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Vacation Dining Adventures: The Camping Chef Pt. 1
Post #11 | 8-29-09
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Summer is vacation time and no doubt one of the best parts about all of that is the food.
With "stay-cations" being a current popular choice we'll be taking a look today at a traditional and fun way to spend your vacation, camping, and
the best ways to enjoy the food in this setting.
Sure, you may be outside of the confines of being served in a
cozy restaurant, but camping is a special vacation food experience all it's own.
Here your kitchen is now a mobile one and it's all about enjoying the freedom of the
beautiful outdoors as your dining room with your loved ones and friends all around. Your view is now
nature's own panorama of forests, mountains, oceans, streams and fields by day to the glow of endless stars over your head at night to enjoy. The fresh air, sounds, sights and
smells have their restorative qualities and are waiting to work their magic on you. And one of the best parts?
Everything tastes better outside.
The key to a smooth and stress free camping experience, especially including food concerns, is planning and preparation. Wise decisions upfront will pay huge dividends out on the trail. Because hey, once you're out there it's often too late. And once in the camping environment your management and organization is key for a continuing smooth experience for all. Someone with a little vision, knowledge and good taste needs to pull this together, why not you? You can do it, it's easy, and you're now designated chef-in-charge. Among your tasks, you will be choosing what food to bring as you plan your meals out in detail, and you will be selecting whatever will be needed to store, prepare and eat the meals once at the campsite. This includes storage containers, cookery, utensils and the like. It may have been awhile since you've been camping, maybe never, maybe you're an old pro; we'll refresh your memory. We'll concentrate today on making the best choices when choosing the food and planning the meals.
A Few Things To Keep In Mind
1. Think of the nutritional value of each item and meal and the needs of what you will be dealing with. You can count on people burning more calories once out there and they will need the extra energy provided by the right meals. Here knowledge approaching sports nutrition comes into play.
2. Some foods are just better camping foods than others. Some just last longer than others AND are more nutritional, some can be bad choices. Know which ones are which.
3. The Balancing Act. Since with camping cuisine it's a job of balancing out the nutritional with the fun, you'll have to cover basic nutritional needs but also be giving something they'll love. And of course everything needs to be easy to make and eat.
Your Group:
OK, probably the easiest way to begin will be with a typical scenario, one that can be easily scaled to your situation. You've got a family of five, one dog, one SUV, and you'll be pitching a tent or two at a reserved campsite with some modern conveniences. You'll be at your campsite for 4 days with 2 other travel days factored into the trip. You will also be cooking primarily by campfire but will also have a stove of some type along for backup. Now knowing this information you can now begin to plan on what food to pack, how much, and how it will be prepared once there.
Meal Planning Tips
It's time to begin organizing with some lists; what to pack for food and drink, and what you will bring and may need to pick up for cookery, eating utensils, storage, etc. Here are some ideas:
1. It wouldn't hurt to chart out each daily meal, maybe in a spiral notebook, with the recipes. You could drop it into a zip-lock bag for waterproofing. Chart out breakfast, lunch, and dinner and you will have a plan to stick to once you get out there. Typically you'll want a collection of recipes that can be cooked over a campfire, in a foil packet or with a Dutch oven. You could also leave some leeway and switch, say, tuesdays lunch with wednesday's lunch. The idea being to have a meal plan to work with, but have some flexibility built in.
2. It also will be important to match the meals with the daily activities going on. If there isn't adequate time to be preparing a big meal due to say, a long hiking afternoon, you don't want to be dealing with long prep/cooking schedules when everyone else is ready to eat after you get back. This little point can be a lifesaver. next >
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