Canoeing menus

[mdutch]

My troop is (finally) starting to move away from doing all car-camping trips, and has an overnight canoe camping trip planned for a few weeks from now. Obviously, menus on camp-outs need to be tailored to the situation (i.e. we wouldn't want to bring a gazillion dutch ovens with us.) Does anybody have recommendations on good meal ideas for situations such as canoeing?

 

YiS,

Eric

[EagleInKY]

You want to make sure it's something light, easy to fix, and won't be ruined if it gets wet. For dinner, I'm assuming you're going to fix it once you are at your overnight spot. Personally, I'd go with dehydrated meals. There are a lot of varieties. The only down side is the cost. It probably runs an extra buck or two per meal.

 

For lunch I'd go for a series of snacks and maybe one small meal. Energy bars, fruit, and pre-prepared sandwiches are all potential ideas. It depends a lot on your schedule.

[local1400]

You can cook anything you like. Regular food is fine. Try reflector ovens if you gotta "oven" something. As long as you have good dry bags and the boys ain't horseing around, everything should be fine and dry. I have only flipped a canoe once-during the requirements of the MB.

[Gonzo1]

I agree with local400, you can cook almost anything. You can even take a small cooler, with a cargo tie down strap, cinch the cooler lid closed tightly and now it won't spill out ice if/when you capsize.

 

Rather than using pre-prepared sandwiches, use pita bread, it's healthy, it's already flat, slice it in half, open it up and put in PB&J or ham and cheese or whatever.

 

Go down the rice and pasta aisle at your Piggly-wiggly and get some dehydrated stuff and buy ones where you just add water, not water and milk. Get some produce and eat well!!

 

[anarchist]

Canoe menus depend on what you want to eat and how much you want to carry...dehydrated is ok...but real food is better.

 

On a typical weekend canoe trip we will eat very well.

for say 10 to 12 boys and a few adults we will make riverside camp friday night. Saturday morning is usually coffee, cocoa and tang with oatmeal and a bagel.

 

While we are cleaning up and packing from breakfast we make a chicken or tuna salad,(since we have plenty of ice -frozen steaks - we would add mayo in zip locks at camp) -no ice...mix it at lunch site in zip locks-no dishes to clean). Take a head of lettuce and finely shred with sharp knife for a topping and use pocket bread to make pita sandwiches when you pull off the river for lunch. Add chips for more crunch and "salt" value- very quick, very little clean up.

Water or lemonade to drink.

 

Dinner is steak, lipton pasta sides dishes ($0.50 per serving),or baked potato, canned sweet white corn and a cobbler (yes we take a dutch oven sometimes two)If the fishing is good it becomes surf and turf night...sorta- just remember to take a bottle of oil along.

 

Breakfast Sunday is usually pancakes sometimes eggs too, unless we have a lot of paddling to do...then it might be bagles and chedder cheese or cheese whiz or peanut butter and jelly or maybe even oatmeal if we are in a big hurry...if we have time and the trot line is good to us we have fish with whatever was planned!

 

lunch sunday (or Saturday) is simple and the boys love it...two or three types of sausage; hard salami,beef summer sausage and pepperoni, couple of types of hard cheese, onion finely sliced lots of types of crackers and some mustard...set up a table top (we use a folding 'stand' an old refridgerator wire shelf which doubles as a grill )slice every thing and stand back as the "vultures" graze...they simply love making cracker sandwiches...and the sausages and hard cheeses need no refridgeration if Ice is "short"- even fresh eggs can be taken if you protect them from the sun...

and bumps...

 

Dinner Sunday is usually on the road at some type of semi nice restaurant...but sometimes just a burger joint....

 

need more ideas...just ask...

 

Hint for canoe treking if the canoes are yours- drill the gunnels and add several paracord (550 line) loops to each and then you can use bungie cords or rope to quickly secure every thing...if its borrowed/rented boats however drilling is not an option.

 

anarchist

[Beavah]

Yah, one more vote for "you can cook anything!". No real cargo limits in a canoe for just a weekend, not like backpackin'. No need for dehydrated junk anytime, IMO. Anything you can cook at home you can cook on a weekend canoe trip.

 

A lot depends on your heat source. If you're doin' fires, that will determine some of your options. If you're bringin' backpack-type stoves that'll get you other options.

 

Do try to limit "packaging" though, in the same way you would for backpacking. You want to repackage all food into lightweight plastic bags to severely the amount of trash you bring into the woods, so you limit the amount of trash you have to take out of the woods. Trash in canoes sometimes gets loose, and always gets "ripe." Repackaging also gives you another layer of protection from water incursion.

 

Beavah

 

 

[epalmer84]

Dehydrated has its ups and downs- the food is lighter, but you have to carry the water. It is usually hot on the river, so you either need coolers or foods that do not require cooling. Canned foods work well on a canoe trip where you can spread the load.

 

We use five gallon buckets (like paint buckets) with screw on lids- these seal tight. You can get the buckets from many fast food places. The lids:

http://www.pyrosupplies.com/shop/page/category/Category/904337e061b775609fe74f04d336b4f8.html

 

Spaghetti is easy- pasta, canned sauce and the big pot from the cook kit. Peas or corn on the side.

 

There are a lot of retort meals available now- the precooked stuff in the plastic pouches. There are a lot in the rice section that can be used as sides for meals. These can be a bit pricey, but I have found them in the discount stores at good prices.

 

Breakfast- dehydrated hash browns with cheese and precooked bacon; add some eggs if you have a cooler and don't forget the ketchup. Breakfast burritos are good. I have taken precooked sausage patties, microwaved them to get the grease off, then dice them up and run them through the dehydrator- these work well in the hash browns or burritos. Ditto onions and green peppers. I dehydrate quite a bit of stuff for camping.

 

Ed

[fullquiver]

How timely we are going on a canoe trip this weekend. Even on canoe trips the boys cook for themselves. As we approved menus this past Tuesday night most of the boys are doing "backpacking type" food. Most of them really get a kick out of eating out of a bag and most of the stuff is pretty tasty.

 

As far as the adults are concerned we are eating what we call chicken wraps. Cook onions and peppers in a fry pan add a couple of cans of chicken. Take tortillia bread with a little salsa on it, put on the stir fry, and top with a little cheese. Mighty fine. Follow it up with a cherry cobbler.

 

For breakfast we are cooking biscuits in the DO with sausage and eggs. For a big group we use the big can biscuits and turn them up edgewise. You can cook 30 - 40 biscuits that way in one DO.

 

Lunch is cold cuts....

 

Man... I'm getting hungrey just thinking about it...

 

Fullquiver

[anarchist]

Our guys are taking a fishing weekend river trip the first weekend in June ...they have just decided that Saturday night the main course is game hens. They have also figured that if they clean and cut the birds in half they can reduce the storage (# of coolers) space needed...thought that was pretty sharp...noe they are deciding to "spit 'em or grill 'em"...I refused to take 8 or nine D.O.s down-river..They will take one (D.O.) for cobbler and fully expect to have a fish fry!

 

By the way...don't forget your favorite gorp type mix! I find that having a few "zip-locks filled with dryed fruit, nuts and m&ms, stashed in my gear really helps when you feel your energy slipping... it can also lift the spirits of a "flagging" young scout!

 

another hint-always carry stove(s) and fuel, even if you plan to use wood or charcoal...wind, weather and rules can change...t'was on the river one year and that Friday night after we set camp we got word the the Governor of Virginia had banned all fires...had we planned on a fire cooking pit alone we would have had to call off the trip...or seriously delayed it-but the backpacking stoves were in the buckets...

 

Love them river trips!

Anarchist