Whatcha eatin

[foxvalley]

Just want to see what's out there for camp meals,

What I have been using the last few years is the hormel "complete" meals that you can get in every grocery store for $1.89 They are heavy, "ready to eat" but what I like, besides the price,and no refrigeration, is I can throw the unopened package in boiling water,2 min later,i'm eating out of the package,with my hot coffee. Dishes = 1 spoon.

[elkohalic]

mountain house, homemade trail mix, homemade deer jerky and grill cheese crackers from walmart. My pack is as full as it gets, and hope it is as full of elk on the trip out.

[CrazyElkHunter]

As we have become older and have gone from tents to small toy haulers for more comfort, our eating habits have also changed a little. We stay the entire archery season so our food supply is rather large. We take small chest freezers, and run generators a few hours a day to keep the food frozen. In return, we use the freezers to transport our game home. We usually eat better in camp than we do at home. Breakfast, is after we return from our morning hunt around 11am, and consist of eggs, bacon or sausage pattys, hash browns and biscuits, sometimes Pancakes. Mid afternoon lunches before going out for evening hunt is usually something simple like sandwiches. Our dinners, we spoil ourselves. Meat could be a Tri-tip roast, steak, pork chops, smoked briscut or chicken. Potatos, mashed with country gravy, fried or baked. Vegetable, green beens, corn or mixed. Elk burgers with all the fixins and fresh cut french fries is our favorite. We try to have at least 1 big fish fry during our trip and invite new and old hunters we meet near our camp. I just gained 10 lbs just talking about this.

[eltaco]

I've been eating tag soup all year... and I don't quite like it, either!!

[Swede]

Crazyelkhunter, where did you say your camp is located. I have much the same routine and schedule, but my dinners are not near as tasty sounding. I get up have a quick breakfast hunt till 11:00-noon, come in for good lunch and pack some more snacks. In the evening I come in again after dark and make a quick dinner for myself then go to bed. I too have a trailer, generator and cold storage boxes. My brother comes over with me prior to the opening of the season and as long as he stays I eat well, but he leaves right after the season opens since he does not hunt.

[foxvalley]

As we have become older and have gone from tents to small toy haulers for more comfort, our eating habits have also changed a little. We stay the entire archery season so our food supply is rather large. We take small chest freezers, and run generators a few hours a day to keep the food frozen. In return, we use the freezers to transport our game home. We usually eat better in camp than we do at home. Breakfast, is after we return from our morning hunt around 11am, and consist of eggs, bacon or sausage pattys, hash browns and biscuits, sometimes Pancakes. Mid afternoon lunches before going out for evening hunt is usually something simple like sandwiches. Our dinners, we spoil ourselves. Meat could be a Tri-tip roast, steak, pork chops, smoked briscut or chicken. Potatos, mashed with country gravy, fried or baked. Vegetable, green beens, corn or mixed. Elk burgers with all the fixins and fresh cut french fries is our favorite. We try to have at least 1 big fish fry during our trip and invite new and old hunters we meet near our camp. I just gained 10 lbs just talking about this.

I think I gained 10lbs. reading this. lol.

[Goneelkn]

As we have become older and have gone from tents to small toy haulers for more comfort, our eating habits have also changed a little. We stay the entire archery season so our food supply is rather large. We take small chest freezers, and run generators a few hours a day to keep the food frozen. In return, we use the freezers to transport our game home. We usually eat better in camp than we do at home. Breakfast, is after we return from our morning hunt around 11am, and consist of eggs, bacon or sausage pattys, hash browns and biscuits, sometimes Pancakes. Mid afternoon lunches before going out for evening hunt is usually something simple like sandwiches. Our dinners, we spoil ourselves. Meat could be a Tri-tip roast, steak, pork chops, smoked briscut or chicken. Potatos, mashed with country gravy, fried or baked. Vegetable, green beens, corn or mixed. Elk burgers with all the fixins and fresh cut french fries is our favorite. We try to have at least 1 big fish fry during our trip and invite new and old hunters we meet near our camp. I just gained 10 lbs just talking about this.

