Filed under: Family Camping, Kid-Friendly Trips, Menu Planning & Cooking, Traveling Tips, Uncategorized
Make Ahead Meals for the Camper
April 18, 2012 by Melissa A. Trainer · 10 Comments
When you camp or travel in your RV or with your travel trailer, do you ever prepare foods in advance at home and then cart them along with you?
I have done this many many times. Of course, this involves extra work at home but the dividends pay off when you are traveling and visiting a new destination. I have found it to be deliciously helpful to have my travel trailer freezer stocked with twice-baked potatoes, meatballs, previously grilled and sliced chicken breasts, butter chicken, chicken biryani, taco meat, and even homemade burritos!
Without a doubt, that extra effort at home saves me time and brain cells when I am on vacation. Afterall, who really wants to be bothered planning a meal from scratch when you are visiting a fabulous national park or a beautiful beach? And, for that matter, who really wants to endure a mediocre meal at an overpriced tourist trap restaurant after a beautiful day of touring or hiking? (I’ve learned through experience that bad meals at overpriced touristy restaurants can quickly send the best adventures into a rapid nosedive when everyone is tired, hungry and ready for REAL food!)
Over the years, I have learned to pack these precooked menu items in such a way that they take up little space. For example, with meatballs, taco meat, or meat sauce, I freeze those items in a ziploc bag at home. Once the cooked items have cooled considerably, I load the bag, then I put the bag on a cookie sheet, and stash the cookie sheet on a shelf in the freezer. The items freeze flat and are far easier to stack in my compact little travel trailer freezer! I first tested this method about six years ago when we were preparing to drive the Alaska Highway from Anchorage to Seattle. I knew amenities would be few and far between during that journey, so I planned our meals in advance. I used the ziploc/freeze-flat method. Wow! I was impressed when about two weeks worth of dinners easily stacked and stashed into my miniscule freezer!
So, if you are planning a big camping trip this summer, seriously consider cooking a few family favorites at home. Then freeze the menu items in plastic bags or at the very least freeze them in square or rectangular containers in order to save space. What make ahead meals do you create at home before a trip?
Note: The photo above is of a previously frozen Indian butter chicken with basmati rice (cooked at home) and coriander chutney. I quickly took the photo at our campsite at the Madison Campground in Yellowstone National Park a couple years ago. That frozen chicken made a super quick and simple snack for a hungry teenager that day!
–Melissa A. Trainer
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I do the same thing. I make sausage balls to reheat in the microwave along with mini muffins for our breakfast. I make chicken salad and other differents salads such as a pasta salad that includes chicken,
chili for chili dogs, and the items to throw together nachos in a hurry. There are days we just want to hang out at the beach and campground and not be bothered with eating out. And we have camped in an area where there were no good eating places. I would like to hear other campers ideas for camp good that is easy to prepare ahead of time. I don’t like to cook while at the campsite.
Howdy Melissa,
Thanks, for the recipes.. We’ll try to work some in, next time out..
Hi all, this a regular part of every travelling and camping adventure. We do Ribs, Lasagna, prawns and scallops as well as meatballs etc. Just makes it so much easier and it is “our food” delictable and above all safe.
I should mention we vacuum seal all of the above by freezing it on a tray first then vacuum seal the next day all done at home.
When winter is nearly over we start this and my wife will start making “extra” at meal time so its not a dedicated chore to do for travelling season but just blends with normal meal preperation.
Makes the camping trips enjoyable for both of us as meals are ready much quicker.
Just a little tip – those vacuum sealing machines work great at making small meals, meats and even spaghetti sauce for freezing and later thaw. The plastic is strong enough to go into boiling water for a quick meal. You can even freeze cooked spaghetti noodles for use with the sauce. Couldn’t be quicker but DO NOT cook in these in the microwave, or any other plastic bag or wrap. Those chemicals are not good for you!
We vacuum seal our ground beef and then flatten them on the counter and put in the freezer. It not only takes up less space in the camper but at home too! And it freezes a lot quicker.
The other thing we prep at home is shish kabobs!
We cut up the beef or chicken, marinade them in McCormick marinade sauces, vacuum seal and freeze. To go with the meat we also dice up the veggies and get them marinading in a zip bag, but do not freeze them. Last weekend in Gettysburg we actually found a grocery that had sliced zucchini. We paid a little more for it but it saved us time getting the food to the grill.
I love the idea of freezing pasta. I never knew that would work. Thanks!
Yummmm… and Happy Trails!
Oh and I forgot… I also make up home made chocolate butterscotch coconut oatmeal cookies, divide it into 3 bags, vacuums seal and freeze. they came out great!
We make crockpot meal choices in the winter at home, such as pulled pork, for sandwiches, chili, ham and bean soup, minestrone, loosemeat sandwich fillings,all of which we freeze either in flat zipbags, or in the pan or dish from the RV lined with a heavy zipbag until frozen, then remove pan to reuse.
Sandwich fillings can be placed in buns, wrapped in waxed paper or foil and frozen solid, then placed in a large zipbag to be oven reheated or (waxed paper) microwaved. Food frozen in the pans can be thawed enough to remove the bags and replaced in the same pan as frozen in, so the amount is right, and finished thawing in the fridge or microwaved, depending on the pan. Add a salad or summer garden-fresh veggies from local farm stands or the store, and the meal is ready. It saves time, but I especially appreciate the ease of clean-up when nearly all the preparation debris is dealt with at home.
We also like to take refrigerated roll cookie dough homemade, which is easy to slice only amount needed. Many cookie recipes can be prepared this way…we even freeze it in rolls of smaller sizes and place down in the fridge to thaw before cutting. Easier than freezing baked homemade cookies.
The beauty of frozen cooked pasta really shines when at high altitudes and you wait forever for the water to boil…thawed ahead, it can be reheated quickly IN THE HEATED SAUCE, saving a pan to wash, TOO.
Another thing I do when the weather may be iffy or we are traveling for an extended time, is to pack a box or bag or jar with all the ingredients measured and in bags (nonperishables) so if I feel like really cooking, no shopping or searching for ingredients is necessary. I sometimes try out new recipes for fun that way
These tips are great for home freezers, as well, Melissa. I think I’ll start flattening things out when I freeze them. Oh…and I got your message about the joys of Vancouver Island…we just have to get up there!!!! That’s all there is to it! It sounds so wonderful….
Happy tales,
Patti
I do the same thing. I make sandwiches for my breakfast and also carry home made chocolates along with me And we have camped in an area where there were no good eating places.
We freeze steaks with the marinade and vacuum seal. This works good in the thawing process as they don’t leak like some of the zipper bags can. A quick meal we make a lot is either a pizza “pudgy” pie made in the pie iron (sauce and your choice of fixing between two pieces of brea) or tortilla pizza (top the tortilla with your favorite toppings and cook in a cast iron skillet over the fire). A great choice for road trips or days out on the boat is a tortilla sandwhich. Spread tortilla with onion chive cream cheese, sprinkle with carrot sticks (bagged julienne chopped carrots), lettuce, sliced cheese, sandwhich meat. Roll this up and wrap with plastic wrap. If it’s going in a cooler, I also put the wrapped sandwhiches all in a gallon size zip lock bag to keep them dry. Another time saver is to pre cook brats in beer and onions, then freeze. When it’s time to eat, cook over the fire until heated through. Thanks for the tips everyone! I love cooking over the fire, but many times we fish or explore all day and when we get back to the campsite we are starved and don’t want to wait long to eat.