Meal Planning - your got tos

[gordy28ca]

I was chatting with a guy I work with the other day and the topic of fishing trips came up

When I was discussing our fly in trips he said "How do you manage all of the logistics"  "like how do you plan for food and drinks and gear"
Good question - our group has been doing trips of all kinds together for a few years now and on our 2018 fly in I think our meal plan was a perfect blend of quick and good - re we can still spend the majority of our time fishing or hanging at the campfire while having an epic steak night or a full fish dinner

I picked up a lot of tips or ideas from websites like this one.  Always looking for new ideas and two of my favorites from others have been Fish Tacos and Pre Made Pulled Pork - so good

Latest post if up where I detail how we have gone about it and an overview of said Ogoki meal plan

https://www.northernjacks.com/post/you-gotta-eat-sometime

Cheers

Andrew

[Oarin]

Hi Andrew,my son,Jon, and I have about the same menu each year. We stay at the Taggart Bay Outpost Cabin. It's a beautiful cabin with an amazing view of the bay, six miles from the nearest cabin. While we both love fishing, we go for the tranquility and time together. We mostly just fish the evening and spend the mornings and afternoons relaxing or exploring the bays and game trails. Our menu has been about the same each year- Two meals of bone in rib eyes, lamb chops, shrimp jambalaya, pork chops, and one other that we decide on. Jon is an excellent cook and our meals are excellent. We  usually sleep late, skip breakfast, and have a nice lunch. We eat after our evening fishing and then sit around a camp fire with a few beers and just talk, listen to music, and relax. I know most spend as much time fishing as possible, but our trip is more about getting away and just spending time together and relaxing. I'm getting up there in age, so each trip is special! I can't wait for July!!!!

[gordy28ca]

Thanks for Oarin
I have read your posts and your menu indeed looks awesome - expecially the rib eyes - my favorite cut by far
On one of our trips my buddy who has a smoker made a massive brisket that we heated up on our 1st night - still in my top 10 meals ever (and that was off of paper plates lol)

I do think one disadvantage of the fly in is you have to give up something to get something usually or at least be willing to pay some extra $$$ if you ignore the weight limit
I will say though that the outfitters we have flown with have never dinged us for extra money even though we were well over the posted weight limit per guy

[NortonJoe]

Our food menu has definitely "evolved" over the years.  As far as breakfast is concerned, we usually do two (maybe three) group breakfasts where we have bacon, eggs and home fries or pancakes.  The other mornings  we "fend for ourselves with cold cereal, breakfast bars, toast, fruit whatever.  Three of us are early risers so it is our job to get the coffee going! I'm not a huge breakfast eater so its usually toast and coffee for me and take an apple and a breakfast bar out in the boat for late morning.

Lunch is sort of the same since we tend to come in from the morning bite at different times. We have simplified this to peanut butter, hot dogs, Slovene sausage, mac and cheese, soup, chips etc...again, it's kind of every man for himself.  Some days we will plan for an early dinner/late lunch as a group so we can get out on the lake for a longer evening of fishing.  Of course, every year we have to do the traditional "shore lunch".

Now for dinner...we all like fish so we shoot for three fish dinners (with both fried and baked fish), with cole slaw, hot rice or whatever other sides.  The other days we will do steaks or burgers, taco salad (our nod in the direction of being healthy), spaghetti and homemade meatballs and maybe one evening just a potluck or left overs.

We also take chips and salsa, nuts, fruit and homemade cookies for snaking.  Invariably, everybody kinda throws extras in that we share with each other.  For me the food menu is kind of secondary, although the guys in charge do an excellent job of shopping, planning etc.

[T-Bone]

We've gone from gourmet like Oarin and Jon's menu to downright as simple as it can get; nothing fancy in the prep or staples of the meal...just good 'ol fashioned chow that takes less than 30 minutes to prepare and serve. Simple meats that you salt/pepper and cook through, serve with rice and maybe a can of beans, throw in a couple beers and that's a meal finished. Let's go fishing. 

I got a FoodSaver from Santa this past Christmas and I think we'll be able to shave-off about 10-mins on the time to prep and serve. That thing is worth every penny...I can't wait to employ it on the meal prep for the May trip. Meals will be heat-n-serve.

And if there was some uncertainty, beer is food...and can be served as a meal. 

Hit a major timeline mark today...

