Food Tips

If you are menu planning for an extended trip, you will be looking for meals that are quick and easy, but still tasty and healthy. This insight provides some food tips for 4WD travel.

When planning your menu, bring enough food for a few extra days to cover emergencies. Long lasting and easy to prepare foods such as dried fruit and soups make ideal emergency food. Your emergency food should not need water added when cooking. Breakfasts can be a mix of cooked (e.g., bacon and eggs, pancakes) and cold (e.g., cereal, yoghurt). I find cooking or heating a lunch takes too long when on a tour, so things such as rolls, wraps or crackers with salad, cold meat or tinned tuna are quick, easy and low mess. For dinners, I start with fresh meat and vegetables early in the trip. Many butchers will vacuum seal meats for you in the quantities you require, making them easily last the duration of your tour. Ask for them to be of similar size so they stack easily in your fridge. Pre-prepared and frozen meals such as curries and bolognaise will take several days to defrost in the bottom of a fridge, and obviously can stay frozen if you have a freezer; so they can be ideal for later in the trip. Then there are a variety of packaged meals that do not require refrigeration and keep for months.