Cooking? I'm on VACATION!

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

This has turned out to be a interesting thread.
We are/have been vegetarians,for the most part.
We like our salmon, some chicken and grilled lamb
chops,the kind from a "rack" of lamb.

Now camping there usually isn't any real cooking of meat
salmon can be cooked without all the mess so that works.
We bring along frozen pre cooked chicken for salads,and other dishes.

I agree with Ted,we got the camper so we would have a roof over our
heads and be able to get to places and have some comfort.
We tent camped for many years and gave that up in 2009 to get our Bobcat
and never looked back.

It's interesting to see though how other campers approach the food issue.
Whether cooking or storage ideas.
Yes we are a cook in the camper group.(most of the time).
We carry a portable stove like most others and use it at times.
Frank

 

[JaSAn]

. . . And the whole idea of not cooking in your camper so it doesn't smell really baffles me . . .

I spend significant time in grizzly country, so I take care that my camper doesn't smell too attractive. Bacon, fish, grilled meats and other lingering smells are cooked outside. After years of conditioning myself to cook well away from my tent, I have followed similar routines in the camper. I am not worried about a critter joining me in the camper as one taking a peak while I am away on a hike. Small ones being a bigger problem than the bruins.

jim

 

[Cayuse]

Bob, I built my own, not to difficult and lot cheaper. Ron

If I was still in Washington and had access to a shop it would be a good project, could probably get an old disc from a farming cousin as well but since I'm in a townhouse right now I'll just place the order.

 

[munchmeister]

Dehydrated meals, dehydrated soup mixes (look on Amazon for a nice big, assorted box of soups. Tasty), can o' beans or Dinty Moore stew and lotsa mixed nuts and good granola are my go to's for no mess meals. I have my coffee routing oriented around my JetBoil (which is the fastest way to get boiling water) so it is always handy in the "coffee tool box." So, if I want a hot meal, it's boiling water into the dehy bag. I even have a couple of dehy "kozies" that I got back in the backpacking days which hold the bag and retain the heat. The dehy meals are surprisingly good but its good to read reviews, etc. for the tastiest. I also bring small packages of peanut butter which are packaged for about a sandwich's worth. Then all you need is some jam or honey (or bananas, for the Elvis version). Another thing I keep in my cooler are those little boxed containers of chocolate milk, Horizon brand I think. They are small but just right for complimenting a meal. Granola mixed into a cup of yogurt is delicious and works for dinner as well as breakfast if you want fast, no mess. I have a FWC Raven shell so no inside cooking but that is my preference. Bear country and all that and, while I don't mind my kitchen smelling like Pasta e Fagioli, I don't want my bedroom to smell that way. If it's not raining or too buggy, I like to cook outside. I also have a discada that I like to use. This "cowboy wok" works great and, for cleaning, I just turn up the heat, burn off the bits and scrap like mad with my curved spatula. Clean enough for who it's for. Also use a JetBoil Half Genesis. Works great and I can put anything from the discada to a sheet pan on that thing. JM2cents.

 

[klahanie]

"cowboy wok" Now I know what a discada is. Looks pretty good.

Re cooking inside. Great idea for this thread (take a night off, easy meals, less cooking) if you have a camper with a counter, range, sink and the dishes right there. That's got to be easier and save time.

No surprise, we almost always cook inside.

Grizzly country is an interesting point. We've had a bear sniffing and snorting by our heads at night. Prob a black bear. But for sure have camped in grizzly country. We keep food in cab and camper. Not sure if cooking outside makes that much of a difference to the camp proper or when absent ??

One time alone driving up in the mountains, got out of my previous truck and canopy to check out an old cabin. Went inside for a minute and coming out saw to my great surprise a grizzly sow and cub walking straight for the truck. Yelled at them, sow glanced at me, yelled louder and they ambled off, the sow giving me a bit of cut eye.

I left my food in the truck and slept in the cabin. You bet I dreamed of bears busting down the cabin door that night !

 

[Vic Harder]

it's been said elsewhere, but ... the idea of sleeping in my kitchen in bear country makes my skin crawl. Might as slather myself in bear-steak sauce.

We've tented/backpacked in bear country for decades. No issues what so ever, but then I don't even sleep in the clothes I cook in.

 

[klahanie]

^ Well I'm happy to say though we've differed in practice the results have been the same. No issues.

I'm seeing a difference between sleeping backpack tenting and sleeping in our camper. Perhaps that's too fine of a distinction. That said, do I think a bear couldn't get inside - of course not ! We are always ready to leave quickly.

What I don't know about is the difference between residual interior cooking odour and interior stored food. Perhaps it depends on the food and how it's cooked. For us, we almost never fry, most cooking is simple and boiled. Food is stored as at home. I do know vole can smell my crackers, I'm assuming a bear could, as well as smell me, my soap, lotions etc.

Understood, odour created while cooking can be a huge attractant to the camp - huge. Clearly cooking outdoors is a big part of camping for many. If the cooking, eating and food storage is say 100m away then yes, I imagine that could make a difference for bear safety. But most groups I see like to cook within sparking distance of their tents and vehicles.

