How we eat at camp

Or, an ode to Taco Bell

Welcome to the second installment of Casey’s Corner! It’s been a month or so since the last blog post; we’ve been keeping it low key staying with family and friends to get out of the heat. We’ll be back to regular travel/posts soon! Also, if you haven’t read my first post I encourage you to go back and read it. (It has absolutely nothing to do with cooking.)

Many of our friends and family have asked us what we eat on the road. Perhaps it’s because it’s an interesting topic, but likely also because everyone who knows Corin and I knows we love to eat. I often get wrapped up in conversations about who’s eating what these days, what I should and should not eat, etc. Again, I love to talk about food. So let’s talk about camp food!

Hash browns with a mushroom and potato egg scramble

Okay, first, a slight detour. I want to express my deep love and devotion to the finest fast food chain ever to ever grace our streets: Taco Bell.

As I write this, I’m listening to a podcast about optimizing plant-based eating…BUT I REFUSE TO FEEL BAD ABOUT MY TACO BELL DOLLAR MENU CHOICES. The podcast says fiber is the thing. You know what has 8 grams of fiber in it? A single Taco Bell bean burrito. Take any item, replace the meat with beans and nix the cheese, sour cream, and chipotle sauce - and there you have it - a cheap plant-based meal. Or, you know, have it however you like. Whatever makes your Taco Bell bell bong. After our many long days of begging the forest to break open to reveal a large pack of bears or cursing our tent (why the hell won’t it close?)…Taco Bell has been the Alaskan answer to what nutritionally ails us. But, alas, even with the availability of the Bell in larger towns and the rarity of being able to eat out for under $20 we can’t always have that bean-y goodness. So back to the topic at hand: what does camp cooking look like for us?

First, we go green and leafy. We have found that being mostly plant-based is helpful as you don’t have to worry too much about food safety. Vegetables, fruits, and shelf-stable beans and grains tend to last longer than meat products. It also frees up fridge space for more important things like fizzy water or, in Corin’s case, beer. We make exceptions for eggs and cheese.

Second, cooking Asian-inspired dishes. Asian flavors really add a lot to all types of vegetables and the same five or so ingredients work in many different arrangements. On the road this includes the fancy-ing up of instant ramen. This isn’t your usual college dorm room ramen, either. (We love Mike’s Mighty Good and Lotus Foods brands.) Throw in some miso, hoisin sauce, and red curry paste (thanks to Jane Esselstyn) and you’ve got a quick, delicious, and hearty camp meal.

The Pantry Box

Third, SANDWICHES. We eat a lot of sandwiches. We’ve found what works for us is what’s freshest wherever we are - lettuce, cucumbers, avocado, sprouts - plus premium condiments. I’m currently a big fan of Mrs. Dash’s Sodium Free Lemon Pepper seasoning. Corin loves all things spicy mustard. And bread, really good local bread. Just pile everything up, add some miso, and you’re set.

Fourth, we really love bowls. We recently tried a green lightning bowl recipe - tangy, sweet, and spicy! I avoided making it for a while because I thought the sauce required a blender and (after desperately trying to fit my Ninja in the rig) I don’t have any way to make a blended sauce. This has cramped my style a bit but we’re learning how to do things simpler - an overall lesson - and good oils and vinegars with a squeeze of citrus go a long way.

These things - eating plants, ramen-ish dinners, sandwiches, and bowls - have helped us eat well without too much of a mess. We both really hate doing dishes at a campsite.

Speaking of dishes, our most useful and used kitchen gear has been a set of Coleman stainless steel camp pots and pans. They’re heavy - I wouldn’t recommend these for folks who predominately backpack - but for us the additional weight was worth the familiarity of cooking on stainless steel and having a cook set that quality enough to hold up to day-to-day use. Which we’ve found across the board to be challenging with camp gear.

Finally, we’ve definitely had what I’d call camp cooking failures. I think the biggest would be my super creative idea of weekly meal prep in a hotel or AirBnB. Here’s a pro tip: no matter how cute that little off-grid cabin is it still won’t have a microplane in the kitchen. It’s not there, nor are 80% of the other kitchen gadgets you know and love. Also, did we meal prep when we lived in a house? No, we did not. So why would we now? We tried this twice and it didn’t save us any time or money. As they say in the industry - fail hard, fail fast. If we do any prep it’s in the field and only for the next day or so.

Final pro tip! Skip the Taco Bell fire sauce. It’s not hotter than the actual hot sauce and it tastes way worse.

See y’all out there!

His last photo