What's the GPS numbers??

I only use coolers. I have fresh food out of the coolers for the first 7-10 days, rest of the season i eat my home canned steaks, burgers, etc. Just have to be sure the canned goods don't freeze.
I only eat one full meal a day. Usually midday after the morning hunt. If i don't stay out in the woods overnight, i'll eat some jerky after the evening hunt.

[WapitiTalk1]

Full blown "living out of my pack" hunts this year. Soo, MH/BP main meals, Bridgford sands for lunch, Bridgford pastries and hot via coffee w/cream n sugar for Bfast. Snacks will be PB or cheezy crackers, sweet and salty peanut granola bars, various energy bars, and chia seeds (trying them this year). Evening hot drink? If I have the energy after the day's adventure to heat water, will be dissolved Wyler's boullion chicken/beef cubes in water. Slim9300 said I'm gonna gag if I eat too many of the Bridgford sands and pastries .. Will give them a try this year none the less. As long as they do the job, I can get by the bland taste On second thought, I also want CrazyElkHunter's GPS coordinates....... that's some fine eating there. RJ

[Freebird134]

For our 9 days of bivy hunting, I've been trying to minimize my weight and maximize my calories. Each day I'm planning a half pound of trailmix (mostly macadamia,pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, and banana chips because their >150 cal/oz), 1 cliff bar, 1 snickers bar, and a freezedried dinner (plus 1 oz of olive oil drizzled on top). That averages 145 cal/oz, giving me about 2500 calories per day at just over 1lb per day. I might be sick of nuts by the end of the trip, but it seems to be the best bet for weight savings.

[Lefty]

I only do one night at a time. I also keep it simple, and some of that same food goes along for the daily hunt
The things I typically keep at camp
apples,
oranges,
bagels, sometime multiple flavors
sometimes fruity cream cheese
Bread if I don’t bring bagels
egg salad to put on bread or bagels "good" deli meat,packaged tuna but not too much,
onion, pickles, mayonnaise

fruit leather,
Costco trail mix
Nature Valley granola bars,
boiled eggs,
string cheese
small yogurts
candy bars: snickers Twix, MM peanut
carrot sticks
Diet Mt Dew
Diet Rockstars
sometimes milk and home made chocolate chip cookies
If I can get them out of the garden or orchard
Zucchini, tomatoes, plums, peaches apricots and pears
canned soups and chili for backup if I need to stay longer,.. so far I haven’t opened them on an archery hunt

Apples bagels and granola bars are my big calorie intake

[Buglemaster]

Crazyelkhunter, we definitly need to hook up!! We kinda rough it out of a cargo trailer, but have alot of the same grub in the coolers. Steaks, brats, chops, baby back ribs,RMO's are mandatory(rocky mountain oysters).Generally do something pretty easy after a days hunt like just soup & sandwiches with the bigger meals mid day.When we spike in, things are alot more disapointing tho...Man I cant wait for my "home cookin"..

[CrazyElkHunter]

The average age in or camp is around 62. We gave up on the calorie counting years ago and enjoy the hunt to the fullest. Last year my hunting partner and I took 2 bulls 1/2 mi from camp and my deer was less than a 100 yds from a logging road. Packing meat out was a breeze. Our hunts are like a big campout. My hunting partner is from Texas, and he loves to eat good, especially smoked brisket, ribs or steaks.. You will know our camp if you drive by. A DishNetwork satellite dish and a Direct TV dish side by side and. Mossy Oak banner. Got to have a tv when your there for a month If you see this camp, and a silver dodge truck with CRZYELK license plates, stop in for a elk burger and fries I vacuum sealed 35 elk burger patties last year, bought 3 bags of potatoes for fries and ran out in 2 weeks. Going for my 26th elk this year. Got to replenish the elk burger for next year.

[cnelk]

We set aside one day to have a fish fry at elk camp

Bacon for appetizers, Fresh walleye, potatoes - a 'Shore Lunch' at 9000ft

Other than that we have home-made chicken noodle soup, spaghetti, steaks for our evening meals

[>>>---WW---->]

Hot-Dang!! Next time you have a fish fry like that, give me a call. My mouth is watering from just looking at the pictures.

