Type of Gear: Lightweight Food
Name of Gear: N/A
Manufacturer: N/A
I love your page! I noticed you didn't have too many tips for lightweight foods. This seems to be my biggest weight problems, and after looking over your list, it seems to be a problem with you as well.
For those of us who can't afford a 5$ Mountain House meal everyday, I love angel hair pasta. It cooks in about 3 minutes, as does Ramen, but angel hair is better tasting. Thicker pasta like spaghetti or macaroni takes like 10 minutes to cook. The added fuel takes up alot of weight. For added flavor just as some powdered milk and parmesan cheese. It's great.
I also carry alot of dried fruits for snacking. For breakfast I bring along cereal with powdered milk already mixed in. I also mix my instant coffee with powdered creamer and sugar, this saves alot of time. Pancake mixes can be heavy, but Gold Medal brand makes an excellent blueberry pancake mix that is compact and relatively lightweight.
I've noticed that these grocery store foods are much cheaper than the pre-made meals you find at outdoor stores. You mention using a lid when cooking foods. I usually use my plate as a lid. It doesn't seal as well as a lid, but it is a great example of multi funtionality.
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From: Linda Morris, 11/03/97
Email: brdlm@ix.netcom.com
Type of Gear: Lightweight Food
Name of Gear: N/A
Manufacturer: N/A
Potato Buds are very lightweight. A tasty meal can be made by adding
powdered milk, Butter Buds, imitation bacon bits, cheese, dried parsley, dried chives, or whatever you like. Just add boiling water and eat.
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From: Coosa Carol Donaldson, 11/07/97
Email: Coosa@juno.com
Type of Gear: Lightweight Food
Name of Gear: Loma Linda Vita-Berger Chunks
Manufacturer: Worthington Foods Inc, Worthington, OH
Weight: Serving Size 1/2 C (21g)
Cost: About $3.50 for 11 oz (311g)
Yes, Vegetable Protein Chunks!
These
little chunks of soy flour with added
ingredients actually taste pretty good.
Add the chunks to boiling water and let
sit for 15 minutes. (I boil my water,
turn off my stove, drop in my veggie
chunks, cover my pot and then go set up
my campsite.) The directions say to drain
off the excess liquid, but I reheat and
add potato flakes, (those Hungry Jack
Butter flavor mashed potato flakes are
good!), squeeze in butter (or olive oil
from Greece or Spain), and eat. If I had
any dried veggies, I'd add them, too, to
the boiled water to rehydrate with the
veggie chunks.
The veggie chunks have a moist tender
taste and fairly well duplicate the flavor
of beef chunks. The only down side is
that they're 'low fat' (1 gram per serving)
but butter or oil can be added to the
dish you're preparing for added calories.
I found the Vita Burger Chunks in the
Specialty Foods section of my grocery
store. They're light weight and one
serving provides 10 g of protein, no
cholesterol, 350 mg sodium, 500 mg
potassium, 6 g total carbohydrate, 3g
dietary fiber, and 1 g sugar.
For those who like to create their own
personalized 'freeze-dried' or dehydrated
meals, I recommend these little chunks of
vegetable protein.
Bon Appetit!
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From: Coosa Carol Donaldson, 11/07/97
Email: Coosa@juno.com
Type of Gear: Lightweight Food
Name of Gear: Roasted Soybeans, etc.
Manufacturer:
I'm not using the Veggie Protein
Chunks any longer, they take too long to rehydrate. I'm using roasted
soybeans. Also, I'm using the bottom of a 1/2 gallon milk carton as a
baggie holder so I can pour hot water into the baggie and not have to
dump my meal into my pot. (My Boy Scout diox stove fits in the carton
bottom along with my aluminum foil for my wind shield.)
Dinner is potato flakes, powdered milk (creamora added for flavor),
butter buds in one baggie and Just Veggies (or dehydrated if I did that)
and roasted soybeans in the other. Set the first in the baggie holder,
pour in the hot water, stir, add a mayonnaise packet (if not going
ultra-light) stir/fluff and then add contents of second baggie and
chow down.
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From: Coosa Carol Donaldson, 12/31/98
Email: Coosa@juno.com
Type of Gear: Book Review
Manufacturer & Name of Gear: Rodale Press-Trailside's Trail Food, edited by John Viehman
Weight: 3 oz?
Cost: $9.95 ($7.96 at the Backpacker's Bookstore)
Reviewer's Height & Weight: 5'4 1/2" and I enjoy my food ('nuff said)
Conditions: 4-Seasons - All Conditions
Usage: Hiking & Backpacking
John Viehman, host of the PBS program "Trailside: Make Your Own Adventure" edited a small but
delightfully useful cookbook which includes preliminary chapters explaining why it is important that a backpacker eat
well on the trail, why drinking water is important in all hiking seasons, hikers' nutritional needs when the weather is
cold, hot, or when hiking at high altitudes, freeze-dried foods and the advantages of dehydrating your own foods, the
advantages of supermarket foods, bear bagging (complete with how-to pictures), pack stove care, how to make a
bper's lightweight oven, campfire cooking (when environmentally justified or in emergency situations), use of spices
to make bp foods more flavorful, how to sprout seeds to add fresh vegetables to a bper's diet, the one wild plant that
you can identify and forage for, coastal edibles, two edible insects, and finally, the recipes.
The recipes include drinks,
breakfasts, lunches and snacks, dinners, and desserts. There are a number of 'pemmican' or 'meal-bar' recipes that are prepared at home, as well as other 'at home' prepared foods.
Some of the meals are packaged at home to be prepared in camp. Although there are some recipes that would be more
suitable to base-camping (IMHO), there are enough recipes in this small book to recommend it for inclusion in any
backpacker's cookbook library. And at $9.95 ($7.96 in the Backpacker's Bookstore), it's a good bargain.
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