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Supermarket shopping for camp foods

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Yesterday Bob Mills and I were in the parking lot of his store yakking .. as conversations go the topic drifted to forays to the supermarket across the street. We both use the dreaded "no no" center aisles to buy processed prepackaged noodle rice or whatever combos and then waltz to the ground meat and the frozen vegetable aisle.The latter for the items to be dehydrated. Do any of you have any supermarket finds for camp meals that require no refrigeration? This could include whole meals or parts thereof.
At the North Windham (ME)Hannaford I pick up "shrimp flavor"Ramen Noodles in aisle 7 and canned shrimp in aisle 8 and marry those with frozen dehydrated veggies from aisle 12. That is one of my standby recipes.
 
I'm not the kitchen magician, but I'll try to remember what I've been sent to the pantry for from time to time. We love Thai, and two kinds of noodles come to mind. One is thin and dry (instant rice?), and the other is thick and goopy (instant Udon?). We also love coconut milk in it's cakey dry form. Just add water to make a paste for making coconut milk based curries. I've been trusted with that task, so doing the "Hey presto! Coconut milk!!" is my favourite camping culinary magic trick.
 
Western Oregon is what we call Ecotopia. People have hyper sensitivity to political issues and food. The groceries stores are full of things that I can't find in Nevada. It is the land of organic grass fed meat and breast fed herbs. The craft beer section is a whole isle in the store. It is easy to find whole meals where everything is locally produced from the wine to the goat cheese. Culinary heaven makes for some interesting meals on the river. We are headed to Seattle next for some family functions. I plan to eat my weight in seafood while up there.
 
Yesterday Bob Mills and I were in the parking lot of his store yakking .. as conversations go the topic drifted to forays to the supermarket across the street. We both use the dreaded "no no" center aisles to buy processed prepackaged noodle rice or whatever combos and then waltz to the ground meat and the frozen vegetable aisle.

No specific recipes; my backcountry food tends towards the simplistic.

I have noticed that grocery stores in towns with a heavy outdoor recreation industry often have a better and more varied selection of the processed/prepackaged/dried/foil pouch type items.

And other odd stuff. I had searched every grocery store in a 20 mile radius of my home for bleach powder, accompanied by store employees when I seemingly stuck out, to no avail.

The grocery store in Moab had it.

Even the regional differences in stock items are interesting. The selection of dry beans in the SW is impressive, at least to an easterner, and I have yet to see lard in 5LB tubs in my area.
 
I don't know if this helps or not (sorry if it doesn't) but we will take packets of dirty rice, add some sausage and shrimp (hopefully packed in foil but will take the canned shrimp if need be), add some spices and make a backcountry jambalaya. You can add dried onion, etc. as well to give it more umph if you're so inclined. We also make a lot of quesadillas with our students. The salsa is OK without refrigeration until you open it and with college students you never have to worry about there being any leftovers! Get your choice of wheat or corn tortillas, cheese(s) of choice and add any other fillings you'd like; again, I always hope to find chicken in foil but will take small cans if there's no portages like in the swamp.

That's all for now. Take care, happy eating and until next time...Be well.

snapper
 
One thing I have grown fond of on trips is the individual packaged peanut butter/chocolate mixture. I eat this for lunch because it is so simple. I tear off pieces of pita bread and dip in the chocolate/peanut butter.

I like the pita bread, because it doesn't mash easily like regular bread would. I usually top this off with an apple or orange and some trail mix.
 
Besides pitas our "go-to" breads are small compact loaves of rye & wheat bread that's typically found in a deli section. Each slice is about 2"x2" and is just right for a slice of cheese w/ pepperoni or sausage or some PBJ, honey, etc. The bread is pretty dense and it's not prone to crushing or breaking apart. It's a nice break from bagels (which take up sooooooooooooooooo much room in the food pack) and pitas.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...Be well.

snapper
 
Instant mashed potatoes since their inception have always had the reputation of tasting like bad cardboard. But in recent years it has improved dramatically. You can add it to other stuff and it turns out pretty good. I often mix it with home dehydrated seasoned ground beef and dehydrated seasoned sauteed vegetables (rehydrate the beef and veggies separately before mixing with the spuds). Top with a gravy mix and you have a hearty meal.

I am partial to McCormick Country Gravy mix, a white gravy which is also excellent mixed with home dehydrated hash browns for breakfast - try the sausage flavor. To that you can add your own dehydrated ground beef or off-the-shelf packaged dried chipped beef (rinse to desalt before using).

Here's a slightly more involved dinner recipe that has become my favorite go-to meal when I am not otherwise dehydrating my own complete meals. You can alter as you wish, don't necessarily need all the ingredients, but the whole package of stuff makes it terrific. I add my own dehydrated seasoned sauteed veggies to this too. Easy to mix the dry ingredients well in advance and package with pouch chicken to keep on hand for quick trips:

Chicken or Turkey Trail Dinner (easily serves 4 hungry campers)

1 box Turkey Dressing Mix (easy one-step kind that makes 3 cups) 

2 t onion flakes 

2 cups dried potato flakes 

4 T commercial dried chicken gravy mix powder

4 T powdered milk

2 t poultry seasoning 

1 t salt 

1/2 t pepper 

1 or 2 packages of 12 oz. foil pack chunk chicken or turkey

6 cups water
Prior to departure: 
Combine first 7 ingredients in a Ziploc bag.
Preparation at camp: 
Bring 6 cups water to boil in large pot, add dry ingredients and stir vigorously to mix well. Stir in chicken, remove from heat, cover and let stand 5-10 minutes.
 
I get a lot of my camping meals from the supermarket.

Breakfast is oatmeal (which i put in a baggie with brown sugar, and handful of raisins, and a tablespoon of dehydrated milk). That's all store-bought.

Lunch is usually a preserved meat (preferably landjaeger, only available to me in a specialty shop, though I can sub hickory farms summer sausage), a cheese slab (land o lakes cheddar singles, which will last a few days without refrigeration in a ny summer), another handful of dried fruits (raisins, apricots, apples, whatever), and a bagel (again, last about 4-5 days unrefrigerated.)

Dinner is usually a hawkvittle, but you can use a lipton side with a canned or pouched meat (chicken, mostly). I make my own dehydrated meals sometimes, along with dried veggies, fruit leather, dried apples, and jerky. Other snacky stuff like s'mores fixins, pie filling/bread for pie-iron pies, soup mixes, cocoa, etc, all comes from the store.
 
Landjaeger: Liehs and Steigerwald in Clay NY if you go up 81 to the ADK s. Also store in N Syracuse.

That's the one... their other store, the original, is on the North Side (different from North Syracuse), and more difficult to get to from the two major interstates (90 and 81). Wonderful shops, both of them, but the original is magic to me... lots of youthful memories: going there with my dad every saturday as a kid, the smell of the various meats/smoke, listening to the old folks placing their orders in German, the really old ones bringing in a mason jar to fill with pickled herring, the eels in the 5-gallon bucket, pans of sausage, tongue, and other meats, and best of all, getting a free sample of ring bologna just for being a kid... I went back with my dad once, when i was in college, and the same old German guy who was behind the counter was waiting on us; and offered me a piece of bologna, for old times sake... pretty funny. It's under 3rd generation ownership now, and some of the old stuff (like the bulk herring and eels, and tongue) aren't there anymore, but it's still the same landjaeger.
 
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