Gourmet Camp Cooking with Fresh Prep

When it comes to cooking while camping, our meal choices are typically pretty lousy, and food is always an afterthought. We tend to stick to unhealthy choices like hot dogs or mac and cheese – things that are easy to cook over a fire or a camping stove and require minimal effort. While the first time you cook a wiener over an open fire is a camping rite of passage, it starts to get old and not all that exciting! But what if there were a way to make cooking while camping more gourmet, healthy, and easy? Yep, sign us up.

When we first heard about Fresh Prep’s meal delivery service here in Vancouver, we were enthralled by the idea of cooking at home; it’s almost like having a personal chef curate meals just for you, except you get all the credit! Imagine getting a cooler of goodies delivered right to your door. Inside that cooler is a beautiful sight: brown paper bags containing ready to cook meals, all filled with pre-prepped ingredients. THAT’S RIGHT, you heard us correctly – all the veggies, meats and/or grains are portioned out and prepped for you in individual baggies, and even the spices, seasonings and garnishes required are ready to go. With each meal comes a super easy to follow set of instructions. Simply follow them from start to finish, and 15 to 30 minutes later – you have a gourmet meal made with fresh, organic, and locally sourced ingredients (whenever possible), bursting with flavour. Rinse any provided packaging and pop them back into the cooler, and Fresh Prep will recycle everything responsibly for you. Little to no prep time and minimal cleanup. That’s our kind of scenario.

When Fresh Prep approached us with the idea of collaborating on a super easy, one-skillet meal that we could prepare while camping, our minds were blown. How amazing would it be to have a mouthwatering meal while out in nature, something that you’d typically only ever consider making at home? We were so down for the challenge. The experts at Fresh Prep helped to come up with the perfect meal – ready in just 30 minutes: incredible and savoury deconstructed cabbage rolls.

We decided to bring our Fresh Prep cooler to camping at one of our favourite sites outside the city: Golden Ears Provincial Park. We love this campsite for many reasons. It’s quiet, peaceful, immersed in nature, but mostly – we’re in love with the mossy, vivid green trees that surround you and the warm light that filters through the branches onto the forest floor. It’s magical and lush, year-round.

At just over an hour outside of the city, Golden Ears was the perfect spot to test out our first Fresh Prep camping meal. We’re not expert chefs by any means, but we’d venture to say that literally, ANYONE could make this dish; it’s so easy! After quickly setting up our tent (and working up an appetite), we tossed our Fresh Prep meal ingredients into one pot and sat back to let it simmer. When 20 minutes were up, we eagerly dished out our meals, garnished them with the provided fixings, and sat down to enjoy. It was love at first bite. Our deconstructed cabbage rolls were insanely delicious, and eating them out in nature took everything to the next level. It’s pretty safe to say that our eyes were opened to the type of experience we can have while camping. Fresh Prep has spoiled us for life.