Packing food for a long trip

[rowiebowie]

Our "go-to" easy meal is a can of Campbell's Chunky Soup (Pot Roast) over some quick Uncle Ben's 90 sec. microwavable rice. Neither requires refrigeration and have good shelf life. Feeds two.

Another is a boiled egg (boiled before the trip and eaten within the first week) in a cup of Krafts microwavable Macaroni & Cheese.

We don't eat like this often, but these make a quick hot meals when you get tired of sandwiches or can't think of something else.

[Toasterlife]

We do a lot of boondocking, and in the summer we have found our 3 way fridge to be less than reliable on hot days - so we focus on non-perishable foods. Our first go to are high quality canned goods, Trader Joes is a good place to start, Tuna in oil, high quality sardines, vacuum packed, vegetables in oil (like a tapas plate), salami that does not need refrigeration etc. Next dried staples, like instant risotto, which can be "dolled up" with things like sun dried tomatoes, pancake mix, and the odd cake mix. Dried fruits and jerkey are always handy, also some of those dried instant noodles that can be dressed up. Then rather than canned beans, look for those in pouches, (lighter) also Costco has "Chilorio" in pouches, great taco met. We buy gluten free bread that is shelf stable and lasts for weeks. For fruit look for sturdy fruit like oranges, apples and pears, likewise cabbage or napa cabbage lasts better than lettuce. Eggs need to be fresh, but we use them sparingly. some good hard cheeses, like Parmesan, butter and assorted sauces, soy, pesto, tahini, peanut butter(some decanted to smaller containers) and you will be fine. High quality crackers and pickles help round out the menu. We eat differently on the road than at home, but we eqt well - it is part of the adventure. One last thing - bacon - with that flexible ingredient, you can make any meal, so we take plenty, breakfast with pancakes, bacon sandwiches for lunch, some bacon in risotto for dinner...We rarely have shore power when we travel so try to rely on the fridge as little as possible and treat it as a 'cooler" rather than a real fridge.

[MaineStreamer]

I just ordered one of these, which comes with the DC cord to plug into a cigarette lighter plug, and also ordered an AC 110-volt adapter, based on very favorable review by a childhood friend who used one last summer when driving from CA to CT and back.

Igloo 28 Quart Iceless Thermoelectric 12 Volt Portable Ice Chest Beverage Cooler, Silver
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ZYH4BM/

Wagan EL9903 - 5 amp AC to DC Power Adapter, 5A Power Converter, Converts 110V AC to 12V DC, Car Cigarette Ligher Socket, UL listed
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P7O5DG/

[jokila]

Originally Posted by Gibson3798

We freeze and take along chili, pasta sauce, and some soups for easy meals.

I don't stress over it after doing our last 3 week trip to CO.. It's easy to shop for what you need if you're not boondocked in a remote location.

Agree. But pack them in 2 person serving sizes. That way one only has to pull what is needed.

[SMKovalchik]

I freeze tons of things; goulash, spaghetti, all soups, most casseroles. I put them in gallon plastic bags, squeeze the air out until they’re flat. You can store tons in the freezer. I also ALWAYS carry an Instant Pot. If you travel like we do you’ll take a day, intermittently, along the way for laundry, R & R, and time to prepare a few more meals.
PS the Ramon noodle idea is true. Good for stir fry, soups etc.

[RamRider]

Originally Posted by happy frog

My family and I are driving 18 days cross country in the early spring. We want to pack as much food as possible so we can minimize shopping stops. What are your favorite bets for food on-the-go?

I like cooking a couple steaks sous vide ahead of time, and then all I have to do is flash them on the grill for a couple minutes and I'm done.
Also, squashes stay edible for weeks, if not months.

You are over thinking this. lunch meats, cheese bread, condiments and chips for quick lunches, if you have raw frozen items let them thaw during the day grill them in the evening. You will be stopping for fuel so that is a great time to also visit a local grocery and replenish which is a good way to stretch your legs and see some of the local area as you travel through - 18 days of prepared boring foods will be just that after about three days - boring. When you travel via Airstream you are home, so do the same that you do while you are home. Enjoy your trip and shop as needed.

