I do not know about you, but I LOVE to eat! Food is my hobby and my habit. It is my crush. It is one of the loves of my life…okay I am getting excited and a little “carried away.” I will calm down. It is just that in my older age I appreciate the art of preparing food and the taste of well-prepared food. It is a delight, comforting to the soul, and filling to the almighty belly!

Now that the heat from summer is past and the fall, temperatures are making it where you actually want to be outside, I am eager to cook again. I am eager to fire up the gadgets and pack the kitchen to the hilt and make sure I have plenty to prepare for up and coming trips. My freezers are packed with almost all the meat I could eat in a year just waiting to be chosen for the next adventure. One of the best things I have done is to upgrade my Vacuum Sealer. I can purchase meat when it is on sale (and when I have extra money to burn), prepare it, then vacuum seal it for future endeavors like a squirrel saving nuts for the winter. It has made prep work easier and the time spent out in the forest much more enjoyable.

I, most likely, have more than I need to prepare food with for my Overlanding Adventures. My wife always tells everyone that we eat better when we are camping than we do at home. We are not rushed. We do not have anywhere to be. We have no agenda. We can take all the time we want to prepare whatever we are craving, and we do just that. We make this an enjoyable time by preparing for the trip the best we can, then taking the time to make it good, how we want it, and to make it special just for us.

Taking the Tembo Tusk Skottle with us each trip, we are able to do just about anything. Making a list right now for an upcoming thought I would try some pizzas. I was able to find some Greek style Pita bread (without the pocket) to use for crust, grilled some baby tomatoes, spread on some pizza sauce, artichoke hearts and freshly grated mozzarella. That will do the trick. My wife brought down a humongous Tomahawk Ribeye. We had quite a bit of it leftover. I used the leftovers for steak tacos. They were quite possibly the best I have ever had.

It is fun to me to prep before a trip and have everything ready to go. I love taking it all out of the fridge and putting it together, then sitting down by the fire for a nice relaxing night. Having everything put together, vacuum sealed, frozen or thawed out for the meal, makes it so much easier than the way we had done it before. When you have driven all day on trails, the last thing you want to do is spend the next 45 minutes cutting onions and peppers. Do that beforehand, then throw it together. 15 minutes later you are eating and relaxing.

Before each trip I head out to the freezer to see what I have stored away for our trips. We pick out steaks, chicken, pork chops and deer meat for dinners, then we get out the summer sausage and cheese for picnic lunches. From there, we put other things with the meats to make our meals. We always have a meat and a veggie, or have tacos or Cajun sausages with onions and peppers, or things like that for our elaborate good hot dinners. Lunches are always easy with pimento cheese, chicken salad, meat and cheese crackers along with a fruit such as grapes or bananas.

Whatever you do, make sure you eat good. Eating well makes life much more satisfying and gives you something to look forward to. I read backpacking books all the time where after a while, they have eaten the same thing for days, and cannot stomach the food they have brought with them. Bring something you like. Bring something that might challenge you. Bring something you have never had before. Also, make it easy. Do some prep work beforehand to make the job easier on you while you are out on your adventure. This will save you time and make it where you can sit back, relax, and live in the moment. You may not get three squares a day, but what you do get, will be memorable and satisfying.

We do not get moments like this very often, so do what you can to enjoy it!