Camp food suggestions
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: Jasper
18-Jul-22
Going on an antelope hunt next month, tent camping. Been a while since I’ve tent camped, would like to keep eating fairly quick and simple. I was thinking of making a casserole or 2, freeze and carry in a cooler. Stuff for sandwiches. I am taking a stove and the basics for frying up some tenderloin. Suggestions? Also, I’d like to do a few freeze dried meals….suggestions as to brand and which meals are best? Thanks!
From: RonP
18-Jul-22
your choices are endless. i'm not a breakfast eater and can settle for a cup of coffee and banana before heading out. cereal dry or with milk is an option since you have a cooler. i like to minimize cooking and eat only 'cause it is necessary, not to make a spectacle of it.
having a cooler and being at the truck is nice. any kind of chicken pre made, lunch meat, pre cooked bacon, pre made meatballs or sausage, salad, etc. lots of options.
From: Chuckster
18-Jul-22
Precook and vacuum seal meals. Start boiling a bag o meal while checking camp, boots off, cocktail, getting ready for the morning, etc. Saves tons of time on the hunt.
From: carcus
18-Jul-22
Cold smoked sausage, Like hungarian sausage, genoa salami for sandwiches, skip breakfast, sardines oysters pickled herring smoked muscles, aged cheddar and crackers for supper, washed down with some canadian rye whisky!
From: Ben
18-Jul-22
The last out of state hunt I was on we took precooked scrambled eggs and bacon also stews that were frozen. One of the guys had a small micro wave and a small super quiet Honda generator. The breakfasts heated quick and easy and could also be made into breakfast burrito with a flour tortilla. The stews and chili heated up so quick and easy with little clean up. I'll do it this way from now on.
From: midwest
18-Jul-22
Same as Chuckster along with stuff to throw on my portable grill like steaks, brats, pork chops, etc. Quick and easy, no cleanup.
From: APauls
18-Jul-22
Not too many meals that can't be cooked ahead of time and vacuum sealed and just re-heated in a pan or pot, or even in the bag in hot water. But if you can transport a cooler you can transport a small BBQ and then you're living like a king!
From: DanaC
18-Jul-22
Unless you're 'into' cooking from scratch, focus on reheat-and-eat meals. Pasta with sauce, stews, chili, soups etc. Preferably 'one pot.'
From: RD in WI
18-Jul-22
I opted for the "bar" method when hunting antelope a few seasons ago - breakfast bars, Epic bars for lunch, and a hearty dinner in town. Good luck developing your meal plan.
From: Ok...Russ
18-Jul-22
Jasper, part of it would depend on if you're doing spot and stalk where might use up quite a few calories or in a ground blind over water and can have a small cooler with you.
Baked potatoes. You can add about anything on them.....add marina and parmesan with a chianti, add pulled pork, BBQ sauce with a cold beer, add ground beef with jalapenos/onions/chili powder and another cold beer, diced chicken, provolone and a sauvignon blanc or toss the potato and have a couple shots of Maker's Mark. Endless!!
From: luckychucky
18-Jul-22
There is something about the smell of campfire, bacon, and coffee. umhh. Then fry your eggs and sizzle the heart, liver and tenderloins. Oh my. Even if you skip breakfast.
From: JL
18-Jul-22
To avoid the need to carry a grill....maybe you could make a Dakota fire pit and cook off that.
From: TheGreatWapiti
18-Jul-22
I like to marinate and pre-freeze meals. Steaks, pork chops, etc. They also serve as ice blocks in the cooler. I then pull one out each morning and let it thaw out during the day.
From: Bearman
18-Jul-22
I like to make a chicken stew. 4#s of thighs, 2#carrots, 1#asparigus, 1 bundle celery.1 big onion. Slow cook for 4_5 hours then add noodles. Let it cool then pack in those cheap throw away containers. Freeze them and they will last for days in a good cooler. Good hearty meal.
From: JSW
18-Jul-22
I pre-cook thick stews, jambalaya, chili, spaghetti and meatballs, etc and freeze them in 2 serving containers. It's easy to prepare enough for a week to 10 days. Thaw one out and heat up what you need. I do this for evening meals and sandwiches for lunch. I generally skip breakfast and have a cliff bar or something similar mid morning. I never actually cook anything while in camp unless it's fresh tenderloin. Everything I need can be heated up.
From: nchunter
21-Jul-22
Boy o boy if I ate some of the stuff yall are eating for dinner I would be out in the woods more at night then in the day. Sardines for dinner???? I like cooking some kind of meat over a fire and then mixing it in with some good ol pork and beans or just eating it on a bun.
From: fuzzy
22-Jul-22
Bacon. The answer to ANY food question is ALWAYS bacon. (by the way I was typing this on my phone and when I typed AL in caps my phone autopilot "guessed "ALLAH"). There's irony.
