Downsizing camping food.

[FlamingoBingo]

Further to thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/camping/1473135-Downsizing-camping-stuff-help-And-also-food-for-camping and our ridiculously large crate of food: It all takes up so much space! There must be a simpler way of doing food, that doesn't involve minging tins, or spending a fortune at a local Londis every day. What's the bare minimum for food, do you find? Any good tips? And our cool-box takes up loads of space, so struggling with that too...although at least we can pack stuff inside that!

Family of 6, if that makes any difference :)

Ah, a thread made for me :)

We all love cooking and apart from the occasional meal out, we cook from scratch while camping. These tips suit me well but granted there is only 3 of us compared to your six!

I normally marinate some sort of meat the day before we leave to cook on the BBQ first night. For example lamb steaks with garlic and rosemary, sweet chilli prawns etc.
I freeze a portion of chilli, curry, bolognese etc which is normally (unless you are in North Wales ) defosted for the second night. Depending where you are headed and what sort of storage you have you can even do this for the next night too.
Nowadays I tend to take rice OR pasta but not both. We inevitably end up carrying back half used bags of each so I make do with one now. Nobody has complained yet that their chilli comes with pasta or their bolgnese with rice :o
Fresh crusty bread is a great winner and can be eaten with all of the above.
New potatoes are your friend :) They store well, do not require peeling and cook quickly. Also if you have time, can be scrunched up in foil with garlic butter and shoved in the BBQ for mini roasties. Alternatively great with melted butter and whatever meat you can lay your hands on.
Make breakfast HUGE!! This sustains DS and DH into only wanting a sandwich and fruit at lunchtime. I am also a fan of those little mini weetabix with choc chips in. They make a great snack at any time and DS is yet to twig that being allowed cereal for dinner is not lazy, slatternly behaviour on the part of his parents, more a rare treat to be savoured :o
I think you also mentioned in your other thread about sitting round the campfire? If thats the case then go for toast, sausages, apples, bananas etc.

We always sit down to eat and we have proper mealtimes at home. When we camp though we eat if and when we are hungry, often missing a meal so that we can have toast over the fire in the evening or having a massive fry up for breakfast so we can eat out in the early evening.

I realise that I am slightly evangelical about this (we are off to France in 4 weeks and I have a meal planner already underway :)) but thats what works for us also the fact that DS (8) has only just stopped shuddering if we suggest a McDonalds and still visibly retches at the sight of a tin of soup. Any future DC's will be bought up with far less discerning palates :o

LOL. Thank you for all those tips!

Vegetarian dried sausage mix that you just add water to is great, I like these sausages even if not camping, I make little round flattened ones which are great as a snack also. Couscous is a good compact light weight one, spaghetti would take up less space than other pasta, I use those pasta in sauce dried packets when camping but add some fresh veggies to it. A bag of dried soya mince is a great light weight easy to store option even if you aren't a vegetarian.

Pasta and pesto - dinner
bread and nutella.- breakfast
tea bags. little UHT milk carton.

Those are my camping staples. bread n spread gets replaced by malt loaf if I'm REALLY downsizing. Dh can pack his and Boys rations inside their mugs if they go off wild camping for a night. After a Fox pinched DH's breakfast one night, those mugs stay INSIDE the tent now.

I meal plan and take exactly what I need for each meal, ie a measured amount of pasta/ rice/ x number of potatoes etc. I also prep it at home so it's taken out of the packaging, cut up and put into freezer bags. It all takes up a lot less room that way.

I love this thread . Want more. Frozen sauce is excellent. Sadly I have nothing to add as my camping food is crap.
But will be doing frozen sauce, sosmix, nutella next time

Eggs store well out of the fridge, therefore we often make up omelettes or frittatas using tinned potatoes.

Veggie stir fry with noodles in for added bulk.

Big soup and bread followed by bananas.

Pancakes.

and best of all,those "look what we found meals" on offer at Tescos for £1.33 each.

I agree with the 'look what we found' range! They are excellent quality, taste delicious, store for a long time without needing a fridge.

We always do frozen meal for first or second evening (depends on weather, as have no ice box!)

Re tins- I did find some nice tins in waitrose or M&S with curry in last summer... I think it was M&S actually, so that was another meal (with rice). They were quite expensive, so I got 1 veggie and 1 chicken and mixed the 2 (we are 4 btw).

It's always a balance of cost and space/convenience for us- we only have a v small hatchback, and there are 4 of us, 2 children in carseats mean not very much packing space! We got a larger tent last year (4 man) and it takes up so much room... but it was worth it as it meant a week's camp was comfortable, as previously we'd squished into a 3man tent.

Get tesco to deliver to your site

What is the Look What We Found range?

Iwish- they come in black packets, sort of vacuum-packed plastic I suppose.
If you have Ocado, they're listed as 'ambient foods'

They sound useful! Will have a look, thanks.

Those Look What We Found meals look really good. Realistically, how many does one packet serve?

Quenelle, we are 2 adults, a 6yo and a 3yo, and I use 2 packets plus accompanying rice, pasta, couscous etc and it's fine. 4 teenagers might be a different matter, though DH eats large portions.

Thanks Tannhauser. It's really only me and DH, unless it's chilli, then DS will eat a bowlful. I could add extra kidney beans to bulk one packet out though.