What's your favorite emergency / survival / quick camp food?

Fletcher Knives

Fletcher Knives

STEEL BREATHING BLADE MAESTRO
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I keep a pretty good stock of emergency food and camp food on hand. The majority of it is either canned foods or food that only requires hot water to be added. I'm a firm believer in testing gear before you are forced to use it, so I like to prepare and taste one of each of them to make sure I like it. It's my thinking that nothing in this world is going to be harder on your mental / emotional well-being, or drive you closer to giving up or just commiting suicide then finding out that the pouch of dehydrated beef stroganoff you've been saving because you 'save the best for last" absolutely sucks and tastes like dirt mixed with poop and anger. I'm pretty sure that if my mental state were fragile and all I had left in this world was the comfort of knowing that tonight I get to enjoy delicious cheesy meaty lasagna, then I painfully discover that it's digusting, at the very least, someone around me just lost at the game of life and I'm going to cash in their chips for them. After that, I'll probably make up for my crappy previous meal by having a big fat people-steak. :thumbup:

Now not all of this has to be about emergency / survival food. Sometimes, we just want a quick, easy to prepare, easily packed camp food.

So here is the question, what is your favorite quick-prep camp / emergency / survival food, and what do you find gross? I'm not talking about wild game, anything that requires first assembling ingredients, primitive living staples that involve you making your own flower. I'm talking quick and simple heat up or add water and thats it food.

My personal favorites:

First on the list is a quarter of the Mountain House menu. Their Lasagna is great. It tastes just like lunchroom food from when I was a kid. Some people think that's gross, but I loved lunchroom food. I think I liked how basic it was. Either way, Mountain House rocks pretty hard. They do have a lot of food that I don't like, but I've got my favorites picked out and that's what I buy. It's comforting to know that when Boston Market finally gives up the ghost due to the economic collapse, I'll still have Mountain House... which pretty much tastes the same. :thumbup:

At a close second, Spam. I honestly think that my world is better due to the existance of Spam. I love it. My Hawaiian friends concur. My uppidy American friends think I'm nuts. Yes, I do consider Americans and Hawaiians to be separate. Here's a fun secret... so do Hawaiians.

If you've got fire and a stick, you've got a tasty spam-sicle for breakfast.


The food I hate:

MRE's. They're edible... sometimes. Yes, this is true. However, I'm a grown-up now and the novelty of eating this military / emergency "food" has extinguished. When I was a kid, I thought it was fun. Now, I admit to myself that the majority of it is vomit packaged up and saved for testing purposes from Vietnam, Korea or the Cold War. With companies making no shortage of good tasting emergency and survival food, there's no reason to eat that crap unless it's all you have.

The absolute WORST camp / emergency / survival food every invented... freeze dried eggs in any form. Oh dear lawd do I hate that stuff. The worst is when you have to eat quick and you don't give the water enough time to soak in all the way. You end up with this disgusting wet sponge outer layer over a dry, stiff chair cushion foam substance, and all of it tastes horrible no matter what configuration they came up with. Damn those things are nasty.
 
Dylside, two Skyline cheese coneys w/ mustard & onions & a 4-way bean with a side of cheese . . . just kidding. :D
I'd have to vote same on the Mountain House as well. Most of their stuff is pretty good even when you are not freezing or soaked to the bone. Spam or the little Vienna sausages would do in a pinch as well. Second would be just getting some hot water going & either bouillon cubes or one of the soup packs from Campbells or any brand.
But that Skyline sure sounds good though . . . :)
Be safe.
 
I stick with plain old crunchy peanut butter Clif bars, but if you guys like Mountain House, check out Enertia Trail Food's Prepare, Perform, and Recover meals. The ones I've tried were great.
http://trailfoods.com/
 
I had some freezedried Spaghetti Bolognese from Travellunch once that tasted real good. Tasted just like the real deal.

The worst ive ever tasted was some freezedried yellow chicken curry. God that stuff was nasty. Both me and my stepson had to throw that crap out. We actually had to paddle 6 km back to the nearest town, cause we refused to eat that dish again.

Another nasty thing i had was some emergency rations in a liferaft. It was nothing more than 2 thin wafers of biscuit with a big chunk of something fat-like in between. One of those things had like a million calories in it. That was nasty.
 
Kipper snacks. Oh ya. They might look gross, but ohh man ... they are the best. High in protein, small and light weight. I always travel with beef jerky as well.
 
I always keep a gallon bag of some mixture of peanuts, cashews, almonds (protein), and M&M's, dried cherries, dried cranberries, etc. (sugars) with me when I'm hiking. good mix for energy, and pretty lightweight
 
MrOverkill said:
I always keep a gallon bag of some mixture of peanuts, cashews, almonds (protein), and M&M's, dried cherries, dried cranberries, etc. (sugars) with me when I'm hiking. good mix for energy, and pretty lightweight
Click to expand...


