"FASHIONABLE" RECIPES--PACKABLE FOOD--AND THREE MEALS IN A SHOE BOX

When your enthusiastic editor (who is also my optimistic daughter) informed me that this issue would be on fashion and travel her suggestion to me was packable food! Packable food? Hoping with all my heart she did not mean bologna and mayonnaise on white bread or peanut butter and pickle on wheat and a package of Oreo cookies, I proceeded.

Having cooked under some unique conditions while moving and coping as an Air Force family her request seemed like a piece of cake (dark chocolate with white chocolate frosting, please). When you've served a planned dinner for 12 in G.I. mess kits because all of your household goods were unexpectedly packed early (leaving the Azores, Portugal for return to the U.S.) or you've cooked dinner for five for 3 days in an electric corn popper (the moving van arrived 3 days late) surely you can plan packable food for a week-end in a shoe box (with just a little cheating)!

HERE'S THE SCENARIO. You're spending a week end in the country either flying or driving. You'd rather play--at what ever it is you play at--than shop for food after you arrive. OK, maybe milk, bread, butter, wine or beer and lettuce but nothing that requires onsite planning. The night you arrive your main dish is Layered Chili Cheese Casserole with baked brandied apples for dessert. Brunch the next day is Chilled Mandarin Oranges with coconut and Curried Eggs--on toast (if you stopped at the gas station/grocery) or on crackers if you didn't. Dinner that night is Hot Crab Salad.

IN TO YOUR DUFFLE BAG--check out E-Bags. They're great!--tuck in

• a can opener,
• a folding knife,
• a cork screw,
• an egg slicer and
• a spoon or rubber scraper.

Between your unmentionables put

• a 15 oz. can of chili,
• a small can of diced green chili's,
• an 11 oz can of mandarin oranges and a can of crabmeat.

IN THE SHOE BOX put the following:

• 1--3-pak aluminum 8 x 3 3/4 inch loaf pans,
• one small onion,
• 1-4 oz. pkg. grated Mexican cheeses,
• one 4 3/4 oz. bag Fritos (pop the seal and let the air out to conserve space),
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut in a ZipLock,
• 4 to 6 hard boiled eggs,
• 1/2 teaspoon curry in a piece of twisted plastic wrap,
• 1 small bag of salted peanuts,
• one lemon,
• 2 teaspoons dehydrated onion,1
• large rib of celery cut to fit in a Zip Lock,
• a package of microwave popcorn and a teaspoon of Johnny's Garlic Bread Seasoning in a twisted plastic wrap to season the popcorn,
• some tea bags,
• dried apples and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in twisted plastic,
• a miniature bottle of brandy.

THE REMAINDER OF THE ITEMS that go in the shoe box are THE LITTLE PACKETS you buy at the fast food or take-out deli because they're efficient to pack, flexible to use, won't break or leak and get messy and they're sealed to stay fresh and safe (put them in a Zip Lock for extra safety). They're the perfect shoe box items. They are:

• 12 packets (1 tabsp each) mayonnaise,
• 2 soy sauce,
• 2 catsup,
• 1 red pepper flake,
• 4 parmesan cheese,
• 2 pickle relish,
• 2 mustard,
• 12 packets of crackers,
• salt and pepper,
• 12 or more packets of sugar depending on your taste.

RECIPES ARE SIMPLE. FOR THE ARRIVAL NIGHT DINNER you'll find the Layered Chili Casserole in a back issue of Get Lost Magazine under "Comfort Food Dinners." Bake in one of the aluminum loaf pans. For ease crush the Fritos in the bag first. Use the recipe but add a layer of drained diced chili's on top of the cheese layer and reserve 1/4 of the onion for tomorrow nights Hot Crab Salad. Rehydrate the dried apples in the mandarin orange liquid and water following package directions. Add 2 strips of lemon zest, chopped and let sit until rehydrated. Pour off excess liquid. Add sugar, cinnamon, 1 tablespoon brandy and a little butter if you have it and bake.

BRUNCH suggestion is for Mandarin Oranges and Curried eggs. Warm unpeeled eggs in hot water. Peel and slice eggs. Make sauce from four tablesoons (packets) of mayonnaise, lemon juice to taste, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon curry powder, 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, a pinch or two of sugar and a little water to thin to the proper consistency. Place egg slices on buttered toast or crackers. Pour sauce over. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Keep warm in oven. Sprinkle coconut over chilled drained mandarin oranges and serve. Note: you drained the oranges last night and used the juice for rehydrating the dried apple slices.

DINNER IS HOT CRAB SALAD. Mix 1 can drained and rinsed crab meat with 6 tablespoons (packets) mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery, the rest of the onion, chopped and a little curry powder. Sprinkle with crushed cracker crumbs and grated parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees in one of the loaf pans until hot and bubbly.

If you bought a head of lettuce when you were at the gas station mix

• 2 packets of mayonnaise,
• 1 packet of soy sauce,
• 1 packet of catsup
• a few red pepper flakes and
• a squeeze of lemon juice and
• a chopped egg if any is left.

Serve on lettuce and sprinkle with chopped peanuts.

At this point you must have used almost everything you brought. Pop the corn and sprinkle with the garlic seasoning and TOMORROW MORNING on your way home go by Mc Donalds for and EGG McMUFFIN!

Let me know how you like the idea. Love, MOM

Martha Strom has done it again, combining shoe boxes and food for couture week. Truly, have a look in the Eats archive for more brilliant stuff like this.