# Cooking on the Trail /Camping



## Jake Levi (Jun 9, 2011)

I have done and do quite a bit of over night camping, but what do you do when you are hiking and camping? I know it is much different from what I am doing from my vehicle.

I have tried MREs, nuff there, the freeze dryed stuff I have seen advertised in Hiking and other places to me is way overpriced and sure lacks a lot. I use oatmeal mixed with dry milk for breakfast, have packed instant coffee but when goats are packing I will have my camp percolator. 

I havent paid much attention to the foil packs of 'instant' dishes but will start trying a few. 

So, what do you want to share of what works for you?


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

I only go ultralight when headed for the desert where there is no water. Then everyone carries water and the meals are stuff I usually eat for snacks. 

A couple bags of Oberto Beef pepperoni, and/or beef Jerky
(when I make my own beef jerkey it is thinner, drier and saltier than store-bought and will keep for year in the open air.)
Smoked almonds, peanuts
Breakfast Granola bars of various brands and flavors
Tuna fish, smoked oysters, etc
A canister of powdered orange juice, ice tea, and other water flavors
Ramen noodles
Hard candies
Oranges, Lemons
Canned into beans, or chili (can be eaten cold or heated in the can)

I bring a sierra cup to heat water and do little or no cooking.

When I go where there is water, then I carry what I normally eat at home:

I open eggs and put them in a container and freeze them
I have another container for butter
I freeze steaks using dry ice so they stay frozen longer (steaks don't fall apart on the grill like hamburger)
Potatoes, onions, cauliflower, squash
If I take celery or carrots I will put them in a bottle of water.
Whole dill pickles
pita breads, wheat tortillas or hard rolls
Block of extra sharp cheddar
Pancake mix in a plastic mixing bottle, just add water and shake. 
Frozen bacon or sausage
Coffee and a percolator
As well as the snack stuff above.

I carry some dry ice and most of the few bottles of water will be frozen as well. I drink them as they thaw when they still have a bit if ice in them.

I carry a small bread cooling rack and use it a a BBQ over an open fire. 1 Pot for heating water and 1 no-stick frying pan. (Wipe it out while hot and oil it, rather than wash it.)


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## Jake Levi (Jun 9, 2011)

Hi Bob

We are doing similar, I do carry dry rice, trail mix and mixed nuts, occasional box of mac-cheese. Pita bread is almost a natl food with me. I do like fruit cake when I can get it, the granola bars etc, If I am on a 3 day then the 2nd day I always cook, I have a small pot that holds a skillet, and carry a small water heater for instant coffee and coffee creamer. 

I have been making my version of jerky for just over ten years when I learned to make biltong in S Africa, its like jerky only thicker, and I rub it all sides with salt and pepper and its marionated in a beef marionade. I pack it into zip bags and allow one or two chunks a day, sometimes dice it into the cooking rice. 

I do take a couple cans of tuna or same size chicken. Add one or both to rice. 

I am really interested in what others do. 

I have a small folding grill with legs I cook on. My cup hangs on the back of my pack on a carabiner. I have 3 actually, a light day pack, a heavier one and the internal frame pack which I can live out of for 3-5 days. But looking to shift that burden to the goats. 

Sometimes I take the packs of dried lipton soups, I use two, as a drink or stir one into the rice . Or just as soup. I would like to find a good brand of mixed dried vegetables, so far they are pretty dismal.


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## jeep (Jan 18, 2011)

It's funny you brought this up. Today I was looking online for what other do for lunch on the trail. I'm headed to the Wind Rivers in a couple weeks for a 4 day backpacking trip. Anyhow, I definately don't carry anything exciting, thats why I was looking and there are quite a few different recipes for the trail, but here's some that I carry.

a good trail mix with yogurt pieces, almonds, cashews, etc.
wheat thins
canned cheese
dried fruit, fruit snacks
granola bars
beef jerky 
goldfish
animal crackers
smoked salmon and cream cheese (saw online and gonna try this)
oatmeal packets or bulk
hot chocolate packets or bulk
mountain house dehydrated meals, occasional desserts
(MRE's are too heavy and too big)
jolly ranchers, hard candy
propel or electrolyte supplements for water bottles (life saver)
dried pancake mix (might try this)
almonds or nuts
oil and seasoning for fresh caught fish dinners

That's the jist of it all. Good luck


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## Jake Levi (Jun 9, 2011)

We are similar, but, the Mtn Home line seems pricey, for my budget anyhow. As close to that I come is the Lipton line, but do want to find more substanial stuff. The ramen noodles work well but have so many additives I feel like its a chemical mix rather then food. 

