Meals in the bush

Hey all,

Does anyone have any bush camping meal ideas to share? I'd like to have hot food for dinners, maybe a hot breakfast after an early morning hunt and interesting lunches to keep morale up for the kids. I am struggling to think of ideas that don't weigh too much and don't cost the earth (pre-packaged meals like Back Country Cuisine just aren't economical for our family of 5).

At the moment my repertoire consists of things like:

BREAKFASTS:
Porridge
Muesli & dried fruit


LUNCHES
Sandwiches (bread doesn't travel too well!)
Dried pasta with sauce
Mixing up crepes (the golden syrup is heavy)


DINNERS
Frozen meat meal for walk in day (heavy) and a pkt of nachos takes up lots of room
Couscous and flavourings
Boil bag rice with flavourings
Adding salami to the above

DESSERT
Semolina (the golden syrup does get lots of use)
Custard


And what do people do for fresh food while out there for a few days?

If you forage, what are your staples?




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Get yourself a vac sealer and the sky is the limit

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....-things-62661/

Pretty much everytime we have any kind of leftovers I vac pac them as wee meals for on the hill or if we are going for a long drive or even when I'm just feeling lazy at home

Some things I take :

Wraps instead of bread
Bacon and egg pie
Fruit cake
Homemade dehy potato slices
Pre-made stew or mince


Everyone seems to want to pay big money for dehydrated packet stodge but I'm too mean too buy them unless it's several days away and it would mean a very heavy pack

Take sultanas they are a good snack and good mixed in with your porridge plus a good energy source I think, could also take noodles there are some nice ones out there and you just need hot water also cup of soup with noodles in it is ok. I take osms as well but not many people like them If I have breakfast one of those and a piece of fruit does me till dinner.

One of our favorites is wraps. It's quite heavy but what I've learnt is my vac-pac bags work well as boil-in-bag for the meat curry & rice. By doing this I can vac-pac & freeze meal size portions and they defrost in my pac then use my JetBoil to reheat without risk of burning in the pot. Only used this method on single night walks but the meat was still cold after a full days walk and there wasn't any difference to the taste.

Dehydrated potatoes fro m the supermarket are cheap and a good tasting filler with something on the side for extra flavour.

An easy snack for the kids would be popcorn. I've done it a few times but difficult with the thin base hiking pots.

Dehy mince goes good. If you can find someone with a dehydrator.

Tuna packs and naan bread.

Wraps last for ages.
Mix a soup into boil in the bag rice and chuck in a foil pack of tuna. Nice light cheap meal.

Have you ever tried a Pie?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by IamRobertoPualson

Have you ever tried a Pie?

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Yes

You might as well ask if anyone has breathed air

Instant potato mash and packet gravy = KFC Potato & Gravy. Makes a simple pick me up on a cold day!

Same issue here with keeping the fam of 5 fed on tramps - got some good ideas here if you want to go flash harry https://wtmc.org.nz/wp-content/uploa...k-2021-Web.pdf

This is our general go-to for family tramps, tastier than back country and way more economicalhttps://campfirecreations.co.nz/fast-light/ can do dehy with oven but easier if you have a dehydrator.

Plain old rice goes a long way for the weight you have to carry. Easy to add flavour to if you or the kids don't like it plain. I add minted surprise peas to it for something different. Or a cup of soup sachet

My favorites for dinner are Dehy mashed potatoes and tuna, Alfredo pasta packets and tuna. Used the smoked tuna and the mash one tastes like smoked fish pie. I could just eat the dehy potato with a bit of salt and pepper.
Breakfast is instant porridge. Lunch is normally wraps, crackers and marmite/cheese, or One Square meals.

I have a cultural mixed stomach but I prefer to bring this aged and braised beef out with some dry bread, and dehydrated soup begs. Can `t find any in SI, only saw it once in Auckland. But Pak`save roasted beef is also good, just it `not available everyday.

Attachment 246463

Instant mased potatoes,dehy veges from bininn and savalouys all cooked in same pot so pink spuds. Two minute noodles go a long way and bulk out a meal cheaply and are actually pretty good tucker.with diced salami would be awesome.

See below for a bunch of random observations thoughts and wisdom? that will hopefully give some inspiration...

Always try new bush camping meal ideas at home first, where you have the fall back of fish and chips.

Not surprised that instant mash is getting a lot of traction in this thread. I mix it up at home with a bit of soup stock, grated cheese and milk powder to give it more horsepower. On the day just add gravy powder and boiling water for instant potatoe and gravy that will put KFC to shame. Once the potato mix is done, I normally just make a hole in it and mix the gravy in that hole, saves dishes.

We also keep an icecream container of half filled with whole oats and cranberries cinammon and other bits, whenever there is a little bit left of something in a packet it just goes into the ever changing mix. Soak the mixture the night before breakfast and in the morning just heat it up and add soft brown sugar and cream. It won't need cooking like normal porridge if soaked from the night before.
The cream thing works well on single night trips or trips with two nights in the same place. During daytime just put it in a small creek and weigh it down with rocks to keep it cold.

Boiled eggs, too easy, do them at home or for breakfast if you like to eat them hot.

Invented or re-invented in our house, mixed roasted veges (potato, kumara, carrot, garlic etc) with chopped camembert/brie, just put them all in a resealable bag and snack on as required, its like a savoury scroggin.

Anything that involves oily fish, carbs and cheese is always a winner in the bush, normally on walk in day I like to take a packet of fresh pasta, smoked salmon, some sundried tomatoes and cheese, basically just get the pasta ready and mix the rest in.
But basically any combo of fish, cheese and carbs goes well.

Bacon travels well and is great to cook in a hut if you like attention, doesn't need oil and doesn't taste too bad either.

I like to caramelise onions at home, drain the oil and take them, you can add to just about any savoury meal and it will enhance things. Hopefully your tent has ventilation if there are five of you eating this.

Chocolate is a good pick me up when people are running on Elvis. Always carry plenty and distribute during lunch times.

Jerky is good for snacks.

I usually take honey sandwiches on walk in day. There is a fair bit of milage in honey.

A packet of chips easily straps to the outside of a pack, great for hangry snacks at the hut while dinner is cooking.

Electrolyte powder, weighs hardly anything, when you have been doing a lot of walking, drinking plain water starts to feel like you are just rinsing your throat, if you drink electrolytes, even if the advertising is lies, at least it won't taste totally boring.

Fresh food after a few days, I carry a few oranges, I like to start eating them on day three, see comment above regarding bacon.

I like to mix up a batch of drinking chocolate, milk powder and soft brown sugar at home at start of the trip, when you add this to hot water, add plenty, like 1/3 cup of mix to 2/3 cup of water. Plenty of milage out of that.

Can anyone remember plastic potatoes and instant phuck up (NZFS *GRIN*)

Just bear in mind that if you eat shop bought dehydrated meals, they have a shit ton of salt in them, so you may not need anything additional. Sugar is a funny one, can give you an instant boost, but can make you feel shit after the initial surge in energy. I'm sure some of these supplements are useful for people doing very big walks, but keep it in context.