Brian Jones
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Anyone care to share their favorite camp meals, and the recipes? Anything goes!
Brian.
Brian.
Favorite Camp Meals?
- Thread starter Hoodoo
- Start date
Ummm, lessie, a handful of beans, handful of rice, some water, lots of tobasco sauce, chopped meat of choice. Little oil, some salt. Put the whole thing in a dutch, and drop that into a wisconson wife, and dinner is done when the bear 'comes round.
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When in doubt, keep it simple.
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When in doubt, keep it simple.
For backpacking I often fix an evening meal using dried rice and bulgar mixed together. Added to this is dried veges and dried beef. For condiment I use tabasco sauce, soy sauce, and clarified butter.
I boil the mixture for 1 minute, turn off the stove and cover it with a cozy I made from quilted polyfill. The cozy also serves as a bag for my pot. Let it stand for 15-20 minutes.
This is an easy meal and it saves lots of fuel.
For breakfast I like oatmeal with dried fruit and spices in it, plus I will squeeze some peanut butter into the mix after it is cooked (try it first before you go ugh!).
For lunch it's ramen noodles cooked without the flavor packet and served with pepper, parmeson, and clarified butter.
These three meals require a minimum of fuel to cook.
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Hoodoo
He who slings mud generally loses ground.
Adlai Stevenson
I boil the mixture for 1 minute, turn off the stove and cover it with a cozy I made from quilted polyfill. The cozy also serves as a bag for my pot. Let it stand for 15-20 minutes.
This is an easy meal and it saves lots of fuel.
For breakfast I like oatmeal with dried fruit and spices in it, plus I will squeeze some peanut butter into the mix after it is cooked (try it first before you go ugh!).
For lunch it's ramen noodles cooked without the flavor packet and served with pepper, parmeson, and clarified butter.
These three meals require a minimum of fuel to cook.
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Hoodoo
He who slings mud generally loses ground.
Adlai Stevenson
Brian Jones
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Almost any hot meal on a backpacking trip will taste good when you have eaten only GORP and Power Bars for a few days straight (one can really develop a lifelong hatred of peanuts and M&Ms
). Power Bars make your teeth bleed in cold climes when you try to bite through 'em -- they get really tough 'n' nasty!
On one trip I did a few years back, our stove and back up stove weren't working properly and couldn't generate enough heat for four people...I LOL now -- but it was not funny at the time. We finally realized (DUH!!!!) that the tubes were clogged, so we cleared them out by carefully shoving a small piece of wire (good to have a little on hand) VERY carefully through the tube so as not to damage the walls and start a leak...
My Lord, I had Stove Top Stuffing, mixed with instant rice and Lipton Chicken Soup flavoring and noodles!!! MMMM -- it tasted like a gourmet meal -- and I still sometimes crave it to this day -- really! I'll bet Ron will say I forgot to add maggots for protein and flavor...
Moral: double check all gear BEFORE getting underway. Even the stoves. Fires were banned in that national park due to dry conditions and fear of forest fires.
Brian.
On one trip I did a few years back, our stove and back up stove weren't working properly and couldn't generate enough heat for four people...I LOL now -- but it was not funny at the time. We finally realized (DUH!!!!) that the tubes were clogged, so we cleared them out by carefully shoving a small piece of wire (good to have a little on hand) VERY carefully through the tube so as not to damage the walls and start a leak...
My Lord, I had Stove Top Stuffing, mixed with instant rice and Lipton Chicken Soup flavoring and noodles!!! MMMM -- it tasted like a gourmet meal -- and I still sometimes crave it to this day -- really! I'll bet Ron will say I forgot to add maggots for protein and flavor...
Moral: double check all gear BEFORE getting underway. Even the stoves. Fires were banned in that national park due to dry conditions and fear of forest fires.
Brian.
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Wow...you guys eat well. I am going to have to try some of these things :>)
On more occassion than I like to mention I have eaten:
raw banana slugs, worms, maggots, grubs, grasshoppers, and beatles (got high eating one of these once) to name a few. I hate slugs...Uggh. worms taste like dirt, grasshoppers kinda like roasted almonds.
These do in a pinch but I prefered the dehydrated...just add water...food when it is available.
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Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
On more occassion than I like to mention I have eaten:
raw banana slugs, worms, maggots, grubs, grasshoppers, and beatles (got high eating one of these once) to name a few. I hate slugs...Uggh. worms taste like dirt, grasshoppers kinda like roasted almonds.
These do in a pinch but I prefered the dehydrated...just add water...food when it is available.
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Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
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Greg,
I've stepped on banana slugs in bare feet and found that they leave a thick, viscous layer of slime that is difficult to remove from my feet.
I understand the Indians in the Pacific Northwest used to roast their banana slugs before consuming them. This sounds like an effective way to deal with the slime.
Do you skin the little devils before eating them raw? If not, how do you avoid coating your mouth and throat with this unpleasant slime? Is there any danger associated with thick layers of slime in your esophagus?
[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 30 November 1999).]
