Trying foods for camping

[Crisp Image]

With a trip to Central Aus coming soon we have started trying food that we (and more importantly the kids) will eat.
Well today we tried Deb Mash and surprise peas.
The peas were ok and easily went down well but the Deb was another story.
Now about 28 years ago was the last time I ate this umm glue type substance and I was looking for the bricks to sue this as mortar to hold them together.
Now I ate mine and I found it ok and if I was really hungry would eat it. I did think it would make a great emergency meal while out on a search in the snow or something.

I guess my question tonight is can you improve this stuff or is it what you get.
What other things do people use camping that you don't use at home.
With fruit fly and stuff I was thinking of cooking and then dehydrating my own spuds and then vac pack them or even just cook and pack. Might do that with carrots give them quick blanch then vac-pack then they are cooked and not fresh and should get past border controls.
Some experimenting will happen over the next few weeks I can see that.

Regards
Crisp Image

[HEM19X]

Mate,

Camping is supposed to be fun, lay off that stuff

We tend to go for more of the flavoured pasta's & rices etc..nice & easy...brown some meat, boil some water, cook rice etc, stir together easy peasy.

Hem

[Kit_e_kat9]

Love dried peas, corn and beans ... but hate that tasteless potato stuff with a passion.  Akin to eating moist cotton wool.  I don't think there is anything one can do to make it edible.

Fresh is best where possible.

Eat what you eat at home and you'll really enjoy the camping experience more.  Some things I tend to keep in my pantry are those Man Soups, rice, pasta, cake mixes, lots of herbs and spices (I have a great kit of those) otherwise it's the same things as at home.  Vacumn sealers are a terrific thing to stop meat leaking all over the esky and if you marinate your meat first, it's even better!  I take packet noodles and use them to do stir fries.  Divine!

Kit_e

[Silvo]

we cooked a lot of meals as yo have suggested and vac sealed them. then froze some and just dethawed before we left camp for the day. make sure you just don't vac seal too much, as left overs is hard.

for us, the mash deb lives in the camper, and every time we finish one i restock it.. 

dan

[POD]

WELL - I TOTALLY disagree. In fact I will even eat Deb at home (Deb is NOT my wife's name!!).

Here is the way I do it - Don't follow their directions to the letter.

First of all a GOOD dollop of butter (or other fake stuff if butter is not on hand), add some black pepper, then add the add water. First, just enough to get it moving. Then add a little more and a little more to get it to the consistency you want it to be.

The other thing I would recommend is try to change your attitude towards it - look at it as something to eat WITH something else. What I mean is, a spoonful of Deb is NEVER going to taste as good as the real stuff but have a half spoonful with something that has flavour. As a side to every spoon or forkful, rather than trying to eat it on it's on.

Try different things with it at home. I LOVE it with baked beans and then grate some cheese over it -YUM!

The other thing is the dried peas and carrots I don't think really work that well unless they're in a stew or curry or something that will give its flavour to the peas and carrots. For me, I prefer the canned peas and corn. Easy to cook, tender and YUM.

Good luck!

[GOLDIE]

WELL - I TOTALLY disagree. In fact I will even eat Deb at home (Deb is NOT my wife's name!!).

 

[DANBRI]

Do you have a fridge?

We pretty much eat the same as we do at home, even on remote trips. Sometimes depending how remote we might have to go without bread for a few days but other than that, pasta, meat etc etc. Just keep your meat on the bottom of the fridge (if you have one).

If you're going hiking for a few days food needs to change but not touring in a 4wd! Now days we have luxo barges!

[theflyingbadger]

In fact I will even eat Deb at home (Deb is NOT my wife's name!!).

Neighbour?

[olddigger]

Hate to be difficult, but I rather like Deb. Properly prepared, (as outlined above) it's perfectly acceptable. And I understand that you would be very surprised at the number of restaurants which use it all the time. Agreeed, real spuds are better, but in the bush, you need to compromise.
Cheers, Tony

[HerGU]

We use canned vegies.

Tinny Tatters are great and can be used a number of ways. We drain them and cut them up into quarters, put them in the fry pan with garlic, morocon and tuscan herbs. Yummy. We also cut them into halves and put them on a skewer as a kebab, or in a stew. We also wrap them up in foil with butter and put them next to the camp fire - YUMMY! I haven't tried to mash them but there are plenty of other ways you can use them instead of mash. I also tried deb......i have 1 packet in the camper for emergencies but its been there a while now. Deb = Yuk.

I keep canned vegies for stews and dehydrated peas to use as normal peas. I usually purcahse the vegies in indivdual tins (corn, peas, carrots, etc by themselves that way you can have which ever you want and dont have to have the mix. You can also use half a can and refridgerate the rest for tomorrow. We also carry honey so you can still have honey carrots and beans - yummy. Help diguise the "tinned" taste too.

With the canned vegies, i found that the home brand stuff can be a bit ordinary (especially peas). Pay the extra 20c and go edgell or one of those type of brands.

Other food ideas using canned food is those chunky stew in jaffal irons for toasted sanga's.

I keep plenty of tinned pineapple for kebabs or as a extra on a plate as pan fried or bbq'd pineapple.

