Camp CTA returns
on the agenda: cook, eat, chill, repeat
Boy, was July an adventure-filled month for us! We went camping, played tourist in SF, staycationed in Sonoma, and had plenty of mini day trips. Our camping trip was probably our favorite one yet, filled with delicious food and relaxing time in nature. For the first time ever, we didn’t overpack our food and finished almost everything we brought! And we didn’t forget to bring coffee like last year (still not ready to talk about that, lol).
How to plan camp meals while staying sane:
In the past, we’ve done the absolute most and packed waaay too much food. “How many different meats should we bring?” “Do you think this is enough food?” Those are the questions Wes and I ask each other while we try to stuff our Yeti cooler to max capacity. In reality, packing food shouldn’t be so hard. We learned from experience that packing shelf-stable food is best. They don’t require refrigeration so they don’t take up precious space in the cooler. While we do still bring a cooler on our trip, we like to keep must-haves in those such as milk (CTB loves milk and can’t go without it), eggs (excellent for breakfast and to add extra protein to any meal), butter (gotta have it), and other essentials.
A few weeks before our trip, Wes and I plan out general ideas for meals. We like to make sure most ingredients can be reused in different meals so we’re not bringing random single ingredients that may only be used once. For example, we like to pack rice to use it in different ways while keeping things fresh and fun—think rice with tinned fish and eggs then using the leftover rice to make a cozy congee dish with eggs, veg, and pork floss.
Some of our favorite shelf-stable items to bring for camping include:
- tinned fish
These are true life savers! We save all our favorites throughout the year to enjoy during our camping trip. We love adding tinned fish to crackers, rice, or noodle dishes. We love smoked oyster or mussels, sardines, anything with a fun sauce already mixed in (saves you from having to season it yourself).
- dried noodles or rice
This is self-explanatory. These don’t take up much room and are easy to put together for quick meals.
- canned corn and spam
These come in super handy and can be added in almost any meal. We love them in noodle soups, onigiri, toast, or anything else, really!
- anchovy broth tablets/dashi powder/miso paste
I cannot stress how much we love using these to make quick broths. They have an umami, seafood-y taste that works wonderfully with almost everything we make. Imagine a bowl of miso soup or noodle soup on a cold camp night. Absolutely divine!
- condiments
Raise your hand if at least 30% of your fridge is filled with condiments. *raises hand* We looove condiments, maybe a little too much. But we like to limit ourselves to bringing 2-3 condiments to dress up our camp meals. They add an extra boost to your meals and make it feel like you’re eating something new. We recommend bringing chili oil, a creamy sauce like mayo, and a vinegar-based hot sauce.
- fresh bread
This isn’t a shelf-stable item but can last a few days without refrigeration. On the morning of our camping trips, we usually swing by a bakery to pick up a fresh loaf. We love a good sourdough and enjoy making morning toast with it. They can also double as a vehicle to enjoy with dips or soups.
Must have cooking utensils and tools:
We’re slowly building up a nice collection of stainless steel kitchen tools and dinnerware. We get most of our plateware and utensils from our local kitchenware store, like assorted bowls, sauce dishes, plates, chopsticks, and other essentials. For our coffee filter, grinder, and mugs, we like to splurge and get something a little nicer that’s guaranteed to last (we take our coffee seriously). Check out some of our must-haves on our ShopMy.
Depending on what you plan on cooking, you’ll definitely also need a cutting board, small sharp knife (still on the hunt for one, let us know if you have a rec), reusable containers, paper towels, basic seasoning, dish soap, and a large bucket to organize dirty dishes.
We’re still on the hunt for the perfect camp table with a built in stove but for now, we use a portable butane stove and bring two different stainless steel pots/pans. Just for fun, we brought our butane torch and had so much fun adding a little char to our food like our corn toast and cold noodles.
Just about everything we ate while camping (rated):
There are some meals that we look forward to more than other ones. For example, it’s been our unofficial tradition to make cold noodles for every camping trip and this year’s was our favorite. We refined our mentsuyu (noodle soup base) so we were excited to make it this time. And of course, we were finally able to use our travel-sized condiments (they’re so adorable) which was a highlight for us.
Cold noodles with charred corn and tomatoes (see reel here):
This was probably our most memorable meal of the trip. This year’s version featured fresh veggies that we lightly charred for that smokey flavor. For extra flavor, we added a squeeze of yuzu kosho (fermented chili pepper paste), bonito flakes (for texture and umami), and crushed seaweed. It was so delicious that we made another serving after devouring our first portion!
Rating: 9.5/10
Breakfast toast two ways: miso mayo corn + fried egg, pork floss, cucumber (see reel here):
This is where the sourdough bread came in handy. We love to make a variety of breakfast toast to keep things fun. The miso mayo corn was made with a mixture of miso and mayo (measure with your heart), red onions, and canned corn. We torched the corn for a little char and it really elevated the taste. CTB really loves egg and pork floss so that one was for him. It was inspired by our Taiwanese breakfast sandwich that we made earlier this year.
Rating: 8.8/10
Hot pot with miso dashi broth, broth, beef, and assorted veg (see reel here):
It was quite chilly at night so hot pot was actually the perfect meal. We did a miso dashi broth which was super flavorful and paired so well with all the toppings. We kept it simple with thinly sliced beef, kabocha, enoki mushrooms, and bok choy. For the dipping sauce, we did a chili oil/black vinegar/soy sauce/sesame oil situation which always hits the spot! We finished off the meal by sharing a pack of Indomie among the three of us (we were so full!).
Rating: 9/10
Onirigi with smoked octopus and miso glaze (see the reel here):
This was a spur of the moment idea that turned out so well. We had some leftover rice from another meal so obviously we had to make onigiri. We looked through our tinned seafood collection and spotted this smoked octopus that we hadn’t tried yet. It was lightly salted and soaked in oil which kept the taste pretty versatile for the final flavor profile. We did a quick miso glaze with miso paste, rice vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil and mixed it with the octopus. We also brushed the glaze onto the surface of the onigiri and torched it for extra smokey goodness.
Rating: 9.3/10
Congee with shrimp and tinned shirasu (baby anchovies) + miso maple sweet potato (see the reel here):
Do you notice a pattern here? Yes, we love miso paste and will use any excuse to incorporate it into our dishes. The congee was the perfect end-of-trip meal to clean up any leftover bits or unused ingredients. Instead of using water to cook the congee, we used anchovy tablets to make a broth for extra umami. To pair with the congee, we also did a miso maple sweet potato. It was the perfect balance of sweet and savory!
Rating: 8.9/10
If you’re into camping, we’d love to hear about favorite meals and camping gear. We’ll leave the link to our camping gear here (will update more soon). To check out our camping content, head over to our IG to see more (like this post). Until next time campers!
