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Odd Man Out
09-18-2011, 20:14
I am looking into the FBC option. A lot of what I read refers to their use for short hikes. I am considering this option for long distance hiking, relying on resupply from local stores along the trail. I had a few questions:

What kind of bags do you use? Freezer weight zip-lock, or something more exotic?

Do you carry a large supply of these, or can you assume they will be readily available at most resupply stores?

Do you use the bag once and throw it away? (which means you are spending a bit of $ and carrying lots of dirty bags on a long distance hike). Or do you rinse and reuse the bags?

I cook a lot of rice and lentils on the trail (which take about 20 min of setting after boil to cook). Does your FBC system work for that kind of recipe?

TIA for the tips.

couscous
09-18-2011, 20:47
Good place for info and the FBC cookbook - http://www.trailcooking.com/
I use Ziploc Heavy Duty Freezer Pint - 20 bags, 4.9oz.
I don't reuse them, I zip them shut with any wrappers, tea/coffee bags, etc. and pack them out.
Normally various flavors of couscous, so cook time is always 5-8 minutes

BigHodag
09-18-2011, 21:31
I use ziplock quart freezer bags, but like Couscous' idea of pint freezer bags. Some office lunch experimenting is needed.

I too use the freezer bag just once as the heat does degrade the strength of the bag and eventually it will split and leak. My breakfast bag usually held oatmeal and its a waste of water and time to wash. I use my breakfast bag as the days trash bag.

I've only resupplied twice on the AT and both locations had freezer bags. I also did a mail drop this year for the experience and included sufficient freezer bags in my mail drop for the next round of meals.

Yes, you can cook rice in a freezer bag, but you'll be better off with a par-boiled minute rice versus regular rice. You may be out of luck with the lentils, unless you can cook them at home and then dehydrate for freezer bag cooking. Most freezer bag recipes use mac & cheese, Knorr rice mixes (http://at-trail.blogspot.com/2010/04/trail-food-knorr-taco-rice.html), and couscous.

To keep my freezer bag hot while rehydrating I use a bubble type mailing envelope as a freezer bag cozie (http://at-trail.blogspot.com/2010/04/freezer-bag-cozies.html). Takes up very little room in the bear bag and weighs next to nothing. Works great for keeping fresh sandwich meat cool for about a day.

Per Couscous, spend some time on Sarah Kirkconnell's Trail Cooking blog (http://blog.trailcooking.com/).

Don H
09-18-2011, 21:45
I did FBC for my entire thru-hike.
I used ZipLock brand freezer bags
I always kept a few extras in case of leaks. If you keep 5 or 6 extras you won't need to by a box at each resupply.
Only used them once and then it became the garbage bag for the day.
I carried a 1 sq. ft. piece of windshield sun reflector (thin foam and mylar material) to wrap the bag in while it cooks. This keeps the heat in while it reconstitutes. The food will almost be too hot to eat when it's done.
Some things I cooked were Stove Top stuffing, mac and cheese, Liptons rice or pasta sides, mashed potatoes, and couscous. it usually took no longer than 10 minutes for a dish to reconstitute.
I never cooked in my pot, only boiled water and never had to wash a dish in 6 months.
Hope this helps

Odd Man Out
09-18-2011, 23:46
Thanks. This is all very encouraging. I was thinking that I must have coffee for breakfast and tea for supper, so I didn't want to bring two pots (one for cooking and one for boiling water). On the other hand, I'm not a huge fan of parboiled rice or instant oatmeal and other processed food, so I was hoping to be able to cook "from scratch" with this process when possible (except ramen - Sapporo Ichiban!). On my last trip I put lentils, rice, dehydrated veggies, olive oil, salt, pepper, and curry powder in a pot of water. Brought to boil on alcohol stove. Wrapped the pot in a dish towel and let it set 20 minutes. All was cooked fine. I will try to repeat in a bag/cozy. Lentils are not like other dry legumes (e.g. beans) in that they cook in about the same time as rice. My oatmeal recipe would just be quick oats, powdered milk, butter, cinnamon, and maple syrup. I figure for FBC, I may make it more like a porridge. May throw in some dried fruit or nuts too. I know maple syrup is not UL, but don't even think about taking away my maple syrup!

Buffalo Skipper
09-19-2011, 09:49
Good place for info and the FBC cookbook - http://www.trailcooking.com/
I use Ziploc Heavy Duty Freezer Pint - 20 bags, 4.9oz.
I don't reuse them, I zip them shut with any wrappers, tea/coffee bags, etc. and pack them out.
Normally various flavors of couscous, so cook time is always 5-8 minutes

+1 on http://www.trailcooking.com/. There are dozens of recipes here. I have found some that I like, and then I rearrange them adding and subracting what I do and don't prefer. I have come up with some dozies!

Like everyone else, I do not attempt to wash them, and I use the first one as a trash bag for all the rest. I have been known to "rinse" to save those fractions of an ounce. ;)

I can't imagine what would make them better for short (rather than long) hikes. Keep in mind that if you are dehydrating your own product, it will be difficult to do this enroute, and that purchasing actual dehydrated product will be challenging as well. I purchase some things which are easily available (like carrots and corn) but dehydrate my own stuff (cabbage and hamburger). I have found that the Maggi cream of chicken soup mix is 10x as tasty as Lipton, but I have to order it via the internet, as it is no longer carried in local stores.

