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What type of camping food are you going to bring?Have you thought about what type of food makes good camping food? I know I have. Basically it's food that is not going to go bad, food that will not make a huge mess when it's packed and food that does not require a cooler. If you and your family are going to a family campground, using your car as a basecamp, or if you are camping via an RV or trailer of some sort then I suppose my opinion above is of less importance. That is the beauty of RV's and trailers and family campsites after all, they're a home away from home. If you're inclined to hike or paddle to your destination then it obviously matters more what type of camping food you bring. Personally, I'm the type of person that would pack light regardless of how I'm camping because it's easier and less messy and I end up with less garbage that way. When I'm on the trail I always make sure to buy lots of dried foods, things like pasta side dishes and rice and such. They're not only easy to carry but they taste great and are a good source of carbohydrates, to give you energy on your journey. I try to avoid bringing boxes of food simply because when I buy it in bags it's easier to pack. Boxes almost always become damaged, causing a mess of macaroni in my backpack. Just be sure to deal with your garbage in a responsible manner, our forests and back country are beautiful places and will only stay that way if we treat them with respect. I've been on the trail with guys that like to bring fruits and vegtables and such. It sure does look tasty but I find that this type of food is juicy and if you're not careful how you pack it it can make a mess of everything you own on the trail. I have found the ultimate way of dealing with preparing camping food and that is by using a food dehydrator. They do take little expirementing with at home before you rely on a dehydrated meal so be sure you do expirement with it. I've used it to make things like chili, spaghetti sauce, and beef barley soup. You can dehydrate applesauce and make those chewy fruit snacks, or choose to rehydrate it to have applesauce again. You can dehydrate fruit, make beef jerky, the possibilities are endless. Some foods come back to life more easily so you do need to try things out first. For example I had made a big batch of beef stew that had lima beans in it. Well lima beans don't rehydrate real well so I'll omit them next time. Also, I've never had any success dehydrating eggs (scrambled). I know you can buy deydrated breakfasts that include eggs and they're very tasty but I've never had any luck doing it myself. If anybody knows how to do this successfully then please e-mail me and let me know so I can report on it for everybody. There are several advantages to dehydrating your camping food. If you like light weight camping then you already know how much weight you can save by removing all the water from your food. The single biggest advantage in my opinion is that you do not require a cooler or fridge or anything to keep the food from going bad. Another advantage (in my mind anyway) is that dried food doesn't have such a strong smell. Iwould like to think that animals are likely to be less attracted to it than they would be to a cooler full of steaks. I don't have any evidence to support that, it's simply the way I think about it. If you would rather not take the time, or simply don't have the time to prepare your own dehdrated food then you can always purchase it at places likeMountain House Freeze-Dried Food
Everyone likes to have a big juicy steak when they're camping, it's part of the experience after all. I love it too, however I definitely don't recommend trying to bring steaks for three days worth of eating. I usually eat that stuff the first night or second night if I figure it'll keep that long, after that I'm into my dried foods. They're really the best tasting most convenient camping food out there. Click on the link to return to the top of the camping food page or click on camping help to return to the last page, or you can go to the homepage for more information about camping . Thanks for your visit and good luck on your trip planning.
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