Pre-cooking/freezing food before heading bush

[DX grunt]

Some might call it lazy, others might call it a smart, space saving initiative.

I don't have a CT and rely totally on my 95lt Evakool fridge/freezer when I head bush.

Do you pre-cook/freeze any/some/all of your food before you head bush?
Do you live on canned food or liquid food (lol)?

I think I need a 2nd fridge/freezer for bait/fish. The smell of bait in my dinner doesn't turn me on. PML.

Give me something to work with, please?

Rossco

[Drewboyaus]

I often pre-cook and freeze meals when heading away. I can feed the family (wife and 3 kids) from a 47lt ARB fridge for 4-5 days with some careful planning. Also requires some careful grog rotation through the fridge.
When I'm on my own or just me an my eldest daughter I tend to cook on the go.....
Generally, I'd rather spend time enjoying a fire with a beer rather than cooking.
Just picked up a new 60l ARB jobbie yesterday......same amount of food, more beer! LOL...


Tip tip tip......tap tap tap....

[Maxhead]

Do you have a cryovac machine? If not invest in one mate, they are great. The will keep your food fresh and smell free for lot longer in the fridge.

[DX grunt]

I often pre-cook and freeze meals when heading away. I can feed the family (wife and 3 kids) from a 47lt ARB fridge for 4-5 days with some careful planning. Also requires some careful grog rotation through the fridge.
When I'm on my own or just me an my eldest daughter I tend to cook on the go.....
Generally, I'd rather spend time enjoying a fire with a beer rather than cooking.
Just picked up a new 60l ARB jobbie yesterday......same amount of food, more beer! LOL...


Tip tip tip......tap tap tap....

Thanks. There's only a certain amount of snags in a bun, that a man can eat!

I like to eat healthy on the road, and just wondering what people eat and the techniques they use.

Summer time is a challenge with all the campfire bans around the place.

[DX grunt]

Do you have a cryovac machine? If not invest in one mate, they are great. The will keep your food fresh and smell free for lot longer in the fridge.

I do. I'm still trying to work it out. Sometimes it doesn't seal properly, but I suspect it's 'Operator Error'. lol

[pearcey]

G`day Rossco
On long remote travel I use an 18lt Waco as a freezer which we stack with criovacted meat and other goods that need freezing.
We use a 40lt Waco as a normal fridge for drinks and things Like milk, butter, leftovers,bread and anything that needs to be kept cold.
We use canned vegies and things like spuds and onions will travel quite happy in a place which is dark and dry. Eggs do not need refrigeration but need careful packing,we only use the original container that they come in as I figger they were transported to the shop with little or no breakages so they should be OK and so far we have only lost a couple in all our travels.For the storage of all those fish I fillet then place in ziplock bags with a little salt water and freeze. Bait now there's a problem will watch this post for any suggestions.

[Cuppa]

Wife & I were discussing this yesterday.

If going away for a period of time that you can carry all your food for we reckon pre-prepared stuff to cover the period is a no brainer.
A bit harder when going away for longer or indefinite periods. If the latter it can still help considerably to carry a stock of long lasting/space saving/weight saving foods.

Frozen meals, when cooking at home make extra, freeze & it's there ready to take. Stuff that can be readily heated in whatever cooking facilities your Patrol has. Have to think ahead to ensure tonight's meal is thawed.

Buy meat from a butcher who will vacuum pack it for you. Lasts much longer in the freezer or fridge. (or get your own vacuum sealer for home use).

A lot of things can be dried at home if you have a dehydrator & reconstituted at camp, including complete meals. We've tried it succesfully with chilli con carne (without rice), but it takes a bit of practice reconstituting it.
Drying some things increases their flavour intensity. e.g. mushrooms

A good selection of plastic containers to fit in the freezer is essential. Plastic bags are ok, but containers are nicer & less likely to leach smells between other things (like bait).

Fixed rule - no glass on board, no exceptions. It's heavy & bulky. Decant anything bought in glass into your own plastic or other lightweight bottles.

Reduce packaging - less rubbish to deal with at camp & saves on space. When we do a shop (when we were on the road) at a supermarket, we didn't leave the carpark until we had transferred everything into our own containers & put all the packaging into the supermarket's rubbish bin. Amazing how much there is.

Keep canned food to a bare minimum, it's heavy. A couple of 'emergency tins of tun & baked beans.

We tried a few packs of the dried hiking meals, bought them in Perth, & used them when we needed to save space when riding bikes into the Bungles. Never again, they were disgusting & really expensive too.

Some fresh veggies last better than others, take a selection & keep the carrots, spuds, onions & capsicums until later.

Good supplies of all the dried stuff like pasta, rice, noodles, flour, etc plus herbs/spices/jam/golden syrup etc to make plain tasting stuff into a treat.

