Stove Free Eats

[kepPNW]

In another thread, Brad said...

I can't give you advice on how to make your own meals. I often times don't bring dehydrated meals, and when I do, I don't used heated water. Too much extra weight and items to bring.

Which leads me to conclude he's simply rehydrating with cold water, presumably for a bit longer period of time? Sure sounds like a good way to save weight by avoiding a stove altogether! I'd like to learn more about that, and any other good ideas people have for "satisfying" food that doesn't require any sort of heat to prepare, but also doesn't contain a ton of its own water weight.

Thanks...

[sprengers4jc]

+1 Following for the same reason....

[tednottodd]

Obviously every hiker has to choose where they are willing to save weight. I built one of those alcohol stoves out of a beer bottle, which is pretty light. The fuel adds to the weight, but not nearly as much as the canisters for propane or other gas. I'm appreciative of having a nice meal at the end of a long day. Just wondering what your thought process is. Seriously not judging, really interested in why people choose certain gear over others, mostly so I can always be re-evaluating my own pack.

[kepPNW]

Obviously every hiker has to choose where they are willing to save weight. I built one of those alcohol stoves out of a beer bottle, which is pretty light. The fuel adds to the weight, but not nearly as much as the canisters for propane or other gas. I'm appreciative of having a nice meal at the end of a long day. Just wondering what your thought process is. Seriously not judging, really interested in why people choose certain gear over others, mostly so I can always be re-evaluating my own pack.

Yeah, I was backpacking (for the first time in a *long* time) earlier this week, and was fortunate enough to be with someone who had a stove. We both thoroughly enjoyed having a nice warm meal at the end of the day! But if I were entirely honest, I'm not sure I enjoyed it so much that I'd be interested in reserving the space and weight of the supplies. It's not just the stove and canister(s), but all the associated paraphernalia - pot, windshield, etc. Starts to add up. If my "kitchen" consisted entirely of a plastic spork...

So just evaluating trade-offs, and formulating a better feel for options, really. My motivation out there really is covering miles. (Not for stats.) I just like to be on the move as much as possible, and see as much as possible. During the day, anyway. I do appreciate just hanging around a bit at really nice spots and at the end of the day. So weighing more movement versus more, um, luxury? Hmmm... Forcing me to type this out is bringing on some clarity of thought.

[Bosterson]

Obviously every hiker has to choose where they are willing to save weight. I built one of those alcohol stoves out of a beer bottle, which is pretty light. The fuel adds to the weight, but not nearly as much as the canisters for propane or other gas. I'm appreciative of having a nice meal at the end of a long day.

I'm going to ditto this. While cold food may be ok for quick, "light & fast" type trips in summer or something, it's really nice to be able to have something hot to eat on extended trips. On the JMT I was extremely appreciative of drinking the hot broth from ramen or split pea soup after a long day crossing Sierra passes!

My cat can alcohol stove is practically weightless; the MSR titanium kettle (.85L) is 4oz, and the Caldera Cone System is probably about half that (1.8oz for the cone, plus however much for the plastic tube it's in?). A 10oz juice bottle of alcohol is enough for 1.5-2 wks on the trail, boiling for both breakfast and dinner. Seems like a pretty good tradeoff of weight for hot food and drinks - I would look elsewhere to try to cut pack weight, like trading in my ~14 year old water filter for a Steripen or something...

[kepPNW]

I'm going to ditto this. While cold food may be ok for quick, "light & fast" type trips in summer or something, it's really nice to be able to have something hot to eat on extended trips. On the JMT I was extremely appreciative of drinking the hot broth from ramen or split pea soup after a long day crossing Sierra passes!

Yeah, I'm not looking for an all-or-nothing answer, here. Just options. Really wondering how to achieve that "light & fast" thing without too much pain.

[CampinCarl]

Breakfast- bagel, single serve cream cheese, dried fruit, cold oatmeal (just soak longer)
Lunch- PB&J on tortilla/bagel/crackers, mix and match snacks
Dinner- Tortilla with salmon or chicken pouch... add seasonings to your liking, couscous (long soak) with cold water rehydrate- once again, probably want to season to your liking

Snacks- Babybel cheese for shorter trips, trail mix, jerky, dried fruit, nuts, candy bars/power bars, an occasional piece of fresh fruit for the first day snack.

Drinks- chocolate / gatorade / tang mixes among others

Just some ideas. Some items obviously will do better for shorter trips (bagels/tortillas/cheese)

Lots more here:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin ... d_id=48023

[kepPNW]

Similar thinking here, Carl! I had the jerky, cheese, Wasa bread, dried fruit and nuts, trail mix, hard candy, bars, and so on for this last trip. That can go a long ways! I'll have to experiment with rehydrating oatmeal cold. Never thought of that! Had thought of the meat pouches, but wondered about the weight to calorie ratio there. I'll browse that link, too. Never spent any time there before, but clearly need to. Thanks!

[tednottodd]

This is really a thought provoking discussion. I'd be interested if anyone has weighed their kitchen plus food for cooked vs non cooked. just to see what the difference is. I guess what I'm getting at is, if we cook, this is what we will take for cooked meals plus the kitchen, and if we don't cook this is what we will take. Snacks eaten on the trail would be a constant that should not be considered in the comparison. The room in my pack that the kitchen takes up is probably more of an issue for me than the actual weight for the relatively short trips we go on. The other thing to consider is the effort involved. Some may not want to have to deal with the prep of cooking at the end of the day and the increased trash that would naturally go with it.

[kepPNW]

Good point on the "room in the pack" issue! Nice to free that up, as well.