I was a little intimidated by the thought of packing nutritious, calorie rich, yet light weight food for 3 days, knowing that if I didn't pack enough, we would be hungry (not good), but if I over-packed, then we would carry unnecessary weight with us (also not good). Some people go crazy and calculate the caloric density of each food that they bring on a trip, know exactly how many calories they want for each day, and then optimize what foods to bring so they carry the least amount of food weight as possible. At first, I thought about doing that, but then realized I neither had the time nor the resources to make it worth figuring out. So we took educated guesses, and it turned out quite well.
Our meal plan looked something like this:
Tuesday
Breakfast: B&B
Lunch: Thai food in Pacific Grove
Dinner: garlic mashed potatoes and dried chicken
Wednesday
Breakfast: oatmeal with dried milk and dried fruit
Lunch: salami, cheese, and crackers
Dinner: Mountain House Freeze dried meal: beef Stroganoff
Thursday
Breakfast: pancakes
Lunch: tuna, cheddar, and pita
Dinner: Alpine Pasta
Friday
Breakfast: oatmeal with dried milk and dried fruit
Lunch: peanut butter and honey pita sandwiches
Dinner: home! Cheeseboard pizza
After planning the meals we'd eat, it was fun to package and prepare the food. I dried some chicken in our toaster oven for Tuesday's dinner, and that turned out quite well! All other ingredients were purchased and then assembled into meals. Since we left early, we shopped in Pacific Grove and then assembled everything in the parking lot next to our car. I rationed everything and packaged each meal together. Each meal was individually packaged into a quart size zip top bag along with 2 paper towels that were assigned to that meal for us to use and then to be used to clean up that meal. For example, 1 cup of oatmeal, and 1/4 cup dried milk went in a sandwich size bag for breakfast. I should have added brown sugar and cinnamon for flavor, but I forgot. We survived despite the tasteless oatmeal though. All of the dinners were then put in one gallon bag, the lunches in another bag, and the breakfasts in another. It almost all fit in 3 gallon size bags!
Our favorite meal, which we'll certainly be making again, was the Alpine Pasta. I found this recipe on Wild Backpacker when poking around the web for meal inspiration. We modified it a bit, and here it is for your enjoyment. It could also be easily adapted to make an easy week-night meal.
Alpine Pasta (serves 2 hungry campers)
- 1 Pasta-Roni Butter and Herb Italiano Package (the benefit of using this instead of normal pasta is that this pasta cooks faster, and therefore saves fuel. You also don't have to discard the water which would be a plus in bear country)
- 1/4 cup dried milk
- 4 ounces pepper-coated salami
- 2 ounces chopped sun-dried tomatoes (the dried kind, not the kind soaked in olive oil)
- 5 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated or finely sliced at home
At home: Put tomatoes into a zip lock plastic bag, prepare cheese, place in different bag. Remove Pasta-Roni from box and place in ziptop bag along with the dried milk. Write cooking directions on paper towel or bag containing pasta.
On the trail: Cook pasta according to package instructions. While pasta simmers, chop salami. After pasta cooks for 5 minutes, add all ingredients and stir until noodles are done. Enjoy!
Do you have any delicious but super easy meals? Any memories of yummy (or not so yummy) camping food growing up?
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