Ben Bailey
 | | 05/19/2009 11:49 PM |
 Alert | So, you've just sat down, full, after a spectacular camp meal where you once again proved that eating out doors really is better. You've got all the best in camp cook ware. You have a great table -- maybe a fold out transformer gadget that comes from some secret place in your rig; maybe just a sturdy roll up table; maybe you ate off the top of a particularly round and flat stump. You boiled water in just under 3.52 minutes. Cooked bread in a fold away oven. Made better coffee than even Rupp has reviewed. Enjoyed all that nature and friends have to offer while you savored every last bit of the greatest camp meal ever cooked -- always the last one you just ate.
...and now, looking at the mess, you wish you had simply brought a box of instant oatmeal and paper bowls with burnable sporks...
How do you go about a proper clean-up after a good camp meal? Is it always going to be that annoying chore, or is there a better way? | |
RBBailey
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AJ Lightfoot
| | 05/19/2009 11:58 PM |
Alert | Two words...
Wave Box. The ease of microwave clean up on the trail. Haha. | |
98 Discovery I - The Master Chief - KF7DCD
"Did that kid just drop a pretzel? I like pretzels. I really like pretzels." | |
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Jay Erickson
Member Sponsor
| | 05/20/2009 2:45 AM |
Alert | | avoidance of cleanup is one of the reasons I enjoy simple foods and use enough paper products to make Ed Begley jr pull his hair out. | |
Traded in all my project vehicles for my 2009 Xterra, not an ounce of buyers remorse. | |
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Jerry Horn
| | 05/20/2009 7:06 AM |
Alert | | Use your portable 12v dishwasher and garbage disposal. You do have one, don't you? I hate cooking and I hate cleanup so I go with the "keep it simple" camp, but I do appreciated portable freezer/refrigerators, microwave ovens, crock pots and all that other neat stuff. Good knows I do like a good meal as evidenced by my 'manly physique', but there is definitely a place for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. | |
JERRY
Enjoying the backroads of the Pacific Northwest | |
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Craig Miller
Title Sponsor
| | 05/20/2009 8:45 AM |
Alert | You can have it both ways - More complex food and simple cleanup. Buy slightly prepared or prep ahead of time. Use non-stick pans. Don't cook sauces or be absolutely sure you don't burn them.
On my last trip I had --
Breakfast Scramble
- Sauteed Portabello mushrooms, Red onion, & baby spinach (from a salad bag) w/ Olive oil on a non-stick pan.
- Added egg beaters (no shells)
- Added crumbled feta (no cheese grater).
Ate it out of the pan, and cleaned up by wiping it down with 1 paper towel (Simple washing optional).
Lunch - Focaccia bread, sliced roast beef, mayo (from a squeeze tube), Jack Daniels mustard (from a squeeze jar), red onions (cut one extra slice at breakfast so it was reeady to go), sliced blue cheese (bought it this way), & baby spinach leaves. Sounds fancy, but it is just as easy to prep as a PB&J, but you don't have a dirty knife when you are finished.
Dinner - Salad from a salad bag. On this trip I ate it out of one of Max's paper bowls, but I planned to eat it off of a SS plate. I also planned to boil water for tortellini, then add the white sauce at the very end rather than heating it separate. This allows me to remove the pan from the heat and use the tortellini to heat the sauce. Doing it this way insures that the sauce doesn't burn and that cleanup is a simple rinse and wipe. Salad is also a simple rinse and wipe.
In winter, I eat simpler though. Heat up some clam chowder in the can, pour it in a bread bowl. Cleanup consists of licking my spoon, throwing the can in the trash, and feeding the leftover bowl to the dog.
Other times, we just have PB&J on paper towel plates, hot dogs over the fire, etc. Not every trip needs to be a Gourmet Living experience.
