Grape and Chicken Camp Salad
Canned chicken, halved grapes, and shelf-stable mayo packets. A cold lunch that needs no stove and no cooler.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 60
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Day hike
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Canned chicken | 2 cans, 10 oz total | drain hard, rinse if the can flavor bothers you |
|---|---|---|
| Red grapes | 1 cup, halved | day one only; swap raisins after that |
| Celery | 1 rib, sliced thin | |
| Scallion | 1, sliced | or 1 tsp onion powder |
| Shelf-stable grated parmesan | 1/3 cup | the green-can kind, not fresh |
| Mayo packets | 1/2 cup, about 8 packets | |
| Dried dill weed | 1 tsp | |
| Dried parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Crackers or rolls | to serve |
Method
- Mix the dill, parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pepper together at home so camp is one pour.
- Drain the chicken cans over a tree, not your cook site. Squeeze the lid down hard to get the last of the water out.
- Dump the chicken into a gallon freezer bag and break up the chunks with a spoon.
- Add the grapes, celery, scallion, parmesan, and spice mix. Squeeze in the mayo.
- Seal the bag with the air pressed out and knead it until everything is coated. Two minutes.
- Eat it on crackers or a roll straight out of the bag.
This started as a picnic salad that assumes a refrigerator. The trail version swaps rotisserie chicken for canned, fresh parmesan for the shelf-stable grated kind, and jarred mayo for single-serve packets. Packets matter more than they look: an open jar of mayo in a warm pack is a bad decision, but sealed packets are stable and you use exactly what you open.
The grapes are the only ingredient with a clock on them. They travel fine for a day in a hard container, and after that dried fruit does the same job of cutting the fat. Everything gets mixed in the bag it came in, so there is no bowl and nothing to wash.
Packing
Spices go in one small bag. Mayo packets are the whole trick: they hold at ambient temperature until you open them, and they portion themselves. Grapes ride in a hard container or you get juice in your pack.
Variations
- Skip the grapes and use raisins or dried cranberries. Then it keeps past day one.
- Celery salt in place of the rib if you do not want to carry a vegetable.
- Freeze-dried chicken rehydrated in cold water cuts about four ounces of carry weight per serving.
https://mealswithmaria.site/waldorf-salad-original-recipe