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Thundermuffin
09-03-2014, 14:58
Greetings prospective thru hikers!


I would like to get advice from y’all on dinner options while on the trail. I realize i could easily fork out money and buy mountain house dinners for the entire duration of the hike but it would be expensive plus they don’t pack very well.


I’m looking for some dinner ideas that i can put into a Ziploc and do a “boil-in-the-bag” method . I recently tried a pre-made “Knolls” brand just add hot water meals and they were absolutely disgusting.


Does anyone have any great meal plans that can be arranged for resupply that are simple, cheap, and tasty?

Hikes in Rain
09-03-2014, 15:24
Lipton/Knorr Sides with pouched meats. A very high number of possible combinations, more than you'd need for a different dinner every night. Instant mashed potatoes and pouched meats, and the number of variations just keep climbing. And, of course, mac and cheese. With cheese.

10-K
09-03-2014, 15:28
Towards the end of my PCT hike my favorite dinner was macaroni and cheese with tuna. I never like trail M&C because I didn't have the butter and milk to really make it the way it's supposed to be made but I found a great work-a-round.

1. An hour or so before stopping at the end of the day I'd pour the macaroni into a Gatorade bottle, fill the bottle half full of water and keep hiking. While I hiked the macaroni rehydrated.

2. When I made dinner I poured the contents of the Gatorade bottle into my cookpot and heated it up. No need to boil it because the macaroni was already soft enough to eat. (this also saves fuel).

3. Pour powdered cheese into the macaroni and (drumroll....) 2 packets of mayo.

4. Mix it up, add tuna and eat.

The mayo gave it fat and a smoother texture and made it very tasty.

Odd Man Out
09-03-2014, 15:54
You can also cook meals "from scratch" without relying on process/prepackaged foods. One of my favorites is 100 g of basmati rice, 50 g of lentils, 1.42 dollops of olive oil, salt and curry to taste. Add meat if you want. Add 2 cups of water. Bring to boil. Shut off stove and put pot in pot cozy. Let set until you are too hungry to wait any more or 20 minutes (whichever comes first).

RED-DOG
09-03-2014, 16:02
1: Take 2 packs of Ramen Noodles, Crush them, then place inside Zip-Lock bag, pour Hot water in the bag ( try and cook the ramen as dry as possible ) then add one packet of flavoring, Tabasco sauce, slice 1 medium summer sausage or slim jims, then take a Tortilla wrap and make a Burrito. ( should make 2-3 burritos ).
2: Pasta sides just add summer sausage or slim jims, Tabasco sauce.
3: Instant Mashed Potatoes with summer sausage, Tabasco sauce.
4: A cold dinner, 1 packet of tuna creation ( any flavor), a medium summer sausage, Tabasco sauce, 2 Tortilla wraps ( makes two burritos ). a little bite of mustard if you got it.
This is just a couple of ideas, once you get a little bite of experience, your meal possibilities will be endless not just your dinners but also the quality of your Breakfast and lunch will increase

dangerdave
09-03-2014, 16:12
Snack while you're waiting. :)

Rice and beans! Nice, OMO!

Odd Man Out
09-03-2014, 19:02
Snack while you're waiting. :)

Rice and beans! Nice, OMO!

I eat a lot of Zatarains Rice and Beans too. But the nice thing about lentils and basmati rice is they cook fast compared to their more familiar cousins of regular white rice and beans. No need to resort to pre-cooked/dehydrated/parboiled/instant versions.

Another Kevin
09-03-2014, 19:05
You can also cook meals "from scratch" without relying on process/prepackaged foods. One of my favorites is 100 g of basmati rice, 50 g of lentils, 1.42 dollops of olive oil, salt and curry to taste. Add meat if you want. Add 2 cups of water. Bring to boil. Shut off stove and put pot in pot cozy. Let set until you are too hungry to wait any more or 20 minutes (whichever comes first).

This. If you're feeling adventurous, while you're waiting on the freezer bag, put together some dried mango, maybe some raisins or coconut or chopped cashews, some dehydrated onion or other dehydrated vegetables, a good garam masala (black, white and red peppers, cumin, coriander, cardamom, clove, ginger, asafoetida, malabar leaf), and some cornstarch in a little water. Heat until it thickens (it just needs to come to a boil) and pour over the dal bhaat. Throw in some meat if you like.

All my hiking partners love this unless they're seriously spice-impaired. And well, dal bhaat tarkari is what keeps the Sherpas going!

Odd Man Out
09-03-2014, 19:27
This. If you're feeling adventurous, while you're waiting on the freezer bag, put together some dried mango, maybe some raisins or coconut or chopped cashews, some dehydrated onion or other dehydrated vegetables, a good garam masala (black, white and red peppers, cumin, coriander, cardamom, clove, ginger, asafoetida, malabar leaf), and some cornstarch in a little water. Heat until it thickens (it just needs to come to a boil) and pour over the dal bhaat. Throw in some meat if you like.

All my hiking partners love this unless they're seriously spice-impaired. And well, dal bhaat tarkari is what keeps the Sherpas going!

Yes AK, no limit to what you can do. I'm not usually this ambitious, but fortunately we have a nice Indian grocery store in town where you can buy Garam Masala by the kg for next to nothing.

RockDoc
09-03-2014, 20:24
You can make pretty much any cooked meal that you like and then dehydrate it. For example, fry up a bunch of hamburger, onions, and garlic and then drain it and dehydrate it and put it in soups or noodle dishes on the trail. I use a Snackmaster Pro dehydrator, which adds heat as well as blows a fan (no connection except as a consumer).

bdetamore
09-03-2014, 22:58
I like Barilla tortellini.

Odd Man Out
09-03-2014, 23:10
I got this stuff at World Market.

http://www.worldmarket.com/product/la-piana-mezzaluna-with-pesto.do

Then added a package of this for sauce

http://www.knorr.com/product/detail/246091/parma-rosa

yum

Rocket Jones
09-04-2014, 05:54
For Freezer Bag Cooking (not the same as "boil-in-bag"), check out http://www.trailcooking.com/. There are plenty of other sites out there too, just try google. Among them are the Hungry Hammock Hanger and Backpacking Chef.

The best advice I ever got was to experiment at home. Use your backpacking gear to make your meals, get some experience like that.

And remember, what's disgusting at home can seem like manna after a long day hiking.

Bronk
09-04-2014, 10:27
Any hot meal will taste great at the end of a long day.

Thundermuffin
09-04-2014, 11:12
All good inputs. Much thanks!

slbirdnerd
09-04-2014, 11:52
Visit this website and learn: http://www.trailcooking.com/trail-cooking-101/freezer-bag-cooking-101/

Many, many things you can freezer bag and have them turn out including angel hair pasta, dehydrated rice, and ramen noodles but chuck the packet and put in your own stuff.