Motocamping Food? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Motocamping Food?

PrivatePilot

PrivatePilot

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For those who have hard core motocamped in remote areas, what were your food options?

For our trip up the James Bay Road we are looking to camp for pretty much the entire trip short of maybe 1 night at a motel somewhere for showers, etc.

Food options have been top of mind for me recently. At some points we may be several hundred kilometers either side of absolute squat so far as civilization, so I want to be 100% self sufficient.

I will be bringing my BioLite which includes a pot for cooking/boiling and fuel is anything you find on the ground that burns, hence why it's one of my favourite pieces of kit for this sort of thing.

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I'm aiming to not have to bring much else in the way of cookware honestly so, I'd like to keep everything limited to:

  • Food that only needs boiled water, or can be boiled itself.
  • Food that can be dispensed into the BioLite pot and heated
  • Food that can be eaten cold, is shelf stable.
I could be coerced into bringing a small frying pan if there's something interesting to use it with.

Things that have come to mind thus far:

  • Soup
  • Kraft Dinner. Yeah, kill me, but I like KD and its easy as **** in this situation...add water and boil. And a hard carb crash just before bed isn't a bad thing LOL
  • Boil in bag meals. But aside from rice I'm struggling to think of what exactly.
  • MRE's. Convenient, Easy, just need boiling water for the most part, or boil in bag...but also kinda expensive. (Unless someone knows where to find cheaper)
  • Oatmeal
  • Pasta and canned sauce. (This might actually work for a group meal for all involved in the trip, although the small-ish size of the BioLite pot might mean a 2 part cook..)
  • Beef Jerky (I love the **** and Great Canadian Meat has decent prices on big bags, but it's more of a snack than a full meal really)
Since we're in prime bear country I would like to keep things as dry/sealed/odour free as possible.

Thoughts?
 
I don't camp, however, I'm guessing anything that comes in cans would be a good option...cooked beans, canned veggies, canned meat (flakes of chicken, ham, tuna, salmon, sardines)...might not be the healthiest for the time being but they're cheap (relatively) and convenient...packages of deli meat and sliced cheese could be good for lunches...peanut butter (yummy :D )
 
Protein bars and nuts are my standby, but they get monotonous quickly so a variety of types is good. Lots of interesting stuff in the Bulk Barn - dehydrated banana chips, that sort of thing.

I'm not a big fan of the prepackaged camping meals, such the ones at MEC. They're super expensive, and most of them have tons of salt and dehydrated onion. FYI: dehydrated carrots and peas suck. They take forever to rehydrate and always end up rubbery. Dried mushrooms are okay. MEC had one veggie meat thing that was really quite good, but it was so long ago that I can't remember the brand. It might have been something like this.

If you're going to do pasta, consider bringing fresh pasta instead of dried stuff. It probably shouldn't need to be refrigerated, and it cooks faster than the hard dried stuff. Also pick the thinnest kind you can find, like Angel Hair pasta or rice vermicelli to help speed up the cooking time. If you're going to be using twigs in the burner then you'll want the fastest/easiest cooking food you can get.
 
PrivatePilot said:
For those who have hard core motocamped in remote areas, what were your food options?

For our trip up the James Bay Road we are looking to camp for pretty much the entire trip short of maybe 1 night at a motel somewhere for showers, etc.

Food options have been top of mind for me recently. At some points we may be several hundred kilometers either side of absolute squat so far as civilization, so I want to be 100% self sufficient.

I will be bringing my BioLite which includes a pot for cooking/boiling and fuel is anything you find on the ground that burns, hence why it's one of my favourite pieces of kit for this sort of thing.

View attachment 57121


I'm aiming to not have to bring much else in the way of cookware honestly so, I'd like to keep everything limited to:

  • Food that only needs boiled water, or can be boiled itself.
  • Food that can be dispensed into the BioLite pot and heated
  • Food that can be eaten cold, is shelf stable.
I could be coerced into bringing a small frying pan if there's something interesting to use it with.

