Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Here's my idea:

Prepare a recipe like the "Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole" at home. Pour it into a 12" pie pan, or whatever size fits, with parchment paper to prevent freezing, and freeze it solid as can be. I'm talking fully prepared, then frozen. When it's froze good, slip it out of the pie pan and into a Ziploc bag. Stack all of these meals in your good cooler, nice and tight. They will begin to slowly thaw, which isn't a big deal, since they will still be cold enough not to spoil. When the day comes while camping, remove the "dinner disk" and place it in the DO. Heat until cooked.

The advantage I see here is that you don't need to bring all of the small random ingredients to make it on-site (1/2 cup whipping cream, thyme, etc.). You don't have to deal with all the trash and space from the cans and boxes. This will save space and time and cleanup in the field.

Are there any fatal flaws here that I'm missing? BTW: My mother used to make pies like this ahead of time.

I do that a lot, depends on ingredients. I like to mix my own frozen stuff with pre-frozen pasta, when I try to freeze pasta it always seems to turn mushy when reheated. Potatoes and rice seem to freeze okay, but leave the package slightly open when doing the initial freezing. Put it in a sealed bag once it's solid. Also, be very careful with your seals. I usually double zip-loc in the cooler -- cause once the chicken starts thawing, a leak means throwing away everything.

One of my favorite things to take camping, which is a variation on this, is chicken w/tortellini. Dump some frozen tortellini, cooked cubed chicken and marinara sauce cubes in a bag and leave it in the freezer until ready to go (make the sauce cubes by pouring the sauce in an ice cube tray, covering with parchment paper - not plastic wrap - and freezing. When you get there, you can cook this in a pan or dump all contents into foil and cook directly in the coals.

Freezing first sounds good. Keep your cooler colder as it thaws. I saw a cookbook that practiced dehydrating most ingredients and adding water at the campsite. Pretty elaborate recipes, but if interested, a link is below.

http://www.amazon.com/Leave-No-Crumbs-C ... 623&sr=8-2

Freezing is a good idea. You can use freezer bags and just cool the recipe before pouring. You can even use the vacuum seal type machines.

I do that all the time. it works great. I do not freeze noodles or anything with mayo. They have a tendency to get mushy. Wait I lied. I have frozen lasagna and reheated in my propane stove in the Zollinger. Yummy!
Dawn

KathleenO wrote:I just use freeze-dried food rather than frozen food. You can buy it at camping stores (or scores some from a military buddy).

I haven't found any freeze dried food yet that tastes like......food!
I do like some military MRE's. They're compact and fairly light weight, and will last a long time. I keep 3 or 4 of the complete meals in my galley as 'just in case' chow.
I'm curious, if any of you keep your teardrop loaded, ready to bug out at a moments notice, what sort of foodstuff do you keep in the galley?

FireLion wrote:I do like some military MRE's. ... I'm curious, if any of you keep your teardrop loaded, ready to bug out at a moments notice, what sort of foodstuff do you keep in the galley?

I also like the MREs, but I have to feed them to people first, then tell them it's an MRE second. Otherwise, they won't try it. I don't have a tear yet, but my camp box doubles as my emergency box ... which is what we take if we have to split in a hurry. It contains at all times:

tea bags
instant coffee
kool-aid packets
hot chocolate mix
canned fruit & veg
one or more MREs
instant potatoes
boil-in-bag rice
canned soup
dinty moore stew
trail mix
canned peanuts
pretzels
rice cakes
ketchup
pepper
asst sauce & mayo packets from restaurants

(most of this gets rotated whenever we go camping), also

enamelware pot
perc coffeemaker
hot pads
matches
paper towels
ziploc bags
sharp knife
cooking spoon
spatula
can opener
small cutting board
propane burner

To this I add bottled water and whatever I can grab and throw in the cooler. I like to be ready for not only emergencies but weird opportunities.

We used to always freeze our meat. It will last longer, and works like ice keeping everything else cold. Some stuff like sausages or chicken we would par boil so it wouldn't take as long to cook. still tasted good too. Just some suggestions.

fornesto wrote:Here's my idea:

Prepare a recipe like the "Cracker Barrel Hashbrown Casserole" at home. Pour it into a 12" pie pan, or whatever size fits, with parchment paper to prevent freezing, and freeze it solid as can be. I'm talking fully prepared, then frozen. When it's froze good, slip it out of the pie pan and into a Ziploc bag. Stack all of these meals in your good cooler, nice and tight. They will begin to slowly thaw, which isn't a big deal, since they will still be cold enough not to spoil. When the day comes while camping, remove the "dinner disk" and place it in the DO. Heat until cooked.

Just to clarify, you're primarily talking about freezing it UNCOOKED, and then cooking it in the DO. Not freezing cooked dishes and reheating, right?

Sounds like a good idea to me!

When I go by myself, during the week, at home I'll deliberately cook dinners with left overs in mind.

I'll pack them into a zip lock bag, freeze them and then when I go camping I'll just do a "boil in bag" thing, empty it on to a plate and ya got dinner....with minimal clean up.

FireLion wrote: I'm curious, if any of you keep your teardrop loaded, ready to bug out at a moments notice, what sort of foodstuff do you keep in the galley?

I do keep my trailer stocked with what my wife calls "Guy Food". There's always enough food for maybe 2 days.

Not the best in dining, but by far not the worst.

Canned soup, vegies, Spaghetti sauce, Chili, Spam, Dinty More beef stew. Then in Mason jars I keep elbow noodles, Minute rice, Coffee w/fixins and I always carry some sealed water as well.

The secret to "Guy Food" is that it has to be able to keep for a long time on its own.

One of my and my sons favorite Guy Food meals is what we call "Mexican Spaghetti" A can of Chili and some elbow macaroni.

BTW most Guy Food recipes are one pot meals as well.

Happy Trails

Len

Fornesto & other "weekender's",

Yes,
Cook, freeze, pack up tight, and reheat later works!
We have done this for weekend jaunts with great results.

Now, where do i begin to find a freezer big enough for a thirty day supply?
That fits in the back seat of a Tacoma?

P

"If I only hadda brain"?
Tinman circa 1933

Look at books or websites for "Once a Month" cooking.

I have a foodsaver and love it !

Some pastas, noodles and potatoes do not freeze well at all., but do everything else and just add the pasta there.

I am single, so when I make a big pot of soup or a meatloaf etc, I seal tight some leftovers and then freeze. It's good for a meatloaf sandwich or an easy lunch at camp that's not hot dogs or lunchmeat all the time.

Happy camping !!!
Julie

My husband likes eating big meals but when we go camping I dont want to cook big meals. Steak peppers and onions and of course baked potatoes.
I like keepin it simple.
Marijo

Do it all the time.

For hot (100+) desert jeepin/camping it's really the best way to keep the cooler cold. I freeze _everything_ that can be frozen that goes in the dry cooler.

It's thawed enough to cook when we get to dinner or the next day.