Vegan?

[W I S N E R !]

Hello All,
I've recently started eating an entirely vegan diet; I feel great (first time in decades my sinuses are clear, likely from no dairy), I'm having fun cooking, and I feel like this is something I will stick with.
Since this is a fairly recent change, I've yet to do ANY backpacking while vegan…I know what I like cooking when at home, but as I'm thru-hiking the JMT this summer, I feel I really need to start cooking and testing vegan trail foods. An overnighter is one thing, but being out for two weeks raises different issues- for one, I'm concerned about the lack of preservatives in organics and how they'll fare during a long walk.
Any recipes, links, advice, or names of ready-made vegan products good for the trail would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Craig

[Tim W]

Try http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

In addition to some vegan recipes at Sarbar's website, there are good ideas about dehydrating your own meals.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Craig, I was a vegan for many years, and one of my good hiking friends is a vegan (Catzia). If you see a recipe on my site with her name under it, you know it is 100% vegan.
But in reality, it is pretty easy to do! All you have to do is take what you like to eat, and change a couple items :-)
Pretty much, except for pudding, you can sub out dry soy milk for dry dairy milk, and for instance, I usually call for olive oil over butter in trail recipes.
I also have a vegan "chicken" bullion recipe on the site as well, that you can add the amount of salt you like to. Even if a recipe calls for meat, you don't have to add it! You can add freeze dried tofu, TVP, etc.
(My site is the one listed above, in the previous posting)

[cat morris]

I too am pretty much a vegan. All of my backpacking foods are vegan. I use Fantastic bulk dehydrated blackbeans & dehydrated refried pinto beans with instant brown rice. I add dehydrated green & red bell peppers from Oregon Spice Company and chile pequin & rehydrate in ziplock bags. I also pack Fantastic bulk instant splitpea soup mix. I have found a Safeway cup-of-soup with noodles & dehydrated vegetables that I re-pack in ziplocks. I take instant hummus; whole grain crackers; instant tabouli; oatmeal with raisins & nuts; healthfood store cream of brown rice cereal; almond butter; walnuts, almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds.

I find the best place to shop for backpacking food is the local healthfoods sections. There are some healthy cup-of-soups there with mashed potatoes, couscous & noodles.

My favorite dessert is ziplock rice pudding with instant brown rice, shredded coconut, raisins, & walnuts. Brown sugar is an extra possibility to add if you really want to pig out! Just add hot water!

[Alan Garber]

basically Cat said it all……

cousous only needs 5 minutes with boiled water and a closed container…….so you don't need any "prepared" couscous mixes…..

also, I didn't see in cat's note but could've missed instant oatmeal-can actually be eaten dry or just with any temp water……..

finally, Coup from GoLite fame did an unaided trek and ate dried fruit and nuts……..some of the dried fruit spoiled but the nuts did well and are calorie dense (energy rich-lots of calories per weight)…..and provide with grains a complete protein…….

In short, with the instant hummus, black bean mix, nuts and couscous, oatmeal and instant rice (blehh-I don't care for this) one can have a hearty vegan trail menu…….soy milk powder can also be carried……..

HTH

[W I S N E R !]

Thanks for the info everyone, it helps provide a start.

[Dondo .]

Here's a real quick and easy meal:

All ingredients can be found at your local natural foods store. Couscous and instant black beans are cheaper in the bulk bins.

At home: mix 4 oz. of couscous and 2 oz. of instant black beans along with some dehydrated "Hot Just Veggies". Add some powdered vegetable broth. I like Morga brand. Because I keep an eye on sodium content, I'll add just 1 Tsp.

In camp: add the mix to about 14 oz. of boiling water. Add about one ounce of olive oil. Sir it up and let sit for 5 min. or so. Sir it again and add your favorite hot sauce.

Bon Appetite!

[cat morris]

The hardest thing about vegan backpacking is that everyone else is eating cheesy side dishes, chomping on blocks of cheese, & snacking on tremendous supplies of jerky. So it's hard to eat others' leftovers or share snacks!

Also, most of the backpacking cookbooks are geared mainly to dairy & meat products.

Does anyone even know of a vegan or even vegetarian backpacking cookbook?

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Cat, I am nearly done with my second cookbook-and it is 100% vegetarian with info on how to change recipes to vegan. It also shows how to do meals quick with avoiding a high amount of processed food. It is also mostly lower sodium recipes (ie..one adds the salt in to taste). I am hoping to have it done in the next couple months :-) So far though, I have been adding more recipes up my website that I didn't put in the book. It will be all freezer bag style (ie..one pot meals).

As for books to be found, Simple Foods For The Pack is a great book. Find the vintage version from the late 70's/early 80's. It is full of great vegetarian recipes. They are mostly 1 pot recipes, and can be altered to be faster cooking.

[cat morris]

Sarah, I am looking forward to your new book! My backpacking buddy has your first book that we have used & I also have checked out your website. Thanks!!

[Thai Wood]

I'm vegan, but have yet to go backpacking since I've switched and I've been wondering about this. Its good to see all these answers and encouragement.

[Paul Cronshaw]

I have shared recipes from Sarah's Freezer Bag Cooking book with boy scouts in my troop. Her recipes are straight forward, easy to prepare at home and one the trail. As she stated in her posting, TVP (textured vegetable protein) can be substituted for animal products in a number of her recipes.

I am looking forward to Sarah's new book to add to my collection of backpacking recipe books.

Another book to consider is "Lip smackin' Vegetarian Backpackin'" by Christine and Tim Conners. They gathered recipes from PCT hikers and compiled them into this book. One feature I like about this book is that each meal as a nutritional information per serving.

[Laurie Ann March]

Hi Paul,

It actually wasn't just the PCT hikers. I have 6 recipes in there too. ;)

Lipsmackin' Vegetarian Backpackin' is a great book. The recipes were also tested numerous times and Christine did a great job.

[Author]

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