Primitive Camping and Backpacking Recipes

In my last post, I talked about how I meal planned for a 3-day canoe and primitive camping trip on Current River which my husband and I took last year with some friends of ours. I was in charge of food for all of us for the weekend (obviously), and these are the recipes I developed for our trip.

Now, the question is... do I try to top the food from last year, or do I just repeat it again this July, since it was so dang good?

Disclaimer: For some of this to work, you have to adopt the mindset that a lot of food that we typically refrigerate does not actually NEED to be refrigerated. Hard cheese (parmesan, asiago, gruyere, etc) is a great example. I've read on backpacking forums that you can simply wrap them in a paper towel to absorb oil as they sweat and they're good for days. Plus, the oily paper towel burns easily in a fire. For this reason, I may switch up our meal plan this year to incorporate less processed cheese and embrace my inner French person. Other ingredients will say on the packaging to refrigerate once opened. If you plan to use it all up in a recipe, you have nothing to worry about. To be safe, don't try to save anything that should be refrigerated after opening for another meal. Use it all, or toss what's left over (or, if you're like me, pawn it off on your bottomless pit of a husband.)

In this post, I've linked to some of the ingredients and even some gadgets/storage stuff I would buy on Amazon before doing this again to eliminate glass (which you're really not supposed to have on the river), keep packing as minimal as possible, and just make life a little easier.

Packing for your trip:

You probably won't have measuring spoons with you while you're camping, so I suggest pre-measuring ingredients that shouldn't be eyeballed before you leave. In the recipes that follow, powdered milk is really the only ingredient like that. Separate out meals into gallon size zip top bags, so that you don't have to go fishing for ingredients from here and there to put a meal together.

Load all the bags into a 5 gallon bucket with a lid (the lidded bucket is water tight and also provides a place to sit), starting with the last meal on the bottom of the bucket and working your way backwards so that your first meal is on the top.

Keep a separate, water-tight bag (see the Favorites section of this site for suggestions) for spices, oil, utensils, and anything else you reach for each time you cook.

Breakfast Burritos with Farm Fresh Eggs and Sweet Potatoes

We decided to send ourselves off right the first day with breakfast burritos. Since there's no refrigerator at the campground we leave from, we decided to bring unwashed, farm-fresh eggs. Once you wash them, they have to be cooked or refrigerated. Until then, they can be left out.

This was such a treat! If you have access to someone locally who sells eggs, find out if you can buy a dozen from them that haven't been washed and you'll be in good shape.

This breakfast isn't one I would recommend trying to cook after you've left the shore, since the eggs are breakable (unless you want to use powdered eggs, which I've never tried).

Gear-wise, here's what I did (and didn't do but highly recommend and will change for this coming trip):

I love this light weight non-stick skillet for pretty much everything. I used cast iron last year and it was just a beast to lug around. Versatile and great at browning things, but not necessarily practical.

Bring your olive oil in a food grade travel squeeze bottle. Don't do what I did and pack it in a Tupperware container. Let's just say it got messy.

Finally, this spice tower is SO. COOL. It holds 6 different spices, so you can really help the flavor of your camp food along simply by seasoning it well. Lawry's is great on the potatoes in this recipe.

Ingredients

1 dozen eggs

1-2 Sweet potatoes, diced

1 Red onion, sliced

Whole wheat tortillas

Garlic and herb laughing cow cheese (does not have to be refrigerated)

Salt and pepper

Toppings:

Serrano peppers from my friend's garden (jalapeños would also work)

Hot sauce packets (we got these at Chick-fil-A)

Sun dried tomatoes

Heat a large skillet over the camp fire. Add olive oil and the diced potatoes. Season with salt and cook the potatoes until they begin to soften. Add the red onions, a little more salt, and finish cooking to potatoes and onions together until both are perfectly browned and soft. Remove from the pan. Add a little more oil and scramble the eggs, adding the garlic and herb cheese towards the end to allow it to melt. Season the eggs to taste. Assemble each burrito with eggs, onions and potatoes. Allow each person to make their burrito to their liking using the topping options.

Starbucks Bento Box-inspired Protein Pack

This is such a good lunch when you've canoed 10 miles and it's blistering hot and you just need some sustenance. Honey + almond butter is LIFE and so great for dipping a mini bagel.

In each person's bag or container, add:

Babybel cheese (save the wax shells, they make a great fire starter!)