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My Overland Adventure Blog | |
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Jeffrey Stiner
| | 05/20/2009 9:43 AM |
Alert | | I agree Craig. With good cooking technique, and careful crafting, and planning of you trip menu, you can enjoy good good with a minimum of cleanup and equipment needed. Non stick pans are great, and a good reasonably deep sauce pan. If the food is not overcooked, simply wiping out the pans is really the only "for camping" cleanup needed. I do like to dedicate on pot for boiling water only. | | | |
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Todd Eliason
Title Sponsor
| | 05/20/2009 9:50 AM |
Alert | another option is having meals prepared before hand in ziplock or seal a meal bags. Then just boil and serve out of the bag. If doing pasta, I reccomend cooking it Al Dente and separate from the sauce so it doesn;t get soggy/mushy. then boil both bags (pasta and sauce bag) in the same pan and mix them together on the paper plate.
I have no guilt using paper plates on the trail and it makes cleanup so much easier.
You can even put pre made steaks in bags and boil them and they turn out fairly tasty and warm. | |
93 LR Defender 110
05 Land Rover LR3 | |
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Craig Miller
Title Sponsor
| | 05/20/2009 10:04 AM |
Alert | I really need to learn more about boil in a bag cooking. It would be nice to have a freezer full of meals ready to go whenever thoughts of adventure strike.
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My Overland Adventure Blog | |
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Jerry Horn
| | 05/20/2009 12:06 PM |
Alert | | Mmmmmm. Craig, your description made my mouth water. Think I'll go raid the fridge! | |
JERRY
Enjoying the backroads of the Pacific Northwest | |
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Craig Miller
Title Sponsor
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TooRisky
| | 05/20/2009 11:58 PM |
Alert | | for me the best way to clean a pan with silverware is add water and a boil the whole lot...Pour the water out, and wipe clean with a paper towel...put it all away and burn the paper towels...no fuss no muss no runs on the trial... | | | |
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Joe Koegler
| | 05/21/2009 9:31 AM |
Alert | I can't recommend the "fuzzy logic" rice cooker enough if you have an inverter with sufficient wattage.
We have a 3.5 cup Sanyo and on our recent Idaho trip we pulled into camp, started the cooker with some basmati rice, set up camp, put a pot of water on to boil and heated up FoodSaver bags of homemade turkey keema (Indian ground meat dish), spinach with paneer, and warmed up some naan on the stove.
One non-stick rice cooker bowl to wipe out, two bags and some paper plates to throw out. Done. Time to cook breakfast for tomorrow...
Put 1 cup of steel cut oats, 1/4 cup of pecans (just crush them up by hand in a baggie), a couple tbs of maple syrup, 1 cup of milk and 3 cups of water into rice cooker, set on "Porridge" timer. Wake up and have maple nut oatmeal waiting for you. Eat out of pot, wipe it out and get on the road.
You can steam veggies, use as a slow cooker for other foods, etc. Really your imagination is the limit. I recommend getting "The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook" from Amazon. It has tons of recipes and ideas.
If you have an Indian grocery nearby (tons in Redmond) you can get all sorts of prepared foods in foil pouches that don't need refrigeration and have a long shelf life, boil (simmer actually)in the pouch, and are really pretty good with some fresh rice. Haldiran's, Tasty Bite, and MTR are pretty good brands. | |
"Flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." - Douglas Adams | |
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Craig Miller
Title Sponsor
| | 05/21/2009 9:35 AM |
Alert | Tasty Bites have been a staple of my easy to prep, easy to clean up camp cooking. Your other suggestions sound like they are in line with those. They definately sound like they are worth checking out.
I wonder if anyone makes a 12v rice cooker that is as good as the one you describe.
C
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My Overland Adventure Blog | |
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TooRisky
| | 05/22/2009 10:27 PM |
Alert | Wow I forgot how good clam chowder in the sourdough bowls tastes.....man this is on the menu for the up coming trip.
Thanks.... | | | |
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Andy Berglund
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| 05/23/2009 12:19 PM |
Alert | I bring my dishwashers Isabel and Lucy. They lick the plates clean and then I wipe the plates down with Clorox wipes. Works awesome. Don't hate-no one has noticed anything out of the ordinary when they use my dishes and utensils.
A | |
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