Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Meal prep for deer camp?

Just a week away now, I’ll be at the hunting cabin for 2 weeks. We stay in a 1 room school house built in 1875. We have electricity but no running water. I find it much more convenient to cook meals at home and freeze them in large trays vs attempting the same there. Just have to remember to pull that days meal out of the freezer to thaw while we hunt that day.

I am planning to smoke a couple pork butts for a big batch of pulled pork, a tray of my shrimp creole and a massive batch of sage sausage gravy for breakfast.

I am curious what meals you guys like to make when you’re prepping for hunting season? I’ve made the same meals the last several years and feel I should switch it up and would like some inspiration. Looking to feed 8+ people and meals that heat up well after having been frozen.

Crockpot dinners.

Meat for the grill with a salad and some rice or some carb.

We don't do big breakfasts, just coffee and grab something to snack on.

Lasagna is an easy one and usually a big hit in camp. Normally we partially cook it and then freeze it. At camp just thaw and cook in the oven an hour or so.
Stew or chili is another easy one.
For this years trip I smoked a few racks of baby back ribs. Cut them in half and vacuum sealed them then froze them. Thawed them then baked in the oven for about 30 min. They were a huge hit.

Meatballs in a crock pot.
Soup is always good on a cold day.

i make spaghetti and meatballs, homemade pizza, stuffed cabbage, jaegerschnitzel, turkey or ham potpie, whichever i have for thanksgiving and always have a pot of bean soup and boxes of the quick cornbread. depending on how long i stay, i also do meatloaf, chicken fried steak, burgers and fries and chili. towards the end of the trip i eat all the leftovers.

Our go-to is to premake a bunch of burritos. Flour tortillas, shredded beef, ground beef, beans, etc. with cheese. Aluminum foil them. Can be reheated in a pan, on a gas grill, wall tent stove, oven, etc. pretty much anywhere. Big hit after a cold day and very easy.

Biggest hit we had in moose camp was enchilada’s followed by pre made pizza. Both were completely prepared in advance then vacuum sealed. The enchiladas were boiled in the bag to heat then served with rice and sour cream.
The pizza was taken out of the vac bag then the crust was crisped up on a skillet.

We do most of the evening cooking on the grill and have many times gotten to the point of, dang steaks again, I usually make a big pot of Chili or other times a stew of some sort. Javelina or Feral Hog Posole, Venison Bourguignon, Irish Stew, Lasagna, Campeche Seafood Stew ( Mexican version of Chioppino, which is a good choice too ). Usually make a big batch of Pinto beans or sometimes black beans. Breakfast will be Venison or Elk Chorizo and eggs with beans and tortillas. This we usually have after a morning hunt so lunch is not much usually sandwiches or grazing on Chili & Beans.

We do the same with Breakfast burritos. Might just have to make some for dinner/snacks also.
This year on our trip my buddies mom made some breakfast calzones. We warmed it up before we left and wrapped in foil. It was sure delicious on the drive to our morning spot.

We do a legit breakfast each morning. Eggs to order, whatever breakfast meat we are using (bacon, scrapple, sausage) and sautéed prepared potatoes

Make a big pot of gumbo and freeze in meal portions. Throwaway plastic tubs.

I like that.

Last week at deer camp the menu was:

Sunday night - panfried walleye (a tradition)
Monday - Ham and scalloped potatoes
Tuesday - smoked brisket, slaw and canned beans
Wednesday - Turkey breast with taters and turnips
Thursday - pigtails and rolled ribs
Friday - leftovers from the rest of the week

All except the walleye was made ahead and frozen as needed.

All of this sounds better than a sack of PB&Js.

Those big trays of Stouffer’s Lasagna are excellent at deer camp if y’all have an oven, so are those big trays of Macaroni & Cheese, Cheese Enchiladas, Cheese Manicotti, and Chicken Enchiladas. All made by Stouffer’s, and all good deer camp food.

I usually make half a dozen sandwiches
or so and put in bags in the refrigerator
and have one with some pickles and chips
and a spoon of potato salad or macaroni
salad. Boil a half a dozen eggs and put
those in the refrigerator. If I'm staying
longer than I few days, I have pre sorted
dry beans that I can throw in the crockpot
and I'll bring a hambone or a slab of ham
or something and throw in the pot.
I keep a supply of canned goods in a
spare cooler to keep them from freezing
or getting too hot that stay there all the
time
I quit having the gut buster meals and
really spicy stuff when away from home
some years back. I spent way too many
times way off out in the woods or way
out on a lake or in the gulf, and wishing
I had a bottle of pepto or maalox and
praying my guts would quit churning.
You can't enjoy a hunt or a fishing trip
with peppers trying to get back out or
if you're one fart away from needing
clean clothes

Should add that after a full day of hunting
or fishing I'm usually ready to just eat and
get cleaned up and rest and not spend a
bunch of time cooking something elaborate
or have to wash a bunch of pans and dishes

We do breakfast the same way as you and as described above. English muffins, sausage, egg, cheese, etc. in foil or same stuff wrapped in tortillas. Hot hearty breakfasts/dinner can absolutely change a hunt whether back packing or tenting it. At least for me ...

Ill toss in some from left field.

Swedish meatball, stroganoff, asian stirfrys over rice. Same with all the different Mexican dishes.

Chile relleno casserole.

For breakfast ill get the eggs in a milk carton and toss it in with premade chorizo and potatoes for a burrito scramble. Works good for most any left over dinner.

I never pre-make burritos as i find its just as easy to heat up the torts while the fillings are heating up.

Here's a deer camp breakfast for you...

This year I will be in Alabama in a hotel close to my lease. I don’t have a good place to sleep at camp where we have a cook shed so I decided rather than eat out I would precook and vacpak my meals. I have access to a microwave and zi have a small toaster oven for my room. I will be having beef tacos, country style ribs, roasted chicken , jambalaya for main dishes and side dishes will be Bob evans mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes and steamer corn and creamed spinach. I made some biscuits and frozen them into 2 per bag and also precooked sausage patties and did the same with those for sausage cheese biscuits for breakfast. I’m feel like I’m gonna eat pretty good. I will probably grill a steak out at camp with the guys one or two nights.

Frozen pre-made meals wrapped in tinfoil include: Breakfast pasty's (hand pies) stuffed with scrambled eggs, sausage, chives and cilantro. Dinner pasty's stuffed with beef or chicken, potatoes, corn and carrots. Frozen containers of chili, beef barley soup and chicken noodle soup.