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#58387 - 10/10/06 03:11 AM Re: What has been your worse meal? Good Question! [Re: wandering_daisy]
dilligaf2u2 Offline
member

Registered: 05/11/06
Posts: 26
I camp at times with the wife! Not that I want to take her and the 40,000 LBS of stuff she considers essential. With her it is car camping and takes a 6X8 trailer to move all her ****!

ONE time I let her have her way and let her do the cooking when we were at her favorite KOA type places.

Now camping to me is getting away from reality and enjoying a simpler life. A way to get away from people and enjoy nature.

When dinner time came, My Dear Sweet Wife proceeded to take out cold MC D bags form a small cooler and place this **** on plates for dinner.

Needless to say, she has sense been forbidden to plan meals when we are going out!

Now that was bad! But I once had a friend bring a canner pheasant out with us on a week + long trip. Why he would carry a 4 lb bird for almost a week is beyond me. Cold greasy pheasant broke up in a fry pan to heat was interesting. Not the best meal I ever had.

Now I'm talking only here in The USA and only the trips that were under a month long! There were other times I wish I could forget. Like eating raw monkey on the run between Cambodia and Laos, and eating baked spider in Columbia, Or dried camel somewhere between Afghanistan and Turkestan. Many years ago!

Dill

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#58388 - 10/16/06 12:38 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
NiytOwl Offline
member

Registered: 11/06/04
Posts: 501
Loc: California
My worst meal was on a Boy Scout hike when I was 15. We were making flap-jacks in a cast-iron frying pan (man I'm glad those days are long gone!) and using meadow muffins (aka cow patties, buffalo chips) for firewood. The batter was prepared and sitting next to the fire while the pan got hot. Soon the cakes were cooking, but because we had to do them one at a time the fire needed to be restoked about 3/4 of the way through the batch. I ate one of the last pancakes - about half of it - when I discovered a lump that wouldn't bite through. I spit it out - it was a chunk of cow dung! The kid stoking the fire wasn't particularly careful about what container he carried the chips over.

It's amazing how a little bit of poop can spoil an otherwise good meal.

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#58389 - 10/24/06 08:19 AM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
Anonymous
Unregistered


Many years ago I was camping with 15 friends in Kings Canyon. At our base camp the "cook of the day" had worked very hard to prepare a home-cooked beef stew complete w/fresh vegetables. As night closed in and the camp lights were turned on the lights attracted the largest hoard of moths I have yet to see again. Of course most of the lights were around the cooking area so our cook could monitor preparation of the stew. Needless to say it was almost impossible to determine drowned moths in the stew because their thin gossamer wings looked almost identical to the small pieces of white onion that was floating throughout the stew. I say almost impossible. There was a distinct "crunch" with the moth that was absent with the smaller, well-cooked pieces of stew meat. Trail mix was unusually good that night!

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#58390 - 10/27/06 07:08 PM Re: What has been your worse meal?
Anonymous
Unregistered


On a very high ridge with no source of water for more than 12 hours, we were forced to eat our last meal, which I had saved, even though the weight was a pain. I pulled out a large can of mixed beans, and some salted pork(ham in biscuit slices)packaged in plastic. With no more water to spare, and only about 8oz a piece for dinner, I was forced to fry the salt pork. I will never eat this again without boiling, I don't know if anyone has ever tryed this, but my grandma always boiled these to get the salt out and then fry them. It is much worse than it sounds. Needless to say the beans were pretty mushy too, but saved the day. A good idea is to fry up some cornbread like flapjacks at home and place in wax paper,lightly moisten and put in a frezzer bag. Excellent after re-frying, even after six days in your pack.

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#58391 - 10/29/06 10:28 AM Re: What has been your worse meal?
CamperMom Offline
member

Registered: 01/04/02
Posts: 1228
Loc: Eastern MA, USA
magyver-

Don't these cornbread cakes mold in your pack? Do you moisten them just before re-heating? Carrying them dampened seems like it would increase the chances of mold.

Consider steam-baking some corn muffins, if you can spare the fuel. I wouldn't do this with Esbit, but alcohol is cheaper to use, so i've done this. Muffins steam up nicely in foil muffin cup liners, just raised a bit above the boiling water. I've used just a /W/ shaped piece of can wall for tiny pots or cut down and perforated disposable foil pie plates in larger pans.

CamperMom

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#58392 - 10/31/06 03:25 PM You really used that in a one pot dish? [Re: wandering_daisy]
Brad_Neff Offline
member

Registered: 01/07/02
Posts: 303
Loc: Utah
You mixed all that together? Why?

