Idea – Cooking for the neat freak.

if you haven't seen it already, check out freezer bag cooking. Sarah's book is great and her website is great too. I love not doing dishes!

http://www.trailcooking.com/

Logan,

Pour boiling water into a container, OK. Pour boiling water into a container and then screw the lid down tight? Something's gonna give, and chances are your oatmeal would spray everywhere.

So don't crank the lid on tight unless it's to store leftovers, and all will be well.

Would I be right in saying that my idea is identical to the freezer bag cooking except instead of a freezer bag I would be using a jar (which is more durable and won't just pop open like the seal on a freezer bag could)?

Ah yes. See, I definitely overlooked that one! I of course am going to do lots of cooking with this setup in my kitchen before I take it into the field and you just saved me one mess to clean up.

I trust nothing. I always try to pack water below anything that will be dangerous or ruin a trip if it gets wet. Use Nalgene or some other unbreakable bottle that is made to take the hot water. Test you grocery bags before the trip for leaks. I always find holes.

The shake-n-wash is a great idea really. I put a small washcloth in with minimal water and soap which seems to clean the sides a little better. Whatever you use is best if it has some mass so it rubs the sides of the jar and doesn’t just float around.

Last but not least, bring someone along just to do the dishes. ??? I'm just sayin…

"Use Nalgene or some other unbreakable bottle that is made to take the hot water."

I was actually just browsing the different wide mouth bottles from nalgene and camelbak. This seems safer than a pb jar.

"I put a small washcloth in…"

Genius!

"…worst case scenerio is when I burn my food in the cooking pot and don't have enough water to clean it."

Scrub it with dirt, then rinse it out when you get a chance.

I don’t know if this will help, but I like to use a Ziplock 32oz screw top containers and a cozy.
http://www.antigravitygear.com/trail-designs-caldera-kitchen-4-cup-screw-lid-container-with-cozy.html

It’s a multi use item . I can rehydrate food in it as I set up camp, it keeps my coffee warm is the morning, I can make protein sakes in it, I can treat water with my steripen in it, and best of all I can drink scotch out of it. When I pore hot water into I just don’t screw the lid down all the way. When I am done I put my spork inside with a little water and use the shake wash method.

I don’t trust the seal so on the trail I keep it in water bottle pocket the mesh back pocket. You only need to but the cozy once, and replacement containers are $3 for a 4 pack.

Not sure if you're talking full on Nalgene bottle, but I really really like the 16 oz Nalgene.

http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/store/detail.aspx?ID=1247

I bought this for soaking quinoa while hiking, but ended up just using it as my water bottle. Very similar dimensions as a Gatorade bottle, so it fits great on my shoulder strap.
Not UL, but bomber and a nice bottle.
Plus that PB jar may leech some nasty stuff out into your food.

Some of the benefits of freezer bag cooking.

-mix all your dry ingredients at home and store in freezer bag
-"cook" your food in the freezer bag
-eat your food out of the freezer bag
-zip up freezer bag and pack it out
-wash the bags at home for reuse or throw them in the garbage
-no need to wash anything in the field

methods are many…. the freezer bag method is what I prefer. enjoy.

Hi Logan

What you are talking about is often called 'dutch oven' cooking. Do a search here for that phrase – there should be a fair bit.
Anyhow, yes, a lot of us cook that way. But watch out for the steam pressure! Don't do the lid up tight while in use.

Cheers

"Dutch Oven cooking" is the use of a heavy cast iron or similar pot w/ a heavy lid that is often used with fires (think old school cooking/Boy Scouts/horse packers/people with kness that ain't creaking yet).

x2 Mike.

Logan, Mike put it pretty well. With a FB, there's no cleaning. Now, what can be better than that? I just use a 7×8 FB, put it in my Caldera Keg-H cozy to steep, and then eat and stow the plastic bag. No cleaning; more time for the camp fire, reading, or sleep, or whatever.

…but..but…it's so…anti-old-school. Oh well, can't stay old forever. I'm begining to like the idea of freezer bag meals. Thanks for the pic!

Hey Logan,

Not very UL, but my cooking and eating kit I find very easy to clean for hot meals. In general to save on clean up, I do a lot of no-cook foods like nuts and dried fruit, and I also do a lot of direct heat cooking like grilling a fresh caught fish on a stick over the campfire.

I use a teapot to boil water of course, then add that to my food (often oats, ramen, and lentils) which is in my plastic Swedish army bowl (78g). Then I fill the pot again and boil some more water, so when I am done eating, I can use it to rinse out my bowl and my spork. I also carry a small dish sponge (5g) to clean/dry my mess kit and I am done. Any water that is left over from being boiled, I let cool and add to my water bottle, as I depend only on boiling to clean wild water.

If you are low on water or not near a water source, you can also just take a small piece of TP and give your mess kit a good wipe down then just throw the TP in the campfire, or save it to throw it away.

Burning food is a problem to clean, but I avoid this by not cooking very much in a pot and using my teapot/bowl combo. You could be extra careful and not burn your food ;)