Now  that I have the Engel ( I just remembered that it's actually an ARB) question answered, I started thinking about whether or not it makes sense to freeze some cooked ahead meals for this Steens trip.

The reason I'm pondering this is because of a trip I once took on a private jet boat up through Hells Canyon in 105 degree heat. The guy who was in charge of feeding us did so each night with a pre-cooked frozen dinner that his wife had prepared. She was obviously well organized because I remember that each frozen package came out of the cooler (not refrigerator) in it's freezer bag, frozen in the shape of a fat book, and if you glanced into the cooler, you could see four other box shaped frozen meals side by side like a bank of batterys. I'm sure that they stayed frozen longer simply because they were almost one big block.

At any rate, the meals were drop dead delicious and featured easy preparation. One night, again in the 105 degree heat, in the middle of nowhere we ate fish stew...sounds like hell but tasted wonderful and I remember thinking that this was the way it should be done.

So, I'm curious if any of you do anything like this and if so, do you have any recipes or tips that make sense. I have some, but am always looking for new.

I'm not adverse to cooking outside from scratch, in fact I love doing it. It's just that sometimes, having a great meal at hand that only needs to be heated up can be pig heaven.

OK, now I'm hungy...I'm off to the fridge.

Usually I don't go that route but we were discussing it the other day as were having this great crock pot chowder. It would be good to freeze and take along, also some great stew. Depends on how many days and where. Not close to stores? then it would make sense, not a McFood fan. Things cooked over an open fire are very tasty, apparently no matter what they are.

Morris

We've done a few. But literally, I was just thinking about this 2 minutes ago when I was running through a few of the things I want to take out for camping next weekend.

We have one of those food saver vacuum things -- one of the best things you can get at Costco. I'm planning on copping up some chicken, putting some sauce in there, dropping the chicken in a day or two before, freezing it just before going, then putting it into the cooler for the trip. All vacuumed up tight, ready to cook when we get the fire going.

The other thing you can do with the vacuum bags and soup or spaghetti, or... cook it, vacuum it, freeze it, then drop the bag and all into a boiling pot of water when you get to camp.  You can even vacuum and freeze individual portions.

I agree about open fire cooking, in fact it's something that I do at home quite a bit. I've got both a gas grill and a large barrel type wood burning grill. Cooking with a wood fire is great fun and a real challenge, especially once you pass the usual ribs and briskets and move on to seafoods and breads and my stone favorite, paella.  Lately I've been trying things out with the old dutch oven since I can sit it down in the wood fire coals. Roasted a chicken last week and it was great.

So, for the Steens trip, I think I'll strike a balance...maybe half the dinners frozen and half to be cooked over a fire. I'll need to sort this out with my son Ian who is joining me on the trip and he's an excellent cook in his own right.

I know it's a little early to be pondering all this stuff for the Steens trip but I have to do a bunch of traveling between now and June 13th which leaves me little time to prepare later on. Oh, life can be so unfair.

And yes Morris, I too lust after your Pinz. Guard it well.

I have done the frozen route a number of times. I like it because it keeps the cooler cool, and I just boil the bags so no cleanup. Many times if I am short of time on a trip, I will buy the premade frozen stuff (bertoli, stoufers) which makes meal planning and prep prior to a trip very easy. I will be doing some of these on the steeens trip, definately.

Question, has anyone tried making scrambled eggs/breakfast meat ahead of time and freezing it for use later?

Also, if you have a dehydrator, this is pretty cool:

http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

Just a quick note of caution about Food Savers - they are great for sealing up things for storage and freezing, but not recommended by the mfgr for boiling. I ignored their caution (it's actually on their website somewhere) on this while testing things out last summer. I was very glad I was at home since I found that the bottom seal of the bags just blew out under a gentle simmer. That happened both when the contents were frozen and when simply refridgerated. Others do claim success with this method using Food Saver bags, but after my experience, I wouldn't risk loosing an entire meal on the trail just to save from cleaing a pot. I'm sure there are better bags for this cooking method...perhaps all you need is just a good quality freezer bag? Anyway, food for thought (shameless pun intended).

I would go so far as to try and find the type of bags that are designed for cooking in, unless of course you want to keep your PCB levels topped up.

I love the convenience of plastic freezer bags and plastic wrap etc., but sometimes I wonder about them.

Are we going to be able to have a fire on this trip? I wouldn't want Mike going hungry because he couldn't burn stuff.

The 21st is the Summer Solstice, or as we Norwegians call it, "midsommer's night" or "Sankthansaften". Traditionally Norwegians build a bonfire that would make the Vikings proud, play music, drink mead, and do traditional dances. We can forego the dancing, and Mead sure is aweful, but I sure hope we are camped somewhere I can burn stuff on the 21st. :-)

C

I just tested a bag with some cheese in it. I dropped it into a low boil where part of the bag was actually touching the bottom of the pot for about 10 minutes. It held fine, no leaks, still vacuumed. Not sure I would want to "cook" in it, but if you have a precooked meal that just needs a thaw and warm-up, I don't see how it would be a problem.

And I just found this on the FoodSaver web site, note the orange highlighted text:

Cooked Pasta – With out sauce.

Cooked spaghetti, angel hair, linguine, noodles, and other flat pastas can be vacuum packaged with FoodSaver® Vacuum Packaging Systems.

Tubular shapes, corkscrews and similar shapes flatten out and are not recommended for vacuum packaging.

SPAM and crackers is all we be bringing, Matey. And a side of mutton. GARRRRR!!!

No naked dancing Scandinavians, please. Or is that a winter thing?

I just want to burn things, wear my helmet with the horns on top, and burn some more things. If things get really crazy, I'll head off on a pilgrimage to slay Grendel... oh, did I mention I want to burn things.

LOL.. this guy looks like he is in the Steens.

Seriously, I hope we can have fires. LED lites just don't have the same ambiance factor.

As for frozen meals: You guys are ahead of me on the planning an it seems like a good way to consolidate the cold storage. How are you planning to keep your meals frozen w/o freezing stuff you don't want to freeze? Or are you freezing at home and then just going with a cold fridge and the frozen blocks helping keep the fridge cooler. If each of you would bring an extra frozen meal for me it would save me a lot of cooking. Think about it.

edit: love that get up, C. I'll start saving my beard clippings.

To the earlier fires question, I would imagine it not to be a problem. Firewood in the Alvord may present an issue.

Edit:  here is another option...

http://www.rei.com/product/703589?vcat=REI_SSHP_CAMPING_TOC

Or a box/container near the exhaust manifold...

We pre cook bacon, as well as a few other items.  The bacon can then get reheated quickly enough for breakfast at camp, and without nearly the mess.  It also makes the home kitchen smell great while we pack for the trip, and we can snack on it a little while packing as well.