99/169

[Oarin]

T=Bone, the Food Savers are excellent! We use them on pretty much all our meats. They also are great for sealing your fillets. When Captain Guy(RIP) and I went, we even Vac. sealed our spaghetti sauces so we could freeze the flat to save room in the freezer. I'm sick of winter already! July needs to come sooner!!

[Jay Thomas]

I've been taking a Food Saver on all our fishing trips for years because IMHO, its the best way to store walleye destined for home. Each individual walleye (two fillets (skin on) attached at the tail) is placed into a Food Saver bag, sealed, evacuated and then put into the freezer compartment of the frig. At the end of the trip, the walleye destined for home are placed in a cooler and covered with ice. If we were ever stopped to check our catch, fish would be easy to identify and count. We do the same for lake trout and for northern pike. 

Jay

[puckster_guy]

Interestingly my meals at camp are pretty much the same. My bbq gets a heavy work out. I'll bake potatoes in it while getting everything else ready to cook. I have a pan with a perferated bottom for roasting peppers or veg. Asperagus merinated in olive oil, a splash of red wine vinager with some garlic is always a treat. Simple easy too cook meals. A tub of homemade tomato sauce. Precooked ribs just heated and served. schnitzel is fast and easy to make. Wings either deep fried or bbqed. I keep an old wok at camp that doubles as a deep fryer. Hot dogs and beans... You got the idea................Joe

[smitty55]

Interestingly my meals at camp are pretty much the same. My bbq gets a heavy work out. I'll bake potatoes in it while getting everything else ready to cook. I have a pan with a perferated bottom for roasting peppers or veg. Asperagus merinated in olive oil, a splash of red wine vinager with some garlic is always a treat. Simple easy too cook meals. A tub of homemade tomato sauce. Precooked ribs just heated and served. schnitzel is fast and easy to make. Wings either deep fried or bbqed. I keep an old wok at camp that doubles as a deep fryer. Hot dogs and beans... You got the idea................Joe

A bit off topic Joe but I think it's safe to say you will be spending a lot more time at your camp. Is a garden in your plans? It can greatly enrich you culinary experiences. Here's one suggestion that will supply you with a huge bonus to your cooking over the second half of the season, and even over a good part of the winter.  I'm a huge fan of fresh home grown garlic, I grow 200 here at home every year. I haven't bought any garlic except some seed stock for a real long time and it's just fantastic, I use a lot. Best of all it's all free for the most part every year. I save 50 of the best for replanting in Nov, use a pile for pickling season, and still have all I need for fresh eating until maybe April. When they start to get too soft I dehydrate them and make my own  powder. It's been a great addition to the spice rub mix I made up to use in conjunction with my smoker too.
So for a reference Joe, a 4x4 bed will grow 50 bulbs, in my case I built 5 4x8 x16" cedar garden boxes and rotate 2 each year.  After moving out here in Lanark I quickly realized that in this area it's far easier to build a garden above ground, we grow rock real good out here lol. If your lot has some tillable areas with some topsoil you could just make a raised bed to help increase soil depth. Garlic is a easy to grow gem that more than pays for itself with a minimum 4-1 return. Plant in late fall, mulch and then remove those scapes in mid June, they're great for cooking. Garlic likes a moist warm soil, not a hot dry soil, specially in June.  A good leaf mulch will help retain moisture and moderate soil temps in the heat of the summer.  Harvest in July once the bottom 3-4 leafs have withered and then cure properly for long term storage. But the first thing I always do each year at harvest time is make garlic butter for bread and often shrimp as well. It's like bliss almost hehe. Lastly, right now my garlic stored in the cool basement is still nice and hard, the garlic bread we had last night is like light years ahead of store bought junk.
I guarantee you'll never regret growing garlic. I follow Kipawa Lodge on FB. Barb's kitchen has been renowned for as long as I can remember. Fresh bread baked daily for example. So two or three years ago they decided to build gardens at the lodge to plant fresh produce for themselves and guests of course. So I chimed in with a lengthy post on the benefits of  growing fresh garlic for their kitchen and finding quality stock to plant. I guess i talked them into it.  So they got some good stock and planted their garlic bed at the end of the season. Results were excellent and from the pics I saw the bulbs were good size. Beds are replanted for next year.

