I know we have a food forum but, like me, I think many people only occasionally have a glance at it so I thought it best to ask this question on the main forum.
When camping away from power in the hotter climates our freezer isn't the most reliable & the waeco struggles a bit also as our battery has its moments with swapping from the 80w solar charge to the little 700k Honda gennie so I am wondering what ideas people have for good evening meals if they don't have fresh or frozen meat, chicken or fish, I'm not too mad on vege meals as I like my protein. I'm not crazy on canned stuff either, except for salmon so, salmon pasta & the like go down well, eggs are handy too plus I do keep some dried mince bought from camping shops as a backup & a good rice meal can be made up as well
So, what are some ideas you seasoned travelers have come up with?
Cheers Jon
Gerty Dancer said
03:28 PM Mar 22, 2011
Its not my favourite but have you tried any of those pasta sauces in jars?
Cryovac packaging can help store meat much longer, doesnt need freezing but still has to be refrigerated.
Are you allowed to catch/shoot rabbits where you are?
Hylda&Jon said
04:20 PM Mar 22, 2011
Gerty Dancer wrote:
Its not my favourite but have you tried any of those pasta sauces in jars?
Cryovac packaging can help store meat much longer, doesnt need freezing but still has to be refrigerated.
Are you allowed to catch/shoot rabbits where you are?
Thanks for your quick reply.
Those sauces are ok but still I like some meat in with them, not sure if Hylda wants to live on pasta either, She says it's not good for dress sizes I believe.
Probably allowed to shoot rabbits but not sure if the law would be too happy with me having a gun in the caravan . Not too sure about diseases in them either & being a city boy I'd have to learn to skin & gut them.
I've thought about Cryovac before & it's a good idea but don't want to buy or carry the thing that does it & not sure where to get the pre-packaged ones outside of major towns. Our next decent sized towns are Carnarvon, Port Headland & Broom till we get to Darwin
Cheers Jon
Ron and Shirley said
04:30 PM Mar 22, 2011
One canned meal we always have in the cupboard is a couple of Fray Bentos Steak & Mushroom Pie (with puff pastry). Quite nice and makes for a change.
Agree with Gerty regarding Cryovac. We have a small Sunbeam machine that lives in the van and often buy big at country butches after trying them out, as the meat (steaks in particular) are just sooo much better than at home.
For us, using an Engel/Waco/Whatever as a freezer just uses too much 12v compared to running at 4C, so we went Cryovac years ago.
Gerty Dancer said
04:56 PM Mar 22, 2011
Quite a lot of butchers will cryovac your meat for you, especially in the bush... might charge 10c per bag for it. We have one of those machines too, its handy for more than just meat.
Cooked meat will last longer than fresh, if you can cryovac your own its great to cook up beef patties and cryo them... not a good idea to keep mince fresh though. Small roasts, casserole type dishes, all good.
I grew up in the 50's with a dreadful plague of rabbits so we ate a lot of it. Must admit the smell of it turns me off nowadays Curry is ok, it disguises it!
Have you tried currying tuna? thats one of our favourites.
-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Tuesday 22nd of March 2011 05:27:30 PM
Firefly said
05:01 PM Mar 22, 2011
Those pies are delicious R & S, very tasty indeed.
A lot of butchers do cryo now which is a bonus.
You can buy, from Big W, a little pump cryo. Looks a lot like a bike pump from memory. They wouldn't take up much room mate.
We also carry the Sunbeam cryo, love it.
KayJay said
09:00 PM Mar 22, 2011
Hi Hylda & Jon, we always carry the following as a back up when travelling:
* Tinned tuna and salmon which we find quite versatile to use as patties, mornay, pasta etc. * Campbell's Spaghetti Sauce with Beef to pour over pasta * Packets of Continental Fried Rice to which we add a scrambled egg and a small tin of prawns * the ingredients to make a quick-cook quiche; beat 3 eggs, add whatever suitable ingredients you have on hand e.g.onion, tinned corn, dried parsley, cheese, small tin of drained salmon or tuna, one & half cups of milk. Blend together then lastly add three quarters cup dry pastry mix, stir gently and pour into a well greased quiche flan and cook for approx 40-45 mins. When I cook this at home I replace the tuna or salmon with bacon pieces and often add chopped green or red capsicum. If else fails there's always baked beans!! Jan
-- Edited by KayJay on Tuesday 22nd of March 2011 09:08:26 PM
Hylda&Jon said
01:57 AM Mar 23, 2011
KayJay wrote:
Hi Hylda & Jon, we always carry the following as a back up when travelling:
* Tinned tuna and salmon which we find quite versatile to use as patties, mornay, pasta etc. * Campbell's Spaghetti Sauce with Beef to pour over pasta * Packets of Continental Fried Rice to which we add a scrambled egg and a small tin of prawns * the ingredients to make a quick-cook quiche; beat 3 eggs, add whatever suitable ingredients you have on hand e.g.onion, tinned corn, dried parsley, cheese, small tin of drained salmon or tuna, one & half cups of milk. Blend together then lastly add three quarters cup dry pastry mix, stir gently and pour into a well greased quiche flan and cook for approx 40-45 mins. When I cook this at home I replace the tuna or salmon with bacon pieces and often add chopped green or red capsicum. If else fails there's always baked beans!! Jan
-- Edited by KayJay on Tuesday 22nd of March 2011 09:08:26 PM
Thanks for the suggestions especially the quiche recipe but not sure what dry pastry mix is.