I've stepped on banana slugs in bare feet and found that they leave a thick, viscous layer of slime that is difficult to remove from my feet.
I understand the Indians in the Pacific Northwest used to roast their banana slugs before consuming them. This sounds like an effective way to deal with the slime.
Do you skin the little devils before eating them raw? If not, how do you avoid coating your mouth and throat with this unpleasant slime? Is there any danger associated with thick layers of slime in your esophagus?
[This message has been edited by Howard Wallace (edited 30 November 1999).]
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Great question. When I am doing hard core training, we eat them raw. They taste like...well how can you explain that...your only thought is not throwing up because then you'd have to eat that. Unfortunately, I never ask a student to do something that we don't also do. :>)
They leave a thick past on your tongue that takes about 3 days to get rid of (or so it seems). They are not harmful to you unless your allergic, don't chew them well, or suffocate on your vomit.
They are a lot better when cooked in a stew (or roasted). However, I must warn you that they will explode when heated (sometimes) so it is best to cut them into small peices.
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Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
They leave a thick past on your tongue that takes about 3 days to get rid of (or so it seems). They are not harmful to you unless your allergic, don't chew them well, or suffocate on your vomit.
They are a lot better when cooked in a stew (or roasted). However, I must warn you that they will explode when heated (sometimes) so it is best to cut them into small peices.
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Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Yeah Greg!
I call them "Blasting slugs".
I really dislike the slime... the sensation when they crawl around in your gut after swallowing them is odd as well.
The BEST bug is the Tsuri grub (Palm grub) in the Amazon. They grow in downed palms and are great. Very juicy raw and when cooked... A close second are the giant jungle snails. These babys are Escargot supreme. They weigh in at 4-6 oz each, ready to cook. Cooked in Tsuri oil (from the fried grubs) with jungle cilanthro and garlic.. we are talking fine meal here guys. Wash it all down with spit beer and life don't get no better.
In the mountains we eat a lot of rat, marmots and mice. Fish is OK but marmot stewed in a rusty can with wild onion and sage as fine a meal as you can get. The good thing is, you don't have to carry it.
Ron
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I call them "Blasting slugs".
I really dislike the slime... the sensation when they crawl around in your gut after swallowing them is odd as well.
The BEST bug is the Tsuri grub (Palm grub) in the Amazon. They grow in downed palms and are great. Very juicy raw and when cooked... A close second are the giant jungle snails. These babys are Escargot supreme. They weigh in at 4-6 oz each, ready to cook. Cooked in Tsuri oil (from the fried grubs) with jungle cilanthro and garlic.. we are talking fine meal here guys. Wash it all down with spit beer and life don't get no better.
In the mountains we eat a lot of rat, marmots and mice. Fish is OK but marmot stewed in a rusty can with wild onion and sage as fine a meal as you can get. The good thing is, you don't have to carry it.
Ron
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I'm not much of a cook. Unless I have someone along who is, I mostly just take the localy caught mammal flesh and cook it for a real long time, till it gets like pot roast. I guess some bbq sauce would be a pretty good condement to bring along.
Catfish is great, but I always take the skin off.
I frequently pack hard tack and bullion cubes. Sometimes I'll dry some meat and chop it into little bits and add it to the hard tack, maybe some corn or peas too. Most people hate hard tack, I kinda like it. Probably not the most nourishing food, but it's fought a whole lotta wars and gotten sailors around most of the world.
Main thing is that it's nigh invulnerable, lightweight, and cheap.
Oh yeah, swamp cabbage.
Catfish is great, but I always take the skin off.
I frequently pack hard tack and bullion cubes. Sometimes I'll dry some meat and chop it into little bits and add it to the hard tack, maybe some corn or peas too. Most people hate hard tack, I kinda like it. Probably not the most nourishing food, but it's fought a whole lotta wars and gotten sailors around most of the world.
Main thing is that it's nigh invulnerable, lightweight, and cheap.
Oh yeah, swamp cabbage.
When in "Nam" while in the Corps, my favorite was beans & franks, and I still love them to this day. Just open the can and add a little onion, tabasco, and catsup, and there you go. Thats the same way we doctored them, and a lot of other "C" rations. I thought you guys might think this meal as bland, but when I saw the posts mentioning the slugs, this moved up to first class dining.
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On a trip to the PI we had a E&E instructor that tried to shock everybody by ripping off the head of a "rice bug" and sucking out the guts. It actully tasted better than the dehydrated pork patty that would have been lunch.
[This message has been edited by Shrike9 (edited 30 November 1999).]
[This message has been edited by Shrike9 (edited 30 November 1999).]
I can see that I'm in with my kinda people!
Ron
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Ron
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Learn Life Extension at:
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A handy trick is to pre-bake potatoes. Wrapped in foil it only takes a few minutes to heat them on the coals; also great for breakfast fried potatoes (LOTS of butter, mmm!), hash browns, etc. Garnish with a moose (tenderloin, filet, ribs, etc.) and you've got a meal!
