Best Kitchen Time Savers

[TimHolt]

Okay let's start a thread of kitchen time savers.

Here is my first entry:

Costco sells Hormell precooked bacon. It comes in like a giant three pound resealable bag. This saves SO MUCH TIME! Plop a few strips in the microwave, set for 30 seconds and there you go! No mess. No problems.

What is your kitchen time saver?

[dewey02]

Originally Posted by TimHolt

Okay let's start a thread of kitchen time savers.

Here is my first entry:

Costco sells Hormell precooked bacon. It comes in like a giant three pound resealable bag. This saves SO MUCH TIME! Plop a few strips in the microwave, set for 30 seconds and there you go! No mess. No problems.

What is your kitchen time saver?

Cracker Barrel!

[Lolead]

Sams Club sells instant hashbrown. Put 1 cup of them in a plastic zipper bag. when ready to use add 1 cup of hot water from the Kurig. In the time it takes to heat the frying npan the hashbrowns are ready to add.

[Paintinfool3]

We do a few different things now when its just my wife and I camping and we don't want to spend a bunch of time prepping and cooking while camping. One is a breakfast bake made in advance with hash browns, sausage , peppers, sour cream and cheese. Two is Hormel beef stew. Its easy and good for those cool nights. Jack Daniels pulled pork or chicken is easy. We either crock pot it or just warm it in microwave. Last is quesadillas over camp fire or grille with canned chicken for the meat. We have everything pre done and in bags and just throw it on the tortilla shells and wrap in foil. Throw it on the grill for a few minutes on each side and its done

[Explorer03]

I still like a hot skillet, corn beef hash and few eggs and some Whiskey. Doesn't take long to have a nice breakfast.

[M&A]

Originally Posted by Explorer03

I still like a hot skillet, corn beef hash and few eggs and some Whiskey. Doesn't take long to have a nice breakfast.

Does it need to be processed in that order?

[TimHolt]

there are quite a few really good dehydrated foods that are quick to make. I think that dehydrated mashed potatoes are pretty good today, far better than they were a few years ago.

Build water in the microwave and add the potatoes. Make them creamier by adding sour cream or some half and half.

We like to add some garlic salt to ours.

[TimHolt]

Idahoan Baby Red Mashed Potatoes at Sam's or Costco. Boil some water in your microwave, add the dried potatoes, add a little garlic salt, and butter (I like to add a little sour cream if I have nay around) and you have yourself mashed potatoes for four in under 5 minutes.

[mike837go]

Just being the contrarian...


I enjoy cooking and don't get enough 'kitchen time' the rest of the year. So when we slow down while camping, I am not looking for shortcuts.


Give me the time to boil the water and the exactly 7 minutes for the coffee to perk. Toast on the stove, pasta to boiled to al dente, sauces simmered properly, baking the full time, filling the trailer with delicious odors....


Ripping the battery out of the smoke detector!


We stock up on cold cuts for zero effort lunches (and dinners). But I prefer to take a couple of hours to prepare something nice.


Our last trip up included a get-together of the site owners. My covered dish contribution was a baked ziti. Built totally in the TT while boondocking!

[TimHolt]

I love to cook too..but after a day hiking, or exploring, I am too pooped to cook for 5 or 6...

I try yo avoid "hotdogs" or hamburgers and chips every night...hahaha
That is why I thought getting some ideas to save time would be a good topic..

If it were just me and DW then I would take my time...

[FishAr]

Originally Posted by TimHolt

Okay let's start a thread of kitchen time savers.

Here is my first entry:

Costco sells Hormell precooked bacon. It comes in like a giant three pound resealable bag. This saves SO MUCH TIME! Plop a few strips in the microwave, set for 30 seconds and there you go! No mess. No problems.

What is your kitchen time saver?

I love that stuff, wife buys it at Sams. When she's around she makes real bacon on the griddle. But most of the time I'm away at work by myself in the trailer so I used the precooked on salads for dinner.

No time for breakfast outside of a prepackaged Jimmy Dean microwave biscuit when I'm by myself.

[M&A]

Originally Posted by FishAr

I love that stuff, wife buys it at Sams. When she's around she makes real bacon on the griddle. But most of the time I'm away at work by myself in the trailer so I used the precooked on salads for dinner.

No time for breakfast outside of a prepackaged Jimmy Dean microwave biscuit when I'm by myself.

Give the Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls a shot - they're pretty good.

[mike837go]

Like I mentioned, buy a veriety of cold cuts: meats and cheeses. Keep dressings and relish in the fridge too.


Pull an armload of stuff from the fridge and drop it on the table along with a loaf of sliced bread and paper plates. 5 minutes from arrival at camp to the quiet of stuffed mouths.


Tacos are another that you can pre-prepare. Cooking the meat filling takes the most time. Do that at home before hand (or a rainy afternoon) and put it in a container in the fridge. Reheat the meat (microwave or skillet). Put out the fixings and let the party start!

[bansai]

Pre camper camping, we would make a batch of beef stew or chili at home, freeze it and put it in the cooler. It kept the beer cold and dinner was FAST. Just add a salad or some other veggie and done. I'm going to resurrect that tradition next spring, but now there's less of a need to freeze the meal. Done right, our first dinner takes less than 5 minutes in camp and is at least as good as what we would have at home.

