After a long day of climbing or hiking, cooking is usually the last thing on my mind. I’ve been known to scarf down a backpacking meal or heat up a Fishpeople Seafood pouch to avoid the hassle of prepping and cleaning.
Great Grub Camp Food makes gourmet camp food easy, without the hassle. Each entree has the convenience of a freeze dried meal with a little extra that’s more than just boiling hot water.
Lemon Blueberry Pancakes
These aren’t your ordinary blueberry pancakes. A hint of lemon adds tangy sweetness to brighten up your morning. To cook, just add water and cooking oil. The mix contains freeze dried blueberries so you will need to let the batter sit for a few minutes while they rehydrate. Be sure to scoop from the bottom because the blueberries sink. Making light and fluffy pancakes has never been easier.
The packaging says it makes 10-22 servings. We were able to make breakfast for 2 for three mornings. The lemon blueberry pancakes retail for $9.25. This was my favorite item from Great Grub Camp Food.
Cheese Tortellini Soup
The cheese tortellini soup is as close as it gets to something resembling a freeze dried meal. The entire mix goes into a pot of boiling water. The recipe suggests adding sausage to it so we tossed in a pound of mild Italian sausage. We also added zucchini for some extra veggies.
I thought the soup was pretty watery, but the Great Grub Camp Food’s owner, Laura, is in the process of updating the recipe to add more soup base to make it thicker and creamier.
One bag feeds two people. We were stuffed afterwards. This retails for $8.50.
Chipotle Tamale Pie
The Chipotle Tamale Pie was the most creative meal of all, and my favorite. It was also the most labor intensive and requires a pan with a lid. or aluminum foil The recipes calls for a pound of ground meat–we used beef–or 2 cans of black beans. The mix already contains beans so I’m glad that we didn’t opt into using those. If you’re vegetarian and don’t mind fake meat, try Beyond Meat’s Beefy Crumble. The mix comes with a cornbread packet and the tamale portion.
First, cook up the meat in the pan. While the meat is cooking, mix the cornbread packet according to directions and set aside to let it rest. Then add the the tamale mix to the meat with some water. If you have a pan with a lid, you’re golden. Add the cornbread mix to the top, cover and let the meat cook. It seems like a lot of water but the cornbread will absorb most of it.
We didn’t have a pan with a lid or aluminum foil so we had to get a little creative. We ended up boiling out most of the water in the pan. We cooked the cornbread in a separate pot (with lid) and then put the cornbread on top of the ground beef. It was absolutely delicious.
This feeds 4-5 people (really, we had leftovers) and retails for $10.25.
Mayan Hot Chocolate
A little spicy and a lot of dark chocolate, the Great Grub Camp Food Mayan Hot Chocolate is a great way to start your morning or unwind at the end of the day. The drink calls for 5 tablespoons of mix to 8 oz. of hot water. It contains powdered milk already, but you can mix it with milk if you’d like. For extra oomph, add whiskey.
A single 2 oz. serving will set you back $4. A large bag costs $9.25.
Great Grub Camp Food is currently available online. If you’re looking for them in person, they are in stores in California at Yosemite National Park grocery stores, Daisy’s Mercantile in Alameda (mayan hot chocolate only), and the Alameda Antiques Fair.
These were sent to me for review.
Last updated on December 4, 2017.
