Hi there! Jenn and Mati here.
The best conversations we’ve ever had at camp are shared over a good meal at the end of the day, after a full day’s worth of excursions. No matter how tiring and difficult the day was, everything is forgotten when we can sit around the table to share some bomb food and a drink. Not to mention that ANYTHING & EVERYTHING tastes so much better outdoors!
Food is a big part of our culture as Koreans, and we believe that good food is essential in bringing a community together. Starting up a fire and cooking a meal that smells delicious will cause a stranger to stop by and start up a conversation. Food transcends cultural and social barriers and creates a common ground where people can engage to build one-of-a-kind relationships. We may not talk much around the dining table but presenting delicious, mouth-watering food for guests to enjoy says so much more ;) When we’re camping (no matter how tired we are) the thought of having a good meal will get everyone going! We live by the saying “we camp to eat”!
We are a team of husband, wife + our fur baby Luna. We go everywhere together :)
We work 8-5pm during the week and enjoy the outdoors as much as we can during the weekends! Pretty much defining the so-called weekend warriors.
We love exploring and searching for new camping spots, but given that we only have a short time over the weekend, we try to make most of our "exotic" trips over the few longer weekends that we have. We are thankful to have had the chance to visit places like Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Canada! Every trip holds a special place in our hearts.
We drive a 2019 Toyota 4Runner and our home on wheels is the iKamper Skycamp 3.0. We love our current set up! Our vehicle is capable to take us through any terrain and the iKamper provides us shelter pretty much wherever we are.
We set up camp a little differently every time. Our favorite set up is when we have space for our Annex Plus that creates a mini home out in the wild! It's an amazing feeling to know that you have a safe space to cook and enjoy time outdoors.
Our go-to outdoor menu is KBBQ (Korean BBQ) with Soju! We believe this is the ideal family style meal. Everyone gathers around the grill and self-serve themselves at their own pace. We use the iKamper disco skillet over the stove and set it on top of the table.
The basic spread we take to camp to enjoy this meal is as follows:
- meat (brisket, skirt steak, or pork belly)
- veggies (lettuce, jalapeno, sesame leaf, pickled radish)
- ssamjang
- sesame oil & salt
- kimchi
- rice
Our favorite “ssam” (meaning wrap) is to grab a piece of lettuce, add sesame leaf, add a piece of meat, add rice, jalapeno (if you like a little kick) dipped in ssamjang, kimchi (grilled is even better). Once you have all the ingredients on top of your lettuce, you fold it up into a tight ball as best as you can and fit it all in your mouth in one go. No bites here. The bigger you make your ssam, the bigger laugh for your people ☺ Lastly, you top it off with a shot of Soju.
Sometimes we include additional side dishes such as steamed eggs, bean paste soup, etc. but only on shorter trips where we don't have to take as much gear. We love that you can alter this "meal" as simple or as extensive as you'd like. For longer trips where our rig is packed to the rim, we've simply opted for pork belly and kimchi - the best combo ever (you grill the kimchi over the pork belly oil).
While we opt for simple meals here and there such as hot dogs and store-bought fried rice to heat up on Disco - we think one of the best meals we had at camp was a Tomahawk Steak with Dungeness Crab by the river. We used the disco pulley to hang the Tomahawk directly over a wood fire and used the stove portion to boil the crab! We love to throw in a fancy meal here and there because we love trying new things but also to test ourselves how ‘far’ we’ll go to eat well at camp.
We have to give credit to social media when it comes to finding recipes. It’s the best inspiration out there. Our social media algorithm near camping weekends is all food related. We love looking for recipes that are not ‘made for camping’ because it challenges us to be creative. It makes s us think about the way we pack our ingredients, the way we have to cook but also clean (the fun part), and the different equipment we need to take. Most of the time we end up tweaking the recipes to best fit our needs, meaning we try to simplify as much as we can! While you can find great recipes online, we believe the best meals are made by you!
The best tip we can give is that Jenn does a lot of prepping beforehand so that most of our ingredients are ready-to-go at camp. We sound like a broken record, but we love eating well at camp and sometimes planning a 4–5-day camp meal is not easy since we need so many ingredients! Also, we think about the waste we have to pack out, Jenn tries to minimize as much as possible. Most of the time, our Dometic 75 is packed to the rim because there’s so much, we want to eat out there. With that said, since our camping style is almost and always dispersed and we don’t have resources on site, all veggies are not only washed, but it’s also cut and chopped to use per each meal, broths are premade and jarred, sauces and condiments are packaged as needed, and lastly, most plastic is eliminated to reduce trash. We rarely take ingredients in their original packaging from the market, they are broken down to reduce trash and clean up.
While cooking a fancy meal sounds awesome, post clean-up could be one of the reasons that someone can dread camp cooking. No matter what you cook up, even as simple as boiling water for cup-a-noodle, it’s the quality and the experience that matters. There’s no good food and bad food, especially at camp. Who else can say they’ve had cup-a-noodle at the top of the mountains in Colorado or by that lake with a view? Not that many we suppose ☺