[Bgarhammer]

Why pack so much food? Stay at a Walmart overnight and stock up on their fresh produce, it’s great!

[BillTex]

Seal-a-meal is your friend.

[loretosteve]

We have a 25FB with a 7cuft Dometic. Our auxiliary fridge is a Dometic CFX 35 35 liter 12v electric fridge that we keep on the back seat of our F150 TV. It's great having a fridge in the rig for access to cool drinks and snacks while on the road as well as having the extra capacity. The low amp draw and auto voltage feature keeps the TV battery from draining while parked overnight.

[Silver.Sanctuary]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

This is a multi variable problem......

How much do you trust the fridge? If all the food is in there and the door isn't latched .... there goes all 3 weeks of eating. Been there ... done that ....

How much space do you have? Noodles are great, but they take up a lot of space. I have data on this ...

How much capacity do you have? A lot of folks are close to weight limits on the trailer, on the TV, or on both. Canned goods are great, but they are *heavy*. Three weeks worth of canned three meals a day likely will weigh a bit ( 7 x 3 x 3 = 63 meals. 4 folks eating, 4 pounds per person per meal .... = 576 pounds). There's a lot of water in those cans ....

Dried this and that usually come first on our list. The big advantage is that they don't generally expire very fast. If we don't use in on this trip, we'll use it on the next. With some care shopping, you can find pretty good dried veg, potatoes, soups, and breakfast cereals. Dried eggs, milk, cheese, and cream are "adequate" for use in a recipe, maybe not so much stand alone.

Next up are canned goods. Inventory wise, this stuff often overlaps some of the dried stuff. We tend to use the canned stuff first. Quality wise, most of the canned stuff beats most of the dried stuff.

Freezer just about fills up with frozen meat. If the door swings open ... it's an expensive error on our part. How much of what sort of meat is very much up to you. An Instant Pot will cook just about anything pretty quickly if you have power.

Fridge fills up with milk, eggs, butter, cheese, beer, and fresh veg. The trick is to use up the fresh veg and milk before they go bad..... that beer seems to evaporate all on it's own ...

None of that is very profound. Indeed how much and where it goes is very dependent on how many folks you have along. If "family" is mom, dad and 4 teenagers, I hope you have a second truck to haul the food

Bob

I don't know how big your family is and that makes a difference.


I recommend a Yeti which can be put in the tow vehicle or just set on the floor of the trailer and moved out of the way when camping. A white one reflects sunlight, but my 22 foot Safari (2004) has limited space and my wife an I run into the problem of the small freezer compartement all the time. We have two Yetis but one would do you if you pack it carefully. You can use dry ice and the Yeti (if opened only once a day) keeps the tails on the shrimp frozen and brittle for 7 days. This keeps us from needing to buy items in tourist areas that are priced almost triple what they are worth. We use the two Yetis with one as frozen storage and one as extended refrigerator space. The Yetis are expensive, but in my mind worth every penny. Taking my food not only saves money, but also limits my exposure to the Covid virus because I don't have to shop along the way.



I always use two strips of duct tape on the refrigerator to keep the door from opening while I travel. It is not too hard to keep the tape on an end cabinet location out of site while camping and use those strips for months. Cheap insurance against the dreaded open unit. I once lost the door and to get a new one for my older unit was hard and expensive (over $200) and I had to take all the parts from the old door to boot.

[Silver.Sanctuary]

Originally Posted by Silver.Sanctuary

I don't know how big your family is and that makes a difference.


I recommend a Yeti ....

I might add that the trailers less than 25 feet have smaller refrigeration and freezer space, so many of the comments here are different when you take into consideration many of the responders have 25, 27 and 30 foot rigs.


