Food

Now that I have a handle on all the gear we will use for canoe camping, my focus is turning towards figuring out our meals.  

Just going to make it clear right off the bat that I am not interested in macaroni and cheese (never have been), instant oatmeal or conventional freeze dried meals.  

D has gone with all of the above on his previous bike camping trips as he had firm space and weight restrictions.  But in a canoe, we will have capacity in our food barrel, so no need to go that route on these types of adventures -- One of the biggest selling features for me when deciding on a boat.  

It won't be full on food like a car camping trip, due to the need to be bear aware, but I want to eat semi normally, with variety, not a bunch of stuff I would never consider in everyday life.  

Our approach is to continue to eat foods that have higher nutritional value per serving.  It's the philosophy we already use at home but it was a good excuse to see what is new on the market. 

Examples of new finds include a higher protein pancake mix that just needs water but provides a higher amount of protein, and chickpea and quinoa-rice pasta instead of just a wheat or rice noodles. 

We will attempt to dehydrate a number of base items including tomato based sauce, vegetables like mushrooms, olives etc., baked beans and some meats like chicken, turkey, ham.  Just one ingredient things, no whole meals planned at this point, to keep things simple.  Once we get the hang of the dehydrator, we may continue on.  Don't think we'll bother with fruit as they can be purchased easy enough.

Other meal options include using different types of pre-made curries (chickpea, potatoe, eggplant) on top of pasta, rice, with naan.  D is going to try packaged tuna plus vegetables on top of pasta as well.  I'm looking into incorporating some Thai (tom yum) and Japanese (miso, soba, udon) items to the mix.  This will likely mean buying some leakproof jars for the pastes.  

The testing has just started with the new to us pancake mix (resounding success!), concentrate chicken broth with gluten free ramen (good, but the broth was weak when following instructions, needed to double).  Won't be surprised if I have to do the same with the beef broth concentrate.  

Chickpea pasta was a bit grainy tasting, so next time will undercook.  The quinoa and rice spaghetti is a clear winner.  My stomach can't digest well the 100% quinoa pasta that D eats at home, but this one I could! The Indian curries will be next.  

The aspect of travelling I have missed the most is the food.  This food exercise has been a fun reminder of all the places we have been and hopefully leading us to discover decent alternatives to some of our memorable meals abroad, like the simple street corner thali plate in Delhi.