I'm curious what others take into the back country for meals when doing multi-day excursions. I'm always reading about these dinner recipes in Backpacker magazine that comprise some amount of actual cooking -yikes!- (simmering, mixing ingredients) to prepare.

Myself, I always take Mountain House dehy for dinners. My favorite is Chili Mac because it has lots of flavor and is kinda spicy. I'm pretty low maintenance and do not care much for more than boiling water for my meals. I rarely eat much of a lunch outside of those little crackers w/peanut butter between them. For breakfast I again chose Mountain House always settling on the granola w/milk, honey & blueberries. It has a surprising amount of calories in it.

For me and my style, the dehy is a no fuss, easy to pack and easy to make meal that is really tasty and filling.

How about you?

Jerry

I have been doing the Freezer Bag cooking for a few years now and it has served me well. I use a Pepsi can stove so all I do is boil water. Backpacker.com has a poster (Sarbar) who has a cookbook and website with recipes you might want to check out.

Mark

---

"Further up and further in!" C.S. Lewis

Now that I have a food dehydrator I would like to do some prepared/dried meals but usually have done a few full-cook easy trail recipies like the smoked salmon pasta that I posted on the "what's for dinner?" forum on this site.  I also make: curry beef (beef jerky) noodles, gado-gado (peanut/soy noodles), stews, or rice and easy heat packs like you can find at Trader Joe's (the "Indian Fare" and Trader Joe's curry varieties)  These easy heat packs are so easy to do and they are delicious though a little small, even with rice, for a famished backpacker.  If I am going for a few days I like to eat luxuriously.

Joseph

---

"I have never seen a problem, no matter how complicated, that when looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated."
--Paul Anderson

I, too, use the "freezer bag cooking" method which requires only boiling water. This method is definitely cheaper than the freeze-dried backpacker meals and, at least to me, the meals taste better and are more filling. After a few days on the freeze-dried backpacker meals, they all taste the same to me. (YMMV-your mileage may vary.) This method saves fuel (i.e. weight) over "real" cooking, and there's only a spoon to wash! Here's Sarbar's web site.

After decades of cooking and washing dishes for a family of 6, when they left the nest I decided that life is just too short be doing that stuff, especially out in the wilderness! I don't do much cooking at home, either--I cook up a big batch of something maybe once a week and freeze it in serving-size portions (something different each week so I'm not eating the same thing every night!). In the next few months, each time I do this, I'm going to dehydrate a couple of servings of whatever is suitable (i.e. doesn't have contain either big chunks or vegetables that remain the consistency of buckshot even after 15 minutes' cooking).

I developed a taste for muesli while traveling in Europe, so my backpacking breakfasts are generally muesli (Bob's Red Mill), dried milk and some extra fruit--either dried or (during huckleberry season) fresh. I put this all in a sandwich bag, add water, stir to reconstitute the milk and eat out of the bag. For longer trips I use granola part of the time for variety (I make my own because commercial varieties are too sweet for my liking). Most of the time I can get along just fine without firing up the stove for breakfast (i.e. no hot drink), but on really frosty mornings I do boil water for a cup of tea. I have always detested hot cereal and eggs (per my mother, from the time she started me on them), so for me a cold breakfast is just fine. I drink coffee with milk (French style cafe au lait) at home, but I find I don't miss it when backpacking. This saves a lot of time in the mornings.

Lunch is still evolving. For 2-3 day trips I've been making up good old PB&J sandwiches (1/2 sandwich per day) and carrying them in a Glad container (much lighter plastic than the Rubbermaid or Tupperware type). Otherwise my during-the-day eating revolves around small hourly snacks of trail mix and dried fruit. I'm still working on ideas for longer trips. The old-style cowboys (in pre-horse-trailer days) used to eat only a big breakfast and dinner and not eat during the day (being bounced around on a horse is not good for the digestive process!). I don't go that far, but I do eat very lightly while I'm hiking.

---

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.--E.Abbey

I have tried most all of the dehy brands and found Mountain House to be the most flavorful. They are so easy to pack and take very little space. Like you said, I certainly enjoy cleaning only a spoon!

I sometimes skip coffee in the morning as well --even though I have it daily at home. It just depends on how quickly I'm ready to break camp. When I make coffee I only use the tea bag style of preparation made by Folgers. Its very quick and mess free, i.e. no clean up except for the mug.

I also prefer Mountain House meals over the others I have tried. I should mention that if you are out for a few days and bring their Lasagna, make sure it's your last meal as it will leave your spoon chock full of cheese.

I've got the Snow Peak Titanium Mini Solo Cook Set which holds a fuel canister and a small stove. Keeps things very handy, light weight and very little space in your pack.

For coffee, I use a very simple "spoon" that holds the coffee grounds as you let it steep in your mug. Very light and very easy clean-up as well.

