Spices

[Tim P]

I highly recommend a few 1oz spices for a Philmont trek.  I read on this forum that some Old Bay seasoning was a good thing, so I went ahead and took a spice missile (https://gsioutdoors.com/spice-missile.html).  I put in Mrs. Dash, black pepper, black and red mix and some Grandpa Herb’s herbs.  I did not take salt, because I knew that the trail food would be naturally salty.

The spice missile does a good job of keeping things separated but is a bit heavy and hard to use sometimes.  Small spice shakers could do the job with a little less weight and more spice.

I didn’t fill the black pepper and I should have.  That was the first thing to run out.  The Herb’s herbs seemed to be the most popular, but since I had two full sections of that, it didn’t run out until near the end. The Mrs. Dash was not as well liked and survived to the end.

The boys really liked the ability to change up the flavor of the meals, from straight salty, to a spicier blend.  If I had to do it over, I would take a 1oz shaker of a cajun blend, 1oz of black pepper and 2 oz of Herb’s.

[Bruce Tolley]

Thanks for sharing!

Bruce

[David Y]

Philmont’s food, though very nutritious, tends to be a little bland so as not to offend sensitive tastes.

We have carried Coghlan’s Multi Spice Wheel and Morton Seasoned Salt. The spice wheel gives you more options, but the seasoned salt does a nice job of just enhancing the flavors. And I’m not too sure Philmont’s food has much sodium.

We don’t spice the whole pot but let each camper season his bowl to his tastes.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

[Phillip M]

For our 2019 crew 721-H I carried;

6 oz bottle of Tiger Sauce 90% got used

2.65 oz shaker of Old bay 50% used.

2.75 oz shaker of roasted garlic and herb powder about 40% used.

After the chuck wagon meal at Clark’s Fork  I handed them to a very appreciative camp cook.

Also carried two bottles of bacon bits, they got fully used.

 

[Rich P]

I checked the meal lists in advance and brought Frank’s hot sauce, Guldens mustard and Hellmans mayo in single serving packs to complement the Philfood. Game changer!

I also use Beano to combat gas, so knowing how much I would need was helpful. A lot of the bars have soy protein.

[Jay L]

Bacon bits are a good idea.  Ive heard of folks taking a small onion.  Ive carried a small (plastic) pepper grinder and a Mrs Dash Southwest.

[Dennis P]

Being from Louisiana we packed Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning in small zip lock bags and carried Louisiana hot sauce packets from Popeyes.  This worked out well for us.

[Brad P]

I took Tears of the Sun hot sauce by one of my favorite guitarists, Chris Caffery.  It’s not super hot but has lots of flavor with several fruits in the ingredients.  It’s better than the hot sauce Philmont sells and worked with almost every dinner.

[Jason T]

I bought a three pack of smaller (2 or 4oz?) hot sauce bottles and gifted them to the scouts while we were out at basecamp just before leaving for the trail.  They loved it and I did not have to carry the bottles during the trek… ;-)

[Gerry H]

We caught a coupon sale on Amazon for a dozen 2 ounce round shakers of Old Bay. Two were designated for the crew to use. Two Scouts brought small hot sauce bottles and shared them.

Each member 0f the nine person crew carried an additional 2 ounce Old Bay shaker as a gift for each of our staff camps. It was amusing to see how staff members reacted each time. One almost cried when we handed it to her. Another had no idea what it was, until his camp director grabbed it and danced around. We always reminded them it was for the whole staff…

Best way to “tip” a staff. Those folks have been isolated, and their stomach was the way to their heart. Usually we gave it to them after program – we didn’t do it to get preferential treatment.

[David Thomas]

>”Bacon bits are a good idea. ”

But bacon isn’t a spice, it’s its own food group.

+1 on the Beano, Richard.  It could almost count as “doing a good turn daily” (certainly for your tent mate).

[Gary Dunckel]

My comment here won’t work very well for a large group, but I’ve found a good way to carry individual portions of spice mixtures. Find a source of larger diameter plastic drinking straws (McDonalds has good ones for their milk shakes). I cut them up to make ~3-4″ pieces. I then use the heat strip of my vacuum sealer to seal one end.  After mixing my spices in a bowl, I use a tiny funnel to fill up the straw, leaving enough room to then seal the open end. It usually takes 2-3 passes of the sealer to completely secure both ends of the straw. In the end, I have a good supply of my favorite spices to add to my single serving meals. They store quite well, usually for several years, since no air can get to the spices.

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