Where I seem to take more time is breakfast... skillet potatoes, bacon, eggs, english muffins, fruit, etc. Most important meal of the day, so I spend a lot more time on it.

[Camper_bob]

Even at home, we will pass on a meal that takes more than 30 minutes from start to table. We just don't have the time. We get home from work at 5:30, by the time we're done cooking and eating, it's 6:30, and the boy's bedtime is 7:00. So, you see the dilemma. And we eat every meal sitting at the table as a family.

Now, that's not to say we don't cook, we do almost every day. But it's rare that we spend that much time to prepare a meal. We will cook and prepare special meals on Fridays or during the weekend when we all have time to be in the kitchen together.

So, all this translates to the trailer very easily. We don't change much when we go camping. And we don't really use "short cuts" either. It really doesn't take much time to prepare a good meal. Of course, we're generally not making sauces from scratch and such. We're perfectly happy to dress up a jarred sauce. Lunches will typically include some kind of sandwich. But we're not talking about regular cold cuts on cheap sliced white bread. We will try to use fresh meats and artisan cheeses and sauces. One of our favorites is an Italian sandwich; black forest ham, salami, provolone, on a French or Italian roll with olive tapenade or some kind of aioli. Add some lettuce and red onions, and you've got yourself a nice sandwich. And it takes minutes to prepare. Fresh fruit on the side for the "works". Toss it all in a small cooler bag, and we're good to eat on the go. Last time we were out at the beach, I threw the grill in the back of the truck, and we grilled hot dogs right there on the beach. They were GREAT. I "splurged" and bought us "Nathan's" hot dogs. To date, the best hot dog I've ever had. They even made my cheap $.88 hot dog buns taste better! Gave them a quick toast on the grill, threw the dogs in, put on a drizzle of ketchup and mustard. My mouth is watering just thinking about them! We don't eat hot dogs much...

Dinners typically include some kind of grilled protein. Fajitas are popular around our trailer. DW whips up some fresh guacamole, shreds some cheese, warms up store bought, fresh tortillas, and we're good to go. Sometimes she'll whip up a boxed (or not) pasta dish, or some veggies (we grill those too).

Breakfasts usually include scrambled eggs, toasted english muffins, and fruit. We'll even "splurge" and do sausage and egg scramble or breakfast tacos, or even sausage gravy with scrambled eggs and biscuits. Our only shortcuts here are getting pre-cooked sausage pieces (sometimes, mostly we use fresh sausage "chubs") and using canned or frozen biscuits. Granted, fresh biscuits are better, but hey, it works.

Our only other "short cuts" involve preparing food components before we leave. We'll chop fruit and veggies ahead of time, and we'll even prepare sauces and mixes ahead of time. Anything we can do to shorten prep time when time is short. Heck, we've even used the slow cooker. Can't really do that while boondocking, but if you have shore power, slow cooker meals are for the win!

[Crablad]

I prepare crock pot meals at home, freeze them. In the morning line the crock pot with a liner and dump in the frozen meal. Next would be BBQ and meals out...do not cook on trips.

[ReelCool]

My quick home oven frittata turns into a frying pan scramble when we camp.....eggs, a little Greek yogurt, half n half or milk, lots off cheese and whatever veggies were left over from the night before from dinner, fresh garlic, salt and pepper or whatever seasoning you like. I throw it in my frying pan on the induction burner (or grill) and scramble. It is ready in no time. The induction burner is a huge time saver for any meal when you do not want to set up a grill or cook inside. The kids use to love my cheesy eggs - basically the same combination without the veggies.

[3'senough]

All good tips. One tool that I have acquired in the recent year is an Instant Pot. I love this thing. I can make a one pot meal in the AM and it will stay warm for 10 hrs. This goes with us during the spring/fall trips for at least one easy home cooked meal that does not require constant oversight. On grid of course.

My other go to is my Dutch oven for both on and off grid cooking. Dump sliced peppers, onions, olive oil and 4# of hot and sweet sausage to be cooked in 1.5 hrs or less depending on temp. Stack the lid with coals and the top sausages get browned crispy skin while the lower ones braise.

Freezing and pre-cooking are options we have entertained in the past, but I usually opt for the one pot meals when we want something instant.

Boxed Jambalaya is always a hit with my crew too. You can put pretty much any precooked meat in it and have a one pot meal. Sausage, ham, chicken or even shrimp.

[TimHolt]

Originally Posted by 3'senough

All good tips. One tool that I have acquired in the recent year is an Instant Pot. I love this thing. I can make a one pot meal in the AM and it will stay warm for 10 hrs. This goes with us during the spring/fall trips for at least one easy home cooked meal that does not require constant oversight. On grid of course.

What is an "Instant Pot?" And is it legal outside of Colorado??

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by TimHolt

What is an "Instant Pot?" And is it legal outside of Colorado??

It it a brand of pressure cooker.

And off topic, but ... Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. Four states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use. In Alaska, adults 21 and older can now transport, buy or possess up to an ounce of marijuana and six plants.

With the recent bombings, maybe the trend is to legalize pot, but restrict sales of pressure cookers?