Since there is no forum for cooking and related gear (hint, hint) I'll post this here. Most of you may have already heard of the book Freezer Bag Cooking but I think every backpacker should own a copy for several good reasons, like healthy eating, good taste and low cost, to name a few.
The book Freezer Bag Cooking by Sara Kirkconell details the best alternative I know of to avoid the expensive and horribly sodium-laden freeze dried fare offered to backpackers. Her book is filled with great recipies for very tasty and good-for-you meals and I've swtiched over to it as my main source for backpacking food. When preparing freezer bag meals it helps to own a food dehydrator but it's not a necessity.
The idea is to be able to combine ingredients either at home or in camp in a zip top freezer bag, add near boiling water, zip the bag closed and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes in an insulated envelope called a "cozy" (made of fleece, etc.). For winter camping this is the way to go. No pots smeared with frozen food remnants to clean.
Then there is the "joy of preparation" aspect to packaging your meals. Once you've assembled the basic foods and spices like cous cous, curries, freeze dried veggies etc. you'll find that measuring and assembling ingredients can be very easy. Believe me, after putting together the first meal it goes quickly. And afer eating the first FB meal you'll be hooked. When hiking friends smell REAL food cooking they will come around to FB cooking too.
This type of food preparation is great for vegans but we carnivores can easily take along chicken, crab, tuna, salmon, shrimp, etc. that is found in most supermarkets packaged in foil retort pouches. Usually meat is added at the end of the "cooking" process.
For those who prefer not to cook in plastic bags you merely dump the ingredients into your pot and cook. I do actually cook in the backcountry, in the traditional sense, spaghetti (W/home dehydrated sauce), panckakes and otherr meals but FB cooking is mainly letting hot water sit and do the work while you set up or strike camp.
How do you determine how much water to use? I was experimenting the other day with a tomato packet soup, smash and some meat. I didn't even get a chance to put the meat in, the soup and smash was just lumpy and revolting. I dread to think how I'd get on using porridge and milk powder!
On our last trip we took those Oats So Simple doobries. Ready mixed with powdered milk in a freezer bag. We found that it took a lot less water than the "recommended" cooking method. 150ml as opposed to 300ml I think.
Worked really well, and didn't taste too bad. No washing up either
I have a wee plastic cup...think it holds about 250ml... cup of oats, 1/2 cup milk powder, 1/2 cup ready to eat choped dried fruit (apricots are good) into bag. On site...mix with 1 cup water, bring to boil adding more water if required.....
I ike sloppy porridge, so usually add another 1/2 to 1 cup water.
I have a wee plastic cup...think it holds about 250ml... cup of oats, 1/2 cup milk powder, 1/2 cup ready to eat choped dried fruit (apricots are good) into bag. On site...mix with 1 cup water, bring to boil adding more water if required.....
I ike sloppy porridge, so usually add another 1/2 to 1 cup water.
That's great, I'll try it for brekkie tomorrow morning!
I don't suppose you have any other recipes for freezer bag cooking/lightweight cooking? Eating whilst backpacking is one of my biggest problems, I just don't have a clue!
Go to your local large supermarket and take a trip up and down the isles...think of things that need minimal cooking or just hot water...then think if you can do it yourself with better flavour (like cheesy potato...you can buy it...or buy value range instant spuds and take some ready grated mature cheddar). I like couscous and a sachet of fish sandwich filler, ....or soup with couscous chucked in to thicken....or pesto and potato...or pesto and noodles....curry and couscous....curry and easy cook rice...
The important thing is you need to like it and want to eat it...
Eric, freezer bag cooking has its attractions but it is not as good as it thinks it is, in my opinion.
Firstly, it is not as lightweight as it first appears. Many of the recipes rely on hydrated ingredients such as chicken and tuna. These are not only heavy but also unavailable in dear old Blighty (the UK).
Secondly, freezer bag cooking relies on the ingredients combining perfectly in the cosy. This is never guaranteed. I have tried something as simple as porridge oats and dried milk and been left with inedible lumps. Most of Sarah's recipes are more ambitious and involve combining dried and hydrated ingredients with boiling water in a rapidly cooling cosy. This sounds very difficult to make work.
I'd love freezer bag cooking to be the answer (no washing up) but I can't see it happening. It's not that lightweight and it won't always work in the field. Home dehydration is the only option that gives lightweight, foolproof, tasty food. It also ticks that "low sodium" box you Septics seem to be so keen on - if you want salt-free (i.e. tasteless) food, it's still possible with a home dehydrator!
Banter aside Eric, I would also like to see a hill food forum on this site. I take great satisfaction from eating good food in the wild without a big weight penalty. On trips without resupply, food is a big proportion of the pack weight. Water is just lying around but not food. I think that it certainly deserves more attention but there seems to be only sporadic interest.
How do you determine how much water to use? I was experimenting the other day with a tomato packet soup, smash and some meat. I didn't even get a chance to put the meat in, the soup and smash was just lumpy and revolting. I dread to think how I'd get on using porridge and milk powder!
We've all been there, Colonel!
I can cook a worldbeating chilli con carne but, for some reason, it doesn't dehydrate at all well. In desperation for a decent dehydrated CCC, I cooked a Chilli Beanfeast for the first time the other day and, not only was it inedible but the dish was so noxious that I felt that I was breaking waste disposal regulations by putting it in the bin.
