Why the two step process? Simply put, pasta is not precooked in most cases. Small shapes of pasta will cook in 4-7 minutes in boiling water in a pan but big shapes or whole grain pasta can take up to 15 minutes to cook. Pasta also puts off a lot of starch - so when you cook say 4 ounces of dry pasta in a small backpacking pot it can get very, very starchy which of course gives you glue-y pasta. Not so tasty.

Now...pasta can be cooked by sitting in hot water but.....once again, pasta cooks best when in rolling water at boiling temps. So if you cook it at home you can have whatever pasta your heart wants, cook it till al dente, drain and rinse and then dry it. You can dry it in your oven on a cookie sheet as well!

Then you get "instant pasta". All you need to do is pour in your hot water and let said pasta sit in a cozy (insulated) for 5-15 minutes and then use it.

Is it harder? Yes. But it does conserve fuel on trail and allow an easy way to have pasta <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

As for the oil packets some REI's carry them and as does Minimus.biz