You take the top off a can of chili and set it on top of your Whisperlite. You spend big bucks on freeze-dried meals at the backpacking store. You have the same trail mix you had yesterday. And your ice chest melts and ruins everything in it, then it smells like spoiled meat until you throw it away. Well, I have a better way!
I enjoy a vegetarian diet which I supplement w/ eggs and occasional dairy. I believe that there is no ideal diet for everyone.
You can experiment to see what works best for you. Lighter diets are good for quickness and feeling light, while heavier diets may help w/ strength and endurance. Eddy Merckx, the legendary bicycle racer, was at his peak while on a raw food diet. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova found that adding eggs to her vegan diet improved her endurance. Of course the difference could also be psychological. Gradual changes to your diet are better than trying out fads. Many people would do well on a Chinese-type diet: grains (fuel) & veggies (vitamins) w/ small amounts of meat.
So I have put together a reasonably diverse selection of camp food, along with where I buy it, and some preparation hints. Let me know what you think — send comments and suggestions to eddylark@davidlark.net.
| Granola Mueslix Rice or Almond Milk Powdered Soybean Drink |
(TJ) (W) (TJ) (O) |
|
| Quick Oatmeal Rice Farina Quick Polenta (Grits) Jam, Syrup, Honey, etc. |
(W) (M) (A) (R) |
Besides breakfast, use instead of corn starch to thicken sauces. Try grits w/ canned green chilies. |
| Eggs* |
(W) |
Eggs supposedly keep two weeks unrefrigerated.
Test by immersing in water. |
| Pancake Mix Buckwheat Flour Chickpea (Garbanzo) Flour |
(W) (W) (I) |
Use up to 50% for a hearty pancake. Use up to 30% for a protein pancake. |
| Wasabi Peas Chips Trail Mix "Powerbars" Cookies Dried Fruit Nuts |
(A,TJ) (TJ) (TJ,W,I) (GO),(TJ) (GO,$) (TJ) (TJ) |
I stock four kinds: Chocalate, Fruit, Nut, & Spicy |
| Avocado* or Avomex Guacamole* |
(A,GO) (G) |
Buy some ripe ones and some green ones to give several days supply. Pressure-processed — keeps a few days in your truck, 2 weeks in the fridge, or freeze indefinitely. |
| Dolmas Hummous Mix Tabouleh Mix |
(A,TJ) (A,W) (A,W) |
Canned — oily but edible. Eat w/ tortillas. Use olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, & water — mix in morning, eat for lunch. |
| White Rice Quinoa Millet Buckwheat Semolina Bulgar Other quick cooking grains |
(O) (W) (W) (W) (W) (W) |
1 Crock MealStart cooking some grains w/ a little extra water. Chop some vegetables.When the grains are partway cooked, begin adding vegetables, starting with the ones that need to be cooked longest. They will steam on top of the grains. Bulgar is a quick rice substitute. |
| Tofu Tempeh* |
(TJ) (W) |
In aseptic packs. Start frozen — should last a few days. |
| Canned Pasta Sauce Italian-Style Noodles |
(TJ) (W,$) |
Use falafel mix to make meatless balls, top w/ nutritional yeast. |
| Thai Rice Noodles Coconut Milk Yellow Curry Paste* Dried Black Fungus Gluten w/ Bamboo Shoots |
(O) (O) (O) (O) (O) |
Yellow Curry NoodlesPut enough water in pot to soak noodles.Put in fungus, bring to boil, immediately shut off & let soak. Fry 1 can gluten in pan, add an onion, 1 can coconut milk, 1 Tbs curry paste (or to taste), any green veggies you have. Reheat water to boiling, shut off, soak noodles until tender. |
| Ramen Quick Indian Curries |
(TJ) (I) |
These use less fuel if you heat the contents in a saucepan instead of boiling the pouch. |
| Instant Lentil Curry Instant Split Pea Soup Instant Black Bean Soup Instant Navy Bean Soup Mix Instant Refried Beans Vegetarian Chili Mix Instant Corn Chowder Onion Soup Powder |
(A,W) (A,W) (A,W) (A,W) (A,W) (A,W) (A,W) (A,W) |
Beans, the musical fruit. It amazes me how kayakers will prefer instant beans to an Indian curry. I buy most of these varieties so I'm not as easily bored. I prefer Fantastic Planet black beans to Taste Adventure, and am least impressed with the navy beans and the onion soup. Mix refrieds w/ chili mix, rice, onions, other veggies, chili sauce. Serve on tortilla. Most of these soup mixes can be used as a sauce or a dip also. Just mix in water to desired thickness. |
| Falafel Mix Dehydrated Mashed Potatoes |
(A,W) (G,$) |
Better than veggieburger mix. Better than starvation. |
| Onions* Potatoes* Cabbage* Zucchini* Seaweed Miso* |
(A,W) (A,W) (A,W) (A,W) (O,W) (W) |
Miso Vegetable SoupBoil potatoes, onions, cabbage, and zucchini together.When cooked, turn off the stove, and add the seaweed & miso. Stir until the miso is dissolved. Let sit for a few minutes until the seaweed gets soft. |
| WATER! | If you're not sure of the water situation where you're going, you must bring your own! | |
| Olive Oil Tamari (Soy Sauce) Hot Sauce* Ketchup, Mustard, Etc. Indian Pickles |
(TJ) (W) (O) (R) (I) |
Keep this stuff in plastic bottles which can be found at
(W). The chili sauce from Asian grocery stores seems to last indefinitely, and is plenty warm. Grows hair on your chest. |
