Grocery Store Food for Beginners

Is there a list of edible and convenient packaged / dried foods commonly found at the average grocery store that are good for backpacking meals? My 16yo son and I are novices planning a 4-day trip to Big Bend in mid-March, and I'm doing huge amounts of research in preparation. Food on our overnight practice hikes isn't a concern, but I'm a Type-A planner and am working on lists for our March trip. I've looked through the five pages of posts on this forum and didn't see what I'm looking for. At this stage in our experience level, I'm only interested in foods that require no preparation or only the addition of boiled water. I do not want to dehydrate my own at this point. We've tried a few Mountain Home concoctions in our kitchen for fun, and while they're certainly edible, they remind me more of school cafeteria food in terms of taste and texture. Thanks.

Trailcooking.com

Well, that leaves you with rice, ramen noodles, instant oatmeal, cup 'o soups etc. for just-add-water options. I usually carry a small amount of fresh fruit or veggies and a bit of cheese for the first day since it won't keep. Then of course the old standard granola/energy bars, trail mix and jerky.

If you look at the link in my signature, I have some recepies posted.

Healthland Foods also makes some great dehydrated food. They have to be simmered for about 20 minutes. They say they serve 5, but it's more like 3.

Any of the Nile Spice soups are good. I add rice bran, sunflower seeds and couscous to increase volume and calories. Dr. McDougal's soups are also good.

As a guide, plan for at least 3,000 calories a day. Repacking things into small Ziplock bags will save a lot of weight.

Instant potato brands are essentially just-add water items. Along with the H2O, you can throw in crumbled jerky, cheese, or whatever.... Precooked bacon is more and more available.

As I always suggest - go to the grocery store and just wander. You will notice foods you have never seen before.
Most grocery stores carry items such as dried onions (spice aisle), sun-dried tomatoes air dried (produce) and many will carry even freeze-dried veggies in the snack/chip aisle.

As Grannyhiker pointed out my website - the concept when I started doing all this was FBC (Freezer Bag Cooking) which was simple, easy to make meals requiring just you, bags and a visit or two the store. The recipes on my website do range from simple to gourmet, my book though is all about grocery store meals.

What do you like? If so I can point you in the direction of various recipes you might like!

I've eaten freez-dried entrees for dinner the last few years, for simplicity (not for flavor); however, the last trip, I could hardly force them down, so I'm going to try reverting to what I used to do:

Rice: if you want to use rice (with a foil pouch of chicken, turkey, tuna or salmon, and a gravy mix or other seasonings, cheese, and dried mushrooms or other fresh or dried veggies) to come up with your own concoction, you can get instant Minute Rice in both white and brown varieties. Simpler yet would be the Knorr/Lipton Side Dishes, in a variety of flavors, to which you could add meat. They require adding the ingredients and bringing the mix to a boil, then simmering and letting stand; I've changed "simmering" to "let stand a bit longer" with no noticeable adverse results. (They also make noodle varieties; I never experimented much with them, only because I like rice so well.)

Another easy-fix supper is cous-cous. I use Near East (I think that's the brand), which comes in several flavors; I prefer Parmesan. I usually add a foil pouch of meat (see above), though it's fairly filling even without it. You simply boil up the water, remove from the stove, dump in the ingredients, and let it stand.

There is always that old stand-by, macaroni and cheese. I haven't used it in a number of years, but I believe Kraft made a variety that only required you to boil the macaroni, drain it, then use a squeeze-cheese pouch to add the "-n-cheese." I sometimes put a little canned ham into it. I quit using it because the clean-up was a little too much like work.

Ramen noodles: work OK as a supper if you add some meat (see above) and maybe some dried mushrooms or other veggies. Not my favorite, due to the heavy dose of salt. If I use them at all, it's usually as-is to make a hot dish for lunch.