Jon
jules47 said
08:52 AM Mar 23, 2011
You can buy it in the flour section of the grocery store - comes in a box from memory - there are also other things like scone mix etc.
Antique Pete said
09:34 AM Mar 23, 2011
Re shooting rabbit, quite ok to have gun in van as long as you are licensed and the rifle is stored in the appropriate way for the different state laws.
Quite handy if bailed up by snake [ using ratshot] or for humane dispatch of road hit wild life
Hylda&Jon said
11:01 AM Mar 23, 2011
jules47 wrote:
You can buy it in the flour section of the grocery store - comes in a box from memory - there are also other things like scone mix etc.
Thanks, I'll give that one a try I think
Cheers
Jon
thommo said
11:39 AM Mar 23, 2011
Don't forget, there's always some nice fresh road kill available!!
ChiChi1 said
12:23 PM Mar 23, 2011
Came across a couple of miners once who were very keen to share their road kill stew with us. Hope they were joking LOL
Onedodger said
03:42 PM Mar 23, 2011
Ron and Shirley wrote:
Agree with Gerty regarding Cryovac. We have a small Sunbeam machine that lives in the van and often buy big at country butches after trying them out, as the meat (steaks in particular) are just sooo much better than at home.
WE also cryovac with a small sunbeam and use it all the time.This way meat fish chook and many other products will last for quite some time at normal fridge temps. EG. Snags sealed properly can last as long as 5 weeks at normal temps 2 to 4 deg/c.
We often get 2 weeks meat and cryovac it plus any fish we catch and fillet and once opened and let breath for a few minutes it is a fresh as when you purchased/cryovaced it. Just make sure you do the cryovac packages in meal lots. This then leaves the freezer compartment for serious stuff like ice cream.
lilly31 said
06:38 PM Mar 23, 2011
Hylda&Jon wrote:
KayJay wrote:
Hi Hylda & Jon, we always carry the following as a back up when travelling:
* Tinned tuna and salmon which we find quite versatile to use as patties, mornay, pasta etc. * Campbell's Spaghetti Sauce with Beef to pour over pasta * Packets of Continental Fried Rice to which we add a scrambled egg and a small tin of prawns * the ingredients to make a quick-cook quiche; beat 3 eggs, add whatever suitable ingredients you have on hand e.g.onion, tinned corn, dried parsley, cheese, small tin of drained salmon or tuna, one & half cups of milk. Blend together then lastly add three quarters cup dry pastry mix, stir gently and pour into a well greased quiche flan and cook for approx 40-45 mins. When I cook this at home I replace the tuna or salmon with bacon pieces and often add chopped green or red capsicum. If else fails there's always baked beans!! Jan
-- Edited by KayJay on Tuesday 22nd of March 2011 09:08:26 PM
Thanks for the suggestions especially the quiche recipe but not sure what dry pastry mix is.
Jon
You can use bread as quiche base just cut of crust and cover base of dish or just go crustless altogether just add less milk/cream what ever you use and add 2 tablespoon of plain flour to mix ...also in meat deparment havae you tried the chicken in tins like tuna good for pasta mixs and quiches or on toasted sanga you have to experiment some are better then other ...
