I'm planning on doing a lot more cooking, especially on shorter trips. I think I have a good start on the stove, cookware and utensils, but I'm trying to picture what I want to try for a prep area. I'm planning on doing the cutting, mixing, etc. right before cooking.

So, just wondering what folks here do for a prep area. I could see getting away with just a little cutting board, but I'd love to find a low table that isn't just a bulky single-use item.

What do you folks use for food prep area? A table? A spare plate?

Generally our setup is mostly like this when backpacking.



We like some fresh foods when we can get them and do cook in various ways. She has a small cutting board, a Snow Peak titanium plate and we sit on a tarp, using that for a table while sitting low on Thermarest pads. Flat rocks work well and you can see the water bag near her leg. I can get away with just paring against my thumb as that’s how my mother taught me from a young age. She needs a cutting board. We are using an alcohol stove for this journey and have constructed a windscreen with native sandstone. She calls it her Anasazi kitchen. Many times I’ll bring a canister stove and even our old Outback Oven and bake a small cake or a French chocolate custard with real cream, eggs and baking chocolate. Pizza is not out of the question. That’s just us and there are a bunch of ways to do it.

I am planning on a flexible cutting board at least. I have an old Fozzils-type of foldable bowl that can lay flat-ish. I don't want to try paring against my thumb. My mom never had anything as sharp as a Spyderco. :-)
I had to zoom in to see that you bring a 'helper'. for cleanup?

The cleanup crew is Winston Argyllshire III, very well behaved most of the time, but has really bad eyesight so he must get in very close to keep an eye on what’s going on. He gets his share.
Not many cut against the thumb, not even on a culinary forum that once had a thread on the subject. But as you say, my Spyderco as is yours is razor sharp.

We bring a flexible cutting board, cut down to about 5x7 onches. It fits against the side of our bear can. so takes up zero space.

But our best prep area has always been a "counter-high" flat rock. Nothing beats it. That may be easier to find in the Sierra than other places.

I'm sure our members from the Eastern Seaboard, Midwest, South, and Pacific Northwest all envy what you obviously take for granite.

I guess I can count on this group for dad-jokes, eh? I hate to admit I snickered at that one.

But seriously folks... I am covetously eyeing the flexible cutting boards in my kitchen. Fortunately/unfortunately they are built to withstand cutting so not sure if I can engineer an 'accident' so I can repurpose one. I'll have to either buy a new one or use my folding bowl gently. Finding the perfect rock in the Rocky Mountains can actually be challenging because there are so many trees standing around.

Either way, I worry a bit about stability if I'm cutting a big apple, potato... My mind keeps telling me a little table is the solution, but I don't want the weight penalty unless I can think of other uses. I mean, I'm already bringing a chair kit, which is also protection for my sleeping pad, a giant pocket on the front of my pack, emergency bivy...

so Dustin what stove and pot setup do you use for these gourmet meals?

We are mostly using canister stoves after decades of experimentation. Two are remote and one is a top stove. These are fire restriction friendly. We have a few favorite pots and pans but I like to see what others find useful.

I'm planning on starting with stuff I have already; a remote canister stove (FireMaple Blade 2) and probably a Vargo Sierra 750 pot.
The pot is like a little wok, so thinking of cutting and sautéing fresh veggies for burritos or a noodle soup. Might try steam-baking muffins in some little silicone cups I found in the cabinet.
The foldable bowl might work as a plate/cutting board/pot cozy.

OR I might try again with a Vargo Bot and the Soto Amicus canister. The Bot lid does work as a very tiny skillet and I can steam-bake inside the Bot with a Soto 400ml pot from the Thermostack set. I did this on my last trip, but the lid isn't ideal as a skillet, but is amusing to watch dance while steam-baking.

Oh, yeah. I have to stick with canister stoves due to fire restrictions.

I see what you mean about the Vargo Sierra 750. That’s an interesting pot. We have done a lot of steam baking over the decades and almost any two pots where one will fit inside the other works. The setup I like the most is the Snow Peak 1400 titanium cook set and the Snow Peak titanium bowl. The rolled edge of the bowl sits on top of the 1400 and makes a dynamite Black Forest cake or an amazing French chocolate custard. I still have and use the now discontinued Outback Oven for dry baking. Too bad that was discontinued. We use a remote canister for that. The Pam Banks Fryer/Bake pan paired with that will make just about anything with high fuel efficiency.

If you're going to buy the Amicus stove, check REI: the Amicus Stove Cookset Combo is only $50, and includes the stove plus a .5L pot that doubles as the lid for the 1L pot. Don't know if the pots are a size that is useful to you, but you can't beat the price. (REI is the only place that sells this combination.) On Soto's website, the Amicus stove by itself is $45 or $50, depending on whether you want the igniter.

I only do boil-and-rehydrate cooking, but the Stove Cookset combo works really well for me: I can boil water in the large pot, take it off the fire and add food to it, then use the small pot to boil tea water while the food rehydrates. (A small piece of aluminum foil covers the pot while this happens.) The small pot is a nice-sized bowl or mug.

Glenn, I already have an Amicus and love it! The .5L pot that came with it is pretty useful, too. I found that the plastic lid from a 1L Hx pot fit it and would hold a 110g canister snugly. It's a good minimalist kit for dehydrated meals.

Arizona, I grabbed the sierra pot a few years ago on sale while experimenting with wide pots for fuel efficiency. It boils FAST, but it also cools down fast. And it's not the easiest to drink from, so I went back to narrower pots while still working with dehydrated meals.

This is why I'm trying to figure out a good way to prep my food and keep things clean and organized while I try actually cooking on trail.
At this point, I am on the lookout for a stray yard sign of corrugated plastic that I can cut/fold into a little table like one I've seen online for about $12. Could be nice as a dinner tray, too.

Aimless.
That reminds me. I told someone the other day that some rocks are gneiss, some are erratic and some we just take for granite. He then said to me that "the rock we are looking at here is a Northwest leevit rock. Just leave it". :-)

You have had some good responses, I don't have much imagination when it comes to selecting and preparing food. One wilderness setting we used to enjoy actually had picnic tables from when there had been a car camp there. Now many miles in after the road washed out. Boy was that nice for sitting and cooking. The State decided to remove them. ???
I suppose different people love different aspects of backpacking. It appears to me you have taken a keen interest in something that will be very rewarding. Sounds like fun to me. Let us know how it turns out. I live in the Northwest where (at least below the tree line) it is possible to make lots of windscreens, makeshift tables and stools, etc. just from sticks and logs and other bush craft materials. When we were Boy Scouts we build shelters, but that practice has now thankfully gone out of style.
BTW... my fun thing backpacking is plein air watercolor painting. My mountain Icon is a w/c painting of Mt. La Crosse in the Olympic Mountains nearby.

Hi Jim. I am moving away from eating dehydrated meals as they often cause gastric issues for me so I'm transitioning to simple cooking. On my last trip, I used the Bot pot and a mix of fresh and leftover prepared food which worked but was not optimal. That's why I was polling for ideas.

I was able to make-do, but realized I need a better way to cut, prep and eat the food. I'm going to use a remote-canister stove which is much more stable for stirring and has better simmer control with a wide pot more suited to cooking and eating than just boiling water.

Digging through my gear pile I found my old foldable plastic mug, which might pair well with the Sierra pot, as it gives me some liquid measurements and a nice drinking mug. With the mug unfolded, I should be able to prep and cook on the ground without getting food smells on the chair which is also my sleeping pad (bear country).

It sounds like no one is using a little table or similar to prep. I may try using my bear canister as a tiny table or spread out a bandana to catch spills.