| Teabags |
(TJ,W) |
|
| Chopped Garlic Chopped Onion Italian Seasoning Spike Salt, Pepper |
(GO) (GO) (GO) (W) (W) |
|
| Tortillas* |
(TJ) |
Hey, they're not refrigerated in the stores! |
| Curry Powder | (O,I) |
Potato CurryStore-bought sucks—make your own curry powder at home!Invent your own recipe using peppercorns, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, cinnamon, nutmeg, kari leaves, cayenne, mustard seeds, turmeric, asafoetida. Roast all this in a frying pan until it becomes aromatic, then wipe the coffee out of your coffee grinder and pulverize the spices. Then pulverize some pink lentils and pack them separately. The curry powder should taste good for a couple of months. For fun, don't wash out the grinder after you're done, and see how your people react to their morning coffee. On the river, boil some potatoes along with some onions & cabbage and enough pulverized lentils to make a colourful sauce. Simmer with enough curry powder so it isn't boring, but not enough to scare people away. Serve over rice w/ a tortilla & call it nan. |
| Underripe Tomatoes* Napa Cabbage* |
(W,G) (W,G) |
Salad |
| Nutritional Yeast Multiple Vitamin Electrolyte Sports Drink Powder Protein/Carbo SportDrink Pwdr |
(W) (TJ) (A) ??? |
Complete protein,
insect repellent, and replaces powdered Parmesean. Keep powders in old pill bottles. |
|
Cast Iron Camp Dutch Oven |
A camp dutch oven has a rim around the lid to hold coals. This allows it to be used for baking. Besides being a versatile pot, you can use the lid upside-down as a skillet. |
| Solar Oven |
Perhaps make one out of the box your dutch oven came in. |
| Stove |
Your choice of size, fuel type, etc. Added note: I was just camping with some folks who routinely refilled Coleman propane cannisters. They made a rig that connects the fitting on the top of the bottle to their large propane tank. After connecting the bottle they would open a valve on the rig while pushing in the doodad on the side of the cannister to let gas escape. When liquid began pouring out of the doodad, they shut everything off. They reported having only one of these cannisters catch fire, probably due to bunged-up threads. I suspect that I will try this at some point in my life, and would make it a point to carefully inspect the bottles, mark the bottles after each filling and throw them out after several uses, and not fill them up 100%. However, this is potentially dangerous, I have not yet done any of this, and I am certainly not suggesting a course of action, just passing along information, so if you do anything like this you do so at your own risk, blah blah blah, so don't send your lawyers after me. I'm a kayaker so I don't have any money anyway. Take responsibility for your own actions. If something bad happens to you it's probably your own damn fault. BTW, I've seen refilling rigs at Harbor Freight for about $17. They probably come with instructions. I understand that refilling them might be legal, but it's (big buck fine) illegal to transport the refilled canisters. |
| Hobo Tool | Mal-Wart has a stainless knife-fork-spoon-corkscrew
multi-tool which splits in two pieces for $4. Also other camp utensils. |
| Skewers |
ToefukaboobsStick tofu, onions, veggies on a skewer. Hold them over the fire pit.Don't cook yourself. Eat when done. Even a kayak instructor can do this. |
| Black Enamel Steel Pot Other Cookware as Desired Water Filter |
For use in solar oven. Stainless mess kit, ??? To kill bacteria in water use 5-10 drops 2% iodine, or 2 drops unscented 5% chlorine bleach per quart. Let soak for 1/2 hour. Boiling works too. However, neither approach does anything for chemically polluted water. Whichever method you choose, add the requisite stuff to your kit. |
| Strike Anywhere Matches Butane Lighter Candles Match Safe |
These are my favorite places to stock up, although you should be able to find a source for most items in any area.
(A) Andy's Produce and Natural Food Market
1691 Gravenstein Hwy. N.
Sebastopol CA 95472
(707) 823-8661
($) Your local dollar store.
(G) Your local, independent, non-union-busting grocery store.
(GO) Grocery Outlet
(I) Indian grocery store
(M)
Moore's Flour Mill
1550 South State Street
Ukiah, CA 95482
(707) 462-6550
(O) Asian grocery store
(R) Steal condiment packets from restaurants. Leave a decent tip.
Go to Arby's on occasion to pocket some Horsey Sauce.
(TJ) Trader Joe's stores
(W)
Any whole foods market which has a lot of bulk items in bins.
Also, in Canada there are many stores which carry only bulk foods and ingredients.
If you're passing through Sacramento on your way to the American River or points beyond, get off highway 50 at Zinfandel. You will find a Grocery Outlet, a dollar store w/ lots of food items, two Indian groceries sharing the same driveway, with a Korean supermarket right behind them.
This document is probably too long to take shopping with you, so print out my Shopping List. It is in the public domain, and formatted for your printer.