The OP lists a 16 foot Sport.



By the way, we almost always pre-make Shepard's Pie and heat it for the first evening meal. It is tasty and takes only a little space. One thing we quickly found out was that rectangular storage in the refrigerator is much more efficient than round storage and stacks better. We put dairy creamer for coffee into different tall but narrower bottles to maximize the open space on the left side of the refrigerator that takes tall things. I drink my coffee plain black, but my wife is unwilling to part with her liquid creamer. It is all a matter of preference since powder or other non-dairy creamers would not need refrigeration.


Mountain house freeze dried meals are quite tasty, take little room and do not need refrigeration. They are always at least "backup" meals for us.

[cdanj]

Originally Posted by Hikingsolo

Freeze dried backpacker meals from Mountain House and others with oatmeal and hard dry cereal bars. Supplement with cheese blocks and hard salamis. Worked for me for 150 days on the Pacific Crest Trail. Occasional beer and a burger offset the boredom.

I second this. When you have put in a long day on the road and want something quick, easy, tasty, and with minimal clean up, you can’t be Mountain House meals. I started using these when I backpacked and they are in our trailer and emergency packs. There’s a great variety and the meals are quite tasty and nutritious. Mountain House is the best; other brands don’t come close. They have a website or you can get them at REI. We get the bucket and then add favorites. Kids love them too!

[viking1]

Massimo CX50 12V Portable E-Kooler

We put it on the rear seat between the axles on our Mercedes SUV for better weight distribution. This freezer runs off of the car 12volt or 120volt and has the most remarkable nearly-instant freezing capacity you could imagine. We keep it packed with frozen smoothies!
The tiny freezer in our 2021 23FB is totally inadequate.
https://www.costco.com/massimo-cx50-...100566509.html

[Smathers]

I’m a big believer in dry beans of all kinds, pasta, rice, couscous, noodles - yes even Ramen for stir fry, & some canned meats. Tuna, hams, chicken & corned beef. I buy dehydrated veggies from Amazon in 2# bag since I use them at home too. All the Better Then Bullion is a staple in my fridge. Of course you can’t do without potatoes.
I try to keep my canned goods to a minimum since they weigh so much. I also stock Bisquick, cornmeal & polenta. All so very versatile & useful.
I freeze pre cooked meats like burger, chicken and fish. I don’t use pre cooked steaks since it isn’t worth firing up the grill to reheat. A couple frozen steaks are a real treat so there is always at least one packed. Drive through/curbside KFC & Walmart can be a big help for fresh. Rotisserie chicken from Walmart curbside is a great meal stretcher.

[Carolynvano]

I worried about my kids accepting canned pasta since I always made spaghetti dishes from scratch. My son's appraisal when he had his first taste of the Chef Boyardee I heated up the first night of our trip: "Mother, this is excellent!"

[djabl]

I just bought a 25FB twin. Haven't had the chance yet to do a long trip.
But I used to Outfit and Guide pack trips, sightseeing on horseback in the mountains of Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming. My specialty was starting in one place and ending in another, staying out unsupported for 12 to 14 days without a refrigerator. I thought I would share some of my tricks.

I used 2 coolers (to balance out both sides of one horse) one wet, one dry.
The wet cooler had all the meat and cheese. Covered in ice. Then topped with Dry Ice. The Dry Ice kept things frozen for many many days. The rule was to only go into the cooler once per day. And then duct tape all the seams and insulate that cooler with blankets. When the Dry Ice finally gave out, you had ice that would carry us the rest of the way. Everything going into the Wet cooler was frozen hard in the freezer before being put in. The colder everything starts the longer the ice lasts.

For Menus we used as much freeze dried food as possible. Light and easy to cook. Then canned vegs to supplement. Canned Fruit as well. Pineapple, Fruit coctail. Stuff like that.

Our favorite Breakfast was Mountain House Blueberry Granola. We eventually ended up eating it almost exclusively for breakfast. It was easy and especially tasty with hot water poured right into the pouch. And stuck to the ribs too.

