r/motocamping • u/Strict-Basil5133 • 16d ago
Noob Food Storage Question
Howdy!
I'm planning my first 3-4 day moto camping trip and am wondering if there's any relatively easy solution for bringing meant, eggs, etc. I'm looking at AO Cooler and others, and assuming I could add ice - I'm just not sure if I'm crazy to think that's actually a reliable solution for things like meat, etc.
Where I'm headed won't be that warm...definitely chilly at night and I'll be next to a lake.
Any off the shelf or creative solutions are appreciated!
3
u/No-Plastic-9191 16d ago
I never had a real reason to bring food like that, because there’s always stores, but idk where you going.
4
1
u/Strict-Basil5133 16d ago
Thanks, this makes sense. There's a store about 1.5 hrs from the campground. I can probably engineer some sort of solution to keep food safe between there and dinner if I time it right.
3
u/iamshipwreck 16d ago
I've often used bodies of water as a fridge, waterproof sealed bag for the food with a couple rocks to sink it, tie it off to something on shore. Depending on the temperature of the lake that could be an option, the water is colder as it gets deeper. I have a roll-top drybag just for this.
1
u/Strict-Basil5133 16d ago
Thanks! This is kind of what I had in mind. I don't think think nights will be a problem either...even the water in the campground is usually super cold and it usually dips down to the lower 40s F at night. This sounds like an ideal solution for some of the river spots I'd like to camp...that water is dangerously cold.
3
u/gdbstudios 16d ago
You could figure out how to strap a soft sided cooler with dry ice in it.
1
u/Strict-Basil5133 16d ago
Thanks, that's kind of what I had in mind...seems easy enough to give it a test run at home before the trip, too.
2
2
u/jehlomould 16d ago
Personally I gave up on eggs for breakfast while camping. Always a pain to clean the pan unless I basically deep fry them after bacon or sausage. But that’s a me problem.
For meat I go with ‘hardier’ proteins, basically red meat and smoked/cured meat. I’ll have a little 6-pack cooler I’ll toss it in but don’t worry about ice or anything. I’m cooking it within a couple hours so not overly concerned in that aspect.
A cold body of water is natures refrigerator.
I’ll carry the pantry items for the trip but ingredients that require cold storage are purchased and used same day
1
u/Strict-Basil5133 16d ago
Rock solid logic! And I’m not really attached to eggs the more I think of it. I’ve got this steak fantasy where I, on my maiden moto camping adventure, grill and consume a movie-worthy steak, but I caring less and less about that the more so think about it, too. Thanks!
2
u/jehlomould 16d ago edited 16d ago
On more than one occasion I’ve cooked a steak on a stick over the fire. Smokey and lightly charred deliciousness.
Get a potato and wrap it in foil and put it close to your fire/coals. Move it around occasionally but kinda forget about it for like an hour. Or dig a hole in your fire pit and move some coals to cover the bottom, add your potato and cover with coals; boom you just made an oven.
For any other veggies just need some oil, seasons and make a thick tin foil tray. Sauté over coals or a hot rock.
Some fire warmed nice bread or my personal favorite, flame licked tortillas.
Grab some extra butter packets from a diner. Honey and jams are good too. Fake soy sauce packets are a nice addition as well.
My grandpa had an old camping/survival book from like the 50s-60s and I remember flipping through it a lot. There was a lot of tin foil usage lol. Should see if my dad still has the book
1
1
u/juancarlospaco 16d ago edited 16d ago
You can use a dehydrator and make Jerky, which also works for fruits, veggies, and mushrooms. Buy egg powder and instant food like ramen. You can fish/hunt in rural areas if allowed.
1
u/beejaytee228 16d ago
Bring a dehydrated meal for emergencies but just pick up food at a store closer to camp assuming you go through some sort of civilization on your ride. The rookie mistake is taking a whole trips worth of food.
1
u/Taclink Harley Pan America 16d ago
Grabbing food on the go is the easiest, but not always feasible if you're base camping in an area with riding and taking day trail-trips out.
Your bike size will also have a significant say on what you can do. If you're packing everything into small soft panniers on a sub-500CC glorified dirtbike it's way different than me rolling up on my Pan Am with space to tie stuff down and north of 130L of storage.