Instant oatmeal and cup of soup work OK; I don't eat oatmeal at home and, on my last trip, found it hard to force down on the trail. I mostly eat granola bars for breakfast (similar to my cold breakfast at home); you could also take peanut butter and bagels. Individual packets of cereal (bowl or box) also work for me, since I prefer my cereal without milk; if you like Carnation milk, you can pack along the powder and mix your own. Pop Tarts also work for breakfast, as long as you follow up with a better snack (nuts, fruit, etc.) mid-morning.

For lunch, I usually eat some variant of beef and cheese; my own choice is usually the Jack Link kippered beef and one or two sticks of the school-lunch cheddar cheese sticks. In winter, I'll sometimes add a cup of soup or cup of ramen noodles - but not very often.

Snacks are usually granola bars or some sort of trail mix. There are a huge variety of these in the grocery stores, and you can mix your own trail mix using nuts, candy, and dried fruit.

You're speaking my language here. Assuming you're not really picky about what you eat, i.e., you're not looking for the backcountry gormet experience, my specific suggestions:

• Idahoan brand instant potatos. You might find that one package is suitable for sharing between two people. Can shred some jerky into it, add olive oil, but just the flavored potatoes alone are quite good. Surprisingly, many find them good when eaten cold too, just leaving the stove home.
• Knorr brand side dish meals, either rice-based or pasta. Again, one packet might do well for two people. Ask at a larger grocery store if they carry TVP (textured vegetable protein). Add maybe an ounce of that and perhaps some olive oil.
  Do take care in picking your side dish meal to watch for any that ask for milk. You can carry powdered milk for these, just be aware that you need it.
• Eat cold meals --- lots of options there. Sausage and some sort of bread or cracker. Foil tuna packets. Life is easy without a stove.

Et voila, that's pretty much my complete dinner meal plan for trips of arbitrary length, all purchased at the grocery store, literally at the last minute. For the potatoes and Knorr sides I highly suggest the freezer bag cooking method, i.e., put food and then hot water into a quart (brand-name) ziplock, put the result in a cozy of some sort to hydrate for 10 minutes or so. Then all you need is a quite small pot to heat maybe a couple of cups of water max (and you never have to wash the pot). And again, for the potatoes, the stove (hot water) is optional.

Brian

How much water are you adding to the Knorr/Lipton side dishes? The full amount leaves them a little soupy when I try it.

Steadman

Being willing to dehydrate simple things makes it easy enough.

Rice: I like jasmine, basmati, or long grain brown or white - I get it at the store, cook it, and dehydrate it til crispy hard. It becomes a just add water (just to cover, no more water than that) food item. Tastes sooooooooooooo much better than Minute Paper - er, Rice.

Meat: Hamburger gravel can be easy to do. There's lots of recipe type websites to tell you how to make it. Fry up ground round, or other low fat meat, until cooked through. Drain and rinse in water to further get rid of fat. Dehydrate until gravel. This is easy to rehydrate tho it takes patience - faster to add cold water to a nalgene with the gravel and let it soak for the afternoon before dinner, to deal with crunchy residuals. Precooked shelf stable bacon can be heated easy. Small summer sausages or salami travels well.

Cheese: hard cheese packs well. Some people wrap in vinegar soaked cheesecloth then in plastic for preventing mold over long weeks on the trail. Cheese sticks is the short cut - now that you can get cheddar and jack that way, it's how I do it, unless I really crave a good smokey gouda. Cheese is one of my favorite trail foods, very good energy food, in subfreezing temps I like to eat an ounce or two before bed.

Instant potatoes: dress 'em up any way you like. I like to add cheese, baco bits, oil, butter, chives, dill, and/or spices to pep it up.

Canned soups: hearty canned soups dehydrate ok. I like lentils and black bean soups. Or use a dry soup mix and add dehydrated veggies/meat/meat substitute as you wish.

Cheese powder: can be bought from Packit Gourmet, bought in bulk from WinCo foods (possibly other bargain warehouse type stores), stolen from mac n cheese boxes and repurposed, or made at home - recipes for cheese sauce powder at trailcooking.com. Can be added to the potatoes or rice, or pasta.

