Portable Foods 4 days plus 2 long driving days

[feather]

This is my challenge this week, by Thursday.

They (2) will be staying in the snow in a tent with a wood heater (to cook on and to warm the tent), for deer hunting. If he gets a deer he has a list of 5 people that might want it.

They are each bringing their own food.

4 breakfasts

4 lunches

4 dinners

snack food for in the woods

4 desserts?

plus food for a 5 hour drive there, and a 5 hour drive back.

(in addition to the car/truck food that will get stashed in the truck in case of emergency, along with a case of water, along with diet coke)

Food requirements, same as usual, wfpbno.

Since this is on the river, there is no glass allowed--which really puts a damper on our usual way of storing food. To get past that, I ordered some foil take out pans which can be put on the wood stove to warm them up, they have tops and can be labeled and they hold 2.25 lbs each, which is about 4 cups. They stack.

I'm still mulling over what to make. I don't want it to get boring and have the same thing day in and out, but to be practical, some of the choices will have to be repeats, especially breakfast and lunch.

Mull mull mull.

[Woodpecker]

Camping and hunting...your hubby will have fun, too. You are so good in taking such good care of your DH...why don't you make somethings with the noodles or spagetti, hot chocolate (can he have that?) that always tastes good when cold outdoors. I'd pack him what you make him at home...stews, your spagetti, noodles, things that will fill him up and don't forget your delicious stuffed rolls, whatever you call them. I'm sure you have it all planned out, or almost.

It gets mighty cold camping at night in these temps. I'm sure you are helping him a lot with what he wears too, lots of dry socks & gloves and heavy clothes are needed.

[feather]

So that they are not waiting around for each other to heat food or not, the breakfasts can be hot, the lunches are carried into the woods and eaten cold, the dinners are heated on the stove.
Breakfasts-hot
Lunches-cold
Dinner-hot
The foil pans can be eaten from directly, so no need for plates or bowls, no pans to wash, just washing the fork, spoon, or knife.
That helps narrow things down a little.

[Deleted]

Same foods as every day. We do 2-3 weeks at a time in the motor home. Cooler? freeze some in zip lock bags for heating in hot water and in tin foil for over campfire or stove top works great. Fresh foods first, then frozen that kept cooler cold next. Then freeze dried and tinned. Pemmican, dried fruits and nuts....James

[feather]

Woodpecker,

Yes, one day dinner will probably be spaghetti noodles and spaghetti sauce.

The stuffed buns, steamed buns with collards/mushrooms/onions will be carried, snack food, and he asked me for those. The other day he accidentally called them 'meat buns'....he says they are meaty.

He's on his own with clothes, warm clothes extra clothes, he can do that.

Here's some pics of last year.

Tent in the snow.

On the river.

Doesn't that seem like the most peaceful serene way to spend 4 days?

[feather]

@jwal10, thanks, yes they will both have coolers.

[Deleted]

We love our 24 ounce food jars, have 2 screw on tops, sippy or stopper. Hot or cold. We use it in the morning when we boil water or a big pot of tea. Extra hot water for cocoa or tea, oat meal, instant soup, rice or freeze dried pouches later instead of having to heat water again. Or just extra hot food for later. Plus they give off a little heat to keep hands warmer or stuff it inside coat. Wide mouth to pour or eat out of. I have put a baked potato or yam in one, cut in half with the toppings....James

[mogal]

Feather, this guy is a backpacker and has a wealth of info, recipe, techniques for cooking, etc., in his website. I'm sure some of his recipes might not follow everybody's diet restrictions but still a good place to start.

www.backpackingchef.com.  

[Woodpecker]

Which one is DH Feather, on left or right? He’s got his warmth and knows what and how to pack.

I’d stick with the hearty foods for dinner, like the spaghetti. How about your sweet potato recipes? His breakfasts will be the same, oatmeal, with fruit and some other things he likes.

Lunches...can he have the bread you make or buy with peanut butter and jelly? That’s an easy delish lunch. What else does he like on sandwiches? I think lunch will be most difficult. You’ll figure it out and he’ll be happy, full and warm.

[feather]

@jwal10, I checked out DH's thermos' to see how big they were and what size mouth. He's going with a 40 oz double walled, small mouth, and for a hot drink he wants coffee/cocoa/erythritol packets, so he can have that in the deer stand during the day. I bet a large mouth one would be great for a hot meal, like a potato w/toppings.

mogal, that is a great site for ideas. I especially liked his menu pages, for an 8 day menu, lots of options there. Thank you.

Woodpecker, he's the one on the left. Currently he can't have nuts, so peanut butter is out right now. He is bringing what he calls my heavy bread--made from regular whole wheat flour, in the shape of a hamburger bun, and some low sugar jam to spread on it. For lunches, I'll make a big batch of whole wheat bow tie pasta with assorted vegetables cooked and raw, cut small, dressed in a white bean dressing, to serve cold or room temperature, I'll have to vary it by adding a side of cooked squash/corn/green beans/peas.

Looks like I have to spend a day baking, to make the heavy bread buns, to make the oatmeal/pear sauce/cinnamon/banana 'cookies', and the steamed filled squash buns, then freeze it to take with him thursday.

I'll make the main dishes on Wednesday.

I can't assemble any of the meals until later tomorrow when the foil pans arrive.

Breakfast of oatmeal, flax, fruit, gets assembled and frozen.

[Cabin Fever]

I don't mind at all eating the same meals over and over for several days in a row, IF it is something I like. I do this quite often when my dw is on extended (multi-week) babysitting duty in Texas.