I'm not riding an hour or two back to town every day to get food. I'm camping to not be in town, and that's time I could be relaxing at the river, doing camp improvement like woodchopping, or just an early start on drinkin if that's the flavor of the day. Bourbon packs smaller than Beer, FYI.
Most of my trips are going to an area of interest with known access to flowing water and we're fueling at the last station on the way to camp and then using reserve fuel to top off while onsite.
So, if you want to bring "real food" for a multi-day trip then having a real cooler and picking foods that can be cooked from frozen is huge for increasing the overall amount of food you can bring.
A "real" cooler ain't that heavy and it's just finding ways to make it work. I use a older "lunch size" Coleman for now that I just double-bungiee back on the pillion seat next to my topbox, but am looking at the Pro series as they are specifically designed to be tied down.
I rarely end up actually using ice. Everything I pack into the cooler is edible and freezable, because I have limited cooler space. Stuff like seasoning scrambled eggs with diced ham in ziploc bags. Sandwich meats, hot dogs, keilbasa sausage, sauerkraut, etc. Foods that just get cooked/thawed by a pot of boiling water or directly over the burner/grill/fire. Same heat source is what I use to toast any breads if I'm getting extra fancy with something like a pastrami on rye or whatnot.
Anything "fresh' that I want to bring that can't stand being frozen, gets packed in ziplocks, which then is in a mesh laundry bag, which then is stuffed in the top of the cooler for the ride down. Once we get on location, I take it out and just use a rock to weigh down the mesh bag in a river... which means the river's flow is my refrigerator for that fresh stuff. So stuff like premix salad, dressing/condiments, and any drinks/mixers. Nature provides while the Emperor Protects.
The morning drill is just go over to the river in the morning, pump the day's water while it's still cool with my MSR pump into my dromedary bag. I then tie the bag off so it doesn't go anywhere and leave it half in the water in the shade so it's river temperature all the way until it's time to ride... which then means nice cold water the whole ride and 10L of it which everyone ends up appreciating. Then I just bumble back to camp with a pot of water to boil up.
Once that pot's on the heat, I'm preparing everything else for breakfast. Ends up taking about 5 minutes (Purification Overkill, but it's just practice for me that works at any altitude). Then I scoop up a cup's worth for stirring into my oatmeal, scoop up another cups worth to make my coffee, and then just toss a bag of eggs in and poke at it as I stir the other two.
By the time the eggs are done, the oatmeal's cooked and the coffee is ready to start sipping without scalding me... and I still have over a half pot of ready hot/boiling water for any of the bro's I'm camping with and/or sanitation needs.
Dinner is either grilling directly or doing the same thing with boiling water for hot dogs, keilbasa, or anything I pre-packaged.
Big thing is that the river ends up being what I use as a refrigerator and the cooler is the freezer... and you just don't open the freezer unless you need to, which keeps things cool.
Yes, I eat good camping, even on the motorcycle. The homies love it because they're packing 10 year old mountain house and I roll up with porterhouse's and shit... and more than enough to share, no less. I've done camping austere as all hell in the past and there's no reason to punish yourself by being beholden to town for food. I'm motocamping to specifically get OUTA town, after all!
1
u/gppacecar 16d ago
Get farm eggs. They don’t need to be refrigerated like store bought ones here in the states.
2
u/Remarkable-Candle423 15d ago
Yes, backyard eggs with the "bloom" on last longer than bleach washed store eggs. Still, keep them relatively cool. For storage, the Colgann egg keeper works well for my purposes. I individually wrap the egg in a paper towel to restrict movement and cushion it.
1
1
u/Hairy_Bluebird5444 13d ago
Jet boil, 3L water bladder, freeze dried MRE type meals, protein bars and gummy bears. That’s all you need baby!
12
u/Inner-Deer-7145 16d ago
It’s best to try and grab something to cook later in the afternoon when getting gas, like before the last stop, and commit to cooking that night. Small insulated lunch-style packs should keep it ok for a few hours, and don’t take up much space. For breakfast, I wouldn’t cook - try a bar or similar if you need it, make some coffee, and then catch a diner along the way in a small town where all the dirty pickup trucks are. You’ll be able to ride all day after throwing down a huge breakfast, catch some local culture, and walking into a diner in boots and gear makes you kinda feel like a cowboy (riding a steel horse, like Bon Jovi!).