Vacuum Food Sealer - you might not know it but you need one of these!

I have a ridiculous amount of camping equipment that I have accumulated over many years of happy camping. Much of it is to do with preparing and cooking food because this is something I really enjoy.

When I know we are going away camping I get a lot of pleasure from planning some meals in advance. That isn't to say that we aren't spontaneous - if we discover a wonderful farmers market or a little roadside stall we will always stop and buy something - I just like to know that I have a couple of meals ready to go to make life a little easier on site. Much as I enjoy cooking, I am on holiday too and I don't want to miss out on any fun just because there are spuds to peel!

One of the most useful gadgets I have is my vacuum food sealer. There are many makes available on the market, ranging from ones suitable for professional kitchens to ones for the home cook. Mine was about £40 and it does the job beautifully.

Basically, you put your food into a special bag and the machine sucks all of the air out. The result is that it takes up a lot less space in your fridge/freezer and  the foods keeps for longer without spoiling. I use it at home all of the time but I also use it for campsite grub. I marinate some meat or add a spicy rub and then vacuum seal it. You can then leave it in the fridge or freeze it, allowing it to defrost slowly in your cool box or camping fridge.

I often prepare the meat for chicken fajitas like this, chopping it into strips and coating it in the spice mix before vacuum packing it ready for a first night meal. When my son goes away on his Duke of Edinburgh expeditions we vacuum all of his stuff because it keeps it fresher for longer and it takes up much less space.

Another family favourite is Balsamic Steaks from Sara Buenfeld from the BBC Good Food website:-

Balsamic Steak Recipe

Ingredients

2tbsp balsamic vinegar (not top of the range stuff but not drain cleaner either!).
2tsp concentrated liquid beef stock (I use Knorr)
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
1tbsp whole grain mustard
1tbsp clear honey
2tbsp oil (I use local rapeseed oil, the original recipe said olive oil)
6 sirloin steaks (as thick as you like - if they are very thin just reduce the marinating time - if there are only four of you you probably won't need six steaks but I wouldn't bother reducing the amount of marinade)

Method

First mix together the vinegar, stock, garlic, mustard, honey and olive oil and add some pepper but no salt. Add the steaks and turn to coat on both sides. At this point I vacuum seal my steaks but they can be left, covered, in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

 After the marinating time you have a choice. You can remove them from the marinade, wipe off any excess, chuck them on the BBQ and serve with salad, garlic bread, new potatoes or whatever else takes your fancy.

Alternatively, the steaks can be frozen, in their vacuum bag if you have a vacuum sealer or in an ordinary freezer bag, for a month. If I know I am going camping I freeze them, taking them out of the freezer before we leave home. I can then cook them on the first or second night away. Delicious! Crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy!