Camp food

[luffy100]

What does everyone eat at camp each morning and night to cut down on having to get up even earlier and going to be late to cook a big meal?

 

[LoonWulf]

Vienna sausages and crackers, instant coffee or cocoa.....or some variation on the them...mostly canned food i can heat on a rock by the fire or a little sterno....

Its pretty rare tho for me to not cook while camping, we dont stay out for more than a few days tho....or we stay for a month

 

[luffy100]

for me its mostly fruits, i love camping it keeps me in shape.

 

[Nature Boy]

Coffee.

Eat after the hunt

 

[Orcon]

I usually drink a few cups of coffee in the AM and skip breakfast. I carry calorie dense foods (boiled eggs, nuts, dried meat, cliff bar) for snacks during the day. If I camp where I park, there's usually a cooler full of vittles and premade meals. Cold spike camps in the wilderness are a totally different story.

 

[jmorris]

Skip breakfast, have some peanut butter and crackers in my pack to hold me over and eat when I come back more often than not.

Smoked food for dinner is ready when you get back from the afternoon hunt.

Or I also have a smoker control where I can set the timer to start the fire while I am still asleep and a PID maintains the temp once it's going. So if it's freezing I can put breakfast in the night before and it's ready when I get up. It can also be set to lower to "warm" temp at a given time if I am not back when I expected.

 

[jmorris]

If I am going to a place where I don't have one of them and no other cooking devices are available I throw one of my small griddles in the truck. With them I can cook a number of breakfast, lunch and dinners with little setup/clean up time.




If I need something even more portable, I converted an old craftsman tool box to a propane grill that contains everything needed to cook a few "grilled" meals.



Or maybe even throw together an improvised dedicated "camp" grill around a fire pit. In this case a section of pipe, wornout 8N PTO shaft and repurposed headache rack to form a swing out grate that can also be raised and lowered.

 

[ScrapMetalSlug]

You guys have some nice set ups.

I usually have some freeze dried coffee and a cliff bar, I don't waste time in the morning. Normally, once I wake up and warm up around the fire, I am ready to hunt for the day. I carry snacks or sunflower seeds with me and eat as I go.

I've also made pemmican before and that stuff is great for camp, especially for backpack camping/ hunts. Real easy to make and does not spoil, packs and carries real nice. dried ground (venison,beef,bison), dried blueberries, some walnuts, and beef tallow. Some seriously energy dense food.

 

[jmr40]

I often boil eggs and keep several in the ice chest. A couple for breakfast is fast and easy if cooked ahead of time.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I am very fortunate. We have a bunkhouse with both full sized fridge and full size stove. We cook full meals.
In the morning, it's just coffee (if you get up early enough to make it) and take a granola bar of protein bar to the stand.

When we get back we cook a late breakfast or early lunch, whichever you prefer (I'm not calling it brunch. lol).
Usually consists of things not so healthy. Wild hog sausage, bacon, fried potatoes with onions, stuff like that. But it's only one or two mornings a week.
Dinner usually consists of fried deer steak or burgers and hot dogs on the grill.

You mentioned not staying up too late. Well, we do that anyway, often past midnight. Part of the fun of deer camp is sitting around the fire with a cold adult beverage or two and shooting the bull. We don't get crazy, just relaxing and solving all of the world's problems.

We have fun and we eat good.

 

[WestKentucky]

If I'm camping I'm cooking. I dont camp and hunt though. I camp because I enjoy camping. I keep a fire going and always have a Dutch oven in the heat whether it be chili, roast, etc. seldom do I go for the lowly weiner on a stick over a flame. I also like to do corn on the cob and baked potatoes in the coals.

 

[buck460XVR]

What I do is prepare and cook several meals in advance and then freeze them and use them for ice in the coolers. I'll make things like sausage and gravy to go with breakfast and chili or stew for lunch/supper. Then all one has to do is warm it up and serve it with bread/biscuits. I'll grill brats and freeze them, they are good cold if you don't want to warm them up. They also pack well for a snack in the woods.

 

[murf]

mom would always make foil dinners for each of us for one meal (usually the first). ingredients include: steak, potato slices, carrots, green chili, onion, a fancy vegetable and a few cherry tomatoes to keep everything from drying out. wrap all in three layers of foil (alternating top to bottom the creased side) and put in cooler. at night, toss in a bed of coals, rotate as necessary, put on plate, open up the foil and enjoy.

thanks mom!

murf

 

[Dog Soldier]

It really depends where you are hunting. If you are hunting in the low country your diet can consist of more low fat and energy foods. Hunters hiking the High Country above 7,000' need high energy foods and pocket protein foods with lots of water. In the high thin air over eating anything can cause some problems.

 

[Omaney]

I keep Clif bars and water in my pack. I'm not much of a breakfast guy anyway. Quick pot of coffee and get out there.
Lunch however, is epic.

 

[CoRoMo]

I usually drink a few cups of coffee in the AM and skip breakfast. I carry calorie dense foods (boiled eggs, nuts, dried meat, cliff bar) for snacks during the day. If I camp where I park, there's usually a cooler full of vittles and premade meals. Cold spike camps in the wilderness are a totally different story.