Rob Simonich
Big Bear
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Lets see, medium rare T-bone, baked potato with butter and sour cream, corn on the cobb, salad, and beer. That is my favorite wilderness meal! OK, off topic. The best measl I had that stared from nothing was....
Saw a big pile of shelled pine cones and found a big stash of pine nuts, a double handfull! Took them and stowed them away, later on killed a squirell, packed him along, then stumbled one of them puffballs about the size of a football and with just a wee bit of water cooked all the ingredients up. Kind of sauteed it in an old coffee can. (Didnt use all the puffball of course) I had salt an pepper with me and this was the finest wilderness stew I had ever had!
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www.simonichknives.com
Saw a big pile of shelled pine cones and found a big stash of pine nuts, a double handfull! Took them and stowed them away, later on killed a squirell, packed him along, then stumbled one of them puffballs about the size of a football and with just a wee bit of water cooked all the ingredients up. Kind of sauteed it in an old coffee can. (Didnt use all the puffball of course) I had salt an pepper with me and this was the finest wilderness stew I had ever had!
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www.simonichknives.com
Rob,
I like your first meal best! On week long survival training trips I'd freeze a seasoned 32oz "T" bone in dry ice after wrapping it in foil. Then wrap the thing in my wool coat and shove it in my pack.
About three days later the meat would be aging in my pack, the students would be feeling the hunger bad so I'd head up to my camp and cook that baby up in the foil I'd wrapped it in. Of course the smell would waft down to the folks and.... I'd eat the whole thing.... torture.
The worm turns. When I did the "Anyplace wild" show for Backpacker Magazine I had to lead the editor of the magazine into the woods for a week and live off the land while we were videotaped. The damn crew had catered meals, steaks, eggs, bacon, coffee, rolls, corn, beans, beer, cokes, cakes, stews, pot roasts... you get the drift... so did I. Had to smell it.... what torture!
I did sneak down late at night and steal a six pack of beer though. John and I got a buzz and forgot all about the hunger.
I don't torment students like that any more. ;>)
Ron
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I like your first meal best! On week long survival training trips I'd freeze a seasoned 32oz "T" bone in dry ice after wrapping it in foil. Then wrap the thing in my wool coat and shove it in my pack.
About three days later the meat would be aging in my pack, the students would be feeling the hunger bad so I'd head up to my camp and cook that baby up in the foil I'd wrapped it in. Of course the smell would waft down to the folks and.... I'd eat the whole thing.... torture.
The worm turns. When I did the "Anyplace wild" show for Backpacker Magazine I had to lead the editor of the magazine into the woods for a week and live off the land while we were videotaped. The damn crew had catered meals, steaks, eggs, bacon, coffee, rolls, corn, beans, beer, cokes, cakes, stews, pot roasts... you get the drift... so did I. Had to smell it.... what torture!
I did sneak down late at night and steal a six pack of beer though. John and I got a buzz and forgot all about the hunger.
I don't torment students like that any more. ;>)
Ron
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Learn Life Extension at:
http://www.survival.com ]
Here`s another vote for Mountain House. We had them on my last backpacking trip. Just boil water, pour it in the bag, close the zip-loc on the bag, and eat it out of the bag. Lick off the spoon, burn the bag or pack it out, and you`re done! They tasted amazingly good. We even talked about fixing them back home -- until, of course, the visit to Redneck Earl`s BBQ.
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At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives (Joshua 5:2)
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At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives (Joshua 5:2)
Most of my trips into the wild consist of fly-in float trips....Brooks Range in Alaska...
after the plane leaves...and the raft is inflated...were off.
usually it's my friend Tom and I,our camp is
very comfortable, we can take about 250 lbs. of gear in the float plane.
my favorite meal....the main staple in camp is Trio dried hash brown potatoes, which saves weight.Tom is the designated camp cook, he's been doing trips into the Brooks for twenty years and knows his way around a good coleman cookstove.To the potatoes he adds Maple cured bacon ,fresh onions and usually the first game brought to bag.We can take a caribou at will , it's really a gimme on these trips.Of course for the first couple of days A good Corona is our friend after a long days float..As you can see we do really rough-it...
after the plane leaves...and the raft is inflated...were off.
usually it's my friend Tom and I,our camp is
very comfortable, we can take about 250 lbs. of gear in the float plane.
my favorite meal....the main staple in camp is Trio dried hash brown potatoes, which saves weight.Tom is the designated camp cook, he's been doing trips into the Brooks for twenty years and knows his way around a good coleman cookstove.To the potatoes he adds Maple cured bacon ,fresh onions and usually the first game brought to bag.We can take a caribou at will , it's really a gimme on these trips.Of course for the first couple of days A good Corona is our friend after a long days float..As you can see we do really rough-it...
Just got to thinking, Mountain House used to make these compressed bacon bars, man they were really good, to just open and eat or add to whatever. The COSTCO stores have hormel bacon bits (the real thing) in large cans, its really good for about 7 bucks. My grandson constantly wants me to buy it for him. Its precooked, eat as is or add to whatever. This stuff seems to store pretty well also, no matter as it goes real fast.