awoodwaring
California
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Joined: 02/07/2012
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Hello all,
I am new to this board and to extended camping. I typically shop at Costco for my family of 4 and make a lot of our meals from scratch to save money. However, I am at a bit of a loss as to how to prepare and store food for an extended trip; I was hoping to pre-make and freeze some lasagnas, taco meat, breakfast burritos, etc... Not to mention buying a bag of lettuce from Costco will probably take up the whole fridge! 
There are a couple of Costco's on our trip (going from CA to Fl and back) and I can plan on stopping, but I was thinking people here may have some great ideas. 
Thanks in advance!
Nicole
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skipnchar
Topeka or somewhere else
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Joined: 12/17/2003
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It would be just plane silly (my opinion) to try and buy, prepare and store food for that long when you'll be passing thousands of food stores along the way. buy food for about a week or two at a time and try to enjoy the trip.
Good luck / Skip
2011 F-150 HD Ecoboost 3.5 V6. 2550 payload, 17,100 GCVWR -
2004 F-150 HD (Traded after 80,000 towing miles)
2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
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travel-lady
Apple Valley
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You'd be surprised how much your refrig will hold I always pack about enough food for two weeks than shop out on the road....I'm very lucky that our trailer has lots of food storage this helps lots too.....Pre-cooking meat for taco's and your lasagnas is helpful and putting them in seal a meal bags really helps with freezer storage. I'd be lost without my seal a meal....
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TheCanuckian
Pierrefonds, Mooers Forks, Bushnell
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Things are gonna change, you just don't have the room to get more than a few days groceries. Fresh is better than Make Ahead.
You'll be looking at small packages, not Pallet+size
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jmcnab
Toronto Ontario Canada
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Fresh is the way to go unless you NEED to stock up with frozen food.
my 2cents
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sch911
Rochester Hills, MI
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Joined: 04/13/2003
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We go to the grocery store every two to three days. It's kind of a hobby. We look for the unusual ones or specialty grocers. The expensive ones..... 
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Artemus Gordon
Redding California
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Not trying to upset the consensus, but there are many companies that make excellent tasting products for camping and long term storage. Products are on line and many are mighty tasty. I had some split pea soup that was excellent. Freeze dried products like pasta etc. that are nice to have on hand when out in the bush or forced to stay due to weather conditions etc. We keep lots of canned products on hand, but frankly I just don't over pack the RV fridge especially where I live in the summer, it's hard to maintain the temp! We use to keep lots of freeze dried products on our cabin cruiser for times when we just went out for the day without shopping! But if stores close by just shop fresh.
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korbe
Northern California
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We normally pack food for about 3 to 4 days. Three or 4 days is also about the time to dump the tanks and charge the batteries. We will then stay at a full hookup park to dump, shop, charge the batteries, and maybe do a load of laundry.
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Golden_HVAC
Fulltime, CA, USA
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Hi,
I tend to agree with many of the posts that say to buy food every 3-5 days while on the road. So if you can not make it to Costco, you will be shopping at a local supermarket, not the local 7-11, and will still get good prices on food. I would not want to give up a extra hour to shop at a Costco or Sams Club while on the road. Once you buy a mega meal size package, I end up spending some time dividing that food up in baggies and putting some in the freezer and some in the refrigerator or cooking it for dinner that night.
A good reason to stop at Sams Club might be to buy a 18 pack of eggs and dry camp in the lot overnight. I bought a Rand McNalley atlas of the United States, and they have a list of all Sams Clubs and Wal Marts across the US.
Unless you plan on going someplace really remote, like Grand Canyon, or Zion National Park, or Canyon De Chelly, where there are no supermarkets within 22 miles of your destination, then planning ahead more than 4 days is pretty much useless to me. When going to those places, I would plan on getting enough food for the duration of the time away from large cities, even if I was going to be away for 10 days. Yet it seems like I buy 10 days worth of food, then spend at least 3 of those nights eating out at the lodge that overlooks the Grand Canyon or Monument Valley "Just because".
On my last trip to Albuquerque, I ended up eating a lot of instant oatmeal. It was ready in about 3 minutes, only took running the generator and microwave a few minutes, or just boil water on the stove, make coffee or tea and oatmeal, and be ready to hit the road in about 30 minutes.
Fred.
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KarenS144
Indiana
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On our month long trip last fall, I didn't try to pack enough food for the entire trip but did have a few things planned out. I fixed a pork loin before we left & froze it into 3 pieces & planned some crock pot meals which gave us plenty of leftovers. It's just the two of us which did make it a bit easier.
I found that there wasn't a lot of time for preparing meals. We usually had cereal or yogurt for breakfast, packed a couple of sandwiches for lunch and hit the great outdoors. We'd get back to camp in the late afternoon and sure didn't want to spend a lot of time cooking. The crockpot was perfect. If you have a microwave, there are lots of options for quick meals.
We made a grocery stop about every 4 days for fresh produce and restocking. I think we ate supper out 4 times and maybe 2x for lunch.
You do have to be aware of parking & ease of getting into & out of parking lots ...sometimes more than others depending on what you're driving &/or towing. Pick up a copy of "The Next Exit". It's invaluable for finding gas, groceries & campgrounds if you travel interstates.
Try not to stress!
Karen
Paoli, IN
2011 Georgetown 280DS
with 1 Hubby and 2 Boxers!
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