It seems you could have made a reasonable dinner, for example:

Freeze dried sausage, Parmasan cheese, instant potatoes would make a shepherds pie of sorts

Black beans and one pack of Miso soup would make a black bean soup

Dried apples, Blueberry muffin mix, and walnuts could make a nice cobbler

I think our imaginations limit the quality of our meals, whether at home or on the trail

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#58393 - 11/10/06 01:41 PM Re: You really used that in a one pot dish? [Re: Brad_Neff]
kev Offline
member

Registered: 08/30/04
Posts: 163
Loc: Iowa
Beef stew, cooked afterdark, had a Junebug in it, seemed to take 10 minuets to spit all the legs and shell pieces out.
Only reason I ate the rest of the stew was thats all I had.
_________________________
Why am I getting old faster than I'm getting smart?

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#58394 - 11/22/06 04:46 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: Bearpaw]
larebow Offline
member

Registered: 06/19/02
Posts: 36
catfish gravy.Iwas about ten,really bad idea

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#58395 - 05/05/08 06:44 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
lv2fsh Offline
member

Registered: 04/27/08
Posts: 111
Loc: socal
I know this is an old thread but new to me and I'm sure others. Anyway, when I was a young teenager, my best friend and I used to go camping in the foothills. We didn't know what backpacking was. We just wanted to camp by the creek and the only way to get there with our stuff was to walk and carry it. We used to raid Mom's pantry after shopping day and set up our own. We took mostly canned food with a few things like mash potato flakes. We had our meals planned down to the meal because the stuff was heavy. We usually had some leftovers. Then one time just before we were ready to leave, my friends little brother wanted to go and his mother made us take him or not go. We didn't repack and ran low on food the last day. Our parents had dropped us off and were not coming back untill the set time. There were no cell phones and the nearest pay phone or phone for that matter was too far away. We ended up with our last meal being a pot of water with a small amount of potato flakes, 1/2 a can of hominy, a small amount of spam chopped up seasoned by starvation. We were so hungry , we divided the hominy piece by piece.( I didn't care for hominy and haven't ate it for years but I got my share) <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> It was sort of a tastless, watery potato/spam/hominy soup. The worst thing was it didn't come close to filling us up. To add insult to injury, his brother griped the whole time. (he never wanted to go again <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />) That was over forty years ago and the only thing that comes close is freeze dried comercial bp meals or MRE's.

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#58396 - 05/05/08 07:39 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
BobEFord Offline
member

Registered: 01/28/08
Posts: 72
Loc: SE AZ
My worst meal backpacking was a tie amongst several of those freeze dried camp meals I tried. Generally I am an omnivore, but some of the meat versions are foul. I don't go out of my way to get the freeze dried pre-packaged meals now.

Off the trail it was some slab carne seca a guy pulled off his clothes line in the Chaco and rehydrated with some noodles. It took some fancy hand to mouth work to get the meat out and onto the floor where his dog could get it without offending the host. Poor guy was sharing his finest.

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#58397 - 05/06/08 05:31 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
hootyhoo Offline
member

Registered: 12/14/06
Posts: 686
Loc: Cyberspace
Quote:


It burned on the bottom of the pot too!

I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

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#58398 - 05/06/08 06:30 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
Jimshaw Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/03
Posts: 3983
Loc: Bend, Oregon
worst camp meal. My wife and I were camped in the Sierras with a campfire and we cooked fillets mignons and corn on the cob on the fire and slathered butter on all of it, then we noticed a smell, the butter was rancid. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />


Worst cup of coffee - forgot my cup on 4 day trip - had to drink out of paper soup cup - black bean coffee is just too awful to express. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Or was it the boy scout pancakes? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
_________________________
These are my own opinions based on wisdom earned through many wrong decisions. Your mileage may vary.

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#58399 - 05/06/08 06:55 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
hootyhoo Offline
member

Registered: 12/14/06
Posts: 686
Loc: Cyberspace
Hot hogs vomit deluxe - a concoction my old hiking buddy made once. Its name was derived from its taste. I only had it once and to my knowledge it has only been made once. I had to email him to get the recipe - he lol'd me. He thinks it went like this --

lol
It was a ramen and not so-fresh garden greens based, powdered egg thickened, instant grits and powdered cheese dish with crushed tortilla chips and baco-bits for texture. A light topping of raisans for sweetness and there may or may not have been honey and some spices added.
(heave, heave) I can still smell the aromatic steam it emulsed while cooling in my pot. *Patent applied for*

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#58400 - 05/07/08 07:20 AM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
Mattress Offline
member

Registered: 05/14/07
Posts: 109
Loc: Victoria, BC, Canada
From an otherwise fantastic cookbook, I used a recipe called "Green Dragon Pad Thai"

The fact that it was neon-green should have been an indicator. I packed this meal for 5 days in the Sierras, made up a nice big two-person batch, then after one bite proceeded to bury it in a deep cat hole. I'm not proud, and know I should have packed it out, but it was best to keep this concoction as far away from civilization as possible.

Lesson learned: always try recipes at home first.
_________________________
http://lighterload.blogspot.com/

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#58401 - 05/09/08 10:52 AM MRE's. [Re: wandering_daisy]
Wolfeye Offline
member

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 413
Loc: Seattle, WA
I once took a boat trip to the beautiful Misty Fjords in Alaska. We decided that instead of landing on shore to cook, we'd eat the MRE's that were stashed on the boat. They were just shy of their expiration date.

