Camp Mush with Dried Beef and Greens
Cornmeal boiled into a savory porridge, with dried meat, egg powder, and greens stirred through.
- calories
- 680
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 136
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 12 min
- water
- 450 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Fine cornmeal | 1/2 cup | instant polenta cooks faster than coarse grind |
|---|---|---|
| Dried beef or plain jerky | 1.5 oz | chopped small at home so it rehydrates |
| Powdered whole egg | 3 tbsp | |
| Dried mustard greens or kale flakes | 1/4 cup, packed | |
| Bouillon powder | 1 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste | the bouillon is already salty, so go light |
Method
- Drop the chopped meat and the greens into 450 ml of water and bring it to a boil. Give it three minutes to soften.
- Pour the cornmeal in slowly with the water still moving, stirring the whole time. Dumping it all at once makes lumps you will not get out.
- Cut the heat to the lowest flame it will hold and stir for five minutes, until it pulls away from the side of the pot.
- Off the heat, stir in the egg powder and the bouillon. The residual heat is enough to cook the egg; boiling it makes it grainy.
- Pour the oil over the top, season, and eat straight from the pot.
This started as a bulk feed recipe: meat scraps boiled soft, salted hard, then thickened with cornmeal until it set into a mush. The logic scales down to one pot on a stove. Grain plus fat plus whatever protein you have is a complete dinner, and cornmeal is cheap, dense, and cooks in water alone.
The trail changes are about weight and safety. Fresh scraps and eggs become dried beef and egg powder, and the greens are dehydrated instead of pulled from a produce bin. The egg goes in off the heat because it is doing two jobs, protein and binding, and boiled egg powder curdles into grit. The oil at the end is not optional: without it this is a bowl of starch.
Packing
Cornmeal, egg powder, greens, and bouillon go in one bag. Meat and oil ride separately so nothing goes rancid into the grain.
Variations
- Instant rice in place of the cornmeal holds up better if you are packing the leftovers cold for lunch.
- A handful of instant oats or barley flakes stirred in at the end thickens it further and adds fiber.
- Hot sauce or a spoon of chili crisp covers a lot of ground here.
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/what-kind-of-dog-food-do-you-use.210679