4 ingredients or less lazy freezer bag cooking

[chris smead]

Lots of talented people on this forum, so I'm starting a thread for all the horrible, lazy cookers like my self. ;) Yes I'm ashamed…

Criteria:
-Freezerbag friendly
-4 ingredients or less
-No dehydrating, or cooking. Store bought stuff only.
-No simmering. Assume you just have a few cups of hot water to complete the meal.

I'll get started:

-Idahoan mashed potatoes with jerky and olive oil.
-Near east couscous with olive oil and beef stick
-Near east couscous with olive oil and cheese packet from mac and cheese.
-Chicken ramen and pouch chicken
-Beef ramen with pepperoni and Parmesan packet.
-Tuna pouch and shrimp Ramen
-Stove top stuffing and Jerky and olive oil
-Instant rice and Lipton chicken soup packet.
-Instant black bean soup mix from whole foods bulk bin section, and instant rice.
-Instant rice and Indian food pouch. (Like tasty bite, or MTR brands)
-Idahoan mashed potatoes, bacon bits, and cheese pouch from Mac and cheese

[Dave Ayers]

Unfortunately the tuna packs have really low Calorie density at ~1.1 Cal/gram. I haven't tried them but perhaps dehydrated tuna flakes would work instead. They are in the range of ~3.6 Cal/gram. Chicken pouches are not much better at ~1.3 Cal/gram. The Mountain House freeze dried diced chicken is 4.9 Cal/gram.

[Justin Baker]

You can get pre-cooked sausages that are about 90 calories per ounce, so not too bad. Cook them over a campfire. I like to chop them up and cook with instant rice, add some olive oil, that would work well with freezer bag cooking.
They make shelf stable pre-cooked bacon which is awesome for adding to instant mash potatoes.
I also like those rice meals you can get for real cheap. They have the cheezy flavor, chicken flavor, the spicy taco rice, easy and almost always tastes good. There just over a buck and about 5 oz.

[Brian Mix]

Knorr rice or pasta sides, a variety of flavors and only a dollar each. 450 avg calories each iirc, add some ghee and chow down.
I think these are what Justin is referring to.

[chris smead]

Not sure if I did something wrong, but I couldn't get pasta sides to rehydrate all the way in a freezer bag.
Maybe I'll try with a cozy.

[Kimberly Wersal]

My experience is that Knorr rice or pasta side dishes WON'T "cook" properly with FBC– they need actual boiling (unless you like your meal really crun-chewy).

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Sometimes one just needs to not overthink weight – when it comes to food. Tuna and chicken packets may not be "high calorie" – although there are tasty ones packed in oil now – but they pack a lot of protein.

[Lori P]

Yep, the sides need actual cooking – a friend gummed up her JetBoil pot pretty good after attempting to cook one, too.

Couscous and any seasonings and add-ins you like to toss in – Just Tomatoes freeze dried veggies and some Alfredo, pesto or other sauce packet, for example. Just add hot water.

[chris smead]

What's the best freeze dried meats out there?
I'm thinking dried chicken, pig or cow could add some chompy-ness to a bunch of instant stuff like mashes potatoes, couscous, etc.

[Ken Thompson]

Don't forget about dried meats either. Landjaeger and chorizo come to mind.

[Brian Mix]

Interesting other people's experiences not working out well with the sides. They've always worked great for me but it is one of the few meals I dump into the boiling water and "cook"in my pot rather than a freezer bag. Not actually cook but rehydrate.

[John Hillyer]

Chicken top ramen with a Jif to go creamy peanut butter. It gives it a Thai nutty sauce flavor.

[Gary Dunckel]

I am a fan of the Mountain House FD meats-burger, diced chicken, diced beef, and the new diced ham. But I buy the big #10 tins, and I don't think that they sell smaller packages of the meats.

Another thing I do is to buy the 2-person chicken breasts & mashed potatoes when REI has a 25-30% discount. I then repackage them into 1.5 breasts (one breast is not enough, but 2 is overkill for me). So 3 of those yields 4 tasty servings. I also repackage each bag of mashed potatoes into 2 separate servings. I vacuum-seal each portion of breasts and potatoes separately, which remain shelf stable for years in my cool basement. If I want to live large, I will also do a single serving of MH's FD peas or green beans, and I might even simmer some chicken gravy mix in a sierra cup. If I add some sort of bread, like a thin bagel, I end up eating better than I do at home.

I know that the OP wants to keep things as simple as possible, but the dehydrator and vacuum sealer are my best tools for allowing me to eat well out there.