Ahhh, the old "gorp" bag of goodies, a blast from the past.
Forgot all about that one . . . good choice . . :thumbup:
Be safe.
 
for supper:

lipton sidekicks and jerky are always the staple when i'm camping and ice is nowhere to be seen. the sidekicks are great because most of them are ready to go with just hot water and powdered milk. maybe butter and some spices if needs be. the powdered mashed potatoes with gravy (chicken or beef) really hits the spot. the best part is that there are quite a few choices and they are all CHEAP! for 2 bucks i have a meal for myself and maybe 1 other person. can't go wrong with that

jerky is also great. i get it from the local butcher and it comes vac packed and no clue how long it's good for. i'v eaten packs that where over a year and a 1/2 old. tasted just as good as fresh

for breakfast:

there is a bread mix called Brodie XXX. it's a pre mixed cake and pastry flour. i add a little water, fry it up, add a little jam and i'm good to go.

for lunch:
more jerky, trail mix and whatever else i bring to eat on the run
 
Mountain House Pro Pac Chili Mac w/beef - and the biggest bag of peanut M&Ms I can find.

I be likin the Kippers too, but they are low on calories.

Canned Albacore Tuna and Apricots (not in the same can)

Used to dig Dinty Moore beef stew, but they altered their recipe during the mid-90s and ruined it.
 
Another vote for Enertia trails foods...best I've eaten.

Jerky, gorp, biltong, pemmican, Joe's ultralight moose goo, Knorr and Lipton sides, Hudson bay bread, bannock, and hardtack are all good.

Single size packs of tuna, smoked salmon, spam, and the instant potatoes in the oatmeal size packs too.
 
OwenM said:
I stick with plain old crunchy peanut butter Clif bars, but if you guys like Mountain House, check out Enertia Trail Food's Prepare, Perform, and Recover meals. The ones I've tried were great.
http://trailfoods.com/
Click to expand...

That's my food of choice for the outdoors. Its light, the wrapper is biodegradable (not that i leave it or burn it), and its reflective enough to work as a signal device. The Crunchy PB is the best of all of them, packed full of all the essentials, and I eat them real slow, because they are dense. My Lady and I were on a hike and she got the tummy grumbles so, I broke out one of stash and gave it to here. She wolfed it down and had stomach cramps for about half an hour. Plus, they tend to slow the Bravo Mikes, which usually look like deer pellets.:confused::D

I keep 6 in my pack, enough for 3 days of full belly or 5 days of grumbles but alive.

Moose
 
I move perishables to a 5 day ice chest prior anticipated high tropical winds, and don't want to open the refrigerator door unless necessary.... so get a bag of bagels, and hard summer sausage, plus a can of peanut butter and some cheddar cheese...
 
cans of baked beans...or cans of soup...both are great and really fill you up...just dont zip the tent all the way shut.
 
Lara Bars are great, but I have to eat 8 or 10 of them for a good meal.

Sardines are a good calorie dense food, but I have to be in the mood to enjoy them. Otherwise, they can be torture to eat.

Instant soups, Ramen in a cup, nut butters, and GORP are all staples of mine. Instant rice with various flavors are also good meals. Toss in some cut up meat and a few fresh veggies and you have a real meal going.

Another good one is kielbasa or hot dogs. Roast them over a small twig fire, and you have a delicious hot meal in minutes with no dishes or other cleanup.

I also sometimes make massive pancakes with raisins, peanuts, chocolate chips, and whatever else mixed in. I just use Bisquick, following the recipe on the back. I make them so that one batch of batter makes two pancakes. They come out to about 3/4" thick, about 7-8" diameter. One pancake is a hearty breakfast. I carry them in a resealable bag and eat them cold with honey, nut butters, or apple butter. Sometimes I toast them over the fire.

One time I took a friend camping for a couple days, and we had instant miso soup, matzo crackers and peanut butter, and Campbell's tomato soup packets for the majority of our meals. I was quite happy with the variety. She was not at all happy. In general, I don't mind eating the same thing three meals a day for a few days in a row. In the woods, exciting food is usually fairly low on my priorities list. I usually don't do much cooking, because I'm not always near a water source for cleanup, and I don't want to be doing dishes in the woods anyways. It's enough of a pain at home with running water.
 
I like quick and easy..just add water type stuff. If I won the lotto, it would be cheese tortalinis MRE's..with M&M's.
Hey Simon, good to hear from you!
 
Thanks for the laugh, Dylside; I really needed that. With a few very notable exceptions (omlet, the only MRE that doubles as a game of hot-potato), I remember thinking most of the MREs were pretty good. My memory might be tainted by the fact that when my next meal was going to be an MRE, I was usually too tired/wet/cold/hungry to be anything but ecstatic at the prospect of calories and something warm to eat/drink.

Although it's not ideal under all circumstances, I think most anything Zatarain's, especially beans and rice, makes a fantastic survival meal. Toss the box and you've got a pretty simple, compact, warm meal that's full of calories and protein. Plus, it doubles as a way to season any wild game you can procure. All you need for most of them is a billy pot and some water, both of which you'll likely have if you're carrying around survival food. Cheap, light, tasty, nutritious, and readily available in any grocery store.
 
The new MREs are head and shoulders above what they were even 3-4 years ago. Some of them are quite good. There's a tuna MRE now.

Smoked cheeses, summer sausage and dry salami is some of my favorite.
 
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