No fridge camping food

[scrappydappydoo]

Off to a festival for a week. No ehu and it'll be tricky to get off site to stock up. So I need lots of breakfast, lunch and dinner stuff that does need much refrigeration. We will have a cool box but can't see that lasting long in this weather - unfortunately can't afford new gear so things like an icy tek are out.
I have two picky eaters who value the look of food so any dodgy looking tinned stuff is out. We'll have two burner gas stove to cook on.

Hotdogs in a jar
Dried noodles
Packet risotto
Jars of pasta sauce
Beans

Take a couple of teatowels and soak with water- place over coolbox, will help just a little bit more.

Breakfast- cereal/brioches/ready made pancakes

Lunch- wraps keep much longer than bread/rolls, and easier to store too. Or sandwich thins? You can also use wraps for dinner- chicken stir fry etc. Carrots keep well to make sticks/slices, also cucumber and cherry tomatoes. Take marmite/peanut butter/jam for fillings.

Dinner-
Tinned potatoes and other tinned veg
Tinned fish- tuna, or sardines in tomato sauce (lush over pasta).

The only problem with tins is that they can be heavy to carry.

Make a chilli/spag bol or similar and freeze, use as an ice block in your coolbox. I always find it too frozen for evening 1, so have it on evening 2/3.

Pasta and sauce sachets
filled pasta (also quick to cook and saves on gas)
pesto
savoury rice
Halloumi keeps well
cereal bars

MRE-type stuff like this?

Might be a bit too dodgy-looking, though

Dd & Ds really enjoyed the pasta & noodle mug shot snack shots with some nice crusty bread on our recent camping trip.

We had Heinz tinned sausage & beans on bagels. Tins of soup or Heinz do a cup a soup that's just as nice as the tin (not horrible & watery like batchelors etc)

Eggs should also keep in a cool box.

Those Uncle bens microwave rice sachet things are great they dont need a fridge and can cook in a small pan with a bit of water in a couple of minutes. We have mixed with tins of chicken in sauce in the past.

Lidl do nice tuna salads in foil - 3 different kinds, and you even get a (very) small plastic fork with them.

Porridge with uht milk and squeezy honey for breakfast, or the pancake mix in a carton which you just add water to and shake. Remember the frying pan and oil.

Nuts and dried fruit to snack on.

I told ds2 the other week you can buy dehydrated water, and if you mix water with it you double the amount of water. He didn't believe me - no idea why 😄

Crackers or oatcakes with Nutella.

Proper salted butter is usually ok for a few days and is nice just stirred into cooked pasta.

If your bread goes stale, you can still make fried bread with it, or eggy bread. Nice with baked beans. Or fry tinned potatoes.

Dried stuff like muesli, tea bags etc, we normally decant into reasealable bags. Instant hot chocolate is also good.

Hope you have a lovely time.

I stand porridge that can be made up with water.
Sachets of sautéed potato, onion and bacon
Have a look at the 'look what we found' pouches in Waitrose
'Camping quesadillas': On a tortilla wrap place cheese (and any other ingredients you like: tuna, or mushrooms from a Lidl anti pasti jar, or even a spoonful of salsa dip from a jar work well) but don't overload it. A thin layer. Place another wrap on top, cook in the frying pan (no oil needed) till slightly golden, flip for another minute, serve cut in quarters.

Risotto rice with a chicken stock cube and dried mushrooms is bloody tasty.

Have a browse in the Waitrose and M&S tin / packets section. Always some okay stuff.

Tinned chilli is quite nice. We eat it with pre grated cheese and bread.

cup a soups with side orders of Cheese biscuits/mini breadsticks etc are good and filling.

Baby Bels keep quite well in cool box and very snacky. as are those Laughing Cow Mini Cravings.

I agree with NotSoAccidentProne re bread.

Crackers/oatcakes not only with Nutella but with crunchy peanut butter is nice.

Search Waitrose/sainbos etc for things like the shake pancake mix etc... , tinned stuff. can't think offhand but lots of options there.

Other stuff I think would keep well in cool box are:-

quiches wrapped in foil, potato salad preferably made without mayo so doesn't go off (just salad dressing and onions)
browse M&S snacky things like wrapped vine leaves etc.

tins of veg, sweetcorn&peas and stuff. tins of fish.
punnets of (cherry) tomatos keep well.
take oil/vinegar, salt/pepper so you can make salads with those.
ryevita bread in tupperware so it doesn't go soggy.

I'm afraid your dc need to get more adventurous...

oh, and take the cool box anyway and a laundy net to keep the mice away. open the box during the night (with the net on top) once it gets cool, close it in the morning and keep it outside the tent in the shade.

yes to instant porrige pots.
also good are those flavoured sachets of couscous (or just plain couscous), 2min rice, instant noodles.
if you can get sachets of sauces like mayo, ketchup, brown sauce.

All of the above, and some stomach meds.

Also freeze as much as you can. Tomato ketcup, small milks, even cheese. This helps keep stuff fresh

There's a range of food called 'look what we found' they have them in sainsburys and waitrose, but presently other supermarkets too. Black pouches of foods such as meatballs in tomato sauce, lamb chili, chicken curry, et they're really nice. And I find one pouch is the right size for one adult and one child. We use those when camping, for after the first couple of days, as we camp v basically, and don't have a fridge or icytek!

Meant to say, even my v v fussy youngest will eat the chilli, it's not overly spicy. They have a hotpot too, that's just meat, potatoes, and some veg (chunky cut, so easy to remove!)

We also take stuff like brioches (you can get individually wrapped), loaf cakes, malt loaf, rice cakes, oatcakes. Good for nibbling, don't go stale quickly.

Freeze4x 500ml fizzy drinks bottes of water for the cool box lasts a bit longer than the blocks keeps things cooler

cous cous is very easy for when camping

Laughing cow cheese doesn't need refrigeration and a block of cheddar will go sweaty rather than mouldy but I take bags of grated cheese. I also freeze small cartons of apple juice and use those to bolster the chilling potential of the cool box (without taking up space).

Ready cooked rice/pasta pouches, risotto boxes (Italian brand in yellow packs - can't remember what it's called), Look What We Found stuff.

Eggy bread, pancakes (you can always buy fresh milk somewhere on site) can be sweet or savoury

If you take some frozen bits for a BBQ, they will be fine for the first evening. Vegetable skewers would keep a bit longer (pepper, mushroom, onion, etc).

Pasta with a jar or sachet of pesto/sauce would be an easy one. A little pot of parmesan should last too.

Rolls would be fine. Mayo or ketchup would fare better than butter though. Baked beans are good as a breakfast or side.

TBH most festivals have some kind of shop on site for bread, milk, bacon, etc - even if it's a little more expensive than the supermarket, it's still cheaper than buying everything from catering vans.