Backpacked four days in Yellowstone this past June. I had ultralight gear and was wondering what the tour leader from boyscout camp was going to do for food. The camp did not have the resources for freeze dried food so we took out food from scratch and prepared it on the trail. The "additional" weight was in some ways laughable to an ultralight backpacker, such as a frybake. However, when we ate pizza made from scratch, including yeast and flour, this was no laughing matter. We go light often just to go farther. This was a 5 mile per day trip and we ate like kings. We could have done more miles but one of our backcountry sites got closed due to bear activity. Still, now that I've tasted good food on the trail I'm hooked. On a low mileage weekend trip there is probably no good reason to just dehydrate something on a miniature jet engine stove. Why not some full course meals! If we put as much thought into our food prep as we do our other gear gram counting, I bet we could elevate trail cuisine to an ultralight art form. My first goal is going to figure out a way to make fillet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus on the trail.
Tip I came up with on this trip, take drainedwater from boiling noodles, add some soy, curry, and pepper (or a miso soup packet) and you've got yourself a leave no trace pre-meal soup.