You just have to experiment. As you see from my post above, I don't believe that a combination of dried and hydrated ingredients will come together with boiling water in a rapidly-cooling cosy. It may work for some people but I'm not convinced and I've tried.
Cooking (or rather, re-hydrating with heat) works for me. The same mixture of porridge oats, dried milk and raisins that was inedible in a freezer bag was fine when carefully heated and stirred over a low flame on my F1 Lite.
Your question about how much water to use is a tricky one; my rule would be to take the manufacturer's instructions and reduce by 30%. You can always add water but you can't take it away without burning fuel.
Water may be "...just lying around..." in Merry Olde but not in Nevada's Mojave Desert, where I'm now living. PAcking 6 liters is not unheard of in order to make a "dry camp" and continue on the next day to a water hole.
I agree, there are places where finding water is no concern as in Pennsylvania' hills and mountains where I wandered most of my life and where water was often too abundant. Then all I needed was a one liter container.
But as for freezer bag cooking being somewhat impractical I'd say stay with it, do your own meat cooking/dehydration and keep trying new recipies. I've dehydrated (and successfully rehydrated) retort pouch meat and dehydrated cooked rinsed and drained hamburger. It does work.
WOT? No retort pouch meat in England? Hmmmm... Well, try canned meat or cook yer own and dehydrate it.
And, yes, this site would not lose any adherents if it had a "FOOD & COOKING" forum. Might even gain a few.
Fair point about desert (or, indeed dessert) conditions, Eric. 6 litres of water? Over here we whinge if we have to carry more than 1 litre!
I think that we can get foil pouches of tuna but they are already mixed with other things to make an instant tuna salad.
I've given freezer bag cooking a fair crack of the whip (I even bought one of Sarah's bag cosies) but I just prefer the versatility of cooking in a pot. I tend to cook dehydrated meals by bringing the food to a boil , then putting the pot in a pot cosy for 20 minutes. If it is not quite ready by then, I can always add more water and leave it for longer. If it needs more heat, I can just bung the pot back on the burner for a minute.
If it doesn't all come together in a freezer bag, you'll have to transfer the freezer bag contents back to your cooking pot anyway. The attraction of FBC is the absence of washing up but as this only takes a few seconds anyway, it's not much of an advantage.
Interesting about you mentioning dehydrating hamburger separately. One of my problems with dehydrating chilli was that the meat was still bullet-hard even when everything else had rehydrated. I was using lean steak mince and had browned it separately before adding it to the dish.
There needs to be a food section on the forum, this thread is the sort of thing I need, and I think lots of forum members would benefit from something of this ilk. Keep the ideas and recipes coming!
jake. don't give up just yet. change the cooking techniques for dehydrating. meat likes a long low temperature cook to make it very tender - hours at around 65-70C - to enable the collagen to break down to gelatine.
successfully home cooking stuff needs some understanding of the chemistry that goes on for different food when heat is applied.
browning mince for example for dehydrating will generally seal the surface making it more impervious to liquid unless it is then cooked gently for several hours.
experiments, as above, with things like proodge should show that bag cooking isn't the best way to do it.
i believe that to enjoy food outdoors rather than it being treated solely as fuel then gramme chasing needs to be abandoned.
I do, and I agree with Parky. Spending time cooking and enjoying what I eat is part of the backpacking experience for me. I'll take food I want to eat rather than the lightest calorie provider. (I'll also carry a stove that's ok for more than water boiling and plenty of fuel.) Obviously it needs a bit of compromise depending on the length of trip, but I've carried up to 10 days supplies and still included a fair amount of 'proper' food in that.
Home dehydrating is helping to keep proper food light as well now, though
I haven't had much luck dehydrating meals, I've tried a few things but spaghetti Bolognaise was the best of a bad lot. Drying to re-hydrate in a ziplock bag resulted in spaghetti that wouldn't re-hydrate properly and the flavour was definately not like it was when freshly cooked, I think some of the flavour is lost during dehydration (one of the claimed advantages of Freeze dried meals is that they retain the flavour), it was edible but I'm not sure that it's worth the effort when there are a variety of commercial alternatives.
i don't understand ray. what food you take and how much everything weighs is your own choice like any other gear. cut 2kg off your pack weight? why not add 500g of good food. a "free" carry. it's only mindset.
if you have to carry water i cannot see any logic in even thinking about how much the food weighs. take proper food and carry less water as the weight difference is water so the overall weight is the same. i define proper food as food that you enjoy eating in whatever form it is in and not as i'll save 20gm not taking this particularly delicious lump of stuff that will brighten up my meal no end or if i take this i'll save 20gm of fuel.
i get the impression that those who take proper food don't complain about it whereas those who don't, do.
good food doesn't have to be heavy (define heavy!) . oil, cheese, spices, herbs, garlic, capers, dried tomatoes, dried meats, tinned/pouched fish can transform the mundane into a joy and in the case of oil provide a nice calorie boost. plain pasta with some freeze dried bits in it or plain pasta with good quality olive oil, chilli flakes, sliced chorizo and dried tomatoes. topped with some cheese and a sprinkling of crushed black pepper and flakes of sea salt?