Things that have come to mind thus far:

  • Soup
  • Kraft Dinner. Yeah, kill me, but I like KD and its easy as **** in this situation...add water and boil. And a hard carb crash just before bed isn't a bad thing LOL
  • Boil in bag meals. But aside from rice I'm struggling to think of what exactly.
  • MRE's. Convenient, Easy, just need boiling water for the most part, or boil in bag...but also kinda expensive. (Unless someone knows where to find cheaper)
  • Oatmeal
  • Pasta and canned sauce. (This might actually work for a group meal for all involved in the trip, although the small-ish size of the BioLite pot might mean a 2 part cook..)
  • Beef Jerky (I love the **** and Great Canadian Meat has decent prices on big bags, but it's more of a snack than a full meal really)
Since we're in prime bear country I would like to keep things as dry/sealed/odour free as possible.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Freeze dried food is expensive and normally meh but fits most of the rest of your needs (brutally gross stone cold but edible). Obviously well sealed so it should be bear safe without needing to put it up a tree (which you may not have access to). Lighter weight of freeze dried helps if you are carrying it with your legs, obviously less important in a motorized vehicle.

In line with the above but modified, a friend has a freeze dryer and runs tons of home-cooked food through it. You get the durability, weight and size reduction with a lot lower cost per meal (if you ignore the brutal capital cost). You get to eat your wifes chili but the bears can smell it too (maybe ok after vacuum sealing but I'm not sure). She carries bags of veggies, meat, eggs, spices etc and then you mix what you want for every meal. Breakfast would be eggs, bacon/ham and vegetables as an omelette. Dinner would be steak chunks with vegetables.

EDIT:
I haven't gone that far into the boonies but whenever I travel I prefer to eat at local places where possible. Maybe get some interesting food, definitely get some interesting insight from/about the locals. It's a big part of travelling for me. I would take a few meals so I was ok in a pinch but I would try to coordinate the schedule so I could eat food prepared fresh. No booze for me on bike trips so often after dinner is another few hours on the bike to get to my sleeping spot (or restaurant staff have offered their homes/yards/driveways as a safe place to spend the night).
 
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Ash said:
Protein bars and nuts are my standby, but they get monotonous quickly so a variety of types is good. Lots of interesting stuff in the Bulk Barn - dehydrated banana chips, that sort of thing.

I'm not a big fan of the prepackaged camping meals, such the ones at MEC. They're super expensive, and most of them have tons of salt and dehydrated onion. FYI: dehydrated carrots and peas suck. They take forever to rehydrate and always end up rubbery. Dried mushrooms are okay. MEC had one veggie meat thing that was really quite good, but it was so long ago that I can't remember the brand. It might have been something like this.

If you're going to do pasta, consider bringing fresh pasta instead of dried stuff. It probably shouldn't need to be refrigerated, and it cooks faster than the hard dried stuff. Also pick the thinnest kind you can find, like Angel Hair pasta or rice vermicelli to help speed up the cooking time. If you're going to be using twigs in the burner then you'll want the fastest/easiest cooking food you can get.
Click to expand...
Most fresh pasta wants to be refrigerated. Conceivably you could make your own with a recipe and packaging that is more conducive to room temp storage (can pasta be made without eggs? vacuum sealed portions, etc) but I would want to test it out beforehand. I agree with the rest of what you wrote. Dried fruit has lots of sulphur in it which makes me smell very bad. Not sure if that matters here or if it has the same effect on PP.
 
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I've never tried MRE's, never been that far from civilization where it was necessary to pay the same price as a cheap restaurant meal for something I could pack.

When I feel like cooking on the road, my main go to is KD, tasty, filling, and easy to cleanup. Can be found at most gas stations/convenience stores. Obviously not the healthiest option though.

Otherwise, instant potatoes, rice, or pasta are easy carb sources that don't take a lot of space. Protein could be canned tuna or salmon, canned beans are good too.

For breakfast I like fried eggs and sausage, both can be found at most gas stations/convenience stores along the way. Some of the sausages are of course cooked the night before over a campfire. Oatmeal is good but a pain to cleanup afterwards.
 
When moto camping, I like to buy the day's food on the road -- you're rarely more than 1 day away from fresh food. I pack very little food, I'm not there for the dining experience.

