Dinner food woes...suggestions?

Having come from a background of carrying a pressure cooker and fry bake setup in the back country years ago and going all out with backcountry cooking, it has been a long and somewhat difficult transition to UL cooking. After several years of freezer bag cooking, dinners remain a challenge, not in terms of flavor, but in terms of variety for the bulk/carb part of the meal.

Our typical trips are 5-8 days long, so variety is needed. Altitudes are usually 9,000'-11,000', so boiling/cooking temps are a bit lower.

Ramen remains the single most palatable carb source that actually fully "cooks" freezer bag style. We can't stand instant rice from the supermarket, and even couscous does not fully "cook". We intersperse an instant spud meal here and there, which is OK, but really need some other carb sources for variety.

We would prefer to keep to the freezer bag system of cooking without having to cook in the pot so we can avoid the cleanup hassles.


Suggestions?


As much as I want to avoid backpacking dinners becoming another project (I have way too many projects and am constantly pressed for time in day to day life), It seems our only really good option may be to buy a dehydrator and start dehydrating our dinners... Thoughts about this?

Anything that cooks in 10 minutes or less should work with freezer bag cooking. You need a nice warm cozy (I just got several of the UL ones from Sarbar of Freezer Bag Cooking fame--they keep the food really hot!) to keep it warm. For pasta and rice (instant brown rice or cooked/dehydrated brown rice) it needs to sit in the cozy about 20-25 minutes. Cous-cous takes about 10 minutes. It sounds as though you may need a warmer cozy to keep your food hot longer.

I do a lot of home dehydrating because I can't stand freeze-dried sawdust--pardon me, but that's how it tastes to me. Of course I'm a whole-grain food fanatic--I dislike white rice and white pasta. The only foods I've been able to use straight from the package are Annie's Naturals whole grain shells with cheese. If you don't mind the white stuff, then there are hundreds of things you can cook from the package or from the recipes on Sarbar's Freezer Bag Cooking website without doing any dehydrating.

I just finished making up 9 freezer bag dinners for my upcoming Wind Rivers trip. Each is different. It can be done!

Coincidentally, we just had 7 pre-bagged dinners in the Winds that prompted my post. I have cumulatively spent more than two years of time backpacking and climbing in the Winds, and we just hiked out to Elkhart Park yesterday after a week long trip. Have a great time. Where are you going?

But back on topic, part of the problem may be that our food is not staying hot long enough. After 20-25 minutes it's cold. Cous cous does not fully "cook" for us. Time to make a better cozy I reckon.

I am also with you about the white foods... much prefer whole grain pastas, brown rice etc. Do you dehydrate your own rice? Is it better than the store bought awfulness?

Home dehydrated is a lot better, especially if the rice is cooked in chicken or vegetable broth instead of water before dehydrating.

You might check Sarbar's site for her UL cozies, if she has any left (limited amount of material, unfortunately). I was amazed how long the food stayed hot in them!

I'm going into the Winds at Green River Lakes and exiting at Elkhart Park. A couple from Portland is going the opposite way, so we're meeting in Pinedale next Monday morning to swap cars.

Are the bugs still awful (as described by wandering_daisy last week in the trip reports section) or have they died down a bit?

Nice route with a number of good options. It will be really nice to be able to hike through instead of returning to the same roadhead. That is some spectacular country you will be hiking through.

We'll be going back in about two weeks with Japanese friends on their first trip to the US and their first backpacking trip!

The winds are notorious for mozzies and the bugs are typical for this time of year. Just goes with the territory. They usually start to thin out a bit in August as things dry out a bit. Take your headnet and try to spend a lot of time above treeline so the breeze and cooler temperature keep them down. I also always take tightly woven wind pants, jacket and gaiters so they can't bite through. We have been trying a variety of alternative repellents to DEET over the last couple years. Picardin is essentially mozzie bait. Seriously, it was worse with this stuff than no repellent. Repel Lemon eucalyptus worked OK for short time periods but has a very pungent and annoying scent. The best we have used so far is Homs bite blocker http://www.homs.com/insect-repellent/ It has a kind of weird scent, but not so strong, and there are no contraindications on the label about applying often. Got it at Walmart.

Oh, and back to the topic. I think a dehydrator is going to be on the buy list tomorrow.

