Backpacking Food
- This topic has 25 replies, 25 voices, and was last updated Dec 25, 2010 at 9:19 pm by
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http://www.jetboil.com/recipes I have only tried a few of these recipes. My kids are fond of the eggs in a bag.
I just saw a Spec Ops guy on TV say that Jello was a great food to pack in. Lots of calories and easy to prepare and carry.
When in the backcountry my primary interests are fishing and backcountry exploration and food is a secondary focus. I suggest looking into freezer bag cooking (SEE: http://www.trailcooking.com/). Essentially you do all your prep work at home and simply add boiling water to a zip lock freezer bag and eat out of the bag (no dirty pots, dishes, minimal trash, etc). As others suggest owning a dehydrator helps a lot. The meals are excellent and taste much better than the freeze dried meals.
Here is an example recipe:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/spicy-cheesy-beans-and-riceIf you don’t mind cooking in a pot and cleaning it up they have other excellent recipes such as:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/harvest-pastaSince you are only boiling water you can really knock down the weight of your stove/pot etc by using this system. The following kitchen I use (including water purifier) weighs less than one pound and takes up less space in my pack than a football.
Cookware – Snow Peak Trek 900 mL Ti Pot + Pie Pan Lid
Stove Windscreen/Stand – Trail Designs Caldera Cone (SP900)
Stoves – Trail Designs 12-10 Alcohol Stove
Stove Storage Container – Trail Designs Caldera Cone Caddy
Stove Accessories – Trail Designs Fuel Bottle with Measuring Cup
Fire Starters – Mini Bic Lighter
Spork – Light my fire spork
BowlZach, on the first night of backpacking you can still eat that big steak. My friend Mike turned me on to the idea. Prepare the stake at home, add all your seasoning and vacuum pack it, put it in the freezer. Put the frozen steak in between your sleeping back, wrapped up of course. When you get to your destination for the first night you will have a nicely thawed out steak ready to be pan seared or grilled.
We have had a nice steak dinner on several occasions, and boy does it really hit the spot after a tough day of backpacking.
Packet chicken, instant rice, freeze dried peas/corn, etc (harmony house is a good place to grab freeze dried items), spices*.
Its not backpacking, but a can of your favorite campbells soup heated up on the tiny bunsen burner type thing when doing the all day deerhunting sit sure hits the spot.
Zach, the Mountain House is good if you was prepared dehydrated. If you want to go hard-core, get the NOLS cookbook and do it like the Outward Bounds folks.
I’ll second the trout. Backpacking is the perfect occasion to eat off the land a little. The number of fish you kill this way will not affect the fishery one bit; the environmental impact will be less than eating just about any kind of meal you can carry in. I usually plan on fish for one meal with a backup of granola bars. Fishing for dinner adds a real glow to those last couple hours of fishing.
Of course, I understand that native brookies are small and feel pretty special. I admit I’ve never eaten one because I never pack in just to target them. But you won’t hurt the fishery by eating a few.
I also enjoy the dry mix hummus that comes as a powder. It goes great with a few cut veggies or with toasted pita wedges.
Another staple are simply “upscale ramen”, the kind that can be purchased in a variety of flavors at Asian markets.
MaryJane’s Farm dehydrated food beats Mountain House 10xs over! It’s my favorite backpacking food, and I take it with me on every trip. You can also order in bulk, save some $, and mix things up. http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/categories/food-pantry.asp. Love it.
Also, the dehydrate-everything idea is a good one!
My old man used to do quite a bit of hiking. 5 day long trails, and they would eat well.
You can take red meat and chicken. Just Vacuum pack it and then freeze it. Eat the chicken first then the red meat. And the cooler the weather, the better.
They would even take a few froties with. Always laughed at some of the other members of the group who would eat soya mince (eeew). ;DNowdays you get these packets of rice which gets boiled for 15 minutes in the bag it comes in. I take them to work and eat it for lunch. Its vacuumed too, so it you can take a few in your back pack and wont even notice they’re there.
Oh and I’ve seen that some guys take sachets of cooking oil. Then you can take 1 or 2 potatoes and make fries….
Hotdogs work well too. A friend makes a bread with a can of beer, flower and salt, which is absolutely yummy too.
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