Eating while camping doesn’t have to be complicated. Much like the rest of camping, you will be happier if you stick to your usual routines.
For years, I needed a hot breakfast, a hot lunch, and a hot
supper. In order to be able to do this,
I teamed up with my friends (Galfrid and Helen) and ran a food-group. I planned
all our meals, did all the grocery shopping, and all the pre-cooking and on
site cooking. Galfrid and Helen brought all the gear and infrastructure. I made pot after pot of oatmeal for
breakfast. We ate medieval stews with pasta or rice for lunch, with salads and
veggie sticks. And for supper we roasted
something on the fire and had side dishes using medieval recipes. At the time
this worked for us. Everyone enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. It was a lot
of work and hassle and mess.
Life moves on and our needs and preferences change and this
plan doesn’t work for us anymore.
Galfrid and Helen still have the amazing kitchen and now cook meals that
suit them rather than putting up with my preferences.
Currently, what works for us is a grazing board with fruit,
meat, pastries, cheese, nuts, and crackers. We eat from this all morning, with
a hot one or two pot meal for supper.
When you are planning what to eat, also write down what you
need to make it. You don’t want to have a bag of raw pasta and no pot to boil
it in. Or worse, a can of sauce and no can opener. As a baseline you will need
to think about a heat source, cooking vessels, cooking utensils, eating dishes
and utensils, and how to wash things.
When planning your meals, consider how much time you want to
spend on cooking, eating, and cleaning. Think about how much gear you want to
take and how much space you have for that. Consider what you can cook at home
to warm up at the event. A little Preparation before the event avoids hangry
afternoons and empty bellies at bedtime.
When polled, someone asked for tips on how to eat when you
don’t have a kitchen. I was told a story, in the misty years of my Youth, of an
Ealdormerean Duke who would go to camping events solo - without his household, without the
cooks and the kitchen. His strategy was
to bring a single can of baked beans, wander into a friendly camp while
something tasty was on the hob, and ask to borrow their can-opener. He would then proceed to act like he had
every intention of eating these beans, cold, straight from the can, in front of
the Cook. His success rate at beguiling
a meal out of these camps was extraordinary.
In reality, you can exist for a weekend with no hot food
and/or no cooler – without resorting to ‘a backpack full of granola bars’. The secret
is to know what you can live without.
Many meats come in cans, tuna, salmon, shrimp, chicken, ham
and corned beef. They can be eaten as is, or mixed with spices and dressings. Similarly,
meats can be cooked at home and eaten cold. When paired with bread or
pre-cooked pasta, salad greens or veggie sticks, you can have a balanced meal
without a stove on site. Look for “summer” recipes online and try a few at
home.
Maybe you don’t want all cold food – but you still don’t
want to pack a full chuck box. A kettle and a small hiking stove can go a long
way. Freeze dried camping/hiking meals are readily available these days, you
need only add hot water. There are also
plenty of options in a regular grocery store that are prepared the same way. If
your meal plan needs only boiling water, you will no doubt find a welcoming
flame in your neighbours and won’t even need to pack your own stove.
If your needs are a little more complicated, you should consider
banding together with a group of like-minded people. That way you can
coordinate who brings what in the way of gear (lest you find yourself with more
Coleman stoves than people), and in this way end up with a full kitchen without
having to do it all yourself. Grouping together is also economical on land when
space is at a premium.
As it has been said above, test run your plans before the
event if you’ve never tried a recipe or product before. Another good tip is to do
a review of how your cooking and meals went in order to make improvements for
the next event.