I cook up and dehydrate Jasmine rice, pasta I like, etc Then I have my own tastier versions of "instant".

But yes, the cozy is your friend! OM, I thought that was you after I shipped them..doh! Of course it was after I had shipped them...cause I would have sent you a spoon If I see you this fall on Eagle Creek I will bring you a present

If your cozy is not keeping stuff hot after 25 minutes your cozy is kinda, well, not good I leave stuff in mine for half an hour all the time and it's still piping hot. My pot cozy I can bring rice (not instant) to a boil with the correct amount of water, leave it sit in the cozy for about 45 minutes (I err on the long side to make sure it's well cooked) and it's done, and hot! (my pot cozy is made of blue foam, formfitted.)

Get a better cozy.

"Our typical trips are 5-8 days long, so variety is needed."

Differences in expectations; for 5-8 day trips it feels to me that not much variety is needed --- 3 - 4 unique dinner meals, eat each one twice works for me.

And those can be pretty easy --- Lipton/Knorr sides using FBC cooking approach, Idahoan brand potatos with some jerky, ramen with some sort of dried meat or TVP added, that sort of thing. Easy at home, easy on the trail, cheaper than buying commercial freeze dried meals.

I don't mean in any way to disparage those that want more variety, and/or more control over ingredients, and/or for whatever reason just want or enjoy creating their own meals, but it pleases me that I enjoy meals that are this inexpensive and easy.

Actually I bought two pair of cozies--I used the first pair for our recent family backpack to Washington's Shi-Shi Beach. They were so wonderful that I ordered another pair which arrived promptly last week. Next year there will be two more of us going, which will require three cozies, and since that amazing fabric is a one-time deal I wanted a spare or two.

I'm really looking forward to exchanging recipes, etc. on the TLB hike!

Yep, I saw you got 4 of them!

I am starting to run down on the silver silnylon but still have some left. I literally am selling them as I sew them - no complaints though!

I sewed some custom Steamer Bag size ones for a BPL member who lives locally. She had a friend from NY come on a trip to the Cascades. She tells him to bring a hat as it gets cold, he doesn't. He ends up wearing the cozy on his head to bed and stays toasty warm

Just as a thought from someone who doesn't do the FBC w/ cozy approach, but... wouldn't the altitude (9,000 to 11,000 ft.) lower the boiling point sufficinetly that it would require a longer time kept hot in the cozy?

Does FBC need to stay above a certain minimum temp in order to work properly? Enquiring minds want to know!

It can affect it a bit at high altitude, usually it requires a longer sitting time (hence, where a very insulating cozy becomes very important).

9K is not as huge of a issue as say 11 or 14K, it isn't huge till you get over say 10K. I have a chart on how water temps go down for boiling/related to altitude on the old website. I need to see if it ever got moved over.

The foods affected most are the harder to rehydrate items - brown rice, whole wheat pasta, thick cut veggies. Items like ramen, freeze dried veggies, mashed potatoes, soups, couscous are not going to be affected - they don't need boiling water temps to rehydrate. Much of the dry foods can come back with cool water if one wanted.

Sure it can take longer, but with a good cozy it doesn't really matter. What really gets old is trying regular cooking and having to replace the lost water repeatedly to get food done. FBC is too easy.

I too use blue foam cozy! I made it and man it’s great. I haven't tried dehydrated food or cooking it for that matter. When I got to the store I just look around for food that might work for backpacking trips. If I want to change or add flavor I use Lipton soup powders, or other flavorings. I also like flavored TVP.

Excalibur dehydrator to the rescue. No more dinner woes. Good tasting food.

Re the high altitude--as you know, water boils at a lower temperature the higher the altitude. This means quite a bit longer "cooking" (sitting in the cozy) time. A warmer cozy is needed for this as well as to combat the colder air. As others have said, you need a warmer cozy.

My stuff came out fine on my aborted Winds trip (although I never got above 8300 feet at Beaver Park on the Green River) except for the lentils which were a little chewy and could have used another 5 minutes. I think that next time I go high I will take two of those wonderful UL cozies of Sarbar's and put one inside the other, just to be safe when it's really cold. It's either double cozies or wrap the food plus single cozy in my jacket, which I'd rather not do, especially with griz possibly around in the northern Winds. Besides, I'm usually wearing my jacket by dinner time!