The main course and dessert were okay, but the "potatoes au gratin" side dish was horrible... the yellow cheeze was somewhere between grainy and lumpy, and the potatoes were tasteless. We added the pepper flakes that came with the meal, but they didn't help.

Oh, and when I was a teenager I went on a 2-night trip with my dad to explore an old airliner wreckage in the mountains near my home. He found TREASURE - a bent propeller blade that he had to take home. It was huge. It was also heavy enough that it slowed us down, and we ended up taking half a day too long to finish the hike. We were hungry, and the only food left was a jar of peanut butter. It didn't taste bad, but it's hard to choke it down by itself.


Edited by Wolfeye (05/09/08 10:59 AM)

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#58402 - 05/09/08 01:40 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: Jimshaw]
ndsol Offline
member

Registered: 04/16/02
Posts: 678
Loc: Houston, Texas
Quote:
worst camp meal. My wife and I were camped in the Sierras with a campfire and we cooked fillets mignons and corn on the cob on the fire and slathered butter on all of it, then we noticed a smell, the butter was rancid. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />


Worst cup of coffee - forgot my cup on 4 day trip - had to drink out of paper soup cup - black bean coffee is just too awful to express. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Or was it the boy scout pancakes? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />
It must have been so bad that you repeated the story again in this thread. Albeit about 1-1/2 years later. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

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#58403 - 05/09/08 09:48 PM Re: MRE's. [Re: Wolfeye]
kevonionia Offline
member

Registered: 04/17/06
Posts: 1322
Loc: Dallas, TX
Wolfeye:

What did he do with the "treasured" <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> prop? It better have ended up hung over the mantle of the fireplace -- at least for a year.
_________________________
- kevon

(avatar: raptor, Lake Dillon)


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#58404 - 05/10/08 10:08 AM Re: MRE's. [Re: kevonionia]
Wolfeye Offline
member

Registered: 01/11/07
Posts: 413
Loc: Seattle, WA
Nope! It ended up in a pile outside their house - along with the rest of his "treasure". <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> The items I know about: a brass rudder from a rock reef, a cleat from a shipwreck, a whole bunch of fishing floats, a dozen or so blown glass floats from Japan, and a plastic beer keg. He couldn't figure out how to open the keg, like it might have been used to store beer at a brewery and not meant for sale. I don't think I would've tasted the dregs if he did manage to open it.

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#58405 - 05/10/08 06:54 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
chaz Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 1149
Loc: Tennessee
I wasn't fond of the backpackers pantry choc cheezecake bleackk. Goo at the bottom of a bag. Difficult to get out. No I would not recommend this to a friend.
I did enjoy their Jamaican chicken and rice and a Mt house Chili Mac. We mixed a pack of salmon with the J chicken. Yummm
_________________________
Enjoy your next trip...

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#58406 - 05/20/08 04:09 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: Jimshaw]
Brumfield Offline
member

Registered: 12/23/07
Posts: 255
Loc: Expat from New Orleans, now in...
JimShaw "black bean coffee is just too awful to EXPRESS."

Then you should have used a drip pot. I'm BACK! Brum
_________________________



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#58407 - 05/20/08 04:48 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: Brumfield]
chaz Offline
member

Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 1149
Loc: Tennessee
Glad to see you back on the board. I see the bandito's didn't get you. Tell us about your mission.
_________________________
Enjoy your next trip...

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#58408 - 06/02/08 12:23 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: ajherman]
Balloondoggle Offline
member

Registered: 06/02/08
Posts: 16
Loc: Cincinnati, OH
It isn't the flavor so much as the texture. Good lord, was that Silly Putty I just choked down?
_________________________
I have a map of the world. It's actual size. Last summer, I folded it. - Steven Wright

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#58409 - 06/09/08 06:09 PM Re: What has been your worse meal? [Re: wandering_daisy]
thomasz Offline
newbie

Registered: 03/10/08
Posts: 11
Thanks your list. I will read and think about it.

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#58410 - 06/30/08 06:14 PM Pine bisque, polenta [Re: thomasz]
fos Offline
member

Registered: 05/24/02
Posts: 538
Great thread, I'm hungry and just discovered it. Years ago we backpacked with another couple who always made a big production over every meal, wherever cooked. They brought the all the ingredients for shrimp bisque, but managed to simmer it over a slow "fire" of green pine. Truly inedible.

I was very nearly lynched on another trip for introducing my friends to fried polenta for breakfast. They also unanimously hated Grape Nuts with vanilla pudding mix the next day.

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#58411 - 07/08/08 03:25 PM Re: Pine bisque, polenta [Re: fos]
Earthling Offline
member

Registered: 02/22/03
Posts: 3228
Loc: USA
Geeze those meals didnt sound so bad FOS <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
_________________________
PEPPER SPRAY AIN'T BRAINS IN A CAN!

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