DIY Backpacking Meals

[Kudu 186]

 

Basementdweller writes:

 

"Freeze dried food, who could afford the stuff...... We get our grub at the local grocery......all of it. There are tons of resources for DIY backpacking meals.... Shelf stable bacon, packet chicken and tuna, noodle dishes on and on.... Heck there is a spicey noodle dish in the asian section I have been taking....."

 

Mmmmm, our local Troop's first canoe trip is coming up and I'd love to have some shelf-stable bacon recipes!

 

One Patrol decided to dehydrate some ground beef and then add it to "Cheesburger Flavor" Hamburger Helper.

 

The Troop's usual favorite backpacking meal is:

 

Piute Mountain Pizza

 

Total servings: 1

 

1 (5-ounce) bag Boboli Pizza Sauce

2 pitas

1 ounce cheese 1 tablespoon oil

I cup water

Other toppings (optional)

 

Cut cheese into small pieces. Heat oil in frying pan. Cut a 3-inch slice into the side of each whole pita, enough to cause the inside to separate. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and shoot the sauce into the holes of each pita. Stuff your cheese into the pita along with anything else you'd like to add. Place in the hot frying pan over medium heat and cook both sides. You can cover the pan, but make sure the pitas don't burn. When cheese is melted, it's ready.

 

From Lipsmackin' Backpackin' ($10.85) See: http://tinyurl.com/4ygv3mt

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

 

[Stosh 3452]

I took a group into the BWCA and needed backpacking type foods for the lengthy portaging we would be doing for a 9 day trek. No replenishing possible. Had to take the whole thing. Everything we took we got from the grocery store. Of course we needed to do a lot of repackaging, but nothing was all that difficult. We ate rather well and didn't have any freeze dried foods at all.

 

Stosh

[Eagle732 27]

No need to buy those over-priced backpacking meals, Google "Freezer Bag Cooking". There's lots of food you can buy right off the self and cook using the FBC method.

 

Lipton Knorrs rice or pasta

Stove Top stuffing

Couscous

Tortellini

Mac and Cheese

 

Add some foil packed tuna, chicken or (my favorite) Spam.

 

If you have a food dehydrator you can make just about anything a backpacking meal.

[Basementdweller 608]

Cheesy grits and bacon

Cheesy mashed potatos and bacon

Blt. In a tortila or other hearty bread or bagels

Son swears by peanut butter bacon on a bagel

 

I wonder sometimes.....

Now that bacon is spendy....but its bacon.....

 

I did shrimp and grits one time......canned small shrimp....cajun sausage.. very good

 

Eagles list is solid

 

Ramen of course.

We have fatastic ethnic food section......oriental noodles in just about any sort of sauce you can imagine.....thai.......

[Eagle732 27]

Lunch specials all on flat bread or a tortilla as wrap.

Nutella and Craisins

Premixed tuna salad in a foil pack.

Spam foil packed and cheese with mustard.

And my favorite, a Snickers bar wrap with peanut butter. This is a good option when your Snickers bars are all melted. Just peel off the wrapper and smear it on a tortilla then add peanut butter!

 

 

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

I often start with a packet of instant mashed potatos. Add Bacon, Parm cheese, or vegetables or soup mix. Cooks up fast, cheap, warm, and good. I have used both shelf stable Bacon and the bits in the zip bag for salad. Like others the foil packets for tuna, chicken, or Spam are great. I talked with a grocery manager who said they stock more and more of those things in part because it is popular for homeless and migrants (who don't have fridges). Makes it easy for us!

 

I calculate calories and grams of carbs for a hike. Some of the more experienced boys do that too.

 

I pack a lot of extra packets of carbs and proteins because as a Type II Diabetic I have to constantly adjust my diet on a hike. By doctors orders I get to boost my Blood Sugar a bit while hiking (low blood sugar may mean falling or worse). I find that a brisk hike with a pack and a few hills means I burn 35 carbs an hour. (A steep hill may need a 15 gram boost) So I need to eat that just to maintain. AND THAT is the number of carbs in a Snickers Bar. So for once I get a rare treat but have to earn it.

 

I like to look at the Mountain House meals and may get one for a treat. But more often I look at them for inspiration and do a knock off at home. Most of them are beans or pasta or rice concoctions.

[Stosh 3452]

Dehydrating food is simple and cheap way to go with DIY food prep.

 

Oven? -> too much heat, you are supposed to be dehydrating, not cooking. Ovens cannot get the temp down low enough and there is not circulation.

 

Dehydrator? -> pricy and limited sized batches.

 

Solution? Yep!

 

Paper furnace filters, box fan, and bungie cords.

 

Works great. Fill up the filters with meats (no fat), fruits, vegies, etc. stack them up on top of the box fan laying on the ground. Bungie down filters to the fan. Stand up the fan, turn on high and let it dehydrate the food.

 

Stosh

[Basementdweller 608]

Tampa look out for the salt in those mountain house meal....

 

One of them had more than 40% of your daily and it was a two person meal.....

[jonathanrbaker 10]

Love the DIY Dehydrator idea. That one's filed for future use.

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

Basement,

 

Oh yeah the salt is an issue especially with the meats. I would cautions guys with Blood Pressure issues on that.

[Eagledad 2779]

Eagle732's list is basically what we took, and is basically what you get at Philmont and most other BSA camps.

 

Hey, don't forget pouring hot water into the instant oatmeal packets, then you don't even have a bowl to clean. Kind of works with grits, but add a little beef bouillon to the water and the grits become magical treat.

 

Barry

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

I'd rather go hungry than eat grits. Went to school in the south, married a Georgia family girl and still can't stand em. Had them every which way. Amazing adhesion properties though--let them dry and you might need a sand blaster to get them off.

 

I guess if it was wilderness survival and I snared a wild grit like Bear Grylls. But only then.

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Back when the Troop I used to serve actually did Backpacking trips, I developed a pretty good base dish. Couscous and tuna, or Couscous and spam or whatever else was in a foil packet and on sale.

 

First time I brought out the spam, all the youth stood around and asked for a taste, there were so many of them, I had to say no, but I suggested at the next campout, the patrols put Spam on the menu. And there was spam and eggs, fried spam and baked spam. The whole campout was spam and the spam song courtesy of Monte Python was song continuoulsy.

 

Odd thing was SPam never came back and I could never get them interested in it again. I guess what they say is true, the proof is in the tasting and singing about spam is a lot better than actually eating it

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

The regular stuff is pretty greasy...a little goes a long way. The lite stuff is better and less salty.

[AnniePoo 13]

Another good book: A Fork in the Trail.