For you E2-ers who love camping we’ve got some tips for you on what to take with you to keep your camping trip plant-strong!
(some of these depend on what kind of camping you are planning on doing)
1. Rice and Beans by Eden Organics: These are fantastic for camping trips, we’ve even had them cold and they taste just fine. There are different flavors like Caribbean , Garbanzo Beans and Rice , Brown Rice and Green Lentils, Curried Rice and Beans , there are a few more varieties, check your local stores. You can also take some whole grain tortillas along with you and make burritos.
2. Dr. McDougall products: Again, these are pre-packaged. A lot of Dr. McDougalls products are very light to carry and just require adding hot water. We really like the Apple Oatmeal , Maple Oatmeal and the Peach, Raspberry Oatmeal for breakfast. He also has some soups that you just need to add hot water to, like Black Bean Lime.
3. Camp Fire Foil Packs: You can use a non stick aluminum foil if you like. You can also just use a heavy duty aluminum foil which should work just fine. You will want to double or tripple wrap it so it is stronger if you use a lightweight foil. Take a few sheets, wrap the food so the duller side of the foil is on the outside. You want to make a secure pocket for the food, folding the edges over a few times. Simply take some aluminum foil and fill it with whatever you like (we find smaller, one portion size ones work the best) add sliced or chopped potatoes, sliced or chopped sweet potatoes, beans, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, whatever you like. You can even make plant-strong burgers this way! You can cook them over open flames, on parks grills, even in charcoal pits if you want to get adventurous.
Cooking times: (these might vary depending on a few factors, so this is a rough estimate)
Sliced Carrots 15 – 20 min
Whole Potatoes 45 – 60 min
Sliced Potatoes 10 – 15 min
Whole Apples (dessert!) 20 – 30 min
Corn 6 – 10 min
Sliced onion 10 – 15 min
4. Dry Food: You can make your own trail mix using your favorite plant-strong cereals, some walnuts and raisins. You can also buy air dried “Just Fruit” or “Just Veggies“. You can also take along small packets of nut butter for whole grain pretzels or whole grain bread.
5. Food for the cooler: If you are able to keep things cool, make things like hummus and veggie wraps on whole grain tortillas, hummus and cut up vegetables, cut up fruit, pre-make a bunch of plant-strong burgers, have non-dairy milk for your morning big bowl. You can also make plant-strong sushi , you don’t have to cut up your sushi rolls, you can eat them like a burrito if you like as well!
6. Recipes: Check out our Pinterest page for our favorite summer recipes, many of them will work great for your camping trips!
7. What about smores? Well, we haven’t found a plant-strong marshmallow, but we’ve found something even better (in our opinion) you can roast bananas over the camp fire! Bananas can be split in half and placed on roasting sticks, you just have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t burn. They are great like that, you can also throw some strawberries on your roasting sticks to go along with it. Looking for something more like smores? You can put a small amount of non dairy, dark chocolate on a no egg/dairy added whole grain graham cracker (they can be hard to find, but the are out there) and enjoy your roasted banana to replace the marshmallows. It’s a nice treat for your every so often camping trip.
Have you been on a plant-strong camping trip? What things do you like to take along? It is one of our most popular summertime questions, so we’d love your feedback, so that others can learn some great tips!
