meal prep for dummies

[Tramp]

Ok,, forgive me for being a dumb a@#, but can someone walk me through this? lets say you have a s.p. ti pot 900 to boil water in. a light my fire ti spork to eat with. what do you pore the hot water in ? bowl? bag? how big of bowl? how big of bag? someone said once thay took 1 mountain house meal & used the bag it came in to eat out of the rest of the trip. saw a post of useing a freezer bag. i guess im over thinking this but would like your input. tks :-?

[Raul Perez]

Here's how I do it (but there are many ways):

http://watermonkey.net/2011/12/27/cooking-dehydrating-and-rehydrating-meals/

[Slo-go'en]

Bowl? What's that? I have a pot and a spoon - all you need. And maybe a pot scrubber if your not paying attention and burn dinner - which is in the pot.

Mountian house meals you cook in the supplied bag. Freezer bag cooking is similer, but you use an insulated ziplock. This in theory saves fuel, but now you need to clean and replace freezer bags. I just cook in my pot, as do most people.

[Not Sunshine]

I have a ti pot like your's (i think). i use an empty "ez mac" microwave cup for drinking (yeah - the ones you get for $0.49 and just add water and microwave ez mac into a "meal") - it's insulated and super light-weight, cheap - plus, my alcohol stove (soda can) nestles inside the cup - the cup fits in the pot.

[Tramp]

love the jar/bowl/pot what ever you want to call it. where do you get it? or what's it from?

[Raul Perez]

It's a country time lemonade or koolaid container

[Emerson Bigills]

RR - thanks for the tips. Some good stuff.

[Rocket Jones]

I suggest two things. First, get a long handled spoon. You don't need a spork, and having something with enough reach means you don't get food all over your hand when nearing the bottom of your meal.

Second, I do freezer bag cooking, and what I did was cut down a lightweight plastic deli-lunchmeat container so that it's a 'bowl' about 1" deep. This holds my ziplock steady while I eat, which just makes things easier. Keeps me from burning my hand too. Weighs maybe 1/2 ounce, if that much.

[swjohnsey]

Mostly I cook and eat out of the .9 pot. I also carry a plastic cup made from the bottom of one of those red plastic 1 lb coffee "cans". Cut it to just fit in the pot with the lid on.

[RodentWhisperer]

I have to disagree with the call to avoid sporks. A spork makes it easy to eat fish, noodles, eggs, etc. If you need a long-handled spoon to eat out of a bag, then clearly you're unable to roll down the top of an open bag. Plus, there's the delightful experience of saying "spork."

Spork. Just say it with me. Spork. Spork.

[BobTheBuilder]

The nice thing about Mountain house type or freezerbag cooking is that you never burn anything and never need to wash your pot. Great for shorter hikes where you aren't resupplying from a trail grocery store or gas station. On a thru hike, probably just cook in the pot and eat out of the pot for logistical simplicity.

[Rocket Jones]

Spork... Nope, does nothing for me. ;)

I don't do the noodle thing, that's why I FBC. And if I needed a fork, I'd carry one. A spork makes a lousy spoon and an even worse fork.

[sarbar]

http://www.trailcooking.com/trail-cooking-101 That is my walk through of the styles of cooking :)

[Tuckahoe]

Everyone prefers something a little different. I mostly prefer to dump my food an water into my pot to cook and the eat from the pot. I like both Packit Gormet and Hawkvittles and they work well that way. Mountain House and Backpackers Pantry are meant to be hydrated in the packaging.

I use either a Imusa mug or a Snow Peak cook set, and i use a German army folding fork and spoon. fold it open and one end is a spoon and the other the fork... none of that silly spork stuff.

[Tramp]

spork spork spork spork yea kinda funny after a while. thank you all for the words of wisdom.

[RWheeler]

I boil water in my pot, pour it into the Ziploc freezer bag with the food inside of it, then I put the Ziploc back inside the pot, closed up. Put the pot in the cozy, put the lid on, and let it sit for however long I need it to sit before I can eat it.

[turkeywayne]

old school from nam. put rice spices and water in baggie, put baggie in sock, place next to bady. at end of day supper is heated and youy are ready for bed, no cooking. lol wayne

[BigHodag]

I use freezer bag cooking. I found Sarah's TrailCooking.com site and tried it out at the office. I have since used it on two long sections of the AT with no problems. I like that I don't have a dirty, greasy pot to clean and FBC eliminates need for soap, disposal of waste water, etc.

