Camp Food

I'm curious what kind of food, menu alot of you eat while in deer camp. To date, the last 15 years or so, we use a wall tent and attached Cook shack, pickup camp, at end s of roads, landing pads, etc.

I argue we eat too good, sure the menu is nice, but for a 5-7 day hunt, it also is alot of work.

We always have bacon, or sausage and eggs, sometimes toast, and sometimes pancakes, for breakfast.

We take snacks out hunting with us, apples, candy bars, trail mix, etc.

Our dinner menu is complicated, sure we eat good, but here goes:

One or two nights of steaks, fried chicken, pork chops, corned beef and cabbage, spagetti. With it, we will have salad, baked potatoes, or mashed, usually baked, it s easier, can of veggies, like corn, peas, etc.

 

We use the 3 burner cast iron propane stove, two of them linked together, and we have a box non calapseable oven we sit on one burner to keep things re heated, like bacon in the morning, or we bake potatoes in it.

Maybe because I am the main cook, it seems like alot of work to me.

It takes forever to setup camp, and take it down.

Wouldnt it be easier to make stews, soups, beans (we usually bring ranch beens homemade, in packets, and have that with dinner at least two, maybe three nights.) and such for dinner, leave one of the stoves. It just all seems like overkill to me, and I am trying to figure out how to have a comfortable camp, yet not have to work yourself to death over setting up camp, or taking it down.

I'd like your thoughts....

Maybe what is bugging me is we take so much stuff, but I tend to be the one who has to deal with most of it.

Ultimately, I am looking for a good camp for a 5-7 day hunt. I am considering the Alaknak II tent, or a herder tent, one stove, less flamboyant meals, alittle more roughing it I guess. I am more interested in hunting than working myself to death in camp.

I dont use horses, so the Alaknak 12 by 12 for 2-4 guys might work. I also have a Cabella's outback lodge tent 12 x 12 that I could use for sleeping quarters on an early hunt with low snow probability.

Again, I am trying to figure out a good camp, that wont work me to death, but I can be comfortable enough in.

 

Saddlesore it right on the eat what you do at home.

  I tried some new stuff that didn't sit right for one morning.  Luckily enough I didn't cause any problems but I didn't eat as much as I should that day and beleive you me, you need to eat good.

  Wiser words haven't been spoke.

Spot

ranger -

i am afraid so, but you gotta remember, for me they are a special treat that i only get now and then, not something that i had to eat with no alternative for weeks on end! those circumstances might change my outlook on the issue!

i just take out to eat what I have at the house it's ususally cheaper that way and plus we clear out our fridge a little lol.

AhYes Camp Food- well if we fly in on an Otter it's steaks ,roasts etc all prepped at home and frozen as we have a freezer in Moose camp and gen set-eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits & gravey for bkfst- sand soup cheese crackers etc for lunch.

with horses -it depends upon how many pack beasts- if none then rations are skimpy for us and horses-freeze dry crap- noodles- oatmeal- tea- hot choc- trail mix-granola bars etc

Moosin on river with boat- it's food galore again ditto beer etc just don't have a freezer.

 then if sheephunting it's back to crapola( granola0 etc as we have to carry all on back for 10 days or so.

and that's how it goes- the type of hunt and terrain determines the table fare- would be nice to eat like home as suggested above but impossible on any type of wilderness hunt esp a back packer.without of course some cushy guide service to service you and your camp.

  As long as you are looking for poor eats here's some- when running long distance dog sled races in the early 80's we used frozen pizza-hot dogs(Didn't want to confuse mine with dogs)-boxed juice(ate them frozen) etc and some other pre made frozen stuff- well in am put them into pockets on vest and later when defrosted eat- cold not good but got us through- some times we got to throw some stuff into hot water for heating like oatmeal or dry noodle packages

They got the man-sized packets out now.  Meals always seems to fall on one feller.  You need good food to keep up your strength on a hard hunt (is there any other kind?).  I took the ol' lady last season, and she kept me an' FVA deep in the grub for a week.  Only bad part was that canned corned beef hash we had one morning.  I had the worst case of atomic squirts I've ever had.  My meager supply of toilet tissue didn't go very far that day, and I nearly creamed my undies on a couple strenuous climbs.  I like cooking over a fire when I ain't dead tired or anxious to get the hosses saddled.  Ain't nothin' better than dutch oven cooked bisquits and a lil' sausage gravy.  I cook my bisquits the night before, then all I gotta do is kick my bride outta the tent 'bout 3AM to fry up the sausage and make some gravy.  No more cheap corned beef hash for this hombre.

Well, my hunting partners and I pack all kinds of stuff, load it on "meat
trailers," and get to our campsites on ATV's. I sleep in a small Wall tent
that has a metallic frame of 2" conduit tubing, zippered door, zippered
screen door and window, and a treated canvas floor topped with a couple
of carpet runners, which in turn are topped by a large cot, camping table,
chair, and a few other things.

