camp foods/cooking

Hi there Jo,

We always pre cook and cryovac meals then it's just a matter of heat and eat...
We do soups, casseroles, along with fresh meat. Hope this helps.

We have been successful "flat packing" meals. If your fridge can keep contents frozen, try premaking your meals and packing them in ziplock bags and storing them flat in the freezer. When its time to eat thaw and reheat on your stove in a saucepan. Depending on the size of the bag you can fit flat into the freezer you can get 2-4 individual meals per bag and by flat packing you can get a fair amount of food into a relatively small space.

Hi Jo,
Did a similar trip in 2008.
One of the best things I brought before the trip was a vacuum sealing (cryo-vac type) machine.
We cooked some of those meals that you add the sauce to cooked chicken (butter chicken, chicken tonight), plus stew's and slices of pizza.
We then froze them in a container that was the correct size for keeping in our Bushman fridge. (freezing before sealing means that you are not trying to seal wet contents, which is impossible)
Once well and truly frozen we vacuum sealed them and kept then frozen until the start of the trip.
With the vacuum sealing as long as you keep them refrigerated they last a long time.
When needed get the nights meal out in the morning and by dinner time they should be defrosted.
This way you can cook bearing in mind any dietary requirements.
Just avoid bones in the meals. (can pierce the bags).
Using this method the main part of the meal is already prepared, all you need to do then is boil up some vegetables or rice.
Hope this helps,
William

Hey guys, we are planning the same trip for same time next year... Let us know how you go... Cryovac EVERYTHING!!! :) best thing todo, I found it a great help, as we have 5 children... there is also a great new idea out, I forget what its called, but BCF sell them, a pot where you stick everything in it, pop it in the car and its all cooke dby dinner time... around $300 and a great idea.. :) Easy for mum too... Have fun out there..

oOn our last central vic trip a few years back, our fridgewasn'tup to the 40 plus C heat, so could carry any fresh meats. Moved to canned meat, which was a bit average on the taste and texture ... but a few dried herbs and spices helped with that.

The main and rather tastey side dish included couscous. We picked up a fewdifferent flavoured tyres of couccous which even the fussy kids took a liking to.

So, we would buy ice in a town we pass throgh, ...and but some fresh meat, ... chicken, ...camel, ... steak .... what was available and cook up with the couscous .... and whatever else as on hand. A fairly simple fare ... but it doest seem to taste a bit better when you are camping out.

Osh

Hi Jo,
I'm usually the designated cook on our typical 3-5day trips to the murray. From experience, I'd have to suggest you go to the powdered spice/sauce section at Coles. Most dishes only require fresh meat and veggies. My all time favourite would have to be beef casserole. Precut some beef from home and cryovac if needed (butcher can do this for you if you don't have a machine). Get some potatoes and onions, which keep quite well... some "Real" beef stock, or if space is scarce substitute it with stock cubes... and of course the beef casserole powder mix. This may not seem like an easy thing, but i've made it many times and it literally takes no longer than 10minutes to prepare it for the hour long slow cook. Meanwhile cook up some rice and you're set. Note how all ingredients keep well or are mostly dry/frozen.

Another one of my favourites would have to be curry. You can basically whip one up with anything you have. Chicken, beef, potatoes, onions, pumpkin, carrots, celery... again most of the flavour comes from dry powdered spices such as garam masala, cumin, coriander, chilli etc. The spice mix can be premixed together and stored in a zip lock bag. Much like the casserole, once you get it ready, it can be left to simmer. Again, this goes well with rice, or bread if you have any.

Seeing as you seem to like the burrito idea but don't want to abandon it. To make things simpler, the chicken can be marinated in taco spice mix (i think it contains tomato powder?) along with some oil and other spices that you may want, eg: onion, paprika etc. Freeze it, and defrost when needed. Fry it up and serve with rice or tortillas (they keep well if unopened from the store). As for greens, if you cant get the fresh stuff, get some canned veg instead. Perhaps some asparagus, peas or whatever you like can be cooked up with the chicken, the marinade will add flavour to them.