I understand that are not fond of "instant" rice, but it does cook much more effectively in FBC. There are also some Lipton (Knorr) sides which are very good. Look for the ones with the shortest cooking times. I shoot for under 8 minutes, and have found that ones over that time do not quite cook all the way through. I like my noodles soft, so this generally limits me to the Rice sides, which have a 7 minute cook time: this translates to 15 minutes of FBC. I will generally add dehydrated meat and veggies to keep healthy. If I have a cooking partner (as I often do in scouts), I will divide the bag in half and add other products to make it a good portion size. Has worked well for me. I always practice my FBC in advance of hitting the trail.

Of course, you can also make these up in advance, and mail drop them to you, which will help.

Just some ideas to make FBC a little more versatile for you. I like to cook (and eat!) but I don't enjoy cleanup, so FBC is my #1 way of cooking when I am out there.

Fog Horn
09-19-2011, 10:27
I've taken some of the recipes off the trail cooking website, grouped them with other meals that share their ingredients, and stored them in my iPhone so that when I resupply I can open the document and select just those items. There are many fantastic meal options on that site, which will help you get some variety in your diet and not get bored with "trail food"

Rocket Jones
09-19-2011, 10:32
Don't worry about quick oats, the regular works fine and I like it better because it isn't ground up as much.

FBC is certainly adaptable, but it was originally designed as a way to create your own dehydrated or "instant" meals, so as to control the ingredients and sodium content. If you're going to emphasize the "cooking" aspect of FBC, you're probably going to need the best insulating cozy you can find/make to hold the heat in for extended times. You might even consider using an insulated mug instead of the plastic bag. I suspect you'd still need a cozy for the mug, but it would add another layer of insulation to your cooking food. You'd also have to wash the mug each meal, but that chore offsets the fact that you aren't throwing away a plastic bag each time.

Dehydrating cooked rice isn't hard to do, even in an oven. Harmony House offers plenty of options for dehydrated veggies, and all I've checked have nothing added to the veggies.

Lastly, the idea of carrying two pots isn't necessarily a bad thing. If your second "pot" is a mug that you can heat your tea/coffee in directly over the stove, then it's doing double duty.

mattack
09-28-2011, 13:03
One tip that I learned from my many years of FBC...if you are going to make something that may have sharp edges in its dehydrated state (pastas, veggies, etc), pack the ingredients in a bag other than the freezer bag you will rehydrate them in. I normally mix it in a cheap sandwich bag, then transfer it over to the freezer bag when I'm ready to add the water. I've had a couple holes in freezer bags (that are conveniently discovered when you add boiling water!) that ruin the whole meal. Keep some backups handy :)

sarbar
10-10-2011, 18:36
On the bags...I always carry a couple extra new Ziploc brand bags in my food kit. I use them for many things (berry picking anyone?) but it can be handy if you need a new bag ever. And it isn't like the bags weigh a lot!

ah-go
10-10-2011, 19:19
I've been researching FBC also, and it seems there are two approaches a) combine individual dehydrated ingredients at home or on trail to create a rehydrated meal which comes together in the bag at camp, or b) prepare and cook the full meal and dehydrate the whole mess at home. I have not yet thru hiked a long trail like the AT - but as preparation we've thru-hiked the Loyalsock Trail (PA - 3 days) and NPT (Adirondacks - 7 days) and the latter method worked great for me. With some minor adaptations, I was able to make some good stuff at home, dehydrate it, and then simply add boiling water to the freezer bag in camp. One of my favorites turned out to be a ratatouille dish I made in the brick oven in a clay cooker with couscous. But I've also had success with pozole verde; penne with sausage, peppers, onions; sausage, white bean, kale, butternut squash soup; and others. The point is, you aren't limited to instant rice or couscous dishes. With only a little bit of experimentation you can probably take some of your favorite hearty recipes and prepare a big batch at home. If you've prepped it right, you can do a whole lot better than mountain house (it took me a few tries to shred the pork in pozole verde small enough to allow it to rehydrate in the bag rather than do some extra cooking in the pot; my first tries were definitely crunchy!)

I've also started doing the same thing for lunches. To add some variety to the standard clif bar/trail mix lunches I started making some salads in advance (like citrus lentil feta salad, or an asian slaw). By pouring some cold water in the bag at breakfast, and letting it rehydrate in my pack, I'm getting some much needed veggies and a nice change of pace for a mid afternoon meal.

With this approach, I only need one pot (for boiling water) and a mug (for coffee). I know lots of people like to resupply in town rather than pick up mail drops, but so far, based on my limited experience, this approach works for me, in that I've got tasty meals made from real food without any need to figure it out on the trail. It does take some work at home, in advance, but I don't mind that part.

Exile
10-10-2011, 20:29
I've taken some of the recipes off the trail cooking website, grouped them with other meals that share their ingredients, and stored them in my iPhone so that when I resupply I can open the document and select just those items. There are many fantastic meal options on that site, which will help you get some variety in your diet and not get bored with "trail food"

Good idea. Thanks for the tip.

LDog
10-10-2011, 22:41
I was initially drawn to the concept, and have enjoyed working it out during short, summer backpacking trips. But frankly, the idea of using as many as 400 bags once and throwing them away makes me want to go back to packing my REI Insulated mug to provide the same function. I figure I'll be buying FBC type supplies in boxes, transferring them to big baggies for storage, and scooping out what I need into my mug or pot. Same concept, same recipes, just without all the baggies.