The Camping Cookbook: recipes and food storage tips

From Nine To Noon, 11:30 am on 7 October 2019

When food-lovers Andrea Lo Vetere and Sara Mutande moved to New Zealand, they become passionate about camping.

But one night, eating prepackaged food on the Routeburn Track, the couple (who are from Sicily and Spain respectively) started questioning why camping food couldn't be… better.

They've written The Camping Cookbook with 30 Mediterranean-inspired recipes and practical tips for organising food for camping.

The Camping Cookbook is for people like them who don't want to forgo the pleasure of eating well while they're camping, Andrea Lo Vetere tells Kathryn Ryan.

When it comes to camping food, a bit of forward-thinking and home prep goes a long way, Andrea says.

For example, homemade sundried tomato pesto can work as a dip, a sandwich spread and a pasta sauce.

A delicious eggplant sandwich is made with the eggplant cooked in foil on the campfire and a beer cheese fondue cooks perfectly on a little camping stove, Andrea says.

One of his favourite recipes in the book is for sofrito – a ready-to-use mix of salted and pan-fried onion, celery and carrot which is the basis for many Mediterranean dishes.

"We came up with this idea – rather than having to bring an onion, a carrot and all this bulky food, you can just have this ready-chopped… you can just put a spoon of sofrito in your pan."

It's important to keep your camping food well-organised, Andrea says, and The Camping Cookbook includes a storage section.

When you're packing your chilly bin for camping, Andrea recommends putting a sponge on the bottom of it first to absorb liquid and keep the bin clean.