For breakfast I've come to enjoy oatmeal with brown sugar which I eat out of a Flatworld bowl. When your done eating you just flatten the bowl and lick it clean, good to the last drop. And for lunch and snacks there's bagels with peanut butter and just some plain shelled peanuts. It's great energy food as well. Power Bars, or other brands, make for a great snack while on the go.

---

-jeff
OregonLens.com

I also eat the lasagna meal from MH and concur on the sticky spoon issue. It really takes some scraping with a tooth or a hand towel to get it clean; but it is worth it! I love all that cheese flavor.

I really like the coffee spoon; thanks for the tip. I think I'll pick that up. I like the idea of using my flavored coffee from home versus the bland Folgers tea packet type I've been using.

I'm not a fan of the canister type of stove though admittedly, I've never used one. It seems tricky to stay aware of how much fuel time is left. This isn't a problem with my white gas stove (WhisperLite). Do you have any issues in that regard? I've also heard that they do not perform well in very cold temperatures.

I take nuts out to snack on as well. I particularly like pistachios (so do the Gray Jays that always befriend me out on the trail).

Jerry

Jerry,

I've never had a problem with a canister stove, but the coldest night I've spent on a backpacking trip was the high 20's - low 30's. Regarding fuel, I normally bring (1) new tank or (2) used tanks and have never had a problem. I will say that for extended length trips (more than 4-5 days) that you are better off with white gas, unless you are with someone else and can spread the load of another canister. Personally I've never ran out of fuel or had any negative issues with a canister stove.

I have read that for extremely cold conditions you can keep the canister warm by keeping it in your sleeping bag. Thankfully I've never needed to do that.

Thanks for reminding me of pistachios, I'll have to bring some next time for a change.

---

-jeff
OregonLens.com

I'm all about dehydrating fully prepared meals and then just adding boiling water.  If you have a food dehydrator this is a great option.  I put up a post about it in the food forum here.  I can't remember the name of the book I use right now, I think the author is Linda Yaffe or something, but I highly recommend it. 

---

Dan - Site Cartographer

I used to eat MH dinners, but then I had a Lasagna incident, where I had to work to get the stuff off my spoon.  Plus it seems like some of the ingredients are usually incompletely rehydrated (probably my lack of patience).  Anyway, I stopped eating MH dinners.

So, now I eat 3 ounces of pepperoni or beef jerky, some carrot or red pepper sticks, raisins, nuts, etc.  

I think a canister stove is better because it's clean, instantly lit, and the fuel is lighter (1/4 ounce of fuel to boil 1 pint of water).  I always weigh my canister at the end of the trip and write how many days I have left - empty 220g canister is 5 ounces, I boil 4 pints per morning so that's 1 ounce of butane per day, so, for example, a 9 ounce canister would have 4 ounces of butane so would have 4 days left, which would be good for up to a 3 day trip just to be conservative.

I had a similar problem with unrehydrated (is that a word?) bits and finally figured out I wasn't stirring it well enough. Having a longer spoon makes all the difference as well.

---

-jeff
OregonLens.com

I'm low-maintenance. All I need is about 10 apples, a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread, some cashews, some meusli, and a few of those instant Indian food mixes you can buy at Trader Joes which don't need to be refrigerated and which will last for a long time. Give me all that and I'm good for at least three days.

---

Photos: http://mattisnotfrench.smugmug.com/
Facebook: add me! (Matt Reeder, Portland State University)

I do like the idea of an instant light stove that the canisters provide. My WhisperLite is getting old now. Even after priming it (the warm up) it often acts as though it never was primed and shoots out a high broad flame for awhile. The propane canisters always seemed difficult to judge how many meals are left. Though, weighing them does alleviate some concern there. I like the idea of were I to get into a situation that a 22 oz. bottle would last me longer than a propane canister.

I've encountered the dehy food not being fully rehydrated as well. But like The Dude says, making sure the food is well stirred always corrects that problem.

I will have to try some of those Indian food mixes from Trader Joe's.

Jerry

It has been 20 years since I switched from a white gas stove (a Whisperlite, of course) to canister. I was on a 9-day trip with a group, all of whom were using Bluet Camping Gaz stoves (the only canister stove readily available at the time). By the time I got my water boiling, everyone else was through eating!

The main problem with the canister stove is all those not-quite-empty canisters that accumulate. I plan to use these up on overnighters and on car-camping trips. Thank you very much, Jerry, for the information on weights!

---

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.--E.Abbey

I'm just transitioning from MH meals and a Whisperlite to "freezer bag" cooking and a ThermoJet alcohol stove.  The alcy stove is a bit more work than a canister, but I love the fact that it has no moving parts and doesn't result in empty canisters.  I debated long and hard between the ThermoJet and a JetBoil, and finally decided that since I mostly do short trips, the ThermoJet was easier to handle (and it's lighter).

I got tired of the expense of the MH meals, plus I find them way too salty.  I'm looking forward to experimenting more with freezer bags this year.