Sure having everything frozen is convenient but having something freshly cooked will make a world of difference if space and time allows. I've found these luxuries go a long way in the whole outback experience. Just keep in mind that if you prepare precooked meals for everything, your fridge will be taking on a lot of water weight, space of which could be used for other things. Anyway, i hope you find this useful.

PS: No tomatoes or dairy are required in these recipes =)

Cheers,
Will

Jo
We went on the Canning Stock Route, last year and SWMBO coooked up and cryovaced 78 meals before leaving
After cryovacing meal lots they were flattened, and frozen, and arranged in such manner that no two meals were plucked out 2 nights in a row.
The Engel was chock-a-block full

Also packed, in an easy to get at contailer, were lots of freeze dried peas and carrots, along with instant potato.
We had roast lamb, roast beef, silverside, Spag bolognase and other pasta sauces.
Actually lived like kings, out there.
Keep in mind that all we had to do was take out the frozen meat(s) at lunch time, to thaw, and it was basically warmed up in the frypan, by dropping the plastic pouch, in all into a frypan of boiling water, then opened last, after the potato, and peas,( ect ) were done. The water left in the frypan, was then used later on for washing up.

All to easy, and saves a lot of room.

Cheers
Bucky

It is also fun to do some camp cooking and have some freshly made meals. The Thermo Pot or the Dream Pot will happily make great pea (or lentil) and ham soup or any soup or stew as you travel or on a rest day. Dried split peas or brown lentils don't take up much space and bacon or ham bones keep well in a fridge. You do need to start the soup or stew on a stove and boil it for about ten minutes to kill any bacteria (follow instructions) then put it in a sealed insulated outer pot and it cooks on stored heat for up to eight hours. A magic way to save power! You will have plenty of cold weather so a big pot of delicious hot soup ready when you stop would be great! Couscous is a great thing as it uses very little water compared to pasta and is very quick to prepare.
Have you thought about a camp oven if you intend to light campfires? Fun for all and damper to die for! Mountain Bread (check your supermarket) is also a useful stand by for wraps etc and it keeps very well and occupies little space. Have a terrific trip! Lynne

Thanks so much for everyone's replies - I have a list now to work from!!

Have a few questions though - sorry!

For those that cook & freeze their meals prior to cryo-vaccing is it just because it's easier to cryo-vac that way?? Do you just freeze it flat in a zip-lock bag then take it to be cryo-vacced?? I have asked our local deli to do some for us so that's not a problem at all but would like to do a trial run before hand.

Once it's been cryo-vacced do you just leave it in the fridge or do you pop it back into the freezer until time to leave home??

We do have a fridge/freezer combo but i'm not certain it stays at the same temperature so am really hesitant to just pack meals frozen into the freezer without being cryo-vacced as i'm convinced that the temp goes up and down and may result in off meat - not something you want to happen in the middle of the desert with 2 young kids!!

For those that suggested the cooking pot or the camp oven we really are pushed for space as it is so want to avoid it if at all possible. Also we won't have access to fire wood as you are unable to collect it in the desert and we can't put anything else on the roof ~ so we are totally limited to the little gas stove!!

Love the idea of cous-cous - hadn't thought of using that and much easier than rice/pasta!

Thanks again for all the replies - much appreciated!!

Jo

We freeze our casseroles,stews etc...& place in Cryovac then seal. You cannot seal "sloppy & wet" stuff it won't work. Also place a slice of bread (if you want toast in the m/ning or later in the day) into zip bag or similar freeze it, then take it out of bag once frozen & seal in cryovac. You cannot seal (cryovac) bread it goes into a soft nothing!!! unless frozen first. We take our Vacuum sealer with us and top up food as we go when we stop at C/van Park or use a Genny. I realise you are stuck or limited for room but I am just expressing an idea. You can purchase a Vacuum sealer on Evil Bay for around $60 to $120 including some bags. If you do cryovac food & you do wish to thaw it quickly by using a microwave in a park or whatever cut the cryovac bag open first. Have fun.