We also keep flavoured packet pasta and rice - good as a quick side dish.

Hope you get some ideas.

[singo-26]

There is a magee instant mashed potato that is reasonably edible, It's also gluten free. You can pick its not real but it is a good alternative. It's served up in some restaurants and probably most pubs with their meals.

[duggie]

I do like to carry deb dry potato mix when going camping  as it is nice when used as a thickiner for stews and such like.

[darren]

WELL - I TOTALLY disagree. In fact I will even eat Deb at home (Deb is NOT my wife's name!!).

So do i .... and her sister...
 
 Actually i make it like this..
Put the deb in a bowl, tip boiling water in it and Wisk with a fork until you find the desired consistency and serve. I never use anything else

 When i'm hiking or solo camping i have a quick meat and 3 vedge deb meal that i make. I make it and eat it in a snap lock bag when i'm hiking or billy if in in the car.
 You need some cooked meat, canned ham, sausages, anything, cut it into 10mm cubes, put 2 cups of water in a billy and a handful of surprise peas and corn. Soak it cold for 5 min then bring it to the boil. Take it off the heat, add 1 cup of deb, I spoon of French onion soup mix, and the diced meat and stir
There you go. A hearty meal, all you need now is a view.
Darren

[speewa158]

To travel with veg just wrap each peice in newspaperplace in box out of direct sun good to go for 7/10 days then start on the tinned stuff . Cryo vac meat in the bottom of the fridge tinnies on top , 1L milk & butter , cheese etc in fridge as well ,with a good selection of tinned veg to suppliment . All good  ; Rice & noodles are great fillers to pad curry . Think outside the box . 

[fishfinder]

its simple allways make sure you got mobile service and get a pizza delivered

[Crisp Image]

its simple allways make sure you got mobile service and get a pizza delivered

But  Pizzas come in a box and some one said think out side of it.
Anyway all good suggestions. We will be traveling with a 60ltr borrowed fridge so just trying to figure out the best way of packing.

Only about 6 weeks till we go now and I am looking forward to it heaps.

Regards
Crisp Image

[earle]

We find cous cous a great, easy accompaniment at home and camping. Basically its just tiny balls of pasta.
At home we use equal volume boiling water to weight of cous cous. Eg 250ml water:250g cous cous.
Pour the boiling water into a bowl, sprinkle the cous cous on top and then stir and fluff with a fork, you can add a dash of oil or butter if you like. At home I would microwave it for 1 minute to make it fluffier but when camping this step is skipped.
Because its so small you don't need to boil it lke normal pasta.

[darren]

Ainsley Harriot flavored cous cous is great.

[cucinadio]

We find cous cous a great, easy accompaniment at home and camping. Basically its just tiny balls of pasta.
At home we use equal volume boiling water to weight of cous cous. Eg 250ml water:250g cous cous.
Pour the boiling water into a bowl, sprinkle the cous cous on top and then stir and fluff with a fork, you can add a dash of oil or butter if you like. At home I would microwave it for 1 minute to make it fluffier but when camping this step is skipped.
Because its so small you don't need to boil it lke normal pasta.

bugger beat me to it .. was just reading this and was going to say Cous Cous!! is you friend!!!..lol

[theflyingbadger]

Ainsley Harriot flavored cous cous is great.

what does he taste of? where's that :spew: smiley when you need it?

[cucinadio]

what does he taste of? where's that :spew: smiley when you need it?

LMBFAO!!!!!

[darren]

I'm here to please

[ddr]

We found the kids HATED the "Deb" Mash, we went on to try the Aldi version of it & the kids love it.  Its not gloop & has a very nice buttery taste.  I was dead against it until we tried the aldi one,  I hate the Deb too so can understand the kids hatred of it.

Aldi mash, with a couple of snags & some onion gravy is an awesome quick meal

[4runnernomore]

Nothing wrong with Deb potato you just need to add flavour.

when we have use it at work in the field we alway add seaoning butter and I like to chuck Parmesian Cheese in it as well.  Making it on milk also improves the flavour. Usually you always need to add a little more extra liquid to make it more like real mash potato otherwise it sets like a brick. It makes excellent tops for pies as well and as already mentioned an excellent thickner for stews etc.

Cheers, Chris   

[cucinadio]

MASHED POTATO

A great way to replace the day's energy stores is through good old mashed potato. To prepare, simply cook the potatoes until soft, add salt, pepper & any other spices, as well as milk. Whip in a blender to get the potatoes to a pureed consistency.

Spread on a lightly oiled Solid Sheet in your Ezidri dehydrator & dry for 10-12 hours at 50 deg C (Snackmaker - Medium). The dried potatoes can then be powdered or left as chips.

They are tasty as a dried snack or can be rehydrated wthl milk or water to enjoy with your evening meal!



Recipe courtesy of The Outdoor Gourmet, by Michael Hampton.


But even after this, who really is traveling that long to need to have a tin of deb (pplllaaaakkkkk) to get you through.......

I've even cooked potato until al dente and vak it and then finish with a little water/milk at camp... even that would have to be better than deb???

coming from a chefs POV  

http://www.eziconcepts.com.au