Hot trailside meals?

[Bushleague]

Last winter I started packing a can of beans or alphagetti any time I was out in the bush, and cooking it in a fire for lunch. I came to find the whole ritual of cooking and eating a hot meal to be an enjoyable break from scouting, cutting wood, or whatever else I was doing.

Looking for other ideas, emphasis on simplicity and not needing to pack a bunch of extra stuff for the purpose of cooking.

[Sooner]

Any sammy wrapped in foil gets better when toasted. When sledding, I sometimes slice up a ring of moose or deer sausage into little pieces. Double wrap it in foil and wire it to the sled exhaust(no room for those cookers). When you can smell it, its done. Could always put that on the fire too.

I look forward to the responses your going to get.

[Lostinthewoods]

I like some ramen noodles, thai beef broth and adding in some meat. Super basic but tasty and loaded with nutrients from the beef broth.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Sooner

Any sammy wrapped in foil gets better when toasted. When sledding, I sometimes slice up a ring of moose or deer sausage into little pieces. Double wrap it in foil and wire it to the sled exhaust(no room for those cookers). When you can smell it, its done. Could always put that on the fire too.

I look forward to the responses your going to get.

Tinfoil! Not sure why that slipped my mind, but thanks for mentioning it. I generally hunt with just a fanny pack and whatever fits in my pockets. In past years I've been more or less limited to either Sardines or sausage and cheese for lunch. Can get pretty old after 3 months!

For hot meals I figured my options would be limited to whatever I can cook on a stick, but tinfoil opens up a bunch of possibilities. Good stuff!

[Jimbob.303]

We pack stove, water, fuel, and a pot. MRE or dehydrated meals. You have to stoke the fire in your belly. Noodle soup, in my opinion, has very little energy, an MRE or dehydrated generally have between 800 and 1000 calories. Energy

[1bowhunter12]

Chunky soup on the fire and smoked oysters for an appy .. can’t go wrong with that

[Who Da Fisherman]

We have had many a Smokey dog over a fire or a small bbq on the tailgate after a morning walk or sit 🌭
WDF

[Curtsyneil]

I sit all day during the deer rut so something hot is a must. Soup or peanut butter and cheese sandwich sticks to you good. Those little Coleman butane stoves are awesome for boiling water for a cup of soup. Can even pack it to the blind if you gotta and jet boil also is handy.

[stob]

Boil water and add to any dehydrated meals...lite and easy...all u need is a pot... snow..lake ...or stream...etc...can of sardines a must...Can of beans or spaghetti etc can be had cold...in NZ a lot of lunches working in the back country were spaghetti sandwiches from the can...a bottle of DB...and whatever vegtables were handy and raw

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Last winter I started packing a can of beans or alphagetti any time I was out in the bush, and cooking it in a fire for lunch. I came to find the whole ritual of cooking and eating a hot meal to be an enjoyable break from scouting, cutting wood, or whatever else I was doing.

Looking for other ideas, emphasis on simplicity and not needing to pack a bunch of extra stuff for the purpose of cooking.

Yeah I learnt a long time ago from a fella that hunted, trapped northern Quebec that tinfoil is a must.
He would pre wrap in tinfoil sliced potato, onion, bacon, sausage or chunks of venison etc....usually whatever was left over. Lol.
Small little package just waiting to be heated up on a exhaust manifold or a small fire while enjoying a cup of tea.
You would be surprised how compact it is but soooo appreciated on the trail.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Yeah I learnt a long time ago from a fella that hunted, trapped northern Quebec that tinfoil is a must.
He would pre wrap in tinfoil sliced potato, onion, bacon, sausage or chunks of venison etc....usually whatever was left over. Lol.
Small little package just waiting to be heated up on a exhaust manifold or a small fire while enjoying a cup of tea.
You would be surprised how compact it is but soooo appreciated on the trail.

For the early hunting season, where I want a hot lunch that will fit in my pocket, I'm thinking I'll do that. Potato, onion, meat etc hash wrapped in tinfoil, or a couple smokeys and a packet of mustard in a ziplock. By Nov I probably wont want the time and noise of making a fire so I'll go back to cold lunches.

Post season I think I'll experiment with packing a small pot or frying pan and see what else I can come up with.

[Dean2]

It is easy to expand the trail side lunch options. Steak, pork chops, chicken, ruffed grouse, wieners, Kube, super sausages, and pretty much any protein are really easy to cook over an open fire. They can also be cooked in tinfoil on a manifold. We used to cook canned food on the manifolds of our Landcruisers, just make sure to punch a small air hole so the can doesn't blow.

Add a tinfoil pack of spuds and onions and you have a great, low weight, easy to cook meal. None of it will go bad between sunup and cooking it at lunch, even on a hot day.

[3blade]

Soup in an insulated cup is my go to. Occasionally roast a grouse or fry a trout so a little oil in a jar and seasoning in a packet.

But honestly that’s more camping, hiking, scouting, play time stuff. If I’m hunting big game I’m not going to want the noise/sounds/smells and distraction associated with cooking. Jerky/nuts/dried fruit for those trips.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Soup in an insulated cup is my go to. Occasionally roast a grouse or fry a trout so a little oil in a jar and seasoning in a packet.

But honestly that’s more camping, hiking, scouting, play time stuff. If I’m hunting big game I’m not going to want the noise/sounds/smells and distraction associated with cooking. Jerky/nuts/dried fruit for those trips.

Interesting your comment about smells and distraction. I have shot more than a dozen animals over the years while boiling up a cup of tea and cooking lunch. I really don't think the fire or cooking smells has any effect. I have also had more than a few moose come out while I was running a chain saw or bucking up wood with an axe.