When we did the Simpson crossing, I avoided rice and pasta cooking because of the amount of water used. That is something you may need to consider.

I've just vacuum sealed meals for 15 nights (trip at the end of the month into the GVD). Did 4 casseroles + meat. Most butchers these days sell roasts already marinated and also vacuum sealed butterfly'd chicken. As others have said freeze the meals as flat as possible and make sure the bag size is suitable for your fridge. One tip is if you've madE a casserole, leave it in the bag and boil it for 30 minutes or so. Save the hot water for washing up later. You could pre cook rice as well and then reheat it this way. Pretty much the same idea as Uncle Bennies rice.

Thanks to all that have replied so far!! Greatly appreciated and some awesome ideas!!

Just confirming that i have this right as i would hate for anyone in my family or fellow travellers to get sick from my cooking!!

I freeze the meal in a zip-lock bag as flat as possible. Then take to be cryo-vacced (asap after taking out of freezer so it doesn't defrost!!) When i have it cryo-vacced do I leave it in the zip-lock bag or do we take it out of that?? Sorry probably a really stupid question!!

At the moment I am thinking I probably only need 5 or 6 meals cryo-vacced for dinners as we are staying in motels from Melb to Birdsville and then from Mt Dare home will be motels as well. So dinners will probably be bought at road houses or the pub. I am looking at the following for dinners - what do you think - its in no particular order!!

1. Spag sauce (i'm allergic to tomato but can tolerate a small amount with an allergy tab)

2. Chicken S/Fry with canned vegies and cous cous. Planning on marinading the chicken before we leave home and cryo-vaccing.

3. Sweet and Sour Pork - One of those Kantong Jars made up before we leave home and cryo-vacced. Served with rice - We have WAY overcatered on the water situation so are happy to cook rice using 2 cups of water.

4. Hamburgers - served in mountain bread. Will have these cryo-vacced also - I know they break down into one big mush but will be easy enough to roll into small balls.

5. Some sort of casserole served with cous-cous. Pre-cook and cryo-vacced.

6. Am thinking of making a sausage curry casserole or perhaps buying from the butcher and getting cryo-vacced.

What are everyone's thoughts - I am quite averse to the food in a can option as it reminds me of our dogs dinners but my husband is very keen as he thinks that it's a whole lot easier. Someone suggesting slow cooking - we're not keen on having the gas stove going for too long as it'd mean carrying a heap of extra butane canisters.

Thanks so much for everyones help so far, greatly appreciated! :-)
Jo

Just a few extra thoughts:
I try to avoid the risk of punctured cryovac bags by not using meat with bones (lamp chops, and chicken pieces). So I use lean lamb (leg meat usually) and chicken thighs.
This gives rise to such delights as precooked lamb, using sliced onion, garlic, rosemary, lemon juice and yoghurt [marinate the lamb in garlic, rosemary, lemon juice and yoghurt; pan fry the onion until clear, add the marinated misture, sear and then turn down and braise until cooked - about 20 mins on low heat]. Served with rice, couscus or whatever. Another reliable favourite is paprika chicken, again pre-cooked, but I use tomato which may be a problem for you. Beef stroganof keeps well and tastes great also.
I have given up on too much frozen cooked veg and rice, because it takes up too much fridge space. Also, re-heating rice takes almost as long as cooking it, and uses much the same water.
We do the same as others, and reheat the meat dish without opening the cryovac bag, just in a billy of boiling water. Even Deb and surprise peas can be used to make up a complete meal if you are travelling light!
We minimise the use of chicken and pork in the form of frozen or raw cryovac cuts, simply because the keeping qualities of these are worse than red meat. So we usually take a fair supply of frozen, cryovac-ed porterhouse, a few frozen, boneless pork loins, a few sausages, and then the rest pre-cooked meals as above.