Camping anyone? Healthy food options on the go....

tammigates

Finally - I have convinced my husband to join me in my efforts to improve nutrition! We are planning a camping trip soon and I want to get a head start on meal planning prior to the trip so we don't default to the stand by "burgers, dogs & chips".

We're in a camper, so we do have refrigeration and a stove, but I would like to prep in advance so I'm not cooking a lot on vacation.

What are some of your favorite quick & easy recipes?

spiriteagle99

Stir fry, chili, fajitas, quesadillas, spaghetti/tortellini, stew made ahead of time and frozen before the trip, pulled pork in crockpot,

NorthCascades

For me it's always been boiling water in a bag. Backpacker's Pantry, stuff like that. Nasty swill.

westrich20940

Beans, chili, stew (with any and all veggies). All easy you can make ahead and stick the pot in your fridge or cook it there.

Grab and go stuff: nuts, larabars, kind bars etc.

penguinmama87

This depends a little bit on how long the trip is, but I love refrigerator salads - you can mix them up ahead of time and then they stay good for several days, even with dressing.

Baked oatmeal is also my go-to breakfast. More toothsome than stovetop, you can prep it ahead including freezing. I add fruit, flax seed and nutritional yeast to mine, and serve with 16g of peanut butter.

Grilled chicken is also outdoorsy and very tasty when marinated but less calorific than hot dogs or hamburgers. You could cook it over a fire or bring some already cooked from home. Bottled Italian dressing is a very easy marinade.

cwolfman13

We camp as a family quite a bit...mostly long weekends and such. We eat pretty much the same as we do at home. I usually make Chili or some other kind of stew for the first night since we usually arrive late afternoon or early evening and have set up and other things to take care of so it's just an easy re-heat.

Other than that, I'm usually on the grill for evening meals just like I am at home...some kind of meat or poultry with some kind of veg side and some kind of grain or starch. We typically do burgers one night and personally don't find anything inherently unhealthy about a burger...it's just ground beef, some cheese and a bun with some toppings like lettuce and tomato. We usually do sandwiches for lunch and sometimes my wife will make herself a salad...I'm not personally a big salad person and only enjoy them very occasionally. Breakfast is usually eggs, sausage or ham, and potatoes.

I don't mind cooking when I'm camping (I enjoy cooking anyway)...there's generally not a whole lot going on in the evening and I'd rather grill it up than sit around.

EyeOTS

My go to is Tasty Bites Indian Food. Some are high in sodium, but they are easy to heat and have some good veg. Plus I just like Indian food.

Protien bars, nuts and dried fruit is also good.

ridiculous59

Breakfast: To me, breakfast is an enjoyable part of camping so bacon, eggs, beans, hash browns, sausages, etc are all good. My husband usually cooks breakfast and I do the cleanup.

Dinner: Quesadillas, butter chicken and naan, chicken Ceasar wraps, burritos, sausage rolls (picked up at the bakery before we leave town), smokies (without the bun), steak, chili, pulled pork (I'll have the meat with a salad instead of in a bun). The reason I often choose not to have the bun when we're camping is because even though I enjoy eating it that way, sometimes I'd rather spend those calories on something yummier, like walking to the campground store (if there is one) and having ice cream in the evening. Or an extra glass of wine.

Snacks: popcorn, cherry tomatoes, fresh summer fruit i.e. blueberries, cherries, etc.

tammigates

penguinmama87 wrote: »

...
Baked oatmeal is also my go-to breakfast. More toothsome than stovetop, you can prep it ahead including freezing. I add fruit, flax seed and nutritional yeast to mine, and serve with 16g of peanut butter. ....

Tell me more about the baked oatmeal!

penguinmama87

tammigates wrote: »

penguinmama87 wrote: »

...
Baked oatmeal is also my go-to breakfast. More toothsome than stovetop, you can prep it ahead including freezing. I add fruit, flax seed and nutritional yeast to mine, and serve with 16g of peanut butter. ....

Tell me more about the baked oatmeal!

Sure! It's my favorite!

This is the base recipe I use, though the website has several other kinds too and I love it for recipes for all kinds of things. I use a little less butter and use (a lesser amount) of maple syrup in place of the brown sugar. I use 3/4 cup to 1 cup blueberries instead of raisins, and the last time I made it I added 21g of flax seed and 34g of nutritional yeast.

One batch is about nine servings for me: about 130-150g, or 275-300 calories, and I add 16g of peanut butter. I am more cautious about the measuring part now, but it's been my regular breakfast for years and I still look forward to it every morning I get to eat it.

I bake it in a 8x8 square dish usually. If I'm freezing it I will usually bake in a square foil pan, though you could probably freeze in single servings too.

kshama2001

penguinmama87 wrote: »

tammigates wrote: »

penguinmama87 wrote: »

...
Baked oatmeal is also my go-to breakfast. More toothsome than stovetop, you can prep it ahead including freezing. I add fruit, flax seed and nutritional yeast to mine, and serve with 16g of peanut butter. ....

Tell me more about the baked oatmeal!

Sure! It's my favorite!

This is the base recipe I use, though the website has several other kinds too and I love it for recipes for all kinds of things. I use a little less butter and use (a lesser amount) of maple syrup in place of the brown sugar. I use 3/4 cup to 1 cup blueberries instead of raisins, and the last time I made it I added 21g of flax seed and 34g of nutritional yeast.

One batch is about nine servings for me: about 130-150g, or 275-300 calories, and I add 16g of peanut butter. I am more cautious about the measuring part now, but it's been my regular breakfast for years and I still look forward to it every morning I get to eat it.

I bake it in a 8x8 square dish usually. If I'm freezing it I will usually bake in a square foil pan, though you could probably freeze in single servings too.

Here's another baked oats recipe:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/283660/blended-baked-oats/

I too adapt the heck out of it. I'm currently making it Midnight Snack Size - I cook it in a 12 unit mini popover tin (16 minutes at 400 degrees) but have been considering taking the pan route instead due to that being a lot less work.



For the latest batch I replaced the 30 g flour w 30 g hot chocolate mix - YUM!

age_is_just_a_number

I’m on my way home from a two week camping trip. Also in a trailer with a fridge. I feel like I didn’t gain weight (which I normally do while camping) but I won’t know for sure until we get home tomorrow.

We eat pretty much the same as we do at home. With some exceptions. It is vacation after all.

I don’t track while on vacation. This year, we made a conscious effort to not pack endless snacks (chips cookies, marshmallows and the like). We packed one 170 gram bag of Miss Vickies kettle cooked chips, which ate over several days in the first week, and one bag of heavenly hunks cookies, which we opened in the second week. So, with fewer snacks available our calories were consumed during meal times.
We had salad to start off almost every dinner.
We use our mini camping bbq to grill vegetables, potatoes and meat.
On travel days we either have cold cuts and make sandwiches or we do fast food. We travelled for four full days over the two weeks.
For us, having the fridge and freezer has been a game changer for camping food.

The short story is: if you have water, fridge and freezer, then pack the healthy food you want to eat. Then that’s what you will eat because there are no other choices.

Enjoy!

MargaretYakoda

NorthCascades wrote: »

For me it's always been boiling water in a bag. Backpacker's Pantry, stuff like that. Nasty swill.

If you have a dehydrator you can make much better stuff for far less cash.

I’ve got a soup recipe I developed myself that is pretty good. But there’s lots of good stuff you can make for camping/hiking/quick home meals.

StellarIam38

Lots! Lol! Make homemade protein bars, bring nuts, seeds, and fruits/veg (just make sure you weigh out your nuts and seeds) there are so many healthy options you can bring and create!

Isaac