What food to bring?
Some suggestions for simple but popular camping meals:
Breakfasts:
Cereals which are relatively compact. eg. Wheat biscuits, muesli, variety packs are popular with children. Long life milk, plus a little hot water on cold mornings.
Jaffles (in campfire) made with stale bread, margarine buttered on the outside. Fill with cheese, salami, left-overs from last night’s tea. Check/turn regularly and cut off the “dags”.
Bacon & eggs, canned spaghetti & cheese. Toast (using extendable-handle toasting fork).
Drinks: Long life juice cartons (1 litre), coffee, tea, hot chocolate.
Lunches (if travelling):
Fresh bread (while available) with salad, meat/cheese slices or various spreads (peanut butter, cheese spread, vegemite) for self-made sandwiches.
Dry biscuits (Vita wheat, savoy, salada) with fillings eg. small cans of tuna, salmon, sardines with various flavours, salami, cheese, salad things.
Jaffles (made the previous night) cooled, then stored in a plastic bag.
Boiled frankfurts (from breakfast time) kept warm in a thermos flask. Serve as hot dogs.
Fruit, sweet biscuits or fruit cake.
Scroggin (mixed nuts, dried fruit, smarties) in plastic bag. Handfuls only, no “picking” allowed!
Lunches (if at base camp):
Do-it-yourself pizza (pita bread with fillings cooked in foil).
Fritters (chopped vegies fried in batter).
Pancakes, damper, soup & toast, jaffles, welsh cakes
Dinners:
Grilled sausages/chops/steak (while available) or boiled frankfurts with boiled vegies (fresh cabbage/carrot, dehydrated peas/carrots/beans, canned corn) with potatoes wrapped in foil cooked on hot coals (turn regularly).
Fried rice: Boil rice then add pre-fried bacon/salami/egg/onion and celery/cabbage/capsicum/zucchini then fry in pan.
Stir fry: Cut up frankfurts/stras and fry with vegies as above.
Spaghetti bolognaise: Boil pasta and dehydrated vegies in large billy, drain water and add can of meat sauce. Tuna mornay, fish patties.
Desserts:
Canned fruits and puddings. Long life custard or cream. Pancakes, fruit damper, cake.
Banana boats (slice banana lengthwise, insert chocolate, cook in foil.
S’mores (toasted marshmallows between chocolate wheaten biscuits).
Some ideas on how all this food is best carried:
Fridge or Esky:
Frozen cartons of juice. Frozen or vacuum-sealed meat.
Casserole prepared and frozen at home in ice-cream container.
Milk in plastic bottle. Margarine.
Salad container (enough for 2 days only): tomato, lettuce, cucumber.
Vegie container: cabbage, celery, carrots, capsicum, zucchini.
Deli container: cheese (in plastic wrap), bacon, salami, stras sausage.
Eggs in double cartons or plastic (cushioned) camping egg holders.
Brekky/Lunch Box:
Cereal in plastic containers. Biscuits and cakes in air-tight tins (eg. old biscuit tin).
Drink box packs protected inside wine cask boxes.
Fresh bread and fruit in bags on top (bananas last 1 day, apples 3 days, oranges 2 weeks).
Sliced bread (keeps better with newspaper wrapped around its sealed plastic bag).
Tea Box:
Cans packed together at bottom.
S.R. flour in air-tight tin. Powdered milk.
Pre-washed and foiled potatoes. Onions in cloth bag.
Packets of rice, custard, dried vegetables, pasta etc.
“Bits & Pieces” Box:
Small plastic or metal containers with sugar, coffee, tea-bags, drinking chocolate, spreads, seasonings, and detergent.
Pots & Pans Box:
Billies and other cooking gear.
Laundry and all other odds and ends.
Where do we meet?
After you’ve confirmed your booking by providing contact details and a deposit payment, we will email you a Confirmation Letter.
This letter details where and when to meet and what to bring. Most day trips start from our base in Morwell, which is about 1 1/2 hours from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. Bring a picnic lunch and a full fuel tank. We also recommend a UHF radio (a simple, cheap hand-held is ok for convoy use) and some basic recovery gear. Vehicles need to be roadworthy and mechanically sound. On longer camping trips or extended tours into remote areas we will provide more specific information on what is needed.
The Confirmation Letter also includes notification of any significant health issues we need to be aware of, and an indemnity section so that you understand the inherent risks of adventure activities. Bring your signed letter along to the start of the trip.
For other FAQs, see our 4WD Tag-along tours page.