I am still looking, I think most of my hikes will be overnights with the occasional 3 day.


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

for over nighters up to three day camp outs are easy. i don't do much different than i do at home.
dinners are top roman noodles with Costco bacon bits and an egg. i make egg drop soup.
mac and cheese with bacon is a good one too.

breakfasts are pancakes and eggs. or oatmeal , i also make omelets at times.

lunch are the hardest for me. normally it is kipper snacks and cheese and crackers. some times it is PB&J ib a Tortola.

for longer trips i fork out more money for the freeze dried foods.

a note on eggs if the eggs are in a shell no cracks they stay good several days. face it a hen don't lay ten eggs in a day and start setting. she lays ten eggs over the course of ten days and the eggs still hatch.
the trick is packing them with out cracking them.
i pack them in there egg carton and seat belt them in place with masking tape. they wobble and hit one an other this is what breaks them. when you seat belt them in they don't crack there heads.


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## gsbswf (Apr 5, 2009)

I found this site in my searching.

http://www.backpackingchef.com/

I have a dehydrator that used to get a whole lot more use than it has been recently. As the goats help me get further into the backcountry with my bad back, I expect to be getting back into making real dehydrated meals instead of snacks and dry goods etc. I am in the mountains almost every weekend and when the kids get old enough to pack, I will be overnight in the mountains most weekends. The point made on the site linked is that when you are spending more than a 7-10 day once-a-year trip out there, it is good to make a variety of tasty and nutritious meals. You can get by on jerky and trail mix, but that can get tiresome after a while. The same holds true as far as taste, nutrition and cost of pre-packaged backpacking meals. Sodium content is one of the real big issues to me. We are a low/no salt household. While you need more salt when hiking/exercising, those meals can get you to the point of heart failure. I have an extra antelope (or two.... maybe closer to 2.5) since I have a tendency to worry that I won't get and elk and I need enough meat for the year (we don't buy beef). Since I did get an elk I am planning on grinding and drying a bunch of antelope in various flavors (Asian, Italian, Indian etc.) for an easy mix with rice and vegetables.

Also, I noticed several mentions of tuna. I don't care for tuna, so I do miss out on that useful and easy source of good protein, but I have a tech who lives on those pouches. Fairly inexpensive and easy to carry and less room and weight than a can.

Also, jeep, I live on the west side of the Wind River Mountains, so if you need anything or have questions, let me know.


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## Huckleberry (Mar 12, 2010)

I tend to be a bit of a food snob, but still like things to be easy. I've found hundreds of great meals on Backpacker Magazine's website. They are all light weight and many are one pot meals which I love. As far as dried veggies and fruit go, they are very easy to dry yourself on a cheap dehydrator (try Walmart).


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## cryptobrian (Apr 26, 2012)

I do a bit of backpacking and don't do things much differently when taking the goats. If I took an entire string, I might splurge, but I also actually like the idea of minimizing my impact. Which means that whatever I pack, it's got to be light ... and for food, that generally means that if it has a high water content, I don't consider it.

I make use of commercial dried food. I particularly like Mary Jane's Farm products. I also do a bit of my own deyhdrating of fresh fruit, make fruit leather, etc. I make some of my own freezer bag meals and usually even buy Mary Jane's in bulk and use the same freezer bag method for those.

I don't care to break out a stove or rehydrate for lunch, so I usally go with sandwiches. I make bagels for the bread as they hold up better for packing and for toppings use things like peanut butter and honey which won't go bad. I make trail bars to go with them.

I have links to some freezer bag cooking info ad books, as well as links for Mary Jane's and even the recipe I use for bagels and trail bars here:

http://www.4hpackgoats.org/learning-res ... hy-cooking

I've tried lots of contraptions over the years, trying to achieve a worthwhile back-country coffee. Most are either too heavy or too messy or have poor reslts. Witht he release of Starbucks VIA Ready-brew, I don't even bother. This is good enough to not bother with taking along another contraption.

Brian


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## Jake Levi (Jun 9, 2011)

The backpacking chef site looks good, I subscribed to the newsletter and like some of the recipes I have seen.

Got some great input so far, its helped me a LOT already, I hope others find it helpful.


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## saph (Dec 19, 2009)

I too have a food dehydrator & use it regularly. 

