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I am looking for meals that can be made with non perishable foods.... specifically food that doesn't have to be kept cool....
We will be going on a month plus long road trip this summer that will include a lot of camping. In previous road trips, I have found one of the most difficult things is keeping food cold in the cooler.... Ice has to be changed constantly... and there isn't a lot of space in the cooler either; I try to only go to the grocery store about every five days... It is difficult to fit 5 days worth of meals into a cooler.
I was thinking the trip would be a lot easier if we could take a lot of meals that don't require refrigeration. We will mostly be camping- at which times we will be grilling.... We will be staying in a fair amount of hotels also- at which we will have a microwave at times.... We will also be traveling with an electric griddle....
I'd love to have some meals that require no cooling at all.
But also wouldn't mind some meal ideas that require minimum cooling.... as in I really want to avoid raw meat- that spoils far too quickly.... where as cheeses and things like that would not be overly difficult to care for in a cooler and not the end of the world if the cooler wasn't kept at a constant temp....
I wish I could say that my kids were really adventurous eaters.... but they aren't.... They aren't super picky; but they aren't real adventurous either.... I'd like to try the meals out in advance at home.... We recently tried spam at someone's suggestion and it did not go over well. I fried it. Believe it or not, I had never had spam before. All the kids tried it, but none liked it. I pretended to like it in an attempt to win the kids over, but I didn't like it either. Which is a shame, because that could have been a good source of meat/protein without needing cooling....
Our trip isn't till June 1st, but I'd love to start getting some ideas and give them a try at home before out on the road!!
Canned tuna and canned chicken don't need refrigeration until opened. If you can get packets of mayo from somewhere, that's a solution for sandwiches on short notice. If you have produce that can last without cooling (I know tomatoes shouldn't be put in the fridge) you can also used the tuna or chicken on top of a salad. Oil and vinegar don't need refrigeration either so there's your salad dressing. I've also used the chicken to make noodle soup - a can or two of chicken broth, a package of egg noodles and the can of chicken. Pasta and cans of tomato paste are good too. Just use enough water to make whatever amount of sauce you need.
Potatoes don't need refrigeration so take along a roll of aluminum foil and you can have baked potatoes from the grill. We don't ever refridgerate open sticks of butter so you could even take the butter with you for them.
Other than prepackaged stuff, there's nothing else I can really think of. Good luck
When camping or backpacking we like Mountain House freeze-dried dehydrated meals. Just add hot water (and cold water will do, in a pinch). Comes in pouches or cans. There are other similar options, like Provident Pantry, where you rehydrate and then actually prepare/cook the meal. Also works well for emergency/disaster preparedness.
Onions don't need to be refrigerated unless they are cut open. One of my favorite grilled side dishes is to cut up potatoes and onion and put them in a foil packet generously drizzled with olive oil and some seasoning of your choice - salt, pepper. garlic powder, italian seasoning - whatever you prefer. Cook for 45-60 minutes on the grill - turning every 15 minutes. I also sometimes add cut up red pepper if your kids will eat that. You can do one large packet - or one for each member of your family in case some don't like onions or peppers or prefer different seasoning.
Peanut butter sandwiches are always an option, as long as no one is allergic. I second the canned chicken idea. I use it quite a bit when I'm not feeling well, but know that I still need to make supper. A can of chicken, some jarred alfredo sauce, heat it up and voila! Supper is served.
When camping or backpacking we like Mountain House freeze-dried dehydrated meals. Just add hot water (and cold water will do, in a pinch). Comes in pouches or cans. There are other similar options, like Provident Pantry, where you rehydrate and then actually prepare/cook the meal. Also works well for emergency/disaster preparedness.
No cold storage required at all.
True, but unless prices on dehydrated foods of this type have gotten much lower since I last tried some, they're much too expensive for a lot of people.
I never found any that I'd willingly eat unless backpacking and needing to keep my pack light. They just aren't that yummy. Mountain House was the brand I tried, and it was fuel but not food as far as I was concerned.
It was hard for me to get very interested in choosing among packets of food that when opened looked like rocks. Also, when heating those, none smelled very appetizing. I never felt, "Yummy! Just smell that dehydrated chicken a la king. Can't wait to taste it."
If you do decide to try backpacking meals, I'd buy enough for a single meal and see if it is met with any greater enthusiasm than Spam inspired.
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Last edited by Her Dotness; 03-10-2014 at 12:33 PM..
It was hard for me to get very interested in choosing among packets of food that when opened looked like rocks. Also, when heating those, none smelled very appetizing. I never felt, "Yummy! Just smell that dehydrated chicken a la king. Can't wait to taste it."