If I was going on this camping/hunting trip, this is what I'd bring.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with all the additions (frozen blueberries, frozen diced peaches, walnuts, flax, hemp, and maple syrup). Of course, dw could also make me cookies with much the same ingredients so I wouldn't have to mess with heating anything up.

Lunch: organic peanut butter on WW crusty buns or Dave's Killer Bread. Sprinkle the peanut butter with raisins and/or dried cranberries.

Dinner: thick vegetarian (Bean) chili with lots of WW tortillas to wrap it in.

Dessert: a pan of black bean brownies

Snacks: homemade oatmeal/fruit/nut/dark chocolate chip cookies, Lara Bars, Kind Bars, and nuts

[feather]

Cabin Fever, you'd be easy to cook for. It's great you can make a lot of that stuff yourself. I'm always so happy when my kids (grown) or DH take charge in the kitchen or even just work along side me. It's just more fun that way.

I like the idea of the black bean brownies for dessert--and I'm thinking that dh's friend might like them too.

[feather]

Cooking all day.

4 Breakfasts: oatmeal/flax cooked, 2 with raisins and pears, 2 with blue berries and pears.
4 Dinners: scalloped potatoes with corn x2, and not so spicy beans with brown basmati rice x2.
24 squash dough, steamed buns filled with collards/onions/mushrooms.

Tomorrow:
4 Lunches: bowtie pasta with vegetables and pickles, white bean dressing, asparagus or green beans on the side.
Dessert.
Salad dressing in case anything is bland or they stop at a restaurant.

No preparation:
A bag of apples, a bag of oranges, a bag of bananas.
Oatmeal 'cookies'.
Packets of cocoa, coffee, sweetener for thermos, 3 gallons of water.

We thought spaghetti would be good for dinner but with pasta for lunch we changed plans. The containers we ordered came today, easily labeled, really nice size, not 2.25 lb, but 2.5 lb with tops, sturdy, stackable, warmable on the wood stove.

Long day today, cooking and packing tomorrow, load up the truck by night time.

[feather]

The veg pasta salad is done, except for topping it with diced tomatoes, the asparagus is done, so I need to package that for lunches.

Last night we were trying to figure out a good double boiler type situation, because the wood stove is very very hot, and the oatmeal might burn to the bottom of the foil containers. We came up with this. The containers nest well, the top edge is wider than the bottom edge, so we put a spare container on the bottom with two wide mouth rings laid flat, water, then put the oatmeal container that is already made and just needs to be heated, on the top of the rings inside the spare container. That will work fine and is easily packed in the cooler!

Now dessert and salad dressing.

[feather]

I made black bean brownies, they had banana in them, and I used coconut palm sugar, and oats, topped with Enjoy Miniature semi sweet chocolate chips. I baked them in a silicone pan of muffin cups, bagged them individually as he'll probably share them with his buds. (an extra guy is coming with we just found out and they all play cribbage)

Tomato dressing, of tomato sauce, onion, garlic, vinegar, paprika, touch of salt.

Done with lots of time to figure out what we forgot to pack.

[feather]

Done! I hope they have a really safe trip.

[Woodpecker]

We’ll pray for their safety, a deer and some fun. DH has a sweet wife. You take such good care of him❤️

[feather]

Woodpecker, thanks, and he takes care of me too. He makes coffee for me sometimes before I get up, and changes the sheets on the bed, does most of his own laundry, works hard in the garden, so he deserves good things from me too. He's on a 9 game winning streak in cribbage, so I need a rest from that. Being beaten is exhausting.

When he found out another guy was going on the deer hunt, making it three of them, he was told this guy was a cribbage player, so he brought the 3 player game board. That will be fun.

What won't be fun, digging a hole in the snow and dirt, putting a pail with no bottom on it, then a toilet seat, in the woods, with no shelter. It's not going to be fun.

Today they met at the pier on the river. They load everything up in a huge jon type boat with a big motor, go across the river, and set up the tent and all. Since there are 3 of them, they have to go across the river 2 times on the way in, and 2 times on the way out.

There is no phone service for his phone but his buddy has a phone that will get texts, so I was notified via facebook, hubs->buddy->buddy's wife->me, that they made it to the pier. I also pray they are safe and have fun.

[Mari-in-IN]

Hey ya feather,
Prayers and good thoughts from me as well for your husband and his buddies...  I hope they have just a grand time!
Take care friend,
~Mari

[feather]

Deer Camp unexpectedly ended early. The river rose three feet overnight and they had to high tail it out of there. The alternate camp location was where deer were suffering the blue tongue virus, so they called it a day. No deer. Too much rain came down from up north. What a bummer.

[Woodpecker]

Aww, sorry...after all that prep for DH.....I was sure he'd get a deer😔

[feather]

Nov 24, 2019 17:45:10 GMT Woodpecker said:

Aww, sorry...after all that prep for DH.....I was sure he'd get a deer😔

Yep, about half of his deer camp was cut short. No deer, that he would have given away either. The water was just rising too fast, onto the shores where they hunted. Instead of water in some creeks being 1 feet deep it was 4 feet deep and just dangerous. He was really happy with his foods and the double boiler situation worked out great.

Mostly he was happy to have time to spend with his long time friend. He doesn't get to see him too often because we live a few hours apart.

Maybe next year. It's always fun for him. I asked him if he would change any of the food choices if he needed to do this again, and he said, just one more dinner choice, different from the rice/beans and scalloped potatoes/corn. So for next year I'll come up with a different dinner-like spaghetti, and swap out a pasta lunch for something else.