelet filling. Serve cold, hot or room temperature.
meat chili base
roast pork done in a few styles. Serve a top rice, in a sandwich or with pasta.
Pre seasoned chicken. Whole or cut up and often boneless.
Lamb yoghurt marinated kabobs
cold soups
hot soups

Lots more dishes and meats cause it's only your imagination that stops you.

cool guys. im no stranger to pre making meals and freezing. im not worried at all we always have a good spread. just like hearing everyones ideas and go to foods. almost forgot dough boys........ carve a stick down to bare wood (about an inch in dia) or use a dowel if your lazy. make some basic bisquick dough (water milk powder) wrap the end of the stick and bake over coals then fill with your topping of choice (usually some kind of pie filling) love it. so good

A casserole is always nice because there is usually a couple meals available out of that one dish.

Quick "fast food" type meals are ok once in awhile but I like a more rounded diet.

I find that you can do things like Shrimp Scampi (very easy and quick and 1 pan) some authentic pasta dishes like Pasta with Clams, or mussels, Linguine with asparagus and kale tossed with some fresh ground Parmagiano Reggiano.

I also like to go to the better supermarkets to their olive bars and make up a meal of basically antipasti, olives, peppers, cheese, artichoke hearts and a good bottle of white wine.

A real steel Wok is a must. You can deep fry, stir fry and steam all in one pot. I like to make easy stir frys that take a few minutes and serve with a nice dry Riesling.

I tend to stay away from the casserole dishes and stuff that takes a lot of prep time and space. I Grill a lot almost every night. And one of my favorites is grilled vegetables served on a bed of Bib Lettuce drizzled with Olive Oil again served with a nice wine, in this case a young Beaujolais or a dry white like a Pinot Grigio.

There's no reason to not eat great simply because you are camping or traveling.

Super_Dave wrote:
A casserole is always nice because there is usually a couple meals available out of that one dish.

This is the first year in 10 years I'll be able to bring ANY kind of casserole dish and have DGD eat it too, LOL. Been working on her mightily this winter and have convinced her that eating certain casserole dishes won't kill her. Still working on macaroni and cheese though; maybe for her wedding.....

Another make ahead dish I hope to have her try this year is chicken,shrimp, and andouille gumbo w/ Creole rice, skillet cornbread and okra. I'll add the shrimp at the last minute on site but the rest of the gumbo as well as the rice is already made and frozen.