Mac & Cheese - ?

[Mvanderk]

How are you guy's & gal's cooking your Mac & Cheese. All the receipe's on the box call for bringing six cups of water to a boil for 10 minutes. Way.......too much fuel!......What's the real story?
Thanks,

Giddyup

[SlowLightTrek]

I used about 3 cups, brought it to a boil, let stand a few minutes, boil it one more time and let stand again.

[Skidsteer]

@ 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups water. Bring it to boil, throw the stuff in, stir and let sit for @ 15 minutes.

[jrnj5k]

the quickest way to do it is to cook it almost all the way, and than dehyrdate it. than when you rehydrate it on the trail it takes the least amount of time to finish cooking it. Campmor has a good dehydrator for 60 bucks.

[garlic08]

I used just enough to cook the noodles without draining, probably what Skidsteer does. It takes a little practice to get it right, but it's easy enough to start drier than you think and add a little as it cooks and absorbs. There should be just enough water left to rehydrate the cheese sauce. This not only reduces fuel consumption, but you use less water in a dry camp. You also don't make a mess draining pasta water on the ground.

[sheepdog]

Always add some olive oil and Neddo milk. Tastes cheesier.

[Blissful]

Boiling for ten minutes is not a long time with fuel at all! Don't need that much water either.

[sarbar]

You never need more than 4 cups water and if you want, add the pasta to the cold water, bring to a boil, turn off the stove and let sit for a couple minutes. Works fine.

And even if you boil the water, then add the pasta in - you can cook it for a couple minutes, turn the heat off and let the water's heat finish the cooking.

[mark schofield]

I've found that most of the stuff like Mac and Cheese and Liptons sides can be brought to a boil, then covered for a bit and it will soften up. Possibly one more hit. of heat for the gourmet

[BigCat]

I use Easy Mac. I was concerned that it says, 'microwave only' but it works fine with just adding boiling water. Man, I lived off that stuff. Good times...

[hoz]

I've tried the "boil just enough" water method before and sometimes it works, but sometimes you end up with a goopy mess from all the extra starch (which usually gets rinsed away when you strain the water).

By preboiling and dehydrating your pasta at home the extra starch is limited and the noodles will reconstitute much faster.

[Engine]

2 cups of water, pre soak macaroni for 20 minutes, bring it to a boil and place pot in cozy, let stand in cozy for 10 minutes, stir in cheese mix and allow to stand a few more minutes to thicken. It takes a bit longer but uses very little fuel and at the end of a hungry day it tastes better than home.

[sly dog]

I also use the easy mac packets. Easy and light to cary and not much packaging. Some use the ez cups so they dont have to clean their pot out as much but it is a bit more pain to carry the cups being they are bulky. A nice addition is add the real bacon bits to it, not the hard crunchy ones but they sell real bits in a packet that are soft like real bacon.

[Jayboflavin04]

I did that "easy mac and bacon" Wasnt to bad! My mac n cheese didnt turn out that great though/ Pasta seemed over done. I would suggest trying....boiling water dumping in the noodles and let it set for a few minutes.