Sunday, March 20, 2011

Camping, Savage style

We do a lot of camping. I was pretty against it in the beginning. I tend to sleep terribly, but I do it anyway because getting away from the noise of life is so nice. I caught myself being bored a few times--blissfully so. I just sat in my camp chair staring across the Colorado River, happy to hear the occasional cow mooing. I didn't bring any knitting and I only brought 2 printmaking books (these here) and my notebook. It was wonderful. I do get inquiries from time to time on what's on the camping menu. Unfortunately it's nothing glamorous, but I do have a document that I've created to help refresh my memory when I go off to do my shopping. (My husband and I are vegetarians, while the kids are not, so you'll find meat and meat-alternative ideas.) I'd love to know if you find it of use!

A downloadable PDF version is here.


DAY ONE
Dinner

Chili with optional side of pre-cooked rice, carrot sticks, or bag of peas (buy frozen to help keep stuff in cooler cold)
1 can black or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can tomatoes, chopped, with liquid
1 small onion, chopped
1/2-1 Tbs chili powder
¼ cup chopped green chilis (optional)
  • Put in double zip loc baggie before leaving home. Heat at campsite and consume.
Fritos would make this a great Frito Pie.
Pre-cooked Turkey bacon for kids (fry up entire package for leftovers)
Chocolate for dessert

DAY TWO
B'fast
Scrambled eggs, leftover bacon, coffee, optional oatmeal with fixins (dried coconut, cranberries, nuts, etc)

lunch
PB&J or cheese and/or bacon sandwiches

dinner
Turkey hotdogs for kids, Field Roast Vegan sausages for grown ups. Roasted fingerling potatoes, heated bag of frozen broccoli, box pudding, popcorn, ketchup, stone ground mustard

DAY THREE
B'fast
Morningstar sausages made with organic soy (2 boxes so leftovers for lunch)
biscuits with butter, jam
1 2/3 c flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1/3 c shortening
add:
¼ c powdered soy milk
  • pulse in food processor before trip and put in zip loc. Moisten with water at camp site and heat on aluminum foil on a covered grill over coals or bake on end of a stick
oatmeal as option
coffee

lunch
PB&J, sausage or cheese sandwiches

dinner
hummus and carrots as appetizer
16 oz. Can chick peas, drained with liquid reserved
½ c tahini
2 Tbs olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
2-3 cloves garlic
½ tsp salt
liquid from chick peas, as needed
  • whirl in food processor before departure.
Leftover hotdogs and field roast sausages. Cut sausages and pan fry with 2 small onions, chopped.
Roasted Sweet potatoes, roasted garlic
Banana Boats
  • slice bananas, unpeeled, down center being careful not to slice all the way through the skin. Fill up with chocolate chips, coconut flakes, cinnamon, nuts, etc. Wrap in tin foil and heat on coals for about 20 mins. Bananas will be good and black and mushy to perfection. Eat out of skins. 
     
DAY FOUR
b'fast
pre-made pancakes
coffee
oatmeal as option

Snack ideas:
Apples, tangerines, dried friut, Gopal's power wraps (vegan jerky), cheese, applesauce, roasted peanuts in shell, chips

2 comments:

ahufford said...

Thank you for posting! We will be adopting some of these, but mama needs a new camping stove first. Or are you doing most of it on the fire?

Cathy Savage said...

Since there was a burn ban (we were practically the only ones there following the rules, BTW) we used a mini grill for most food--no campfire. There's the extra burden of bringing the charcoal and the fire starters, but what I like about the grill (and it's a rectangular smokie-jo type) is that it's huge compared to our one burner camp stove. I do like the camp stove too, but it's a one-pot deal, so not ideal with my picky, picky kids, but great for ease of use and pack-ability (it's the Primus EtaPower EF Stove). I reheated the chili on the stove and cooked the eggs on there too. Oh and our second night of field roast and sauted onions were on there too. Plus water for coffee and oatmeal. I think everything else was on the grill. I put down a layer of aluminum foil on the grill and coated it with oil and roasted the fingerlings that way. For the sweet potatoes and the banana boats (which are great on fire coals as well), I wrapped them in foil and sat them down right in the grill coals. If there hadn't been a burn ban, we would have ditched the grill and opted to take that space up with firewood. :)