Yep, just as expensive as I thought Mountain House would be.
A 17.5 oz. can of dehydrated beef stew makes 10 1-1/4 cup servings (not much for hungry guys or growing kids) and costs $32 to $35 from online sources. You could likely get some of this cheaper on Ebay if you were really wanting non-perishable food that's lightweight and keeps for half of forever.
A packet of Mountain House corn that serves four? EIGHT bucks. Meat dishes for four can be $15-18.
Now, how many people are likely to want to spend about a hundred bucks for three cans with ten servings each? Or weirder yet, a meal of beef stew and corn that tastes like it was found in King Tut's tomb for around $25-30 instead of opening a can or two of Hormel beef stew?
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“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Last edited by Her Dotness; 03-10-2014 at 04:16 PM..
Oh, and I forgot to add that you just don't know how great technology is till you taste freeze-dried strawberry ice cream.
Eat a styrofoam coffee cup instead. It'll taste about as good, I swear.
I've been to DC and the Science Museum a few times and I never saw what the appeal was in the freeze dried ice cream. I would watch kids eating it thinking "it doesn't even look good." This year when I go to DC with Abby's class, I'll probably see that picture all over again and think the same thing again. I just hope Abby doesn't want to try it.
You can make a pasta fagioli with canned beans, canned tomato sauce and elbow macaroni. We eat lots of Barilla Plus pasta-more expensive but has protein and fiber. You can buy jarred sauce if your kids will tolerate it or just have it with butter and parmesan (which lasts a long time without refrigeration you don't need to use the canned stuff.)
My kids also like pizza made with french bread or english muffins-add jarred sauce and cheese (veggies and stick pepperoni if they want).
Also if you don't have allegeries, lots of nut butters. You can add a banana for extra nutrition.
I am not a big fan of canned meats/fish because of the high sodium content but you can lower it significantly by rinsing.
My kids also make mac and cheese when camping and that blue box stuff is cheap.
I would use the cooler for milk, butter and other essentials. Do you have one that plugs into you car instead of using ice?
They make pepperoni slices in bags that don't need to be kept cool. Also boxed mac & cheese. Any kind of biscuit mix, powered milk also milk in cartons with long shelf life.
Not sure what use biscuit mix might have other than making pancakes when you're camping and have no oven. And then, you need eggs for that which could be a problem if no easy source of ice.
Is the OP's cooler an old one, I wondered. Ours has no problem keeping food safely chilled for nearly 24 hours if not so stuffed that there's not enough ice.
The suggestion of a cooler that plugs into your car might work if the tech on those has improved since I considered one a number of years ago. They would only cool then to "about" 40 degrees cooler than the inside car temp which could mean storing food at 50-60 degrees in hot summer weather. Hello, food poisoning!
__________________
“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” —Winnie-the-Pooh
Last edited by Her Dotness; 03-13-2014 at 04:11 PM..
I do not have a cooler that plugs into the car; just a regular ice cooler. The cooler I have is less than five years old and says "keeps cool for five days"- but it doesn't.
Last big road trip the cooler spent a lot of time in the sun and that is probably part of the reason the "five days" didn't work out.... We had the cooler tied down to the top of the roof as there was no room in the van.... Also, we try to keep it in shade at the campgrounds, but it's hard at times plus even in the shade sometimes the temps are just high... (we travel in the summer). Also, we open the cooler way too much!! Last time I had the one big cooler for meats and meal stuff and then a second smaller cooler for drinks with the idea that the big cooler would only be opened at meal times.... but inevitably the big cooler got open more than it was suppose to.... I think the "keeps cool for five days" is only true when the cooler isn't opened and the surrounding outside temp doesn't exceed the seventies....
Thanks for all the great ideas! I plan to start trying them at home to see how they go over!
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. I fried it. Believe it or not, I had never had spam before. All the kids tried it, but none liked it. I pretended to like it in an attempt to win the kids over, but I didn't like it either
. Which is a shame, because that could have been a good source of meat/protein without needing cooling....
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I also sometimes add cut up red pepper if your kids will eat that. You can do one large packet - or one for each member of your family in case some don't like onions or peppers or prefer different seasoning.
I've been to DC and the Science Museum a few times and I never saw what the appeal was in the freeze dried ice cream. I would watch kids eating it thinking "it doesn't even look good." This year when I go to DC with Abby's class, I'll probably see that picture all over again and think the same thing again. I just hope Abby doesn't want to try it.
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