Pretty much the same here.

When I 'camp' in my SUV, rear seats removed/folded down, a twin mattress, sleeping bag, pillow laying there, all my gear, cooler, clothing, etc.beside me. When the alarm goes off, I step out to relieve myself and light the gas stove upon which the simple camping-style percolator sets, already prepped the night before with water and grounds. In the time that takes to make full strength coffee, I get dressed, packed up and I chew down a granola bar. I then go #2 at the trailhead restroom, pour myself a mug of joe and start walking in. I usually only take another granola bar, jerky, and/or some crackers & tuna in with me. A couple water bottles and I'm good for the day.

When I'm camped in the backcountry, it all is really just the same except I'm in a tent, no mattress, much less gear and no trailhead restroom. I never light a wood-fueled campfire when I'm hunting because I don't want the smoke on me, so I use a small propane stove to heat/cook everything and I keep it all extremely simple.

My brother and dad on the other hand, who come into Colorado from another state to elk hunt, they want bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, pancakes, syrup, breakfast burritos, you name it, for a big breakfast. Then they're packing in cheeseburgers, chips, burritos, etc. for lunch and want a big steak or casserole supper after we hike out at night. That means you'll be digging potty holes all throughout the day while your hiking around just to eliminate pounds of food from your bowels. You waste over an hour getting up and out too, but they are more in it for the vacation/experience of high-country big game hunting than I am. I'm in it to fill a tag with haste and put meat in the fridge. For me, it's a chore that I want completed as quickly, easily, and with as minimal accoutrements as possible. But don't get me wrong, it's a passion of mine and I love it to death. I'd be out there again right now if I hadn't filled my tag last month already.

 

[Acera]

Home made Jerky

Home made Trail Mix.

Coffee which I keep in a big Thermos.

Usually brew a pot of coffee over a camp stove before heading out to the stand, or blind. Eat breakfast while waiting, sipping on the coffee.

Trying to keep it simple and it all fits into my backpack with my other gear, not hard to get a few days worth of food in there in case it's needed.

Lunch and dinner are usually a 30 minute drive away.



.

 

[Nature Boy]

All that camp food has to go somewhere, and it usually starts knocking on the door about an hour after I'm in the stand

 

[buck460XVR]

I think the term "camp" has different meanings to different folks. Here in Wisconsin, Deer Camp is a tradition. It is for many folks an experience as enjoyable as the hunt itself. It's generally long time friends, and family that see very little of each other during the rest of the year, spending quality time not only in the woods together, but around the campfire, card table/dinner table as well. Food and the telling of stories from previous deer camps are a big part of it. No real need to live on cereal bars, tree bark and granola for the whole 9 days. Most every "camp" has it's own delegated head cook or what we call "the camp bitch". Many times to them, the hunt is secondary or of less concern that the raves from hungry hunters coming in from the cold to hot food and drink. My family's "camp" consists of several locations within a 40 mile radius due to family members owning different parcels with a cabin/bunkhouse on them. While we all have a primary camp, we routinely make a "run" to see how the other "boys" are doing and see if they need help the next day making drives and to see what they have hangin'. It is customary to feed those visiting hunters well, just as much as it is for the visiting hunters to share the bounty taken.

 

[splattergun]

Boiled eggs, sardines, Vienna sausages, fruit, granola bars, baby carrots, crackers, cookies.. just about anything to plug the hole in the gullet.

 

[Gtscotty]

Breakfast: Rockstar low carb and a cheese stick or banana.

Lunch: Whatever nuts I'm carrying with me.

Dinner: Dehydrated meal-in-a-bag, can of soup or a few hot dogs...... Whiskey, wine or beer.

 

[buck460XVR]

Lunch: Whatever nuts I'm carrying with me.

.

..................ain't even gonna go there.

 

[Zeke/PA]

What does everyone eat at camp each morning and night to cut down on having to get up even earlier and going to be late to cook a big meal?

What does everyone eat at camp each morning and night to cut down on having to get up even earlier and going to be late to cook a big meal?

At Deer Camp every year, I cook breakfast for anyone who is going hunting. Bacon or ham or scrapple with eggs and home fries.
The late nite poker players and drunks can do their own when they decide to become mobile.
Not to mention I get an extra tag or two to fill.
I love to hunt so days in the woods are great in many ways!

 

[Robert]

Put the kettle on to boil some water. Use a cup or so to fix my Mountain House breakfast and the rest to brew coffee. The Mountain House backpacking food is actually really good and is ready in about ten mins with very little clean up.

I carry jerky, fruit, string cheese, and protein bars for snacks throughout the day. I am a big fan of Clif Bars, the Builders Bar is 20g of protein. Then have a steak or something for dinner.

 

[Zeke/PA]

When at Deer Camp ,I get up early and cook breakfast for any body that's going hunting.
The Poker players can do their own thing and I am adamant about this.
Eggs, meat ( bacon, scrapple,ham) .
They eat breakfast,they best have their butts in the woods shortly after!