Obviously I didn’t doing any food posts while we were traveling/ camping. It’s a shame I didn’t. Looking back I think some “bush tucker” posts could have been cool, but honestly I was really just been thinking of food as fuel & being as minimal as possible.

Some thing I’ve learned cooking on the road…

Tortillas- 1. Loaf o’ bread- 0.
Tortillas have a much longer shelf life than a loaf of bread & are so versatile. Choosing flour vs corn tortillas means easier rolling for burritos & less fragile in the car/ backpack. Cut them up & grill/fry them for tortilla crisps in nachos. Quesadillas, enchiladas etc etc

Can of beans FTW!
When you’re cooking by fire you really don’t want to be babysitting a cooking-pot for hours. You also don’t want to waste all your firewood when you went to all the effort of collecting it. This is one time I really cannot be bothered with dried beans. I’d much prefer just whacking a can of beans in a pan for 2mins despite the cost, BPA poisons & environment. They can add simple protein & fibre to a dish with no effort.

Hot sauce!
See a theme developing here? Mexican food is my latest addiction; so easy, perfect for camping. Hot sauce belongs in this list due to its storage ease. A real hot sauce has so much chili & vinegar that it is too acidic to spoil in the heat. You can literally leave a bottle in the sun all day without it going off. Forget ketchup & mustard for your hotdogs, they need refrigeration. Hot sauce goes on everything; burgers, stir-fry, ramen… Find me a food that hot sauce doesn’t work with!

and that brings me to Instant Ramen.
*Sigh* While I’m so sick of ramen right now I could scream, you really cannot pack the car up without a few packs of ramen. It’s such a cheap meal at 15c that it’s hard to beat. Lightweight enough for your backpack, it’s perfect for camping.

Fruit & Veges that last on the road-

• Potatoes… of course. Super-versatile. Bake ‘em, fry ‘em, stew ‘em, mash ‘em…
• Onions. Like potatoes, you can carry them around for weeks…
• Carrots. Might last a week?
• Zucchini & eggplant. Depending on the temperature you might get 2 days- a week out of them.
• Tomatoes. Ok, these don’t last too long, maybe 3 days? but tomatoes can go in everything. Gotta have ‘em.
• Limes & lemons. Limes are super cheap over here so it’s rare that we don’t have a few lying around. They jazz up boring meals, & make gross water drinkable. They are simply neccessary.
• Broccoli. 3-4 days?

Of course this all depends on your climate. We’ve gone from below 0 to 45 degrees in the last few months & temperature is everything. If you’re closer to freezing temperatures you can take eggs, milk, cheese, everything. If you’re camping in temperatures over 30 or 40 celsius fresh foods just will not last.

Powdered & Dried Food-

• Go the powdered milk, unless you’re camping near the snow.
• Garlic powder. I know it’s not the same, but a tonne easier agree?
• Pre-mixed spices. It’s easier to make little pre-mixed spice-jars than have a 1000 little bottles in your trunk rattling around. I have a lemon-pepper mix, a chili-lime mexi mix & a basic curry powder. I know it limits your recipes, but so much easier.
• TVP/ TSP. Textured vegetable/ soy protein can be thrown in everything or made into burgers. A real handy thing to have on hand & ever so cheap.
• “Dry vege mix”. I’m not sure what to call this exactly. We bought it from Winco a few times & it’s just a mix of dried veges that can be thrown in soups, stews, ramen, everything. A very easy way to add some colour & taste to carb-based meals. It’s light-weight & lasts forever.

Peanut butter lasts forever. Honey is also a good one if you’re a fan.

The last few months I have mostly been eating-

Burritos! Tortillas are insanely versatile, but it’s hard to beat a basic burrito. You can go all out with fillings but a simple breakfast burrito with egg will keep you going for hours. Bean burritos rock. I even found some soy chorizo, awesome for burritos. The rest is up to your creativity.

Ramen.
It’s lightweight & cheap, but probably not much more. It’ll fill you up but not for long. There’s really nothing nutritious about them & can be full of fat. Read the ingredients. Throw some veges or tvp in there to fill it out.
A favourite- Ramen + soy sauce, peanut butter, lime, chili sauce = “thai-inspired noodles”

Burgers.
What’s easier than throwing a burger on the fire? Whether it be a store-bought vegeburger or one from scratch, burgers are awesome.

Hotdogs.
See above. Protein wrapped in bread & can be eaten one-handed. What could be easier?

Peanut butter sandwiches. …Man I’m sick of peanut butter sandwiches now.

Pizza!
Pizzas of course require a little forethought if you make the dough from scratch. The sun does a good job of proofing your dough quickly however, then all you need to do is build a little fire “oven” to bake them in. I found small personal pizzas were easier. Cheese is optional depending on your climate… I guess it’s more of a focaccia minus the cheese though. We were lucky to have cold weather at that point, so we got cheese. If you don’t have a dutch oven you can build a small oven out of rocks over the fire-pit once you have hot coals. Try to enclose that heat as much as possible (pretend you’re building a cave or igloo), otherwise they won’t cook all the way through, just burn on the bottom. I was surprised how easy this was though. My friends were impressed when they came back from their hike to find little pizzas waiting for them.

Hot chocolate & coffee. I gotta say, a hot chocolate is morale +100 when you’ve had a rough day or you’re freezing your ass off in the wind & rain. It’s saved us many times.

Porridge. Especially good in the cold weather, porridge is super easy, healthy, plus oats are super lightweight.

Other camp-kitchen necessities- A good frying pan (no non-stick shit) with lid if possible, a wire grill, tongs, egg-flipper, knife & a pot large enough to heat water & boil rice/ pasta. You can pretty much get by with those basics. We have… for months.

Remember, it’s always smart to carry a bag of bbq coals with you & some liquid firestarter. You never know when it’ll rain & wet all your firewood.