Lunches were sandwiches. Ham/Turkey/Roast Beef/Chicken and Cheese. Mayo, Mustard.

Dinners were fancier.
Steak and Corn (2 packages of Mountain House Freeze Dried, one Canned Corn). Sometimes marinated in the Vacuum Packs.
Pork Loins and Green Beans (2 packages of Mountain House Freeze Dried, one Can of Green Beans). Sometimes curry rubbed.
Buffalo Stroganoff (1 pound of ground buffalo, 2 packages of Mountain House Beef Stroganoff) The extra buffalo adds a great flavor and more protien.
Canned Chili - or one could use Mountain House or both.
Chicken Breast and cubed potatoes (this one we ultimately scrapped because the potato prep was a pain)
We also carried Dinty Moore canned beef stew. Not the best, but in a pinch it was a godsend and could provide a meal, even cold, that would keep us alive in a bind.
We also had some other emergency food items that we could make in a pinch.

And I would rotate those meals.

My goal was to provide great meals with a minimum of cleaning and work. We had some other dishes too but ditched them either for prep time, food weight (bone in steaks got killed), cooking time, food spoilage, or clean up time. We had to pack out all our trash so that was also a factor. As was durability of food. Cans are nearly indestructible so while heavy they worked well. Now I would take frozen Corn instead of Canned if I had the space in the Airstream. We would Vacuum Pack the steaks and pork loins to keep the water in the cooler from creeping in. The Buffalo came vacuum packed already. With a refrigerator and freezer that will definitely help. But if someone really needed to stay our a long time put your later meals in a cooler, fill the cooler with ice, and put Dry Ice in the top. It will stay frozen for many days. Then when your earlier meals free up space in the Fridge and Freezer you can bring the stuff out from the cooler.

Hope this helps.

[Atwebs]

While stocking up the freezer and hauling along everything sounds wonderful, some of the best food we've ever had came from shopping along the way. Local produce, fish and meat products (especially during the summer) can be a treat not to be missed. Cheeses, breads, even fancy treats are often local and something you can't get anywhere else.

Last cross country trip we did haul quite a bit of stuff with us, but stopped for fresh produce and meat. We had a list of meals and thought we wouldn't need too much else. When the trip was over a month later, we still had pretty much ALL of the dry goods we'd hauled along, many of the meals had never been cooked. We did eat fruits and vegetables everyday, most everything else was not important. We had "too hot to cook" days and "too tired to cook" days and "ohh...let's stop and get cherries" days.

The only reason we would ever load up like that again was if we planned on boondocking in one place for several weeks.

[pontzdav]

Cracker Barrel for take out lunch. Trader Joe frozen meals for dinner. Plenty of wine.

[StreamNTyme]

We have been camping long distance for 40+ years and have taken lots of prepared and grill food on many many trips. Interestingly, somehow we don't manage to use it all or even near all. We stop at farmers markets, roadside stands and other open markets. We find all the produce, cheeses and so much more that we purchase and use. We now take less produce and more grill/prepared easy quick thaw items, quick to grill. A side salad or/and a fresh veg and we are ready within half an hour. We don't eat fast food or commercially prepared meals. I make double portions of a meal and package the rest for the trip. That way I am not cooking all day just for the trip. You will figure it out.

[Natomb]

Unless you eat a lot of hard boiled eggs, don’t take them. Take 16 oz cartons of liquid eggs instead. Freeze gallons or half gallons of milk to use in cooler as ice and use as they thaw or pack shelf stable milk like Parmalot or New Horizon. Open as needed. Prebag portion sized pancake mix in baggies. Take frozen food that are vac sealed (like sausage patties, burgers, etc) out of boxes. Buy vac pack apple slice packets from Costco. Family size Idahoan dry mashed potatoes, 90 second micro rice bags. Tortillas and sandwich thins for sandwiches and buns.