1) Coffee and a Melita 1 cup Filter and cone.
2) Plenty of high energy snacks - trail mix, and granola bars, apples
3) 2 cans of Chunky soup.
4) Scotch
 
Mad Mike said:
When moto camping, I like to buy the day's food on the road -- you're rarely more than 1 day away from fresh food. I pack very little food, I'm not there for the dining experience.

1) Coffee and a Melita 1 cup Filter and cone.
2) Plenty of high energy snacks - trail mix, and granola bars, apples
3) 2 cans of Chunky soup.
4) Scotch
Click to expand...
For portable coffee I prefer aeropress. I wouldn't take coffee to bear country unless I had a plan to protect it from bears.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Forgot to mention...carrying a cooler is not an option, so nothing that needs to be kept cool/cold is on the menu. ;)

Shelf stable only.
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How about those small insulated lunch boxes / coolers? They don't make space and you're able to keep things chilled for a while.
 
I always wanted to drop in at HERO OUTDOORS in Oshawa to check out their MRE and camping food selection.

Not sure if you’ve already visited the store. I’m only mentioning it as it’s out your way PP.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Robbo said:
I always wanted to drop in at HERO OUTDOORS in Oshawa to check out their MRE and camping food selection.

Not sure if you’ve already visited the store. I’m only mentioning it as it’s out your way PP.
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I was actually there just a few weeks ago. Unless I completely missed it I don't remember seeing any MRE's there.

I found a guy on FB Marketplace selling US Military ones (and some actually sound pretty yummy....for MRE's anyways), but he wants an outrageous $20 each.

Edit: Just looked at Hero's website..yep, lots listed. I must have just whiffed on seeing them. But also kinda expensive. cheapest one I see is still $15 each.
 
PrivatePilot said:
I was actually there just a few weeks ago. Unless I completely missed it I don't remember seeing any MRE's there.

I found a guy on FB Marketplace selling US Military ones (and some actually sound pretty yummy....for MRE's anyways), but he wants an outrageous $20 each.

Edit: Just looked at Hero's website..yep, lots listed. I must have just whiffed on seeing them. But also kinda expensive. cheapest one I see is still $15 each.
Click to expand...

I think covid has impacted both supply and prices. Many online stores are out of stock with no clear restocking date with a message “Give us your email and we’ll let you know when we do have stock.”

$15 used to be the norm for individual MREs and unit price when bought by the case averaged under that with the heaters. Now I’m seeing mostly $25 per.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Robbo said:
I think covid has impacted both supply and prices. Many online stores are out of stock with no clear restocking date with a message “Give us your email and we’ll let you know when we do have stock.”

$15 used to be the norm for individual MREs and unit price when bought by the case averaged under that with the heaters. Now I’m seeing mostly $25 per.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Kraft dinner it is. KD is gross but I'm not paying $25 a marginal meal.
 
GreyGhost said:
Kraft dinner it is. KD is gross but I'm not paying $25 a marginal meal.
Click to expand...

Yep. I shake my head seeing some of the "cheese pasta" MRE's for $15-$20 (which a lot of people review as being disgusting) when you can bring a $1 box of KD and with a simple pot of boiling water, make actual fresh KD.

And KD isn't gross. It's a food group. lol
 
PrivatePilot said:
Yep. I shake my head seeing some of the "cheese pasta" MRE's for $15-$20 (which a lot of people review as being disgusting) when you can bring a $1 box of KD and with a simple pot of boiling water, make actual fresh KD.

And KD isn't gross. It's a food group. lol
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Have you had it recently? Kids like it. I think it is a lot different than it used to be. Seems a lot blander.
 
They changed the nuclear orange powder, yeah....but I think they took a lot of the horribly bad for your health stuff out of it so it's just a little *less* horrible for your health now lol.

Just did some googling actually, and yeah...that's exactly why:

www.mashed.com

The Real Reason Kraft Mac & Cheese Doesn't Taste The Same Anymore - Mashed

What happens when you take a perennial family favorite, get rid of artificial dyes (known in the food industry as yellows No. 5 and 6), and replace that with paprika, annatto, and turmeric? You get artificial ingredient-free Kraft Mac and Cheese.
www.mashed.com www.mashed.com
 
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