I took my boys on their first float trip this past weekend–an 8-hour rafting adventure on the Meramec River in southern Missouri with some friends from our church. I thought I’d share some of our menus and simple camping foods for those of you who also like outdoor adventures. I’ll also share our favorite ingredients for low oxalate trail mix, our favorite hiking and camping snack.
My philosophy with camping is to keep things simple. I have a big plastic tub with a lock that I call my camping kitchen (the lock is to keep out raccoons). I keep all of my dishes, table wear, napkins, wet wipes, matches, fire starters, salt and pepper, paper towels, dish washing liquid, cups, battery-powdered lantern, backpacking stove etc. in my kitchen. Everything I need to prepare and eat food! I add to that a small gas-powered grill, a cardboard box with non-perishable foods, and a cooler for perishable stuff. For this trip my family also added two small soft-sided coolers to take on the river.
We still eat whole foods while camping, but I like to add a few convenience foods, too. I also add a few medium oxalate foods to please my parents and keep them coming on camp outs with me and the boys. On Friday night we did all of our cooking over the fire. We ate roasted, preservative-free hot dogs without buns, peas warmed up in the can, medium-oxalate baked beans warmed up in a sauce pan over the fire, sauerkraut, sliced big beef tomatoes, sliced watermelon and sliced apples. For Saturday night after the float, we had cheeseburgers cooked on the grill, guacamole, tortilla chips, sliced big beef tomatoes, corn warmed up in the can, pineapple and left-over watermelon. Both meals were relatively easy since most of the slicing was done at home and all I had to do was turn the meat cooking over to my dad, open cans and open containers that I pulled out of the cooler.
For breakfast, the boys ate gluten-free rice Chex, pineapple and cold bacon which I cooked before we left. My mom and I had egg and pea salad which was left-over from before the trip, and my dad had hard-boiled eggs and bananas. We also boiled water with my backpacking stove and brewed Madagascar Vanilla Rooibos Tea. A very satisfying around the campfire breakfast.
My big challenge for this trip was the 8-hour float on a crowded raft in the full sun with temperatures reaching 95 degrees fahrenheit. I ended up taking packs of “squeeze apple sauce,” hoping it would be both convenient and refreshing. It was! Plus, I also got a lot of cool mom points for that one. I also packed apples, plenty of bottles of frozen water, cooked ham cubes, sliced cheese, and a zip-lock bag of low oxalate trail mix for each of us. And yes, I stuck a pop-top can of pineapple chunks in my bag in case the raft went over and the rest of our food got contaminated with river water. Luckily, the pineapple wasn’t needed, although my mom did manage to fall into the river three times.
Here’s how we made our low oxalate trail mix.
Low Oxalate Trail Mix
Unsweetened Coconut Flakes (as much as you want!)
Pumpkin Seeds
Raisins
Banana Chips (moderate amount)
Dried Cherries
Dried Blueberries
Dried Pineapple
Sunflower Seeds (go real easy on these!)
A pinch or two of salt if your pumpkin and sunflower seeds are raw/unsalted
If you eat grains or processed sugar you might also want to add:
Gluten-free Rice Chex
Glutino Pretzels
White Chocolate Chips
Since the boys and I like different things in our trail mix, I put out all of these ingredients on the table and let each person fill a cereal bowl with whatever low oxalate trail mix ingredients they want. Then we dump out the bowls into zip-lock bags and put our initials on the bag. This past weekend I made my trail mix with lots of coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, banana chips, dried cherries, raisins and salt. YUM! The boys each used Rice Chex, pretzels, banana chips, dried pineapple and white chocolate chips. Aidan also added a few raisins. Making the low oxalate trail mix by themselves was a big hit, as was eating it on the river. We sure didn’t have any left-overs!
Thanks to Jamin Gray, Dick Clark and Vicki Watkins for your beautiful photos!
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