Cous cous or dehydrated pasta: Couscous can be gotten in bulk or in boxes depending on the store - just add hot water and you have a pasta dish, breakfast, or whatever you like - if you add ingredients to jazz it up. Pasta from teh grocery store can be cooked and dehydrated to make it ready for adding hot water to, like rice.

Nido: full fat powdered milk, for extra calories. I get a can from the ethnic aisle each year for adding to all kinds of things, including beverages. Tastes like milk, unlike fat free powdered milk.

Peanut butter: Justin's packets are showing up at Cost Plus World Market, REI, Packit Gourmet and minimus.biz. Perfect size. Minimus is great for jellies, honey packets, condiments, etc. in packable sizes.

Tuna: packets of tuna in 3 or 6 oz depending on how many people make great lunches. I get seasoned sometimes, or the premade tuna salad.

Chicken: packets or small cans of chicken are great for trail use. You can also get a large can of chicken and dehydrate it - this is the only way to have chicken reconstitute and actually resemble chicken, raw chicken just turns to pulp when rehydrating.

bars: at enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com there are recipes for copies of popular (expensive)trail bars. Excellent resource.

trail mix: I usually grab bags of mix from Trader Joes. Great variety, great food. This is also where I get cheeeeeeeeeeese, unless I want the Tillamook Mini Moos.

dehydrated veggies/fruits: Harmony House, Packit Gourmet, or in the stores, Just Veggies and Just Fruits brand. Or Trader Joes. Or Whole Foods. Or Lassens.

Dehydrate without a dehydrator: an oven propped open with a wooden spoon, set to 200-300 degress depending on what you are dehydrating, left going overnight, can set you up with a season's worth of staples to mix and match. Dehydrate leftovers while you are at it. They may not look the same when you add water but they will probably taste better than expensive freeze dried stuff.

I have also dehydrated a can of mild chili. The process pumps up the spices in it just how I like it. The chili comes back a little less saucy, but good.

I beg to differ with you, Lori--I call it "Minute Cardboard"!

To dehydrate rice I generally cook it in vegetable broth. It really improves the taste, I've found.

I just finished William L. Sullivan's "Listening for Coyote" in which he backpacked across Oregon connecting most of its wilderness areas (with a 50-60 lb. pack, horrors!). In his food list, he has a footnote: "After twenty days I used surplus emergency rations to increase the quantities in all menus 50 percent, and I poured the potato flakes into gopher holes."

It all depends on what food you like. I'd recommend starting by dehydrating small amounts and reconstituting a serving at home. It's not too smart to get out there and, after simmering home-dehydrated peas for 20 minutes, finding that they were still the consistency of buckshot, while the rest of the chicken casserole was mush! Get freeze-dried peas (Lori has the sources) instead.

Variety is important. Too much of one thing, even if it's a big treat at home, and you'll also want to pour it down gopher holes!

hi, i'm new, anyway, i'm thinking abt taking a bag of dried beans and a small watertight container to soak them in. if u get the 15 or 16 bean variety, u will be carrying a relatively small amt of weight for the amt of nutrients u get

just to b clear, u only soak enough for the following day then repeat. not whole bag at one time
http://www.livestrong.com/video/1374-healthy-food-choices-beans/ http://www.livestrong.com/video/1374-healthy-food-choices-beans/

Beans and lentils: just cook them at home and dehydrate them. You can do that in your oven if need be. Then they are "instant" and don't need more cooking (you can soak them for 10-15 minutes in cool water or add to any meal as desired).

Beans take a long time to cook, so make it easy on yourself!

I've never tried dehydrating anything. How long do you leave them in the oven and at about what temp to dehydrate cooked beans?

The info is on sarbar's website linked to above in her and my posts; just click on "Dehydrating."

I'm afraid that I just eyeball it and so don't know the exact amount. In fact, though, I tend to go for a little soupy, and prefer to just drink the excess liquid rather than take the risk of under-hydrating my food.

