Never too early to plan the menu

[prov1900]

Every year we have a pretty extensive menu for our Canada trips. We always go for 7 days in the spring and 3-4 in the fall. For our spring trip, we do the following give or take the order and once in awhile a substitution;

Night 1 - Brats/Burgers (fast/easy for night one)

Night 2 - Steaks, etc plus walleye appetizers

Night 3 - Spag + walleye in some form

Night 4 - Fish Fry

Night 5 - Chili

Night 6 - Tater Tot Casserole

Night 7 - Left overs

Needless to say, we eat pretty well. We believe (or at least I do) that the food makes the trip. Some of the guys claim that they would be happy eating brats/sandwiches every night just to spare fishing time and easier camp/kitchen duties. Of course they never complain when they are sowing down on good food

What does everyone else do? Simple or elegant? I'm always looking for other ideas because again, I think part of the fun, besides catching fish all day and viewing the incredible scenery is the comraderie...and that comraderie is soothed further with great food.

Normally, at this time of the year, I have the menu and food/gear list already hammered out in draft form and sent off to the crew. This year, we aren't sure how big the crew is...as usual. I am getting the itch to go obviously and getting the menu squared away is always step one.

[Hoffer]

There was a similar post on this not too long ago...but always fun to talk about.

One thing our group has been doing in the Fall is bring a large picnic ham. We usually do something easy the first night and then during the first full day cook the ham in the afternoon so its ready to go by Dinner. It SOOOOOOO easy to do. Take Ham. Place ham in large metal cooking container. Add small amount of water. Cover. cook. Done.

Plus, you get leftover ham to munch on the following days or to make sandwiches - and if your really into it - can make some split pea soup with the leftover ham bone.

We have been doing turkeys this way too - but last Fall ended up throwing a whole turkey away because it didnt get cooked soon enough before it "warmed" up in the cooler. A ham is much more safe. But a turkey is great too.

[KTroller]

We do the a lot of the typical fare but last year's new addition for the first night was an 8 lb pan of lasagna that my wife made in advance in a disposeable foil pan. It was left unbaked and refigerated beforehand (you could even freeze it and use it as supplemental ice if you wanted). We just kept it in the cooler on the way up and popped it in the oven when we were ready for it (could be done on a grill too). It was super easy and we had leftovers for later in the week.

Another thing we've done is a crock-pot roast w/potatoes & veggies. Season it, and set it on low - very easy. It's pretty nice to come in from a morning or afternoon of fishing and have the cabin smell like Sunday dinner.

Beware - Both of these meals induce long naps.

KT

[Gusser88]

A big breakfast is always a good way to start the day. Eggs, bacon, hasbrowns, and toast. The tough part is figuring out who is going to get up early and make it!

[magnum mike]

The menu is the main topic whenever we plan a trip wether it is over night or a week long adventure. NO beanies & weenies here! We have a couple professional cooks / restaraunt owners in our group so we eat well. We have had some pretty amazing meals with nothing but propane burners & charcoal to cook on. We also prepare many parts of the meal in advance and freeze them. This does help hold the precious ice cubes an extra day or two. Our motto is "Never trust a skinny cook!"

We usually eat 2 meals a day. Coffee & toast first thing in the morning and back for a big breakfast around 11:00. Back in the boat until happy hour and then dinner. We all have our assigned jobs. Cooking, washing dishes, cleaning fish, cutting wood, etc. If everyone does a little, nobody does a lot.

[prov1900]

Breakfast is a big part of the day with us. Out of the 6 days we make the 'full meal deal' on 3 days. The other 3 are usually breakfast burritos or breakfast sandwiches. If we are in a hurry (which we rarely are), we will foil the burritos/sandwiches and head down the lake. They taste a little better when you let the flavors meld together a little. Lunch is whatever you bring with you, usually for me it is a trail mix or something similar. We do stop a couple of times, beach the boats, and do a simple fire with drift wood. Cut some branches and roast some hotdogs/brats. It is always nice to get out on dry land once in a while and unwind.

Good ideas so far. I am really getting excited to go, but that usually starts the day I get home from the last trip.

[NBR]

We went for years and pared down the list so we had little left over. Potatos were 1.5/person/day

Day 1 have a good rest. meal at mid day sandwiches at night

Day 2. Cereal toast & coffee. Back to camp for fish mid day, nap out til dark and sandwiches at night

Breakfast and evening allways the same.

Day 3 Cornish Game Hens mid day

Day 4 Fish at mid day

Day 5 Spaghetti. home made meat sauce.

Day 6 Fish.

We started going for two weeks and for the second Saturday we had steak at mid day.

Vegtable were usually potatoes, onions and carrots either wrapped in foil and done on the grill or boiled. Also had salad evdery day.

We started the big meal at mid day because we were usuall first out of camp-5 AMand if we stayed out all day we would be so tired in the evenings we would miss the evening bite. So we would have our big meal then a nap and fish the evenings.

[Down Deep]

My fishing buddy and I also adopted the mid-day big meal of the day plan. I never cared for having a big meal late and heading of to the rack stuffed to gills. We also decided that we were on a fishing trip and not a harvest so now we never hit the water before 8:00 usually after a hardy breakfast and lots of coffee. After the nap it is back on the water around 3 or 4 and we still get in 5 or 6 hours of evening fishing, especially in June and July. I really like the pace of our trips now and our catch rate hasn't suffered.