Spaghetti sauce from a jar is one of the easiest things to dehydrate & it re-hydrates readily. Here's how I use my dehydrated sauce: just boil enough water to cover uncooked pasta. Then add your pasta & let it boil. When the pasta is nearly cooked, DON'T drain it--add the dehydrated sauce. The remaining water in the pasta pot will rehydrate your sauce. Add a little more water if necessary to keep it "saucy." Let it sit for a few minutes & will turn into a yummy pasta dinner. Sprinkle with cheese. I have also dehydrated greek (kalamata) olives & added those to my pasta. Pitted kalamata olives actually dehydrate really well!

Potato-vegetable chowder: buy instant mashed potatoes and add dehydrated vegetables & canned ham to make your own hearty soup/stew.

I also buy dehydrated refried beans at our health food store & mix them with instant brown rice, sprinkle grated cheese on them & wrap them in flour tortillas.

Lots of nuts & dehydrated fruit for trail snacks. I use my dehydrator to make dried bananas, apples, & apricots. 

For lunch I carry hard salami & pre-sliced swiss cheese on crackers--salami keeps forever.

Those are just a few of my meal ideas. I have a great recipe for "Logan Bread" that I will add to this thread.


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## saph (Dec 19, 2009)

A person can supposedly survive on one of these for something like 3 days! Well, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is a perfect hiking/backpacking/skiing snack

 LOGAN BREAD

1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable (canola) oil
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup honey
1 + 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup "chia" seeds (available at natural food stores, or you can substitute poppy seeds or flax seeds)
3 + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sesame meal (whirl 2/3 cups sesame seeds around in a blender until the mixture resembles corn meal)
1/3 cup powdered milk
1 + 1/2 tsp salt
1+ 1/2 tsp baking powder

Cream butter & sugar together well. 
Add oil, molasses, honey, sunflower seeds, stirring after each addition.
In another bowl, combine flour, sesame meal, powdered milk, salt, & baking powder.
Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients, a little at a time. FINISH MIXING WITH HANDS. Batter should be stiff & gritty.
Pat dough into 9 x 9 pan so that bread is 1 inch thick.
Bake @ 300 degrees for about 40 minutes (sometimes a little longer).
Let cool 15 minutes before removing. Cut into 3-inch (or smaller) squares, Complete cooling, and wrap each square individually with foil.
Keeps forever!


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## Jake Levi (Jun 9, 2011)

That sounds great, I do a similar but less sugar and less molasses, (diabetic), but I do add nuts to it, and raisins and any other dried fruit. The honey is about the same, its a preservative. 

It does keep well, great on the trail or with coffee.


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## Jake Levi (Jun 9, 2011)

I clean forgot all about this, was reading the thread this morning, munching one of these when duh ! Hit. My grandmother will show up and whack me alongside the head, I learned to make these in her kitchen , watching her, and then doing it. 

Irish Soda Bread, traditional and non traditional. 

start with fresh ingrediants, at room temp, 

use all purpose wheat flower , not 'best for any bread', they are for yeasty breads. 

I now use whole wheat flour, any wheat will work. 

4 cups whole wheat flour
Set aside 1 cup more flourm
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 tspn salt
2.5 cups buttermilk(can use other milk but buttermilk is best)

preheat oven to 450 F,

mix dry ingrediants in a large bowl, using the fingers of ONE hand. Make a well in the center of the dry mix, add 2 cups buttermilk all at once, hold back 1/2 cup later if needed. 

Work quick, one hand make one large ball, add more flour if its sticky, more milk if its too dry and crumbly or full of cracks, 

dont delay, if you overwork it it wont be good, the more you work it the worse it will be, 

place dough ball on ungreased cookie sheet(dutch oven works fine too) sota flatter ball, with knife cut a cross in the top, just a bit more then a 1/2" deep, 
cover lossely with aluminum foil, 
bake 15 mins at 450, lower temp to 400 and another 15 minsm remove foil and turn pan around halfway, bake anotehr 15 to 30 mins until loaf sounds 'hollow', put knife in , if it comes out clean its done, most say to let it cool but I love it hot with honey or maple syrup, only the honey is traditional, use as bread or pastry, 

for un traditional add raisins, fruit, seeds, a beaten egg to batter, sprinkle a few oatmeal flakes on top , nuts whatever, it dresses up easy.I like the plain ones, break the loaf into four sections and enjoy. It keeps well in back packs and can be a quick meal.

This works well in a dutch oven and a camp fire, done it, but never back packing in, I expect some variation can be made in a lighter oven or such.


