[lipidful]

Now that it's summer, and some people will probably be going camping and things like that, would it be a good idea to come up w/camping food ideas?
I'm trying to come up w/ideas of basically almost non perishable food.

-For example, those soups in a cup (I know, there's a lot of sodium, but to me, it's not a big deal now and then for the sake of not consuming too many calories, which is an issue for me) that you only have to add hot water to.

-Or how about those packets of Indian food in the box (tasty bite or something like that?)
http://www.tastybite.com/

-Oh, and Trader Joe's has brown rice all cooked in a bag that could maybe be mixed w/the Indian beans in a hot pot.

-I wish I could find jelly in packets in the supermarket. And while I prefer natural peanut butter, I think there might be single serving peanut butter available.

-Wasa crispbread would be good.

-Portioned out oatmeal and/or oat bran would be good to add hot water to.

-Parmalat milk in the small boxes

-cereal in sandwich bags premeasured

-fruit, of course

any other ideas????

[2frustrated]

any tinned veggies

cans of tuna or water packs or whatever

can you get tinned chicken? I know you can get tinned ham and stuff...

[laura_on_a_bike]

we just got back from 2 weeks of camping and I loaded up on stuff so we wouldn't have to eat out too much. Those veggie mixes in the produce section of the grocery are great for having fresh veggies while camping. One of my favorite things is whole wheat mac n cheese with soy dogs in it and some veggies tossed in. The only time I eat mac n cheese and it is so good.

whole wheat tortillas are invaluable- breakfast burritos, wraps, fajitas (prep everything before hand, store in zip loc bags and voila, ready to go)

canned/bagged tuna/crab/clams- you can create some fantastic pasta dishes with these, they don't go bad, don't need to stay in the cooler, low calories blahdy blahdy blah.

Cheese and bread- don't fear it when camping. its surprising how fast it can fill you up and get you ready for that next hike. You use so much energy camping that indulging in a little something you may not normally eat will certainly not kill you. picnics are nice, low hassle meals.

Oranges precut and in ziplocs

pretzels and hummus

[WaterRat]

I guess it depends a lot on what you mean by "camping." We mostly camp in the back of our pickup (with an occasional overnight trip in the canoe and sleeping in a tent). In either case, I have a cooler which greatly increases the kinds of food you can have. The other obstacle is what you have for cooking. I just have a single burner gas stove, so one-pot meals are the easiest. But I often take precooked stuff such as chicken breasts (though you could take a portable charcoal grill too). One thing I like to do if we're going to be out a few days is to take frozen chili, or homemade soup, which helps keep the cooler cold and keeps longer. It'll take a couple days or more to thaw. With the cooler I can also take fresh veggies and salad, as well as "real" milk vs. powdered. I don't eat a lot more though - the hiking/canoieing I do does not burn enough extra calories to justify it. And it especially does not justify trail mix (darn!).

And the Tasty Bites are good! I keep a couple at home for a quick meal. There are also some packaged Thai dinners (Annie Chun?) that are quite good and I've taken camping. They have a little more sodium than I like normally, but they're quick and tasty.