Multigrain mini bagel

Honey almond butter - I made my own. (I had a bunch of these little reusable containers from when I used to make baby food for my kids, but the Justin's pouches would be great, too... just more expensive)

Apple

As I mentioned in the last post, I'm trying to find a good alternative to these big zip lock bags for our trip this year. It needs to be pretty much air tight, and I pack for all 6 of us, so it can't be something pricey that I have to buy 6 of (hence the zip top bags from last year). So far, compostable zip top storage bags are looking like the best option.

Butternut Squash Tortellini

That first night, we're all feeling super accomplished, a little worn out, and excited about being able to get into comfy clothes and chat around a fire with a flask. This dinner is perfection. The picture doesn't do it justice because the sauce wasn't on top when I took it but let me tell ya... amaze.

Ingredients

Canned butternut squash

3 vacuum sealed packages fresh tortellini

Sun dried tomatoes

Pesto

6 wedges Garlic and herb laughing cow cheese

1 C Powdered milk

Scant 3/4 C filtered water

Real bacon bits

Sun dried tomatoes

Directions

Add filtered water and a hefty amount of salt in a pot (or two, if one isn't big enough for all the pasta) and bring to a boil. We did this over a camp fire so we could use a big pot. Empty the tortellini packages into the water and cook according to the directions.

In a separate pot (possibly over a camp burner), add the powdered milk and water and whisk with a spork until well mixed. Add the cheese and continue to stir until melted and creamy. Stir in 1/2 (up to the whole can, depending on how squashy you want it) of the butternut squash. Season with salt and pepper. Add pasta water to thin the cheese sauce back into a consistency that is easily mixed in with the pasta.

Drain the pasta and add the sauce to the hot pan with the drained tortellini.

Serve topped with real bacon bits and sun dried tomatoes.

Skookie

There is no better time to indulge than at the end of a long, active day. It really does feel like a reward and there's absolutely no guilt because you know you're going to row it off the next morning.

I can't even hardly call this a recipe but here's what we did.

I purchased a package of Immaculate Baking Co refrigerated cookie dough and put it in the freezer until it was time to leave for our trip. It stayed frozen/cold the first night we were at the campground in a cooler, wedged between ice packs and the frozen butternut squash from the previous recipe. After the first day of rowing, the cookies had thawed back into a dough consistency. We smooshed the whole entire package into the bottom of a cast iron skillet (I'd add a little oil this time to prevent sticking) and cooked it over the camp fire. Try to keep it on indirect heat so the bottom doesn't burn. It'll take a little longer this way, but the result will be so much more satisfying.

Better than Instant Homemade Oatmeal Packets

Talk about stick to your ribs... this breakfast gave us all the energy we needed for a full morning of rowing each day. Oatmeal can be kind of boring and I know not everyone loves it, so I made sure to pack lots of fun mix ins and extra toppings so each person could prepare it to their own taste.

Ingredients (makes one serving)

1/2 Cup quick cook oats

1/4 C freeze dried strawberries or bananas

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp chia seeds

Toppings

Chopped nuts (sliced almonds and pecans are great)

Honey packet (we got these at Chick fil A. Starbucks has them, too)

Flax seed

Directions

Combine the ingredients in a zip top bag for storage. Empty the contents of the bag into a bowl and mix in 1 cup boiling water. Stir until the oats are cooked and the consistency is creamy. Finish with your choice of toppings.

Pizzadillas

Oh my gosh, these were so good. I think this was everyone's favorite meal from the weekend. If you make these, be sure to pack enough ingredients for everyone to eat like 3.

Ingredients

Whole wheat tortillas

Original Laughing Cow cheese (one wedge per pizzadilla)

Black olives

Banana peppers (I brought these in a glass jar last year and it was worth breaking the rules because they added so much flavor. If I can find them in different packaging, I'll update this post)

Pepperoni

Pesto (I love this kind in a tube. No glass and it's shelf stable until opened)

Tomato sauce

Directions

Heat a cast iron skillet over the camp fire with a little olive oil. Spread one entire side of a tortilla with the Laughing Cow cheese, Place the tortilla in the pan cheese side up and arrange the rest of the toppings on one half. Fold the other side of the tortilla over onto the toppings to create a half moon. Cook until browned and melty. Flip and brown the other side. Remove from the pan and start on the next one cause you're going to want more!

Do you love to camp? Is fanncy-ish food part of your routine? Let me know in the comments! Check out the Favorites page of this site for all my camp cooking gear recommendations.