I use a mylar Bubblope from The Container Store for my freezer bag cozy. Its only $3, folds, and is very lightweight. It also has velcro and keeps everything inside hot. (Oatmeal apparently shares thermodynamic properties with pizza sauce.)

http://at-trail.blogspot.com/2010/04/freezer-bag-cozies.html

[Northern Lights]

I have one of those squishy bowls for when I want to feel human, most of the time I just eat out of the bag, freezer bag, packit gourmet, or hawkvittles. Oh and Maryjane's.

[RodentWhisperer]

I hold onto my hot freezer bags in a Fozzils collapsible bowl (at least, I do that on short trips when I want a little luxury). I'm sold on it-- even though it adds about 2 oz of weight to my pack, I've found it makes eating out of the bags easy. Plus, it can be used as a cutting board and a mug.

Oh, yeah... If you don't like the sound of "spork," try this: foon. :)

[Spogatz]

+1 on the spork. Some people just can't get enough....

[Watson]

I've tried freezer bag cooking a few times with Lipton instant noodle mixes, various flavors. Every time, the noodles have tasted like the freezer bag (plastic) and had the consistency of wet cardboard. When I just leave the water in the pot, dump the mix in, and put the lid back on and put the pot in the cozy, it tastes great and is cooked right. What am I doing wrong, or does everyone think their FBC pasta meals taste like crap?

[Rocket Jones]

FBC works better for pre-cooked and dehydrated food like instant mashed, instant stuffing, instant rice, etc. For noodles, pre-cook and dehydrate. The Liptons (Knorrs) aren't pre-cooked, so you're trying to cook the food, not just rehydrating and heating.

[sarbar]

FBC works better for pre-cooked and dehydrated food like instant mashed, instant stuffing, instant rice, etc. For noodles, pre-cook and dehydrate. The Liptons (Knorrs) aren't pre-cooked, so you're trying to cook the food, not just rehydrating and heating.
Exactly. The Knorr meals are hit and miss for doing it FBC and are pretty bad no matter what :p Make your own meals of pasta, you won't regret it!

[greginmi]

That's why I stick with the rice-based Knorr sides. Always come out good IMO.

[Watson]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try it out with rice. I'm not really sold yet on FBC versus cleaning the pot yet though. More trash to pack in and out vs. no clean up.

[sarbar]

One thing to remember is you have to bag your food no matter how you prep it for carrying on the trail - so eating FBC doesn't add any more garbage.....

[kayak karl]

one pot, one lid, one spoon.

http://www.weainfo.org/en/art/26/

"Addressing hikers who commonly suffer food-borne illnesses, I recommend backpackers wash all utensils, pots, bowls, and mugs each day. Better yet, outdoor programs should adopt the "one pot system." My students each carry one pot, one lid, and one spoon into the field. That's it. Students choose meals that require boiling water. By boiling water in their pot each day and eating out of it rather than a bowl, they ensure their pot is disinfected most of the time."

[Watson]

One thing to remember is you have to bag your food no matter how you prep it for carrying on the trail - so eating FBC doesn't add any more garbage.....
Depending on the food, I think. Lipton noodle mixes and other things commercially bought would create more trash somewhere, either at home or on the trail. Transferring that to freezer bags would also increase your expenses by the cost of the freezer bags. Food dehydrated at home would need to be bagged, so that wouldn't make any more trash, and FBC would probably be the way to go in that case.

[Procras108r]

Depending on the food, I think. Lipton noodle mixes and other things commercially bought would create more trash somewhere, either at home or on the trail. Transferring that to freezer bags would also increase your expenses by the cost of the freezer bags. Food dehydrated at home would need to be bagged, so that wouldn't make any more trash, and FBC would probably be the way to go in that case.

Not necessarily.....I have added water directly into the Knorr's / Lipton's bags and folded over the upper portions to seal in the steam and heat as it hydrated and cooked. So not an extra FBC bag. Or, if I am adding more items to the Knorr's / Lipton's like I frequently do, I pour everything into a plastic ziplock with a screw-cap top. The lid holds in the heat / steam and the container acts as my eating vessel. Yes, one thing to wash since I am not eating out of the pot but it gives me the option to make a second item in my pot while I am eating from the plastic ziplock container.....or maybe I can be eating while I am purifying some drinking water.