From: fisherick
22-Jul-22
I do the same as Chuckster, Midwest, and Thegreatwapiti to just bring from home premade frozen meals in vac sealed bags. Just heat water and let bag sit in hot water 15 min. Less mess and easy cleanup.
From: fuzzy
23-Jul-22
Scoot, what's cookie salad? sounds decadent.
From: scentman
23-Jul-22
It's always a great thread when talking meals... especially camp meals from some ole pros!
From: fuzzy
26-Jul-22
OMG Scoot that sounds amazing. Thanks!
From: Norseman
26-Jul-22
Infamous Fuzzy bars!
From: Mule Power
26-Jul-22
Omg does anyone hunt! I don’t eat breakfast. One coffee, maybe. But when I first sit down to glass and call I’ll eat a little. I don’t use any perishables for lunch. Jerky. Pistachios and cashews. Granola. Maybe a snack bag of chips. Always a few small candy bars in there. For dinner my goal is to stay awake long enough for a MH meal to hydrate. Hunt, sleep, eat are my priorities in that order. We live like animals until all tags are punched. Not for everyone I know but our success rate is very good.
From: midwest
27-Jul-22
My boil-in-bag meal will be done in about the same time, maybe sooner, than a nasty Mountain House and wins over big in taste and nutrition, MP. ;-)
From: ahunter76
27-Jul-22
DIY, public land, Tented for Antelope 5 times. Other than sandwich stuff you like, we do this. After hunt main meal. 1-Pot of Chili (freeze). 2-Pot of Goulash (freeze). 3-Boxed potatoes cooked & cooked hamburger added (freeze). At least 2 meals from each. This usually gets us through 6 days (7 days of hunting). We also go to some nearby local place for pizza & a beer at least once. We're not big on breakfast but when we do it's scrambled eggs & sausage mixed in it ( you can roll it in soft shell taco for lunch too). If your driving around, spot & stalk pack plenty of sandwiches. If your in a blind, pack plenty of water & sandwiches.. Treats like cookies, chips is up to the individual. Night meal is the main one for us.. Write out your menu ahead of time & stick to it.. Tons of dishes you can fix & freeze.. They taste great & just warm em up.. Good luck.. My son, 3rd day spot & stalk 2019. A very wet year.. His 1st Antelope hunt.
From: DanaC
07-Aug-22
The OP mentions he's bringing 'a stove' and tent camping. How close to/far from the truck? If you've got room you can bring a 2-burner stove and a small propane grill and eat like a king.
From: Tracker
07-Aug-22
I make chili, cream chicken, stew, very heavily thick vegetable soup. They goo in either single or double serve freezer bags. Take one out ion the morning that heat up for dinner. Cooked Chicken breast also are good to have for extra protein. After a hard day in the woods I just want to heat something up and eat. Makes for a quick cleanup also.
From: sitO
07-Aug-22
Have you considered Omaha steaks?
From: Rock
07-Aug-22
I am lazy and do not like messing around cooking when hunting dark to dark as I do when Antelope hunting. So I make up and freeze Burritos which I store in a small soft sided cooler packed into my large cooler surrounded by ice they stay frozen or extremely cold for 2 weeks or more. Each morning I take 1 out and put it into a ziplock bag which I them place between the windshield and sunshade in my truck (with truck facing so it gets max sun). When I come back at end of day I have a hot meal waiting for me, the cheese actually melts in them. If I want a hot meal during the day I will place a Burrito in a ziplock under the roof support rod in my blind on the sunny side and can then have a hot meal during the day. Also have done the same thing with frozen meals but they are more of a mess to clean up after.
From: Jasper
29-Jan-23
Going on an antelope hunt next month, tent camping. Been a while since I’ve tent camped, would like to keep eating fairly quick and simple. I was thinking of making a casserole or 2, freeze and carry in a cooler. Suggestions? Also, I’d like to do a few freeze dried meals….suggestions as to brand and which meals are best? Thanks!
From: fdp
29-Jan-23
When tent camping out of the truck we take lots of home canned food. Chopped barbeque for sandwiches or baked potatoes, canned chicken for tacos etc., canned chili and so on.
Open it up, dump it in the pan and heat it up. About as easy as it gets.
From: Bigdog 21
29-Jan-23
Lots of boiled eggs,tuna,soups, dried fruit,stick of deer salami,crackers,PBJ, bread,cooked chicken. Lots of foods hi in protein. Like above. Cooked ham sliced.
From: Cheesehead Mike
30-Jan-23
I make spaghetti with elk Italian sausage and a hotdish with burger, onion, rice and creme of mushroom soup and freeze in individual portions in ziplock freezer bags. I reheat in a microwave or my submerging the bag in a pot of hot water and just eat out of the bag if I don't want to dirty a plate.
