Over the last couple of decades camping trips with friends, family and the young man have been a popular pastime of ours. These trips have varied widely in locations yet there is a particular spot in between Seymour and Nagambie we have returned to more than others as dogs are permitted and to be able to swim in a creek with your pooch is so much fun for all. The other bonus is this place is it's generally not overcrowded with people which is often the case with more popular camping locations.
After a recent failed attempt trying out a new camping site that was full to the brim on a long weekend, the man and I were keen to head back to our rugged place of serenity. As we were only camping overnight I decided to make the food completely low fuss and picked up some supplies from Oasis bakery. This also meant packing less as we didn't need to worry about bringing the camp stove, gas bottle and cooking utensils.
Not long after arriving and setting up the tent, we constructed some delicious falafel wraps in a matter of minutes. They were made with mountain bread, hummus, falafels, a mixture of salad leaves, tomato, red onion and a dash of Tapatio hot sauce. Ollie doesn't usually get the chance to be involved in food photography and jumped at the chance on this occasion! He is very well mannered around food and didn't think about taking a bite.
Our dinner plates consisted of dolmades, more falafels, baba ganoush, hummus, olive bread and a bean stew. I was on the verge of buying a chickpea or bean salad whilst shopping at Oasis but after I spotted a bean stew the thought of a salad was immediately dismissed. The bean stew was labelled as being spicy yet the man thought it needed more oomph and stirred through a decent amount of hot sauce before we served it up. Although this is something you would usually eat warm we thoroughly enjoyed it as a cold dish. A similar spread was also enjoyed for breakfast the following morning.
These foods were perfect for an overnight camping trip and I can imagine they would also be great for remote road trips where vegan foods are limited. Even though I'm fortunate to have a fantastic Middle Eastern bakery nearby, some of the items we took away can also be sourced from most Australian supermarkets.
Ollie was mortified when we departed after his morning dip and uncharacteristically cried most of the car trip home. We are glad although not surprised that he enjoyed it as much as we did and are keen to take him for a longer camping trip soon.
Now that's my kind of camping trip :) Love the picture of the pup's nose next to the falafels!
ReplyDeleteIt was my kind of camping trip too, just wish it was for a little longer!
DeleteI am very inspired by this post, and your camping experiences more generally. Mr Bite grew up with camping as the only sort of family holiday - wherever they went, camping was the accommodation - but I have far less experience. I think I would love a secluded spot by a river with food like this for dinner :)
ReplyDeleteI never really had camping holidays as a child either but they were a frequent thing for the man and once he introduced me to camping I was hooked. It does take time to build up equipment (but you can always hire or borrow tents and other items). Camping is so peaceful when you can find a secluded spot by a river.
DeleteI have a couple of things that stop us from going camping as much as I would like to do and the first thing is the decider...Steve HATES slumming it out in the wilderness and we have bucklies of getting out there amongst the mozzies and the things that go "WOOOO!" in the night. We are the dubious owners (dubious because "owner" is SUCH a subjective word according to the dogs and the only reason that this remains the status quo is because they don't have oposable thumbs...) of 2 American Staffy terriers who love going for bush drags...well they walk...we drag behind. It's a Benny Hill sort of fast motion race to see who can get from one tree to the next and the winner is the dog who can get their human up to the highest velocity with the least amount of coefficient drag before they stop dead to sniff a clump of "something" and their human hurtles into them causing a mass pile up and hopefully the lead being dropped in the process...camping sounds so romantic...lovely camp fire... fishing by the sea... eating home cooked anything over the camp stove because by the time you get your food you are STARVING... but alas...if you are an Aussie bush girl who marries a city U.K. man and have dogs that need to mark every single tree, shrub and ground cover for every hectare of wilderness that you are exploring camping is a 4 letter and VERY dirty word ;).
ReplyDeleteOh dear, that makes it difficult if the decider isn't into the camping thing. I absolutely loved your comment - too funny!
DeleteYum! That's my kind of camping food for sure! That's so sad that Ollie cried the whole way home. It's sweet that he enjoyed it so much, but sad that he was so brokenhearted to leave!
ReplyDeleteThanks, it was nice and easy food but tasted great - what more can you want? It was sad that Ollie was so upset to leave but it has made us keener to take him again soon.
DeleteOne of the joys of being on holiday for me is food, and when I have to eat rubbish, it makes me a sad bunny! Glad to see that you've been eating well in the middle of nowhere - that sort of food would look great to me wherever I ate it!
ReplyDeleteWe are fortunate to be have this bakery nearby! It really took our camp foods up a notch and it was fun to eat gourmet stuff in the middle of nowhere.
Deletelove the pic with ollie - that is great that he is well behaved around food - sounds like you ate well on your trip - I have never got into camping but it always seems a good low fuss holiday
ReplyDeleteOllie is the total opposite of Jasper in some ways, food is definitely one of them. Camping isn't for everyone but I really enjoy being out in the bush away from crowds and just relaxing in a serene place.
DeleteAndy and I should really do more camping - especially if this is what camping food looks like! And oh my goodness what an adorable photo of Ollie! How well behaved!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Tika would LOVE to go camping! There are so many National Parks we could have camped in before Ollie came along but half the fun of camping for us is having our pooch with us. He is very well behaved with food but still has plenty of other areas where his behaviour is terrible.
Delete