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Interesting your comment about smells and distraction. I have shot more than a dozen animals over the years while boiling up a cup of tea and cooking lunch. I really don't think the fire or cooking smells has any effect. I have also had more than a few moose come out while I was running a chain saw or bucking up wood with an axe.

That’s more about me than the animals. If my senses are focused on food they aren’t focused on detecting an animal. I too have seen and shot a number of animals while sitting on a log for lunch, but I can eat jerky with my eyes up.

Same reason I don’t shoot chickens when big game hunting. I don’t think it does anything to the animals for the most part, but I know that once I’m looking for a ball of feathers on the ground I’m not scanning 40-100 yards out for an ear twitch or back line. Maybe some folks can do both better.

Agree that fire doesn’t bother them a bit.

[aragor764]

More for a supper meal, but you cant beat a fat ribeye cooked over coals, simple and delicious!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by 3blade

That’s more about me than the animals. If my senses are focused on food they aren’t focused on detecting an animal. I too have seen and shot a number of animals while sitting on a log for lunch, but I can eat jerky with my eyes up.

Same reason I don’t shoot chickens when big game hunting. I don’t think it does anything to the animals for the most part, but I know that once I’m looking for a ball of feathers on the ground I’m not scanning 40-100 yards out for an ear twitch or back line. Maybe some folks can do both better.

Agree that fire doesn’t bother them a bit.

I agree with you 100%, but a couple things...

Through the early season the days are long, and until the temperature drops mid-day game movement is generally minimal. I dont even really want to kill anything this time of year but I sure as heck want to hunt, so I'm out covering lots of ground and cycling through lots of areas, mostly just figuring out where I want to be for November... these are the days where I'm thinking a fire and a lunch break will be nice.

Second, as I get older I'm learning that sitting down and taking periodic mental breaks helps keep me from going into auto-pilot while I'm up and stalking. Thinking a fire and a meal mid day might help keep me sharper getting into the evening of a 14 hour day.

And lastly, I fully agree with you. By late October I'll likely be back to sardines or sausage.

[Dean2]

I have always loved the whole experience of hunting. To me it is far, far more than just taking an animal. I care more about luxuriating in the whole days and weeks of being out there. Don't remember a single year where we didn't put meat on the ground, despite all the goofing off and other experiences. When I was younger I too focused more on the pursuit of the game, but from 12 to 25 I had killed so many animals that the rest of the experience rapidly became far more important to me. Beating the drum and enjoying the wild is what I truly love. I still shoot grouse with my big game rifle becuase it is fun and easier than carrying two guns walking. That, and they make a great trail side lunch.

My way isn't better than what others do, it is just what I value in the whole experience.

[waldedw]

We wrap leftovers in tinfoil, heats up in minutes, stir-fry, sausage and spuds, pork chops, lasagna almost anything that you have, with a cup of soup or noodles, nothing beats a hot lunch especially when late season hunting in the cold.

[Anthill]

Those are some interesting responses. Here are some of my thoughts on it. We hunters put forth a lot of effort to be stealthy and control scents, etc. when we are out there. I've wondered how to reconcile that approach with stinky sardines, garlic sausage, fires, smoke and so forth. We all know that strange things can happen in the woods. Deer show up while you're squatted over a log. Or walk right past your truck. Or a moose walks through your camp during breakfast. But does it honestly not affect them at all? Maybe in one scenario they know you're there, and in the other they don't. Maybe the extra precautions aren't necessary after all.

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Anthill

Those are some interesting responses. Here are some of my thoughts on it. We hunters put forth a lot of effort to be stealthy and control scents, etc. when we are out there. I've wondered how to reconcile that approach with stinky sardines, garlic sausage, fires, smoke and so forth. We all know that strange things can happen in the woods. Deer show up while you're squatted over a log. Or walk right past your truck. Or a moose walks through your camp during breakfast. But does it honestly not affect them at all? Maybe in one scenario they know you're there, and in the other they don't. Maybe the extra precautions aren't necessary after all.

It’s very simple: you can’t hide the smell coming from a human, so whatever is downwind already knows, and cooking doesn’t change that. Bowhunters (myself included) try to minimize the scent we leave behind on stands we plan to sit repeatedly, but while you are there they will smell you no matter what you do.

I think metal on metal clink does spook animals, and from quite a distance, but that’s easy to avoid with plastic or wood utensils.

It’s also well proven that big game animals recognize body language. If you are sneaking, they know you are up to no good. If you are sitting and eating, it may not register as threatening, or they may simply not notice you at all.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Anthill

Those are some interesting responses. Here are some of my thoughts on it. We hunters put forth a lot of effort to be stealthy and control scents, etc. when we are out there. I've wondered how to reconcile that approach with stinky sardines, garlic sausage, fires, smoke and so forth. We all know that strange things can happen in the woods. Deer show up while you're squatted over a log. Or walk right past your truck. Or a moose walks through your camp during breakfast. But does it honestly not affect them at all? Maybe in one scenario they know you're there, and in the other they don't. Maybe the extra precautions aren't necessary after all.

The way I figure, they either wind you or they dont. I dont worry about bug spray, laundry detergent, spicey food. Too, I mostly hunt on the move which in my observations makes scent controll less vital. I've shot plenty of deer that smelled me first, but with minimal scent pooling and a moving hunter I dont think they can neccessarily pinpoint your location, and connecting is still possible.

For my own situation, while I obviously prefer the wind in my favor it wont always happen. I just remind myself that the deer show up from unexpected directions as often as not be and they will be struggling with the same variables as me... hunt real sharp, and more often than most would believe the variables will end up on your side in the moment it matters.