Cheers

[puckster_guy]

 That sounds like a plan Smitty. I live 17 floors up in a high rise with a south view. My balcony is littered with pots growing thyme, basil, sage etc. I have a neighbour at Red Pine who grows tomatoes and a few other things. I'm planning on building a garden as well. Like you my soil is sandy and full of stones useless for anything but trees, raspberries and wild strawberries. My plans are to build a raised bed filled with hauled in soil. Then transfer my herb garden, garlic and some veg. Now that I'm retired and spending more time there I can properly look after a garden. I have a nice sunny spot behind the cabin already picked out and water is surely not an issue.
I question for you guys I have a raised septic bed on the lot, not quite an eyesore but it does stick out some. Can I put the garden on top of it? I'm always pulling out trees saplings on it and it's a nice spot as well and a good way to utilize "dead" space.

[Oarin]

Smitty is right. Garlic is a no-brainer crop. I grow 90 each year. It's also a great animal deterrent. If you do it I find German hard core the heartiest and best.

[gordy28ca]

Some great tips in here - we generally don't bring a lot of fish home but a food saver is interesting
Smitty - I just saved your Garlic post - weirdly enough I was talking about planting some this summer and trying out my green thumb (have been doing a small herb mix in a planter box for the last few summers) - I would like to either buy or build raised planter on my deck in order to keep our small garden for perennials, annuals and some ground cover

One thing we added to our bagged lunches last year which was a hit - mini chocolate bars. the ones walmart sells for $1 a sleeve.  Were a nice added treat to go with wraps/sandwiches and carrots

Cheers
Andrew

[Hodgey1]

Food..... my favorite topic! 

We eat like kings while at Kipawa. Alwaki makes this very easy for me by supplying awesome gas grills, so I grill nearly everything.

Breakfasts are simple and the only thing we bring that’s purchased prepared. So it’s heat and eat and off to fish.

Lunches, I bring a small quantity of lunch meat, but mostly we all just snack and drink some beers. This is partly due to us normally eating an early dinner so we can fish till dark, which is pretty late in July.

Dinners: steaks, walleye, chops both lamb and pork and Like Oarin “I copied from him” I make a Jambalaya. For veggies, I bring fresh broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and onions and also cook them on the grill. I bring a disposable aluminum pan and mix veggies with seasoning and olive oil  and roast on the grill at high temperature, they turn out great.

Can’t wait for July!

[puckster_guy]

Smitty is right. Garlic is a no-brainer crop. I grow 90 each year. It's also a great animal deterrent. If you do it I find German hard core the heartiest and best.

Where do I find that strain of garlic? I was talking to a neighbour of mine today (from camp) from the Niagara Falls area and he said his garlic didn't take. He figured it was due to the very cold winter. He grows it at home. Gee for me camp feels more home then here in Toronto.

[smitty55]

Smitty is right. Garlic is a no-brainer crop. I grow 90 each year. It's also a great animal deterrent. If you do it I find German hard core the heartiest and best.

Where do I find that strain of garlic? I was talking to a neighbour of mine today (from camp) from the Niagara Falls area and he said his garlic didn't take. He figured it was due to the very cold winter. He grows it at home. Gee for me camp feels more home then here in Toronto.

Joe I guarantee it had nothing to do with cold temps, specially in the Niagara region. Could be he had bad garlic, or his soil didn't drain well and got waterlogged. Most likely though is not mulching beds enough and having freeze thaw cycles, which heaves the soil and rips the roots off the newly planted cloves. My beds get close to a foot of fall leaves after planting each November. Once spring kicks in near the frost date I check for shoots emerging from the soil and soon as I see them I  remove the leaves to help the soil warm up faster. Once the plants are a foot tall I replace the mulch with a lighter layer which helps moderate soil temps and retain moisture.
This pic shows the garlic with the scapes well formed and some are getting close to doing a full curl. At that point they have to be removed so that the plant's energy goes to producing a bulb, and not seeds. The scapes are great in the kitchen in many ways, from stir fried to salads to pesto and easy to pickle as well. I was putting them on pizza last summer.
Joe without turning this into a gardening thread lol, the best thing you could do for your beds over time is to collect as many leaves and leaf litter from the forest as you can to fill a truck or trailer, then repeat. Make a good pile somewhere and you have a great source of organic matter like carbon for a compost pile if you can get a green nitrogen source,  or shredded up to make leaf mold, an excellent soil supplement.
https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/leaf-mold/8614.html

As for Garlic, you want a porcelain style hardneck. https://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/porcelain.html

I started with Music way back and it's still a favorite of Garlic festivals. I love the huge cloves, never more than 5, I still get the odd one with 3.
https://www.groworganic.com/blogs/articles/singing-the-praises-of-music-garlic

Cheers