no cook meals
Can someone explain to me in more detail no cook. If i was to hydrate lentils or rice and beans while hiking what is the best method to do so?
If all you are doing is re-hydrating then all you need is a stove and pot to boil water. As far as the best? Ask 10 people and you will get 10 answers. Some use Jetboils, some use pocket rocket style stoves and some use alcohol stoves. Each have their advantages and disadvantages, you will just need to do a little research to see what will work best for you but all accomplish the same thing.Originally Posted by backtrack213
Section hiker on the 20 year plan - 2,078 miles and counting!
There were several articles recently about quick cook pasta you might find interesting. This method is based on the observation that in the traditional method of cooking pasta (boil for 10 minutes or so), most of the time was spent rehydrating the pasta which is more rapid in hot water, but doesn't require hot water. So what they did was to pre-soak the pasta in water (I've seen 90 min to all day). The rehydrated pasta will then cook in just 60 seconds of boiling. However the cooking was necessary. The soaked pasta, while soft, had a strange taste and texture that was "fixed" by the short boiling time.
This year I have gone stove less on all my hikes. Cereal or bars for breakfast. When I leave camp I put my dehydrated beans (either refried or pintos) into a container and cover them with water. They soak as I hike. By lunch time they are ready to eat. After lunch, I add more dehydrated beans and water to the container and my supper begins to rehydrate. I hope this helps.
I have done vegetarian chili which is spicy. The spice makes it seem as if it is a warm meal. I normally bring a bag of this in case I am feeling cold.
I don't trust myself dehydrating meat so all my home made meals are vegetarian and I eat meat when I get to town.
To me, a no-cook meal consists of something I can eat immediately and without any advance preparation. Pop Tarts. Tortillas with PB and Oreos. Chips. Pork Rinds. Lentils and beans and legumes aren't on my radar as foods to eat when hiking, but it seems all you'd need is a bag and some water and you can soak them on the go easily.
As long as they are precooked and dried. They will never cook or completely rehydrate by just soaking.
I'm not lost. I'm exploring.
That is not my experience with rehydrating beans while hiking. My pinto beans taste pretty much like they did before I dehydrated them. Maybe you need to use more water to soak them in or soak longer. 3 hours normally works for me. They would rehydrate quicker with hot water but then I would have to haul a stove and fuel.
Sorry, I misinterpreted the question. I guess I shouldn't knock it before trying it but eating cold re-hydrated food sounds pretty gross. And aren't you carrying extra water weight while hiking if it's hydrating your food? For the weight you would save by not doing that couldn't you carry a small stove and pot?
Section hiker on the 20 year plan - 2,078 miles and counting!
A perfect and somewhat unanswerable question.
If my cooking kit weighs 1 lb and I carry 1 lb (~2 cups) of water to reconstitute my dinner for 1/2 a day, then going no-cook saves weight.
If I am hiking in dry conditions and I have to carry water either in a bottle or in the process of reconstituting my food, there is no added no-cook water weight, so again, going no-cook saves weight.
However, if I am in an area with water frequently available, so I am not carrying water for my meal already anyway, and/or my cook kit weighs less than the water I want to carry for my next meal, the going no-cook is heavier than cooking.
In the end, it is uncommon to have one's cook kit plus total weigh of fuel carried be less than a cup or two of water. So, there is probably, most often, at least some weight savings on average by going no-cook. Going no-cook also has an added simplicity to it that has an appeal to some people even if the weight savings is small or non-existent.
On the other hand, personally, especially on longer trips, I like the added food options provided by including the ability to cook. But, it is fun for a few days, at times, to just not mess with that fire thing at all. There are lots of past threads on this site worth reading over that provide all kinds of good no-cook meal ideas.
I'm not lost. I'm exploring.
Weight isn't the only reason to carry or not carry something.
There is something to be said for convenience.
I don't mind cold food on a hot summer night, and re-hydrating couscous throwing in some tuna (or chicken) and chowing down is way quicker, and easier than setting up a stove, and boiling water
Twitter: @mkehiker
Website: mkehiker.com
Good answer by Nsherry61 above (as usual). I'll add that the pack feels extra nice as you walk into town empty--no food, no fuel or container, no stove or windscreen. And it's nice not to have to look for fuel when resupplying.
Back to topic, I'll stress that it's impossible to hydrate beans and rice off the grocery shelf while hiking. Corn grits don't work either, nor do steel cut oats. Rolled oats work great, as do instant mashed potatoes, instant refried beans (go great with corn chips), hummus, couscous, and Ramen noodles (already fried). Otherwise, to make no cook meals work well, I find it's best to forget about traditional "meals" while hiking. I just load my pack with food I can eat any time, and I stop every two hours and eat something, sometimes five or six "meals" a day.