When we are out there we are enjoying our "hunting" vacations. We don't
drink alcohol nor use drugs, but we eat well. My tent sits about 75 feet
from my hunting partner's, and right in the middle of the campsite we
have a clothes-washer drum that is surrounded by flat rocks half-way up.
We grab a few short fire logs from a huge pile of firewood we keep, and
light a fire in the drum. Once the fire has generated enough heat, we
place a heavy iron BBQ grill on top of the drum, and drop on the grill a
few steaks on large pieces of aluminum foil that have been coated with
olive oil. Chopped onions and garlic follows over the steaks, plus more
olive oil and a good portion of Mr. Dash. Finally, when the steaks are
done, we sprinkle-in a little vinegar. While the vinegar burns some, we
toast large chunks of wheat bread on the grill. A few seconds later we
have a great dinner.

My breakfast consists of hot oatmeal with raisins, and piece of wheat
bread: I boil reduced fat milk, add a pre-measured portion of oatmeal/
raisins, and let them soften in the pot. I ride back to my campsite for
lunch, pull out a pre-measured portion of elbow noodles, and cook them
on a propane stove. While the noodles boil, I pull out a semi-frozen
portion of spaghetti sauce with meat balls (my wife takes care of cooking
and freezing these meals), and warm it over the fire in another pot. I have
this lunch twice per week, and the rest of the time I have black eye-pea or
split pea soups my wife has prepared and frozen for me. Al these foods
are home made (no canned foods). I carry the following foods in a
backpack (on my ATV), and eat or drink them between meals: Tuna lunch
kits, water, hot cocoa, tea, brown sugar, trail mix (my wife takes care of
this).

I mix my own version of cocoa powder from unsweetened Hershey's
baking cocoa, except that I follow the hot cocoa recipe on the side of the
can using a little powdered cinnamon, and brown sugar. I don't use as
much sugar as indicated by the recipe, however. I use hot water while
hunting, and milk at the campsite. The milk is kept cold in the ice chest. I
use a propane backpack stove while hunting.

Sometimes we have blueberry pancakes for breakfast, with bacon and
scrambled eggs. The blueberries are picked fresh from around our
campsite. Another favorite dinner of ours is as follows:

Boil a few potato chunks or cubes large enough to take 20 minutes in the
pot. Meanwhile fry the following ingredients in a frying pan over a good
portion of olive oil (we only use olive oil): Chopped celery, small chunks
of your favorite sausage, chopped onions, chopped black olives (lots of
celery, onions, and olives for volume). Once the mix is almost done to
your liking, have one of your trusty and not clumsy hunting partners
drain the potatoes. At this time, add a good portion of Mrs. dash to the
mix in the pan, chopped (or dehydrated) garlic, followed by a
good portion of vinegar. Remember not to cover the mix; you want high
heat and steam coming out of the frying pan for a crunchy bite. Allow the
vinegar to fry just enough, and then pour the hot mix right over the
potatoes in the large pot. Add salt (or potassium) to taste, but to your
portion in the bowl only. Try this recipe when it's cool or rainy outside,
You will like it. You can substitute the sausage with very small chunks of
meat if you like, but in this case brown the meat a little before you add
the other ingredients.
----------
I apologize for the long post; my point was, however, that I completely
agree with the first post. I have a great time while hunting, and that has
not interfered at all with my time out there. So far I have killed my moose
each season, except for one. In fact, I end-up seeing the right moose
when I am worrying the least about hunting, and I have shot the most
while my hunting partners are snoring in their tent. Sometimes I have to
wake them up to tell them that I already have a moose on the ground.
They don't mind if I do the killing, since we share the moose in equal
portions. We do work as a team skinning and quartering the moose,
though.


Edited by Rayfromalaska

Camp food usually depends on how far from the car is the camp and who is carrying the food?

I was the camp cook for years with 5-6 guys......I Quit after 10 years of abuse.  Everyone thought the cook was half slave and half their mother/wife.

I have camped a lot and the one rule I have is K.i.s.s. (keep it simple stupid).  One brother always wanted dill pickles.  well he but a half gallon glass jar in my backpack one time then during lunch kept saying "boy, would a Heinz genuine dill go good with his sandwich".  Then he reached deep into my pack and passed around the pickles and laughed.  that year I resigned.

But pay back is a bitch....two years later after the incident was forgotten by many.  I put 3 bibles in his pack before we left the car.  After lunch I said that we should maybe say some prayers for the beautiful day we had.  Being the Christian he was (I'm not) he strongly agreed.  I then suggested bible appropriate readings....yep....I reached into the pack and instant bibles.

Like lots of things in life if people have others waiting on them or carrying the provisions into camp....they demand more than they themselves would give.

K.i.s.s. off.

BEAR