[Bow4Elk]

Crazyelk Hunter, I need to find you guys. I am in the over 60 crowd too and like to eat well when hunting. We usually do some pork ribs and a stew or something in the Dutch Oven along with the burgers, fish (if we have it), steaks, chili relleno's, french dips and tacos. Then for desert we have made cakes and huckleberry coblers in the DO. I have also taken the fixens for home made ice cream. That is a treat especially when it is hot like last year. Our main meal is usually in the early afternoon if we have made it back to camp.

[CrazyElkHunter]

Hey Brad! That is one big skillet! Makes my arm hurt thinking about lifting it. I just use a big pot 1/2 full of oil with a fry basket. I sent you a message about unit 61. Just heard from a cousin that I have only seen twice in 30 years that moved from Ohio to the Denver area, so were going to meet in Rifle while I'm in Colorado . My wife and I just took 18 lbs of elk burger out of the freezer to thaw out and pre make our patties and vacum seal them.Gett"n close

[huntnmuleys]

i gotta admit when we do the base camp thing, as in like i will be this year with the area i drew, we eat like kings. i will probably gain weight...

when i pack in, i love mountain house!! all of em ive tried i like the heck out of. also, i die for werthers candy so i take some of those for sure, and when i make trail mix, it has lots of craisins, cause those are more addicting than crack!

[stickflngr]

Crazyelkhunter, thanks for the tip on freezers. We run a generator in camp and the thought never even crossed my mind to use freezers.... No more dry ice for this kid..... I love this site!!!

[CrazyElkHunter]

Crazyelkhunter, thanks for the tip on freezers. We run a generator in camp and the thought never even crossed my mind to use freezers.... No more dry ice for this kid..... I love this site!!!

stickfingr, my friends from Texas were doing this 25 years ago and I started doing it shortly after. The cool part about it is, we take all our vacuum sealed pre made meals and meats, a couple bags of ice and I like to keep a couple block ice on the bottom to keep it colder between generator runs. When we transport our elk home, we discard any ice and fill the freezer with meat. We have our game processed while we are there so meat is already packaged, frozen and stacks neatly in the freezer. To keep a eye on how cold the freezer is to make sure it stays below 32*, without opening the lid all the time, we use a little battery powered temperature gauge. The kind you find in garden section at Home Depot or Lowe's .The little wire sinsor go's inside the freezer and the digital gauge I tape to the front for easy viewing. Cost about $10.00. They are designed to watch the outdoor temperature from inside your home. We have toy haulers, so we charge the batteries and lower the freezer temp. at the same time while running the generators. I only paid $100.00 for a $279.00 freezer at Lowe's. There floor models get dinged up and they sell them discounted. Mine had a damaged lid so I made them a offer and the manager approved it. I repaired it, mounted wheels on it. Perfect for hunting without paying full price. Almost forgot, to keep the freezer running during the 20 hour drive, I plug it into a inverter I mounted in the trailer cabinet running off the trailer batteries. Freezer motors are small and pull very little amps. We do not even take ice chests anymore that take up a lot of room.

[stickflngr]

Sir you are a genius..... My buddy has a small one and Im looking for one more and I think Im headed for Lowes now... I already have an inverter in my trailer so that will work great. Thanx for the tips

[Waygoner]

My wife is a chef and has a catering business, so I eat well when hunting. The preferred method is to package precooked meals in a seal-a-meal bag and drop into boiling water to reheat. Some memorable things I've had are buffalo ravioli with red chile pesto, wild mushroom risotto, Jamaican jerk chicken, elk stroganoff. My wife's award winning green chile stew is a standard too. She makes some homemade power bars that are just the thing to get you going in the morning.

[RockChucker30]

This year I'll likely be eating dehydrated chopped nut and avacodo cereral for breakfast (homemade), larabars, pemmican, homemade jerky, lots of nuts, and homemade dehydrated dinners. Backpack hunts may not have the best food, but I won't have to walk 2 miles each way to get to the hunting area either.