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## Harriet Aiken (Nov 14, 2010)

Here's my favorite meal that is lightweight and easy.

1foil packet chicken
1 2.5 oz. packet shelf-stable ranch dressing
1/8 C raisins
1/8 C cashews
1/2 T curry powder
1/2 t cumin
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t salt
1/8 t black pepper 
2 tortillas or pitas

At Home:
Put everything, except chicken and dressing, in a quart-size zip-top bag.

In Camp:
Empty chicken packet and ranch cup into the zip-top bag and mix thoroughly. Scoop onto tortillas or pitas.


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## idahonancy (Dec 13, 2008)

Mary Janes Farms has great products. I learned from these products that you can make griddle cakes from lots of things. I carry a small back pack fry pan and foldable spatula with a light weight pack pack stove. I make griddle cakes for the obvious pancakes but I also do it for brownies, and corn bread (add black bean flakes for protien). You can find lots of fun mixes that you only need to add water. Put the pan on low heat and use a cover. Flip the griddle cake once. It is amazing you can get a lot of rise and fluff cooking these package mixes in a fry pan. Organic frozen vegtables make quick work for dehydrating your own high quality vegtables. There are also organic ramen noodles that seem safer to eat. The flavor package is separate so you can add the salt and flavor to your need. We carry titanium plates, and cups. They are very light weight and do not transfer heat well. I find the cups will keep my tea warm and the plate makes a good lid for the fry pan. One of the big hits at elk camp is Tang. It is the instant orange jucie. On cold mornings we drink it hot and it is great. Make at home energy bar recipie can be found online. These can be made ahead, wrapped and frozen.
IdahoNancy


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## TOU (Aug 18, 2013)

I really like this thread. One of my Scout's favorite camp meals which is fairy cheap and goes a long ways:

Zatarain's yellow rice, add extra rice & water & a chicken bullion cube or two, margarine or butter, add pre-cooked (at home) pre-chopped chicken breast and something like Vegall.










Also Zatarains Red Beans & rice, add extra rice & water and precooked & slice (at home) Kielbasa (sp?) sausage.










Downside to these two is they make LOTS and that they are is best in a big pot or Dutch-oven and need to simmer but both can be precooked and just reheated in water via the Ziploc freezer bag method which also works for individualized cooking.

There is the tried and true Omelet in a bag cooked the same way...require a larger aluminum pot of water put over a fire or on a stove.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

I have recently tried some old recipes. 

Hard tack - take flour and water. The ratio differs significantly in online recipes, so just mix it until it makes a dough. Roll it out anywhere from 1/4" to 3/4". Cut it any shape or size you want. If it is bigger and thicker, then poke fork holes in it and maybe score it to make it break easier. Bake it anywhere from 200 degrees to 420 degrees until it turns to brick. Let it cool. Bake it one to four times more. 

It'll keep forever if kept dry and away from bugs. You have to soak it, fry it in grease, or bust it with a rock to eat it. And don't eat too much at a time without lots of liquid so that it doesn't stop you up. 

The typical ration for a soldier was a pound of hard tack and a gallon of beer per day. The beer is so you don't care if you have to eat hard tack. 

I have made a few batches and it all gets eaten up before I can take a trip. One may wish to make the hard tack just so you can drink the beer. 

Beer is heavier than water which is about 8 pounds per gallon. So three people for three days need about 10 gallons, or 80-100 pounds. It takes two goats just to carry the drinks.

If you ration your hard tack as a sailor, then you get a pound a day with some measure of rum. Since I have been eating like a sailor... I just don't remember how much rum I have had ;-) The ration of rum is less than that of beer, so you can use fewer goats to carry the rum.

I have also been playing with the idea of pemmican. I have boiled down several pounds of fat into tallow. It smells great, but I just cannot get past the gag reflexes of pure tallow in my mouth. It is supposed to keep forever and it has about 250 calories per ounce. It makes a great energy bar if you intend to burn it. I can put some in other dishes that I am cooking to add calories to them, but I just can't get it past my lips by itself. I am guessing that I have just not had enough rum.