If on an extended trip cooking is part of the enjoyment, not a chore if you are in no rush. Short trips have different priorities

Dunno if this helps, just a few thoughts


What's a CT?

Cuppa

[Drew]

Camper Trailer


“The best way to cheer yourself is to cheer somebody else up.” - Albert Einstein

[DX grunt]

But I like drinking out of glass and not ally cans! lol

[Cuppa]

But I like drinking out of glass and not ally cans! lol

Easy solution to this for me - I don't carry any beer! LOL
If MrsTea insists on having some wine, a small 'chateau cardboard suffices', removed from the cardboard at the supermarket of course. ;) We are still trying to find an acceptable non glass wine 'glass'. Not all plastics are equal.
But I do make one small exception, stuffed if I'll drink my tea & coffee out of plastic mugs - yuk. However the 'Corelle' stuff works ok for this.

[Drewboyaus]

We are still trying to find an acceptable non glass wine 'glass'. Not all plastics are equal.


Hey Cuppa,
Next time you're down in Melbourne, check out one of the Paddy Pallin stores. They have great collapsible wine glasses. It's the only place I've seen them. I keep a couple in the truck.
I'm out at the moment but I'll put up a pic a bit later once I get home..
BTW, I only ever take beer cans. I hate having glass with me, it's a PITA.


Tip tip tip......tap tap tap....

[threedogs]

X 2 with Nisshead invest in a decent cryovac machine, then you can prepare meals in portions , or precook and freeze , or dehyrdrate in mealsize portions.
Not a fan of dehydrating meals as you need water to re hydrate ,water is life in the desert. Freezing Cryovac is the go IMO
@ Cuppa Melamine is hard to break

[the evil twin]

Hiya Rosco

Mrs Evil and I stopped taking frozen stuff about a year or more back.
Work out your cryovac machine and you probably will as well (at least for your tucker, you may have to experiment with salting bait or whatever or switch to soft plastics).
If you need to, you can freeze the cryovac so you can still take bait but that kinda defeats the purpose of the cryovac IMHO

Doesn't 'solve' the pre-cooked scenario but we are happy enough not to have to thaw anything pre-cooked or fresh and just do a quick cook up.
When we cryovac the tucker prior to the trip we pop some marinade in with the meat and when it's time to cook it is yuuuuummmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Pre-cooked we usually can't be bothered doing ourseleves.
We cheat and pop a few meals in from this mob http://happycampergourmet.com.au/.
Not cheap but then again not that expensive really when you work it out and they taste pretty darn good too.
Biggest advantage is the 18 month shelf life so no biggee if you don't use them.
The Shanks and the Cattlemans stew are my fav... you can throw some noodles or extra veg or whatever in the boiling water as well

[threedogs]

I've had a "DreamPot" for maybe 5 years, never used it yet.
Im told I can do roast at home and it'll cook on the way to Murray
I know they work, they cook a treat just CBB, Must admit we have wasted
a lot of food over the years.

[TheLocksmith]

We cook most stuff but Cryovac all sauces like Spag Bol, etc.

Saves the Mrs lots of cutting, cooking and cleaning.

I hate having to wait till she finishes all the above before I get my foot massage.

Don't worry already started to run for them hills :)

[rex]

Pre cooking is the go other wise the deamin drink catches up and always ends up with bikkys and dip well at my camp any way

[taslucas]

My mates have made their own jerky to take bushwalking. You can make your own flavour and it tastes great. Chew it as you walk (for bushwalking) or Throw it in a stew and it puffs back up for a hearty meal.

Also, my dad does a lot of bushwalking and he dehydrates his own food. He's tried everything from fruit to soup and it all comes out tasting really nice. He makes a soup or stew or curry etc and dehydrates it so its light and lasts a long time.
You can pick up a dehydrator pretty cheap and they are very versatile.

[oncedisturbed]

Yup just ordered a dehydrator for just shy of $50 inc delivery, just wAiting for it to come in so i can start my own jerky etc


Tap, Tap, Taparoo

[macca]

We have a sunbeam vac packer and have used it for stews while away. As suggested before lay them on top of each other when freezing they pack solid, don't rub, and stay frozen for quite a while.
One thing we did start doing was to double seal each end, move it 5mm and seal it again, after having a couple of blowouts we didn't want that again.
The bags are not that strong and we have had them rub a hole on the basket in the fridge.
We haven't done it but double bagging might fix that.
Great Idea that work, and after a long day a quick meal is fantastic.

[BigRAWesty]

We have the same and may have got a bit overkill as ours still had a little air around big things like a leg of pig, but chops and things it pulled in good..
Might try heating the bags a little next time, see if it aids in the wrapping..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)