Van food with no refrigeration or cooking. Ideas?

[Qxxx]

I can't believe somebody invented a company named Soylent. Some of us are old enough to remember the Charleton Heston movie. 1984? Whatever you do, if it's colored green, don't drink it.

 

[skyl4rk]

I have tried cooking with many different dehydrated vegetables, mainly purchased from Harmony House.

Foods cooked with only dehydrated vegetables are missing texture, they are like thin watery soup. Adding a nondehydrated onion can help a lot to improve the texture.

At this time I only use dehydrated vegetables as seasonings.

The following dehydrated vegetables are very good to add for a broth flavor:
Leeks
Garlic
Onion

Jalopenos are good to add spicy flavor.

Precooked dehydrated beans and refried beans are OK, but canned beans are better and beans cooked from dried beans are even better. The precooked dehydrated beans are more expensive, so really only interesting for those who don't want to carry the weight of the cans, and don't want to cook.

Instant mashed potatoes are not that great compared to cooked mashed potatoes, I think everyone knows that.

In my opinion, most dehydrated and dried foods are not as good as regular cooked food. So you get convenience but end up eating food that is not that great.

 

[jacqueg]

HDR, Thanks for all the great info!

A note about green onions - because of my Internal Food Censor, I can't eat onions, garlics, shallots... Yes, this is one of the great sorrows of my life. But I can eat the green tops (it's the storage carbs that the onion family uses that do me in.) So I replant the bulbous parts, and get new green onion plants. 

Might be too fussy for you, but a pot of green onions really wouldn't take up much room in a van.

 

[MrNoodly]

Cooking ...destroy's a variety of nutrients. 

Um, yeah, which is why humans died off shortly after the discovery of fire. 

 

[MrNoodly]

Ever considered Soylent...

As part of my throat cancer recovery, I'm in a clinical trial for Soylent. I'm supposed to drink 5 bottles a day (2000 calories) to keep my weight up. There were a couple of months where it was all I was living on. So boring. It has a weird taste and it's much worse when it's not refrigerated. But, hey, I get it free, shipped directly to me, because of the clinical trial.

 

[Moby T]

Free Soylent? That's cool. Throat cancer, not so much. I've been about 95% Soylent since 2015. Try adding Mio water enhancer. The orange/vanilla makes Soylent taste like a melted creamsicle (50/50 bar).

 

[eDJ_]

I think "cooking" may need a second look.   Are you thinking of pots and pans to wash or to stand by them as you heat and prepare ?  Or are you thinking about the space a stove & kitchenette would take up in your rig ?

There are alternate ways of heating foods.

A book titled "Manifold Destiny" explains wrapping foods in foil to seal them and laying them on the engine of the rig as you travel.  It suggest time or miles it takes to have various foods hot and ready to eat. (with no more trouble than mixing ingredients in a can and stirring).

Manifold Destiny


Solar Ovens can be built out of corrugated box board such as old boxes.  You just mix up your ingredients and sit the solar oven in the sun and wait while that food bakes.   With the way you are stirring up some of this stuff yo are half way there anyhow.

Some ready to eats I'm mention

Canned Sardines or Kippered Hearing

Apple Sauce

Olives

Figs

Dates

Avocados  or canned Guacamole 

Humus if you have a can of chic peas, olive oil, garlic salt and a battery hand blender

Powered whip cream   again using water and hand blender and this used with canned fruits
(this mixed with mayo and or some cream cheese warmed in the sun and blended well....using the cream
cheese as soon as purchased so no refrigeration is required)

You may do without refrigeration but some form of heat may greatly improve the health and safety of the foods you
would choose to eat.