[Marko Botsaris]

"Chicken top ramen with a Jif to go creamy peanut butter. It gives it a Thai nutty sauce flavor."

I know, I know. I probably shouldn't be reading this thread. Still I can't help it. Since I hate mashed potatoes after many childhood traumas caused by my mothers cooking there is a certain thrill factor. Like my friend who is a certified arachnophobe but likes to look at them (spider porn?) on the internet for a thrill.

Still, I have heard of this one several times and it has always baffled me. Ramen + peanut butter does not equal Pad Thai people – unless you think (like my mother) that noodles plus ketchup equal spaghetti. :-O

Thai food is truly one of the great cuisines of the world. Oh the humanity! Maybe just call it peanut butter flavored Ramen and leave the Thai completely out of it – why besmirch an entire culture. LOL

OK, now I will crawl back into the foodie hole I crawled out of. But it IS too bad there there doesn't seem to be another dehydrated version of pasta, as far as I know, available in grocery stores stores. I guess that is why Ramen is so popular.

[Bob Gross]

"OK, now I will crawl back into the foodie hole I crawled out of."

The foodie hole isn't so deep when you've been out on the trail for a week or two. Your standards will become relaxed.

I found it to be fun to approximate a proper dish by using ordinary trail food with just a microscopic bit of spices or additives. Start with one drop of hot sauce and one drop of soy sauce mixed into the peanut butter.

I find hummus to be disappointing unless I sprinkle it with red paprika and green dill.

–B.G.–

[Bob Gross]

"What's the best freeze dried meats out there?"

Christopher, it depends on what you want to accomplish.

Some backpackers use meats as a source of animal protein. Some use meats simply for the food flavor.

There are some meat products that are very similar to jerky, require no rehydration, but sometimes they are a little chewy. Some are flaky, and they will rehydrate better, or at least bind to the other food ingredients. In general, the smaller the pieces, the better it rehydrates. Lots of meat products like dry sausages will keep for a long time.

Freeze dried shrimp is a little weird, but it works.

–B.G.–

[Sharon J.]

Trader Joes has this great, really hot Chili-Lime nut mix. I bet a little of that in your ramen would be better than peanut butter.

[chris smead]

I'm not too picky on the meat, as long as it can rehydrate in 10 minutes or so.
Just want to add it to mashed potatoes and ramen and stuff.

Any suggestions on a specific dried sausage?
I've brought tillamook pepperoni sticks in the past. Those were pretty yummy, even if they are horrible for me.

[chris smead]

Peanut butter Ramen!!! Awesome idea…I've got to try this.
Call me unsophisticated, but I think peanut butter is great on everything.

Btw, I recently tried bisquick with boiling water in a freezer bag. Then added syrup. Not exactly a pancake, but I thought it was awesome!!!
My wife wasn't as excited as I was about it….so yeah…test it first before ya take my word on it.

[M G]

The TJ thai spice cashews are my trail staple. I could see how they would be great added to a rice dish.

[Bob Gross]

There are all sorts of sausage types, too numerous to mention here.

Summer sausage tends to be made of beef and/or pork, and as its name implies, it seems to last longer despite summer warmth.

I'm a big fan of turkey sausage, but that it just me.

To a certain extent, it is the salt and other preservatives that allow sausage to last without spoilage. That may not be good for you. As a result, I take small sausages and cut them up to be simmered along with my rice. Then I avoid adding extra salt to the rice.

–B.G.–

[chris smead]

Turkey sausage sounds good. What's your favorite type/brand?

I'm always on the hunt for good dry sausages.
Only found a few I like so far, including the kountry boy stuff they sell on the pack it gourmet site.

[Bob Gross]

Old Wisconsin is one brand. They make both turkey sausage and beef/pork sausage. From the time that I purchase these in the store, I keep them refrigerated. Then when I take them on a trip, I've never had any that seemed to be spoiled.

–B.G.–

[rick .]

I routinely make a 2-ingredient bag dinner:

Couscous (Bobs Red Mill Golden couscous seems to be the best, directions on bag say add boiling water and let stand). I use 6oz
Soup mix. I go for the Wylers / Mrs. Grass brand. 12oz bag, I use 4 or 6oz.

About $1 a serving and weigh out 2 things and bag simplicity. It actually tastes really good.

Edit: the major benefit of couscous is that it has like 25 grams of protein per cup with pretty good calorie density. Hard to beat that protein density, and a nice thing to add to your trail muscles after a long day.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

http://www.trailcooking.com/recipe-home/ Scan down to "FBC" and there you go. And yes, kids, don't be a food snob on the trail ;-) Save that for at home..LOL!

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