Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

Food

On our first trip west we took a cooler, and the reason was simple, didn’t everyone always take a cooler with them? After all, didn’t we need fresh meat, milk, juice, cheese and butter? For the first three days we filled the cooler with ice, constantly. It was hot and the ice melted quickly, a pain-in-the-butt. The ice melted too quickly, and we quickly had spoiled meat and milk along with a cooler that stank. We ditched the cooler, gained valuable cargo room, and simplified our lives tremendously. Of course I wondered what we would do for food but with a little thinking outside the box we came up with some great alternatives to the refrigeration-needy foods.

Many years ago I was a backpacker going out for excursions as long as fourteen days. Without a cooler. We survived, and on our backpacking trips we often dreamed a bit too about what we would eat when we arrived back in civilization. Car camping is simple really compared to backpacking since we had access to a grocery store every once in awhile. And best of all, I would not have to constantly search for ice and wonder if I was keeping all this refrigerated food items cold enough.

Camping without a cooler has been an advantage into creativity for sure and required us to think outside the box. Often times the boys will exclaim that we are eating better than we ever do at home! While I don’t agree our meals are simple and here’s a sample of our meals for the last week.

Breakfast — you have your choice of hot oatmeal, hot chocolate, granola bars, peanut butter on graham crackers or bread, and/or cinnamon raisin bagel and cheese if we have it. Mark usually chooses a bagel with magarine while Michael and I take instant hot oatmeal with cheese.

Lunch — summer sausage with cheddar cheese on a bagel if you’d like. PB sandwich, tuna sandwich with a little mayonnaise. We found a source for individually packaged mayonnaise and since it isn’t opened it doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Sometimes we choose to have our lunch items for dinnertime too.

Snack —- nuts, dried fruit, raisins, beef jerky, lemonade using dry powdered mix

Dinner menu for the last week—-

1. Chicken Chow Mein with an extra can of chicken added to the mix.

Rice

1. Ravioli

Wheat bread with squeeze margarine

Canned peaches

1. Taco Dip with Nacho chips — mix one jar salsa with 4 oz cheddar cheese and 1# ground beef. (We stopped at the General Store just outside the NP we were visiting and picked up a pound of beef at the end of the day and just prior to dinner)

Wheat bread with squeeze margarine

Canned pears

1. Cheesy Chicken Helper — Use one box Chicken Helper, two large cans chicken breast meat, one can evaporated skim milk

Wheat bread with squeeze margarine

Canned peaches

1. Chili over macaroni —- We use canned chili without beans and sometimes add summer sausage to the mixture to boast the protein level of the dinner

Wheat bread with squeeze margarine

Canned pears

1. Chicken glop — into one pot place two cans chicken, drained, uncooked rice, Chinese vegetables, can green beans, can corn. Heat and serve

Wheat bread with squeeze margarine

Canned peaches

1. Rotisserie Chicken

Salad

Wheat bread with squeeze margarine

Bananas, strawberries,

The key to thinking outside the box has been to shop in the packaged food isle, a place I avoid when we are at home, and searching for items that can be substituted for refrigerator items. Evaporated skim milk in a can is a great substitution for milk. Many hard cheese can go a week without refrigeration although we try to purchase small quantities, around 8oz, and use it within a couple days. Fresh fruit is always purchased at the store and eaten within the first day or two. Many National Parks have their own General Store where fresh fruit and perhaps some fresh meat can be purchased for the evening meal.

In a couple days we will stay overnight in a hotel and our conversations have centered around the hot showers and food, should we eat steak or BBQ, and where can we go that will have an endless salad bar.

So there’s how we have thought outside the box using tons of canned and boxed items.