Motorholme expert’s advice on keeping food fresh during camping trips

Camping, Motorholme says, provides some unique challenges regarding the maintaining of food safety, and as a general rule the more elaborate your meal plans, the more difficult this aspect of camping will be. Keeping perishable produce, such as dairy, fish and meat, as well as pre-cooked food, sufficiently cold during both the travelling and the camping time requires a good deal of careful planning. This type of food needs to be stored at temperatures of 5 degrees Celsius or less; if it isn’t, micro-organisms will begin to grow and spoil the food.

To reduce cross-contamination, Motorholme explains it’s worth taking some time to prepare perishable food before you set off on your travels. For instance, chicken fillets and beef burgers can be frozen before the holiday, and can be left in an ice-box on the way to the site, which will slow down the thawing time, and allow them to be eaten two or three days into the trip.

Fresh foods such as onions, potatoes, oranges and apples are safe to use without keeping cool, as are of course, dried and canned foods. Because of this, it’s best to rely on these food groups for camping, as much as possible. Even if you intend to bring along perishable food, Motorholme recommends including some canned goods, in case the ice box doesn’t keep the fresh food cool enough, or it ends up spoiling from being left out in the heat. Items such as jam, ketchup and pickles normally have a high enough sugar or acid content to keep them fresh even when not refrigerated, and such, they’re great for making plain camping meals a little more interesting. Motorholme (http://www.motorholme.tv)

In addition to maintaining good food hygiene whilst camping, Motorholme adds that it’s crucial to keep your cooking utensils as clean as possible. If you need to resort to cleaning with water from a nearby lake or river, make sure to boil it beforehand, as it could be contaminated with bacteria, even if it looks clean.