Premade meals

[arone]

Any experience pre making meals at home freezing them n then thawing them at camp?

 

[bama_ed]

No experience for me, arone.

We always eat breakfast at in our popup at the Fort, pack a meal in a collapsable cooler (stashed in a rental locker in the parks), and eat one counter- or table-service meal on our park days.

On our non-park days we cook and eat fresh (or we get pizza or a TE takeout).

It's up to me to do the planning/shopping/cooking/cleanup (DW just has to look glamerous ) and I tend to do as little pre-planning as possible. So pre-cooking and freezing dinners makes me a little cross-eyed, honestly.

In addition, we're in a popup with a TINY real freezer and a 3 cubic ft fridge. We bring a cooler to supplement drinks/ice/meat but those are kept cold and NOT frozen. That approach would not be good to use with pre-cooked meals.

Bama Ed

PS - but i should say in the spirit of pre-cooked meals, when I get to the Fort I fire up the charcoal grill the first night and cook as much meat as I can for the whole visit. The cooked meat goes in zip lock quart/gallon bags in the aforementioned cooler/fridge to add sides to and heat in the microwave in our pup.

I described this in my April 2013 Live Trip report. See page 1 post 10. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3094752

 

[arone]

This is great info thanks!

 

[mrshoffman]

Last week, I prepared/froze several items in advance: I seasoned a pork roast in a crock pot liner & froze it (in a freezer bag.) By day 2 of camping, it had thawed & I put it in the crock pot to cook for the day (& since it was in a liner=no mess!) I also made ahead & froze Mac and cheese & rice (separate cooler though-don't store this w/ raw meats!). Those turned out well too. I recommend using a slow cooker to cook/reheat & freezing items in the liners. We tent camped & it worked great! Crockpot liners & freezer bags are the way to go-easy to pack & clean! Hope that helps!

 

[arone]

Last week, I prepared/froze several items in advance: I seasoned a pork roast in a crock pot liner & froze it (in a freezer bag.) By day 2 of camping, it had thawed & I put it in the crock pot to cook for the day (& since it was in a liner=no mess!) I also made ahead & froze Mac and cheese & rice (separate cooler though-don't store this w/ raw meats!). Those turned out well too. I recommend using a slow cooker to cook/reheat & freezing items in the liners. We tent camped & it worked great! Crockpot liners & freezer bags are the way to go-easy to pack & clean! Hope that helps!

Great tips I will definitely use those!

 

[Srbright]

I always thought my mother was an idiot but she did have good camping ideas.

Get a hamburger patty maker, the kind they sell at Tupperware parties. Make the hamburgers and then stack them up with pieces of waxed paper between them. Stick them into a Folgers coffee can (the tin ones, it's just not the same with the plastic containers). Put the lid back on and freeze them.

When it's time to leave, pop them in the cooler and off you go. They don't get squished out of shape as they thaw and the container can be washed again and used for leftovers once you have used up all the burgers.

Stacy

 

[North of Mouse]

Any experience pre making meals at home freezing them n then thawing them at camp?

Have done this a few times when camping in the mountains (I 'don't' cook at Disney ) I also do this at home lots of times

The main thing is having a freezer large enough to accommodate all your frozen items. Otherwise, it sounds like a great plan if you eat at the campsite. One dish meals like lasagne (if you have an oven) would make easy serving and cleanup (disposable plates, utensils, cups, etc.) and you only have one dish to wash - or none if you bake in disposable foil pans.

 

[Ds4angels]

I like to cube chicken up the put a marinade on it, then put it in a freezer bag. (if you're from Eastern NY/PA you can get speedie sauce) Toss it in the freezer then just pull it out once you get to your destination. Once it's thawed I put it on skewers and grill. We like to eat it on hotdog rolls. Works good w/ BBQ sauce too.
You can cook up taco meat then freeze it till the day before you're ready to use it.

 

[Maggie at the Fort]

We brought a lot of food we didn't eat on both of our previous trips. What we did eat a lot of were snack type meals. We made a home made ham salad that we ate with crackers. We ate hummus with pita and veggies. Cheese and crackers. That sort of thing. We found that we often went back at nap time to rest and play for a bit and then wanted to head back pretty early for some evening touring. By making it a very heavy snack we could eat at 4:30 or so then just get a snack or a treat in the evening at the parks. Anything I brought that required cooking didn't really get used!

 

[arone]

Have done this a few times when camping in the mountains (I 'don't' cook at Disney ) I also do this at home lots of times

The main thing is having a freezer large enough to accommodate all your frozen items. Otherwise, it sounds like a great plan if you eat at the campsite. One dish meals like lasagne (if you have an oven) would make easy serving and cleanup (disposable plates, utensils, cups, etc.) and you only have one dish to wash - or none if you bake in disposable foil pans.

How would you heat up a lasagna?

 

[arone]

I always thought my mother was an idiot but she did have good camping ideas.

Get a hamburger patty maker, the kind they sell at Tupperware parties. Make the hamburgers and then stack them up with pieces of waxed paper between them. Stick them into a Folgers coffee can (the tin ones, it's just not the same with the plastic containers). Put the lid back on and freeze them.

When it's time to leave, pop them in the cooler and off you go. They don't get squished out of shape as they thaw and the container can be washed again and used for leftovers once you have used up all the burgers.

Stacy

That is a pretty good idea
Thanks!