I think I may buy a commercial pemmican bar just to see if it is anything like what I have been trying to feed myself. They run about $7 or $8 per bar. I just don't know that I want to pay that much to gag myself. If I really WANT to puke, I'll just drink more rum. ;-)


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

I really like the idea of MRE's but at $5.00 per meal... nope. I could load up on double cheese burgers from Mc Donalds for lots cheaper and they keep for ever  hehe


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## TOU (Aug 18, 2013)

Bob Jones said:


> I have recently tried some old recipes.
> 
> Hard tack - take flour and water. The ratio differs significantly in online recipes, so just mix it until it makes a dough. Roll it out anywhere from 1/4" to 3/4". Cut it any shape or size you want. If it is bigger and thicker, then poke fork holes in it and maybe score it to make it break easier. Bake it anywhere from 200 degrees to 420 degrees until it turns to brick. Let it cool. Bake it one to four times more.
> 
> It'll keep forever if kept dry and away from bugs. You have to soak it, fry it in grease, or bust it with a rock to eat it.


Seriously..._*THAT*_ is what Hard Tack is?!? I had always envisioned it was a cross between a biscuit and soda cracker...well maybe it is a little bit. I have read a nearly all of Zane Gray's & Louis Lamour's books in my youth and never new that an never got around to looking it up. Thx.



> _*And don't eat too much at a time without lots of liquid so that it doesn't stop you up.*_
> 
> The typical ration for a soldier was a pound of hard tack and a gallon of beer per day. _*The beer is so you don't care if you have to eat hard tack.*_
> 
> ...


I guess you just need to drink just enough rum that you don't care about the prices and not so much that you chuck. 

Om my gosh Bob...this had me snorting in my raisin bran. Thx so much for the chuckles...and good info!  :-D


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## imported_ashley (Jun 9, 2011)

This is a great topic! I've been putting some time researching and experimenting with backpacking meals. One thing I have recently discovered is that mountain house meals, though are expensive, are not a bad choice as long as you don't have a sodium restriction... And you can add stuff to them. For example, as my husband and I were hiking into our elk bivy camp, there were some dumb grouse... and one of them ended up with one of my arrows in him...and ended up in pieces in our beef stroganoff. I pieced him up into the water we were boiling for the mountain house meal and just added him in to the meal, and it was not too bad!

I just got a dehydrator so I'm trying to learn about dehydrated meals so I can limit mountain house meals. You can dehydrate all kinds of stuff! And because I am not one to waste my appetite on mediocre food as I like to "enjoy" and not "survive" when hunting, im finding all kinds of good at the local store.. A company called Bear Creak has a great line of just-add-water soups/stews/chilli that you can use as a base and add other misc. dried favorites to, and the dirty rice mixtures are great too! I like the home made granola bar idea.. I want to try that one. My favorite breakfast is the oatmeal with powdered milk with misc fruit additives. You can even do regular cereal with powdered milk and just add water and have a bag-o-cereal for breakfast...


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

"You can even do regular cereal with powdered milk and just add water and have a bag-o-cereal for breakfast..."

Instant breakfast mixes with milk, but if you have powdered milk you just need water.

But heck, we have goats. Throw in a couple small cans of condensed milk. 

I have a small Styrofoam shipping container, the kind they refrigerate medicine and body parts in, which I wrapped in tape to make it a bit more abrasion proof. 

Freeze stuff with dry ice before you go and it will be much colder than normally frozen stuff. It will keep for several days in the Styrofoam. On one trip while others were eating space food, I BBQ'd nice steaks for Hannah and I. After seeing the looks on their faces, I broke out enough steaks for everyone.


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## Huckleberry (Mar 12, 2010)

We're getting ready to do a 10 day backcountry hunt and the dehydrator has been running round the clock at our house. I buy a lot of frozen veggies, they're already blanched and you just add them to the dehydrator trays frozen. Also, any type of soup or casserole leftovers from dinner just go straight on the trays and dehydrate up really good. Pasta, cook it and then dehydrate it. It looks the same but will rehydrate in warm water within minutes rather than having to boil in water at camp. We use the freezer bag meal method and just add hot water to individual serving freezer bag meals.


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## Deschutes Dawn (Sep 24, 2013)

*trail cooking*

what great ideas from everyone! from my horse packing days I can add one more thing. the small boxes of Jiffy muffin mixes make great pancakes in a bunch of flavors. also the small boxes of biscuit mixes can be mixed up and "baked" wrapped around a stick, kinda' like a marshmallow over the fire.


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## imported_ashley (Jun 9, 2011)

"I have a small Styrofoam shipping container, the kind they refrigerate medicine and body parts in, which I wrapped in tape to make it a bit more abrasion proof. "

Body parts, eh? So your steak is riding in the same container that used to carry someone's kidney? 

I suppose if it is good enough to keep an organ cold, it's good enough for a ribeye! 

Reduce, re-use, recycle!!!


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