Monday, August 29, 2016

Need suggestions for healthy Camper food

We have been subsisting on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a while now.  One night we have grape, the next peach.  We have apples with peanut butter,  and we have bananas with peanut butter.  So Glen brought us a little dorm fridge.  The camper fridge refuses to work.

We started brainstorming things we can make just using hot water.  I can make hot water on the tiny stove and I have a brand spanking new Keurig coffee maker, so I can make oatmeal. The coffee maker may just go into storage, it seems so useless to me at the moment.

As an FYI - Katrina hit 11 years ago today.  We were out of electricity for about 8 hours.  New Orleans died from the flooding that happened three days after the storm.

I need healthy foods.  I can think of Mac and cheese in those cups, ugh.  Maybe I need to go to whole foods and see, at least they might have quinoa or something not so calorie heavy and nutrient deficient.  If I had a vehicle.  When Frank leaves, he has the truck.  And he is never in town at an office, he calls on plants up and down the river corridor.  We are just not normal.

Once I get a bbq pit again, we can grill some chicks and veggies. But leftovers will be a problem with the tiny fridge.

And I have the problem of the stupid Boyz who scour countertops for any morsel of food.  Or whatever they find in the way of destroy able items.  So I can only buy small amounts of foodstuffs that can go int night camper cabinets and the precious few shelves.   You should see the elaborate system I have to prevent that them from getting anything in the camper.  In the house, nothing was below the countertop unless it was in a child proof locked cabinet.  McGee can expose a chink in the armor in a heartbeat.

And because the camper came out of the New Orleans area, it has som roaches.  I have never had a proble with roaches in the house, so I guess I need to get an exterminator who can put something in here that won't  kill us and the dogs.

The limited storage of the camper is a problem.  We have the potential of some space in the single garage building when it completely dries out, so that may offer a few more options.  It is detached
from the house and has an ancient window unit a/c dating from the days Frank's father owned the camp in Hopedale, LA.  That got wiped out in HUrricane Betsy and the unit went under water, but still works!

So, camping food suggestions, anyone?



7 comments:

  1. what kind of little stove do you have - is it a regular small propane stove top that most campers have? Do you have a microwave? I have a small refrigerator in the motorhome but it is a regular camper size so have a bit more room than you do. My stovetop in the motorhome only has two burners and I have a small microwave. It sounds like you might have less than this? Do you have a camper stove that you put outside on a table? I stick with one dish meals mainly when we travel and we eat regular meals and healthy - I just pretty much cook like I always do sometimes in and sometimes out on the camper stove. maybe get a crockpot and a one pot rice cooker -- you can make soups and stews in either, in the crockpot you can put meat and veggies. I don't have the problem you do with the pets in the house though.
    Sorry about the roaches - I think I would be getting some bug bombs and clear out for a couple hours and hope it kills everything.

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  2. Hot water - pouches of instant mashed potatoes / chicken noodle soup. What about protein type bars (etc) that could be kept up really high where dogs can't reach?

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  3. p.s Think backpacking and their challenges for weight and for storage( like bear bags at night). Might give you some ideas

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  4. I don't know if you have a stove/oven in the camper and how safe foods would be in the oven, but we've (Richard) baked/roasted chicken or fish in our tiny camper oven several times. I like the idea of using a crockpot to make stews and soups. Hopefully it will cool off enough so that we can start making hearty foods. Look in the breakfast food aisle for oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc. Most of those are fast and easy. And canned fruit.

    When we use the camper on vacation, Richard loves to cook outside using his Coleman stove. You might consider putting a table outside the camper and the dog yard, so that you can leave the crockpot on without them eating your supper. That will also help keep the camper cool. Pretty much anything that we cook at home he has cooked outside on the Coleman. (Of course, it's much cooler on vacation in the northern states.)

    Hang in there, friend. It's going to get better. You'll find a rhythm and build a routine that gets you around some of the problems. You have such creativity and a wonderful sense of humor that thrive on life's craziness. Try to remember that...

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  5. I cook in hotel rooms using my crockpot and their microwave. There are quite a few recipes that call for little to no prep/dump in crockpot with some sauce. Frugal girls.com have a lot of easy and cheap crockpot recipes. Try Internet search for travel cooking in crockpot. I usually use steamer vegetable bags as a side dish.

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  6. I will have to find out the company's name for survival food that I think only takes hot water. Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara has had a couple of posts and she buys it to have on hand in case of emergency. The food is not cheap, but does not need refrigerated and comes in lots of varieties. Let me dig around on her blog and I will text you if I find it.

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  7. there are canned chicken, tuna, and other meats for protein that can go with bagged lettuce. Boxes of soups might have protein. Those little lunch trays for kids have luncheon meat/cheese combo for a quick protein. Borax tablets placed up high dehydrate roaches too. My lab ate one once,but lived.

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