But if you're using a measuring cup or the like, then indeed I think you're right that you want a little less liquid than suggested. Unless you're adding something like TVP or jerky or the like that might require a little more hydration.

Did I mention that one of the key things for me is not being too picky or requiring a lot of variety? :-)

http://www.trailcooking.com/dehydrating101/beans-legumes-and-peas

You can cook the beans any way you prefer (I like doing them in a slow cooker!). Just drain and put on cookie sheets. In an oven dry on the lowest heat setting, prop the door open a crack with a heat safe spoon (like wood). Check after an hour or so and then every 30 minutes give or take, stirring as needed. Parchment paper under means no sticking. Once dry (break a bean open with a fingernail to check), let cool and the pack up. Dried properly you have a good year of storage time!

PS: even if they crack or get powdery when drying they are still edible. You can whirl the dried beans to make bean powder which you can use to thicken up soups and sauce btw!

thanks

Awesome. That's about where I'm at - for the cost and weight, I don't want to mess around too much for a Dad only trip.

However, if you'd you'd found a figure that made perfect everytime noodles, I was interested. If I ever figure this out, I'll pass the info.

Splendid!

I'm usually too lazy to pre-dehydrate - However I get a lot of grocery store meals that work just fine with no or minimal cooking.

First thing:

1) make a good cozy for your pot - "blue foam" and duct tape works very well if you make a nice bottom and top piece that fit your pot and seal up good. I can make regular non-instant rice in one of these by bringing the rice and water to a boil over my stove, then plopping the pot into the cozy for 35-45 minutes - yes it takes longer but it works fine.

As some have mentioned, instant potato and dressing dishes work well. some of my favorites:



0) Pre-cooked shelf stable bacon - it's light, it's bacon.. put it in stuff. (like the below)

1) Idahoan potatoes - flavoured or with gravy - with gravy I've added ham (from a pouch) or bacon (above) with a little cheese.

2) Ramen (it works)

3) Instant Dressing Mix (Stove Top, etc.) If you can get the "pouches" of chicken they make a fantastic addition.

4) Kraft Mac and Cheeze. - You can make it in a cozy just fine by just bringing it to a boil then letting it sit, or you can simmer a bit. For variation, add dehydrated onion, packets of taco sauce, and/or a pouch of tuna.

5) Tortillas. fill with peanut butter, nutella, cheese, bacon (above) etc. etc. etc.

6) Jell-o No-Bake cheesecakes - make with milk powder. grab some dehydrated fruit and soak it to put on top. (If you know how to pull this off, these are best enjoyed on remote campsites where there may be other people who have been out for a number of days.. the looks you get when you conjure strawberry cheesecake up out of a pot in a stream and start eating it cross between mildly amusing to the looks hyenas give wounded wildebeests)

7) instant oatmeal/cream-o-wheat, etc. We all eat it for breakfast.

8) Breakfast cereal - put a serving in a ziploc freezer bag with milk powder (nido or whole fat stuff is best) - add the right amount of water, stir and eat

9) CHEESE - a chunk of good harder cheese lasts a long time with no refregeration

10) Dry Sausage - Salami, Landjaeger, Pepperoni, etc. Many sausages do not require refrigeration and work well added to the above. (like potatoes or dressing or pasta)

11) Knorr side dishes - I am particularly partial to the singapore noodles - 2 cups of water, a blub of olive oil
and boil it up - works good for me.

12) Jerky - good to eat, and can go in as "meat" to a side or potatoes if you soak it a long time first.

13) Dried Fruit, nuts, etc.

However, I will definately second "trailcooking.com" - if nothing else go make yourself some cranberry chicken. Fantastic.

I have found quinoa is very much a good choice to carry. I've used from spices to fruits to make breakfast and evening meals that are high in protein and fiber. World Market carries wonderful mixes ready to just add water to cook.

We recently found no refridgeration needed Udon noodles - which we are adding to our camping food list.