Tortillas and cheese and/or peanut butter are a good staple, as is muesli made with rolled oats, walnuts, and raisins. I don't carry bars, or anything individually wrapped.
I've been hiking stoveless since my 2004 PCT hike, including thru hikes of the CDT, AT, AZT, PNT, and others. My hiking got better when I left the stove at home. I think it's a great way to go.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
This may really be the most helpful answer to the OP. . . A great list of staples and strategies to make no-cook work.
I've also found that instant rice can work pretty well. I often make meals by mixing in my night's choice of starch, "instant mashed potatoes, instant refried beans (go great with corn chips), hummus, couscous, and Ramen noodles", or rice with whatever shelf stable meat I want (foil pack tuna, smoked salmon, dry salami, jerky or whatever) along with some dried or freeze-dried vegetables for a pretty balanced dinner. The vegetables do best when soaked for a while to get good rehydration, the meat needs nothing, and depending on the starch you use, it can be almost instant with potatoes or 20 minutes to an hour for instant rice depending on brown or white rice and depending on how soft you want it.
I encourage playing around at home. It's fun and informative. Pick up the starch(es) and meat(s) of your choice the next time you're at the store. If you have a food drier, dry some vegetables or pick up a pack of "Just Vegetables" freeze-dried veggie snacks from one of the few grocery stores that sell them, or from REI, or from on-line. I have also experimented with couscous "salad" on the trail by adding some dressing to the cold mix, or even adding other flavor packets you can get from your favorite grocery store to make it taste like curry, or teriyaki, or turkey gravy or whatever your pallet enjoys the most when you are eating cold or luke-warm food.
I'm not lost. I'm exploring.
Instant white rice soaked in an old school 32oz Gatorade bottle is pretty versatile. You can do a lot with rice - sweeten it, spice it up, mix it with a variety of different ingredients, make wraps, etc. I drink the starchy water out of the bottle instead of draining it on the ground... something tells me it's probably good for me but who knows...
p.s. instant brown rice never quite gets the right texture.
I've just never understood the no cook idea. I like to have at least one hot meal at the end of the day and in colder temperatures one for breakfast as well. Probably only psychological but if it makes you feel good why not. I use a Etbit and Cone both TI and together only 54 grams and fuel wt goes down with every meal.
But if no cook meals are what you are after you could look at what is offered by PackIt Gourmet http://www.packitgourmet.com/Lunch.html , a lot of these meals are designed to be eaten cold and I've eaten most of them. You could make up your own versions with yours and/or bought ingredients (especially the freeze dried meats).
"He was a wise man who invented beer." Plato
I hear ya! I could only eat so much vishiswa...and soup is good food.
no cook meals
Agree. Nuts, peanut butter, muesli, cheese all day every day? No thank you. I prefer hot beef, pork, shrimp, or chicken, and potatoes for supper. Those other items are fine during the day, but at the end of the day, i need a hot home cooked meal.
I've bought an Excalibur nine tray dehydrator that allows me to let such meals go dormant until I bring them back to life with near boiling water.
I have the same dehydrator here in Oz, but unfortunately I'm going to have to rely on purchases online or in stores there next year rather than do my own. That's one of the reasons I've been trying out the various brands of dehydrated/freeze dried meals from over there. By far the best I've had is Packit Gourmet, mainly natural with few additives. Won't be having them for every meal as it gets a bit expensive, but will be my go to brand.
"He was a wise man who invented beer." Plato
I have more than one pack, more than one shelter, more than 1 sleeping bag/quit, etc. When I plan a hike I consider where I'm going and choose my gear accordingly.
Sometimes I go no-cook, other times I carry a stove. It's really nice to have options and not be locked into a particular mindset one way or the other. It's good to know more than 1 way of doing things.
I think this is right and this is another one of those things that just "boils" down to personal preference - see what I did there
I also think it comes down to what type of hiking you are doing. I am only able to get out on the trail 3 or 4 times a year for a week or less at a time so I tend to want to have a good hot meal and I don't mind carrying the weight. I'm sure I might have to reconsider some things if resupplying entered into the equation. HYOH and enjoy with whatever works best for you.
Section hiker on the 20 year plan - 2,078 miles and counting!
Pack-it gourmet is very good, and I've found Hawk Vittles to be excellent as well. Their Hot Italian Sausage & Pasta is great.
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