Keep Cooking …
I was hoping to post a bunch of great camp kitchen set-ups. But it just keeps snowing, and snowing, and snowing. How do I break the winter blues and fight off cabin fever? I cook!!! Its time to try out all those recipes you were thinking would be great out on the trail. You know the ones I’m talking about the ones that just WOW! All your campfire guests. Once you find some great tasting dish that you and all you packing/trail riding buddies will love, then the work really starts.
You need to start breaking it down for easy back country cooking. I know very few folks that would rather be cooking, slaving away over the propane stove than be out fishing. But food is also a major part of my back country trips…. Let me start by saying there are some really good freeze-dried meals out there but unless there is a major weight and or space issue, I’ll just tie on another mule and eat like a King! There are a few things I’ve learned over the years. All my cooking and serving utensils are metal. For the over the fire cooking, along with propane stove cooking. I leave the plastic stuff at home. I pack in salt and pepper mills. First those cardboard containers break and pour salt all over my kitchen boxes secondly when those spices get damp, they get hard with a salt mill, I just keep grinding them up. I pack real whole potatoes they are heavy but move them around and balance your loads plus they’ll keep for weeks. Eggs get packed in whole, I pre-prep as much of the dinner sides as I can, seal a meal it, at that point no cans to deal with. You can just drop that bag in boiling water to cook a lots less pots and pans to wash. I’m often asked what do I cook for dinner on days 6, 7 and 8 and how do I stop meat from spoiling? The new bear resistant ice chest like the Engels do a great job, as an option. On long extended trips when everyone else has turned to freeze dried I’m breaking out canned hams the left overs become breakfast meat and sandwiches at lunch. Canned chicken becomes a big Chinese night toward the end of the trip. There are a lot of ways to eat really good, miles from nowhere just think outside of the box and start planning early… You still have time! It’s still snowing… Have fun cooking and I’ll see you on the trail.
Andy
PS- Looking for inspiration? We have a great selection of cookbooks on our website! We just listed 7 new title of Dutch oven cookbooks written by the one and only Colleen Sloan. Check them out here.
