Date:         Thu, 4 Jun 1998 20:56:45 EDT
Reply-To:     Ssittservl@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         S Sittservl <Ssittservl@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: What food to take in a Westie
Comments: To: KENWILFY@aol.com, vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

> Subj:       What food to take in a Westie
> From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM
>
> ... I was wondering what different kinds of food you folks who
> have used your camper alot would suggest to take on a trip...
> Also what cooking utensils would you recommend? ...
>
> Ken Wilford

Well, we've made exactly one camping trip in our Westfalia, so that makes
me a font of wisdom :-)  We've tent camped a fair amount though (before we
got the camper), and have done a number of "lunch outings" in the van

I'd reccomend 2 pots, rather than just one, unless you just like
"one dish meals".  We usually seem to need the second pot.

I strongly reccomend non-stick pots and skillet - you really don't want
to spend your vacation trying to scrub crud out of a pot in that
itty-bitty camper sink.  We've got a nice non-stick skillet with a folding
handle; we're still working on finding cheap and compact (folding or
removable handle) non-stick pots.

We just bought a small square griddle because the skillet was only so-so
for pancakes, and besides, we wanted the bacon in the skillet.  Haven't
tried it out yet, though.

We decided to go with paper cups and paper plates pretty much all
the time - again to avoid doing much dish washing.  A campfire is the
ideal way to dispose of them when you're done.  (A wastebasket works
too, of course).  For that reason, we always get paper, rather than
styrofoam.  We use mostly "cheap" paperplates, but keep some "nice" ones
on hand, too, for stuff that soaks through cheap ones.  We also keep
a few plastic mugs, bowls, and plates around.  (Mugs for hot stuff,
bowls because paper bowls are hard to find, and plates because sometimes
you want a real plate.)

Go with real silverware - it's usually pretty easy to wash (just soak in
a big cup), and much nicer than plastic.

As for food, you can't go far wrong with:
    - Your favorite pasta, and some sauce to dump over it.  Unopened
      jar of sauce doesn't need refrigeration, which is nice.  Maybe
      some ground beef or meatballs to throw in the sauce.
    - Rice, some chicken pieces to cook, and a sauce to pour over it.
      A unopened jar of "Chicken Tonight" sauce will keep without
      refrigeration, if you don't want to make your own sauce.
    - Box of Bisquick, and miscellaneous other ingredients - pancakes for
      breakfast.  Even easier, get Bisquick's (or somebody else's) "just
      add water and shake" pancake mix - then you don't have to carry
      eggs and such.  (It's slightly more expensive, and not quite
      as good, but it's compact and easy.)  Some sort of syrup.
    - Bacon, to go with the pancakes.
    - Hotdogs, to cook over campfire.  Buns, etc.
    - Cereal and milk, for an easy breakfast.
    - Maybe some muffins and butter to go with the cereal.  Warm them
      up by the fire.
    - Cans of tuna, or similar canned meat, to make sandwiches for lunch.
      Deli meat's fine too, of course, but canned stuff doesn't need
      refrigeration.
    - Cookies are about as easy as you can get for dessert.
    - Canned vegetables.  (Frozen vegetables won't stay frozen
      very long, of course.)
    - Cans of soup.  Compact, easy to cook, infinite variety available.
    - Potatoes to bake in foil in the fire.
    - Box of Tuna Helper, for when you're feeling lazy.

Corn on the cob is nice camping food, but bulky to carry.  (We usually
take it anyway.)  We also seem to go through a lot of milk, orange
juice, and Coke.

My wife often pre-cooks a Chinese meat-and-vegetables dish to put
over rice, and we keep a tub of it in the fridge.

Cooking utensils we use the most:
    - Spatula
    - A couple of big spoons
    - Tongs, or, if you can handle them, chopsticks.
    - One "sharp" knife (as opposed to a table knife).

Everything's plastic or wood, because of the non-stick pans.

Also:
    - Scripto disposable butane fire lighter, for lighting the
      stove (or anything else you feeel the need to set fire to).
      Lasts a long time, and costs about $2.

And, of course, giant bags of potato chips, pretzels, and stuff
made of chocolate.  But you said "healthy", so pretend I didn't
mention these.

                                        -Steven Sittser