pre cooked camping meals

[Chipsandonionrings]

hi all, we are off in a couple weeks for 2 weeks camping. we are going in our campervan and have a fridge that is so cold it freezes stuff at the bottom.

to make catering simple I was planning on pre cooking and freezing a few meals so I just need to defrost them and heat.

I was thinking of a Spanish chicken stew and a bolognaise type dish. does anyone have any good suggestions? we are not fussy and eat virtually anything!

tia

Cooking from scratch while camping is actually good fun and tastes much nicer than defrosted meals, even if homemade.
Take some really good storecupboard things with you and aim for a simple meal on the first night with more adventurous meals later on. Our first night meal is usually pasta with a tomato-based sauce.
Try the Annie Bell camping cookbook for inspiration.
There's nothing like cooking outdoors, be that over a stove or a fire, to make you feel like a proper Nature goddess 😀. Reheating just doesn't give you the same happy glow.

Stews, and mince things. Chilli with rice. Beef stew with new potatoes. Lamb stew with couscous. We take cooked meatballs and jars of sauce for the first night. Frankfurters in a sauce with pasta for later on...

And take a box of wine for the happy glow

Or.....

Chilli. The pouches of pre-cooked rice can be heated v quickly in a pan, and packets of tortilla keep well.

A curry

thanks some good suggestions. my hungry kids are not good at waiting for me to cook when hungry.

I am thinking of marinating some steaks and chicken thighs for a good bbq. I will make a couple of soups for a quick lunch.
probably won't have room for much more.

I cook everyday so will get hubby to take on some of the meals and will have a few meals out.

def taking a wine box- in fact might been the first thing I bought

I always pack meals. Spag (fresh pasta) Bol and chilli are the standbys. I also do a chicken stew, butternut squash soup, carrot and cumin soup and the base for a noodle soup (taking soba noodles and coriander with me) oh and sausage casserole.

I also marinade meat and veg in foil packets to put straight on the BBQ (chicken, peppers, onions, sliced new potoates with thyme, paprika and oil for example) as it's a full meal in a packet.

Porridge in pots is also , embarrassingly, utterly essential imo.

Instant noodles!

I find chicken thighs dodgy on a BBQ as they're so dense unless deboned and opened up.

Kebabs are more reliable for avoiding food poisoning!

I've bought Smash for the first time ever to take this time after a recommendation on here (for sausage beans and smash). I really struggle to think of decent camping meals.

Reheating just doesn't give you the same happy glow.

See, for me, not having to do the bloody cooking while I'm on holiday gives me a happy glow

I find ours need quite substantial food when camping so any casseroles, chilli, bolognese, etc do very well. Anything you could have made in a slow cooker, served with LOTS of carbs - microwave rice packets for example can just be brought to the boil with plenty of hot water, rather than needing to take up a gas ring for 15-20 minutes, otherwise crusty bread feels outdoorsy.

My favourite "bring from home" thing which you can't actually cook whilst camping is cake. We take lots of home made cake (brownie, flapjack, ginger cake, etc) and it usually lasts 5-6 days before it's all gone.

Packet custard (make up with boiling water) is a good indulgent thing too. Or tinned rice pudding etc.

I can make cake on a campfire in my Dutch Pot.

I tend not to, because of the mixing faff, but when we do it is quite good fun. Teens on washing up, of course.

Revisiting this thread as I write my meal plan/shopping list.

DC have requested tacos while we're away, so I'll be slow-cooking carnitas before we go.

a jar of pasta sauce, cook the pasta, grated cheese, cream cheese....easy meal. Aldi do boil in the bag rice which was easy. I made mince/veg and froze it and had it with the rice.

supanoodles on toast, bachelors pasta n sauce, pot noodles also good standby's
I also take filling puds, cakes rice pud etc.

Naked noodles. In a pot noodle style pot but actually really really nice

I'm off again this weekend. Taking pre cooked meatballs in bourbon gravy to heat up and have with bread and butter (day 1)

Pre made pancake batter in a bottle (breakfast day 2)

Pre cooked pulled pork and coleslaw for rolls (dinner day 2)

Baked potatoes (cooked here and warmed through on site ) and tins of beans (tea day 2)

Porridge in pots (breakfast day 3)

A tin of corned beef, an onion and a baked potato or two - corned beef hash (dinner day 3)

A frozen tureen of carrot and coriander soup (tea day 3)

Eggs- scrambled egg breakfast day 4)

Pre packaged stuffed tortoliini (dinner day 4)

And microwave rice, five spice and soy for egg fried rice (tea day 4)

My cooler bag always starts off with frozen peas and frozen chopped onions to add to things (the hash, the rice, the eggs etc) and if I'm in doubt I'll make pea soup with an onion, the peas and a stock cube (that said, I take the hand blender)

so I am back after cooking up a storm.
we low carb - just to make it more tricky but I have made
red pepper and tomato soup
chorizo and roasted butternut squash soup
chicken and chorizo stew
beef bolognaise
lamb stew
Moroccan lamb stew

that should keep us going for the first few days. I have frozen them all and our very cold on board fridge should keep it all frozen for the first few days.

can't wait for a few days off cooking!

and inspired by you lot will be making a some flapjack for the kids.