[prov1900]

Yeah, we usually get a hard time from the resort owners because we are always the last out of camp after a huge breakfast. We are always the last ones in as well and our catch rates never suffer. I like the mid day big meal deal, but our lake doesn't really have a night bite and we travel so far every morning that coming back to camp mid day doesn't happen too often. I'm thinking the crock pot is going to get more use this time around. When we do get back, fish have to be cleaned, boats readied for the next day, etc and by the time supper gets going sometimes...it is getting late.

[GRH]

DANG YOU PROV1900 Got me thinking about our trip and its a Long 6 months away. We usually do something eaasy and quick for breakfast. Lunch in the boat usually sandwiches or left over fish. We usually spend 12-14 hours a day in the boat. We always do a big dinner, and it's usually late. It's a good time to share fish story's and shoot the bull. A guy should hire a cook for the week to have dinner ready when you get in.

Day

1 Walleye

2 burgers & brats

3 Walleye or Lake Trout

4 steaks & shrimp

5 Walleye or Lake trout

6 Homemade Pizza

7 Walleye

8 Lasagna

Plus we have fries & onion rings most nights. or some other kind of potato. Plus we always go over my Birthday, so we stop in Dryden, and stock up on Carrot cake. So we have a piece of that just about every night.

Everyone pitches in, cleaning fish, cooking, dishes, and so on. so it goes pretty well. Our group is anywhere from 3 to 18. I cant wait.

[prov1900]

I hear you, I am so jacked to go already. Don't know if I told you, but last fall the water was sooooo low, I could barely get my boat off the trailer. Changed the nature of the fishing, but didn't change the fishing. I am hoping they catch up with rain/snow or I will be getting nervous about getting that boat in...in about 4 months

GRH, how do you fix your lakers? We have never eaten them before (their always too darn big) ...and hoping one of these years we catch a couple that are below 15 pounds for a meal.

[GRH]

Pro, yeah those little ones are hard to come by. We will fillet & fry them once in a while.

Most of the time we grill them. We cut the head off and gut. Fill it with onions, lemon slices, couple strips of bacon, salt a pepper. Then wrap in tin foil and grill it. oh its so good. If there's any left over, I'll mix it with mayo and make a spread for sandwiches.

Another way that we got from the resort owners, is to fillet, cover with equal amount of coolwhip and mayo, then cover with shredded cheese and onions. It's also really good.

[Down Deep]

I slab lakers. The little bones that are sticking out are easily done away with by using a needle nose pliers and pluck them out. Got that tip from a guy in Alaska when I was cleaning some salmon. Lakers aren't my favorite fish, but I will fry and grille them. To grille I oil the skin and place skin down on the grille. Then I baste them with some high quality maple syrup with a tbl spoon of soy sauce mixed in. Don't walk away because it doesn't take long to cook. If you want to caramelize the sugar in the syrup flip the fillet over just before you serve it. Make sure the grille is clean. Lakers are also good in a fish boil. The internet is full of fish boil recipes. Again, it doesn't take long for the fish to cook, so don't add it until you are 10 to 15 minutes from serving .

[deacon]

Wow, not having fish everyday?

Our group has at least one meal of fish a day, most days two meals of walleye. Keep breakfast simple with eggs, toast and cereal. Lunch is fish fajitas, walleye pan fried in butter or grilled walleye. Dinner is usually a grilled meat, baked potato and salad or fried walleye, onion rings and fries.

Myself do not care if bring fish home so enjoy as much as possible on trip.

[prov1900]

Yeah, we do, usually other than the last night which is leftovers. We have one or two dedicated fish frys, but the rest of them are served as appetizers (1 or 2 small walleyes for the crew). We will grill the fillets with a seasoning/butter combo. We have even grilled whitefish (which was about the best fish I have ever eaten...grilled). One of our favorite methods is blackening. That is usually requested a couple times.

This year I want to try wrapping or rather rolling a fillet up with a slice of bacon, then grilling for appetizers. Just trying to figure out if the bacon will cook crisp enough without over-cooking the fish.

My menu is about 75% perfected. Plan on doing some hot shore lunches this year. Shorelunch brand chicken noodle soup (in the bag) is pretty darn good if you haven't had it. Cooks very quickly. That will be one of the options.

Bacon wrapped shrimp were added as were hot wings. I have a new way of doing hot wings that is to die for. I used to batter and deep fry, now I skip the batter and the oil and sprinkle the drummies liberally with Famous Dave's Wing Seasoning (very good). Grill and brush occasionally with a mix of Franks Red Hot and melted butter.

I plan on coming home with a few extra pounds

[Packpro]

We try to keep it good, quick, with easy clean up. Last year we bought 4 Costco Rotisserie Chickens. Cut them up into pieces. Placed them in foil pans with some broth and covered. We froze them. Thawed them out in camp reheated/steamed them on the gas grill. 20-30 minutes. Great meal feed 10 guys for $20.00. Real easy clean up.

[prov1900]

Packpro, welcome to HSO! That meal sounds good too. Throw that on top of some instant mashed potatoes and you would have a meal that would make everyone in camp come crawling.

We have done the freezing at home thing in the past, especially on the quick 3 day trips up to the Red for the October walleye run. Spaghetti would be another one that you could freeze in advance (at least sauce beyond the jar) as well as chili. Pulled pork frozen and thrown in the crockpot for the day too. We have our years that we 'streamline' it, then like this year we will try some more elaborate stuff.

[Packpro]

Thank you......We just added pulled pork to this menu. Great sugestion!!!!