The sniffing, snorting bear I mentioned was at Redstreak CG, the guy in the tent nearby had the same experience. There were quite a few tenters there with all their stuff out for inspection. I don't think it mattered a wit to the bear who had cooked where. Might have been a problem bear IDK, mentioned it to the staff on check out and they closed the CG, two nights before end of season

The sow and cub I mentioned were in a remotish sub-alpine basin in the south chilcotin. I wouldn't think she was habituated - it was a long time ago before everyone and his dog had a 4x4 and the mtns were full of mtn bikers and extreme adventurers - but of course IDK. I figure they heard the vehicle and smelled it and or something inside and they made quick time to check it out.

I'm pretty certain other times bears have checked out our camp at night, it would be naive to think otherwise considering where we've stopped. If we've been lucky, I'll take it.

As always, YMMV. Do what you feel most comfortable with.

 

[PackRat]

I think most of the WTW crowd are pretty bear-conscious. In CGs there are soft-side campers, hard side campers and car/bike tent campers. Where to put your food if a locker is not available is the issue as well as where to cook it. Tent campers are probably the easy pickings for bears....the cooler is either under the table or in the car. Those with truck campers and who know the score will probably be OK as the bears go for the easy pickings.

However....if you are solo in Bear Country and there is no locker available, you either hang your food or you keep it in a 'fridge. The problem is mostly where you disposed of food-related trash or just if that danged bear has learned to break in and raid campers!

A friend of mine has a flashlight next to his bunk in his camper, has a fire extinguisher there also "just in case" and keeps a pistol close by as well. If you are in the middle of Nowhere and a bear wants in, they will get in. All the food storage and cooking location plans you make are great unless the bears know that "smash-and-grab" techniques work on campers as well as Subaru station wagons to find food.

By the way, I think the FE has two uses; one for putting out fires and the other as a "first response" to a nosy bear. If they still want to get in, your lives are in danger as you are trapped in that camper with a hungry, PO'd bear so maybe after putting one over their head if they don't get the message, explaining it to the Ranger is better than the Ranger explaining it to your next of kin.

Bottom line...what ever you do....camper or tent....try to eliminate the odors that attract bears and your trash is first on the list as a source of smells they can pick up on....that is not to say you should keep trash INSIDE, on the contrary, if you have no locker, maybe at least hang your trash a ways away from camp each night would be a good idea.

 

[smlobx]

This is one of the best threads on WTW. I have really enjoyed reading what everyone else does.
For us, our breakfast usually starts with a couple of cups of instant espresso for me and tea for my wife. That is usually followed up with some granola cereal.
Lunch will depend on where we are and what we're doing. It may be leftovers from the previous night, sandwiches or maybe a local venue if we're traveling. Last fall on our trip to Nova Scotia we had the best lobster roll we had ever had at a no name place near Peggy's Cove. If we are ever within a hundred miles of that place we will make the detour!
We are trying to slow down on our trips as we approach retirement and it is our "goal" to be off the road by about 3ish if we are traveling. This will hopefully give us time to relax around the site and perhaps enjoy a little bit of happy hour if you will. It also allows my wife, who absolutely loves to cook, to create one of her nightly masterpieces, even if it's something very simple. It's just amazing what a few spices can do to an otherwise ordinary meal. While we have a full cooking set up inside we had our propane plumbed to allow us to cook outside whenever possible.
One of our regular meals is kielbasa with sautéed onions cooked on a griddle with a can of baked beans.
Other regulars include salmon cakes with peas, smoked pork chops with fried apples and grits, frozen blackened salmon from Sam's and any fish we happen to catch if we're lucky enough!

I'd be happy to show some of Terri's creations but the photo uploader is too difficult to use....

 

[munchmeister]

I'd be happy to show some of Terri's creations but the photo uploader is too difficult to use....

Got a link to an online photo gallery? Google photos, etc? That works too (I agree about the photo uploader here. I have to resize most of my photos in order to upload them.)

 

[Vic Harder]

This popped into my inbox today... some ideas here too:
https://forums.trails.com/discussion/13/hearty-campfire-meals

 

[moveinon]

We eat really healthy at home, but that goes out the window when we camp. What we fix changes with how long we camp. We start out with things like fresh oysters over the fire with lemon sauce or steak the first days with fresh salads, then to frozen already prepared soups like chili or Thai soup or hobo packets in the campfire, then to freeze dried like Mountain House for dinners. Breakfasts begin Aero Press coffee with bacon and eggs then go to pre-mixed just add water pancakes then cereal. Lunches start with sliced meats and cheese sandwiches then move to canned snacks like smoked clams and crackers, jerky or trail mix and cut vegis. By the end of two weeks camping the refrig is pretty much just running to keep the IPA cold.

I always cook outside when it isn't raining, and sometimes when it is under the awning. Love the smell of food when we are fixing it, but not so much for the next few hours after. Plus in bear country I would prefer to never have to count on my bear spray.

 

[Wango]

Wow, great thread guys.
I agree with all that I have read here. We are constantly changing cooking plans to suit location, time of year, weather etc.
Have lived around Yellowstone for most of the last 30 years, animals are a consideration. We do cook in and outside, temps and weather being the biggest determining factor.
Bears are bears, if they want in, they can. Not much harder to go through a camper door than a tent. We try to keep things clean.
Water is another big thing, with dehydrated/freeze dries being used the most by me on my solo travels. Although, just did 13 days in so. Utah, and didn't eat any freeze dried at all.
We use a skottle a lot, two burner coleman and a small porty grill.
Camper has a two burner, and an engle.
Always changing the menu, one constant bubbly for the wife, bourbon for me.
Food is my friend. And enemy.