Ward off critters & keep food fresh with Mylar packaging

Eatin' Good on the Road

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4. Make friends with mixes. You can make pancakes from scratch, but why take the time when you can grab a mix? If you don't like the mixes in the store, get online for some premium mixes, or make your own. You can buy great mixes for everything from main dishes and cookies to breads and desserts. They'll save time and fix that emergency craving for chocolate chip cookies. They'll even give you something to do on that rainy day when you can't go to the beach. Pay attention to packaging. Mylar will ward off the critters and keep your mixes fresher than plastic or paper.

5. Stock up before you leave home. Buy everything you need before you leave home. Buy extraordinary items that you might possibly need. Organize and put it away. If you have to stop at a grocery store, make it a mad dash for perishables.

6. Do some of the work at home. If you love spaghetti, sauté the burger and onions at home, and stick it in the freezer. If you can't live without those favorite muffins, that's okay. Measure and mix all the dry ingredients and put them in a tight container, and you have your own semi-mix ready for the liquids and the mixing. Be sure to put a copy of the directions in the container.

7. At the end of the season, unpack the RV. By the end of the season, the RV pantry is probably in chaos anyway. Bring your goodies in and eat them over the winter. Start fresh in the spring. Emptying the RV of food stuffs is a good practice to keep your rolling palace bug free.

There you go! Pay a little attention to details, get it done before you leave, and you'll be eating better than ever on the road -- with less frustration and work.

5/01/05

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Dennis Weaver -- having burnt food from Miami, Florida to Point Barrow, Alaska -- is RTA's road food expert. He has logged thousands of hours on the roads, trails, and waterways of America including many of Alaska's wilderness rivers and has consistently been elected the trips' "chief cook and bottle washer." Dennis is currently general manager at The Prepared Pantry, a company in Rigby, Idaho, that produces ready-to-eat meals and baking mixes packaged in Mylar. Weatherproof, bug-proof, and critter resistant, they're ideal for both roadtrips and back woods camping. Dennis may be reached at dweaver@preparedpantry.com.