Trail Food

Other than things from bulk at the store, be sure to check out http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/

Coffee:
*starbucks via packets
*Mount Hagan instant organic
*Nescafe – regular, hazelnut packs
*NIDO instant nestle WHOLE milk (I find this in the latino grocery)

BREAKFAST:
*instant oatmeal – oats, brown sugar, nuts, berries, powdered milk
*instant grits – sweet or salty, powdered butter, nuts, berries, whatever…
*instant breakfast – carnation if you dont feel like cooking
*freeze dried eggs – Harmony House veggies, or anything you find works well

Lunch/Dinner:
*Minute Rice – anything from HH, TVP, Legumes, Veggies, salt pepper
*Pasta – spoonful of spaghetti sauce seasons, spoons of tomato powder from HH, veggies, olive oil
*Packets of TUNA, CHICKEN, SALMON, Spam, whatever you like

Snacks:
*GORP
*Beef Jerky
*crackers & cheese
*cured meats

Dessert:
*hot chocolate
*pudding – powdered milk, pudding mix
*freeze dried ice cream from Mountain House
*freeze dried ice cream sandwiches from Mountain House

There are so many ideas, these are a few staples that I work with and I just use these recipes and MANY MORE, along with:

*Vaccum sealer – seal a meal
*ziploc bags – where needed
*ziploc screw top containers – 2 cup and 4 cup versions with cozies to "COOK" or rehydrate my meals. I almost never cook in the pot over a flame.

IF YOU LIKE BREADS:

I have been using a ONE EGG WONDER pan to bake bread. If you are interested you can use the pan with a lid that I bought online and a small flame.

*Instant pizza dough – makes bread with olive oil and cheese, or mix cinnamon, raisins, sugar and get sweet
*biscuits – cheesy, garlic, veggies, whatever you want
*pancakes – I package freeze dried fruit up with it and also sometimes take vaccum sealed syrups

There are SOOO many ways to make your own. Hope that helps.

Dehydrated food has come a long way. Much better tasting and waaaay ligher than the old MRE's I used to carry.

If you want to try some mediocre to good dehydrated meals that require Zero cooking (just boil water) try some mountain house meals that can be found at Walmart. For really good dehydrated meals try Packit Gourmet, which range from just boil, to fry up some parts after they have been re-hydrated.

Thanks Wallace and Frank….I like what I'm seeing.

Wallace,

Do you mix your Nido milk with water before you add it to your coffee?

This is true, I almost always try to pre mix the milk with a spoonful of water… otherwise you sometimes get clumps.

But in my oatmeal, I never bother and things tend to work out really well, and I pour fresh rolling boils in there. Maybe it is the chunkies in the oatmeal that break it up.

But honestly, I usually prepare my coffee with sugar and milk as a premix before hot water.

I mixed mine up with water before adding to the coffee before as well. Last trip i just used powder creamer packets. I may try mixing the via and nido together this time before adding it to my hot water.

I like to eat dry oatmeal with milk in the morning and also make some Carnation Instant Breakfast. My favorite way to do so is to mix the milk at night, submerse in a cold stream for use the next morning. The clumps are gone and it can be drunk as is.

John, come visit the cooking/food section here on the BPL forums! Go back a number of pages and you will find tons of ideas – many posted by me, Teresa Black and Laurie March – who all run outdoor cooking websites and are cookbook authors.

Breakfast: MYOG – Make Your Own Granola, cereal mixed at home with milk powder, dried fruits, cacao. Tea or Coffee.

Lunch: Bars for the most time, Ramen if I get really hungry. Three bars are sufficient for me per day. A piece of reindeer ham and some good cheese are enough for four to five days as snacks, and give some good power.

Dinner: Either freeze dried food (Real Turmat, Travellunch, Blå Band) or self made food (Couscous, corn spaghetti, pesto, olive oil, tomato sauce, for example) are great. Mousse au Chocolate, Kisseli (Finnish desert) or if I am going on a real short trip then some fruits are a great finish to a meal, and give enough energy to produce plenty of heat over the night.

I just received a copy of Sarah Kirkconnell's Freezer Bag Cooking recipe book… there are some really nice-sounding recipes in there. I haven't tried them yet, but I will :)

THANKS everyone for your inputs. I had know idea BPL had a food forum….sorry for being a newbie.