Hylda&Jon said
06:43 PM Mar 23, 2011
Ron & Shirly wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One canned meal we always have in the cupboard is a couple of Fray Bentos Steak & Mushroom Pie (with puff pastry). Quite nice and makes for a change. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would be a good suggestion as I love frey Bentos Pies but most shops only have the Steak & Kidney ones & my other half doesn't like Kidney
Cheers Jon
-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Wednesday 23rd of March 2011 06:50:39 PM
Firefly said
09:02 PM Mar 23, 2011
We at times, cryo our vegies as well if we have left overs we won't be using for a few days. They last very very well.
jules47 said
09:20 PM Mar 23, 2011
Dry pastry mix is available in the "flour" section of most supermarkets - just needs water from memory.
When camping away from power in the hotter climates our freezer isn't the most reliable & the waeco struggles a bit also as our battery has its moments with swapping from the 80w solar charge to the little 700k Honda gennie so I am wondering what ideas people have for good evening meals if they don't have fresh or frozen meat, chicken or fish, I'm not too mad on vege meals as I like my protein.
I'm not crazy on canned stuff either, except for salmon so, salmon pasta & the like go down well, eggs are handy too plus I do keep some dried mince bought from camping shops as a backup & a good rice meal can be made up as well
So, what are some ideas you seasoned travelers have come up with?
Cheers
Jon
Those sauces are ok but still I like some meat in with them, not sure if Hylda wants to live on pasta either, She says it's not good for dress sizes I believe.
Probably allowed to shoot rabbits but not sure if the law would be too happy with me having a gun in the caravan
I've thought about Cryovac before & it's a good idea but don't want to buy or carry the thing that does it & not sure where to get the pre-packaged ones outside of major towns. Our next decent sized towns are Carnarvon, Port Headland & Broom till we get to Darwin
Cheers
Jon
One canned meal we always have in the cupboard is a couple of Fray Bentos Steak & Mushroom Pie (with puff pastry). Quite nice and makes for a change.
Agree with Gerty regarding Cryovac. We have a small Sunbeam machine that lives in the van and often buy big at country butches after trying them out, as the meat (steaks in particular) are just sooo much better than at home.
For us, using an Engel/Waco/Whatever as a freezer just uses too much 12v compared to running at 4C, so we went Cryovac years ago.
Cooked meat will last longer than fresh, if you can cryovac your own its great to cook up beef patties and cryo them... not a good idea to keep mince fresh though. Small roasts, casserole type dishes, all good.
I grew up in the 50's with a dreadful plague of rabbits so we ate a lot of it. Must admit the smell of it turns me off nowadays
Have you tried currying tuna? thats one of our favourites.
-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Tuesday 22nd of March 2011 05:27:30 PM
A lot of butchers do cryo now which is a bonus.
You can buy, from Big W, a little pump cryo. Looks a lot like a bike pump from memory. They wouldn't take up much room mate.
We also carry the Sunbeam cryo, love it.
* Tinned tuna and salmon which we find quite versatile to use as patties, mornay, pasta etc.
* Campbell's Spaghetti Sauce with Beef to pour over pasta
* Packets of Continental Fried Rice to which we add a scrambled egg and a small tin of prawns
* the ingredients to make a quick-cook quiche; beat 3 eggs, add whatever suitable ingredients you have on hand e.g.onion, tinned corn, dried parsley, cheese, small tin of drained salmon or tuna, one & half cups of milk. Blend together then lastly add three quarters cup dry pastry mix, stir gently and pour into a well greased quiche flan and cook for approx 40-45 mins. When I cook this at home I replace the tuna or salmon with bacon pieces and often add chopped green or red capsicum.
If else fails there's always baked beans!!
Jan
-- Edited by KayJay on Tuesday 22nd of March 2011 09:08:26 PM
Jon
Thanks, I'll give that one a try I think
Cheers
Jon
WE also cryovac with a small sunbeam and use it all the time.This way meat fish chook and many other products will last for quite some time at normal fridge temps.
EG. Snags sealed properly can last as long as 5 weeks at normal temps 2 to 4 deg/c.
We often get 2 weeks meat and cryovac it plus any fish we catch and fillet and once opened and let breath for a few minutes it is a fresh as when you purchased/cryovaced it. Just make sure you do the cryovac packages in meal lots.
This then leaves the freezer compartment for serious stuff like ice cream.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One canned meal we always have in the cupboard is a couple of Fray Bentos
Steak & Mushroom Pie (with puff pastry). Quite nice and makes for a change.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would be a good suggestion as I love frey Bentos Pies but most shops only have the Steak & Kidney ones & my other half doesn't like Kidney
Cheers
Jon
-- Edited by Hylda&Jon on Wednesday 23rd of March 2011 06:50:39 PM