Canoeing Recipes and Food for the trip

[briggs]

Hey guys I always find myself cooking the same things when I go on an overnight trip . Looking for ideas on your favorite recipes and what you like to bring.

[Dave]

I know this crazy fella who told me he takes a brown paper bag, lines the bottom with bacon, and throws a couple of eggs in. Then hangs it over hot coals. Apparently the grease from the bacon keeps the bag from burning and everything cooks up nice.

[kyle]

tuna helper is a good standby, you can add onion, peppers mushrooms or whatever to make it go farther. Hamburger helper with t.v.p. , canned tuna, chicken, turkey, ham. If your creative and want to build yourself a reflector oven then you open yourself to endless possibilities like lasagna, pizza, biscuits, deserts. My favorite reflector oven recipe is a puffed apple pancake, feeds two well or four if you have a side of something else.
I'll likely post more ideas as i think of them.

[kittykat]

Make your favorite stew, curry or chili. Freeze it. Keep it in the same cooler with your cold drinks. It should stay frozen thru your first night (and keep the beer cold) and still be fresh for the second evening's supper.

[Carm]

Every year we make one good meal of steak, potatoes and veggies. Freeze steak = keeps beer colder longer. Cook potatoes in advance by microwaving pierced spuds then double wrap in tin foil. Saturday evening, get a nice fire going then wait an hour or more to have a good pile of red hot coals. All you need then is a grilling rack. Strategically place rack over coals and throw semi-thawed steaks on. Throw still wrapped potatoes directly on some of the smaller coals. By this time it's usually past dark, so flashlight comes in handy. Corn usually cooked in original tin and sliced onions often cooked in a cut up beer can or left over Chunky can. Idea is to cook entire meal with as few utensils as possible...1 grill only. Usually it's one of the best tasting meals of the year, not just the trip. It's a difficult juggling act, trying to avoid burning everything and gloves help when repositioning rack/steaks, etc. Some years 1/2 the stuff is burnt and the other 1/2 undercooked, but by that time of evening everything tastes awesome... When everything comes out perfect, you cannot beat such a meal!

[tgneal]

I watched Carm and his buddies prepare that feast last June at Trout Brook. I can attest that they had a great feed by the end of the evening.

I like to have steak on my first evening also. I freeze it and keep it in the cooler with the beer. I also like to make huge submarine sandwiches to eat as a shore lunch during the day. The secret is to not put the sandwich together until you are ready to eat. If you assemble it before hand the bread becomes soggy and the sandwich falls apart.

[tmacneil]

I bought an Outback a few years ago, and ever since have always had fresh biscuits with dinner and brownies for dessert. Just use store bought mixes. Had to buy the oven because I convinced my wife to do a canoe trip on her birthday, so needed some way to make birthday cake.

I pretty much just use tortilla wraps for lunches. Just use whatever meat, cheese etc that suits your taste. These take us much less space than bread and don't get squashed.

[Analog Kid]

Hey TM. Good idea. I always enjoy wild game used in a chilli, stew or goulash warmed over the fire.mmm. One time I tossed a potato in an old chunky soup can that had the lining preburnt out and tossed it in the coals (didn't have any foil) and had the best baked potato ever. Pringles and beef jerky makes a good meal, but brown trout and fiddleheads are the best. Can't beat a bratwurst roasted on a green alder branch. Anything goes good with an Alpine.
CG.

[dbradford]

I still like good ol corned beef sandwiches sometimes on the river. Right before leaving, I put slices of corned beef on bread with a cheese slice, put bread together and butter outside of the sandwich. I then wrap it up with tinfoil and cook over the fire for shore lunch. Nice easy hot lunch. Definitely better when washed down with cold beer ;D
Other meals are pretty much same as others have written, though never quite up to carm's culinary standards I'm sure.

[Lloyd]

As with all outdoor cooking, the environmental conditions, inconsistent fire temperatures and your cooking equipment, and cooking style, will all be a factor in meal preparation. As such, there is no point in giving cooking times, or measurements or telling you how to do what. Just mix things together, add water and fire and cook until done. Some of the best meals I have had, have come from trying to figure out ways to save a botched recipe. When in doubt with baked goods, add more flour. When in doubt with everything else, add more spice.

Lloyd's Bannock
2 parts multigrain flour.
2 parts powdered skim milk.
1 part demerrera sugar.
Lot of raisins.
Some baking powder.
Add small amounts of water and mix until dough like.
Heat olive oil and mash into pan.
Tilt the frying pan on a stick so that the dough is facing the coals in the fire testing occasionally for consistency. The bottom may scorch a bit, but will still be tasty. Cook until done.

[mitchell]

Alicia and I finished a trip around spednic lake and cooked up some great meals. We had pita pizza in the reflector oven friday night. Ham and eggs for breakfast saturday. A wild mushroom rissoto for dinner and a delicious quiche in the reflector oven for supper. I used the leftover ham from breakfast and fried up the veggies during our lunch. It took 70 mins to cook up which isn't much longer than a conventional oven. We had baked apple turnovers for dessert. These only take 10-15mins in the oven. Cooked up some bannock later in the evening for a snack. For breakfast sunday we had simple pancakes. Beautiful weather with a slight breeze all weekend kept the bugs away.

[navigator]

Anyone ever have a problem with animals attacking your food at night? I've only ever run into this once.

I had hung it away from bear but woke up to the sound of my food tree shaking around. I should probably admit I was too chicken to stick my head out so I don't know for sure what it was but it was still there in the morning. My best guess would be that it was a racoon. Does anyone know where to get the proper food odor ziplocks.

[tgneal]

Try www.mec.ca under food containers

[kittykat]

For recipes try: camprecipes.com/