Meal Plans

Between us we have two campers, so two kitchens. We could easily cook meals every day, but we have found that after hunting all day, the last thing anyone really wants to do is cook a big meal for people. We have found that doing as much ahead of time as possible really makes a difference. Here are a few ideas for freezer meals that have worked well for us:

Meatballs: We use half game meat and half Italian sausage and brown the meatballs in a skillet then finish in the oven. Using a Food Saver we put 4-5 meatballs in a bag. They are easy to thaw and make great meatball subs. Sliced Swiss cheese and pizza sauce on a hoagie roll is a filling meal. The teenagers love it.

Stuffed Peppers: using whatever recipe you like, use your game burger and package these individually. They freeze well and are satisfying after a long day. They do take a long time to thaw, so make sure you get them out of the freezer early.

Hamburgers: also packaged individually and cooked ahead, these work well when you make a pocket in the middle of the burger and fill it with cheese before cooking. Pull out all the fixings while the burgers warm and you have a quick meal.

Breakfast Burritos: my favorite last year was the precooked burrito filling. The last thing I want to do at 4:30 a.m. is cook breakfast for a bunch of sleepy people. We made the filling ahead of time by scrambling eggs with onions, peppers and cheese then packaging the filling in portions for one or two burritos. In the morning all that is necessary is heating up the filling and warming the tortillas.

We packaged and froze everything individually because we had different people at camp at different times. Individual portions allowed us to feed extra people easily. We spent one full weekend in the summer cooking these meals and it worked great. The possibilities are endless and we used the rest of our game meat just before hunting season.

I would love to hear your ideas for other freezer meals to take to camp.