Just wondering about people's menus for Bdub trips. We tend to eat to live- don't bring a cooler, keep meals simple (just boil water), eat a lot that doesn't need cooking. How about everyone else?

live to eat here. But it depends on your trip style, cooking/planning/buying/experience ability. If you are moving every day, lots of miles, simple cooking is the way to go. On the other hand, simple and very tasty is still possible, given good planning, and skill in assembling meals beforehand.

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive at all, but I love flavorful food, and like to cook and plan.

I found out that I wasn't really hungry and didn't really want to mess with cooking much after traveling up to 12 miles/day. Just food to live is all i needed.

I'd have to say we eat to live, too. Nothing too fancy. No inordinate amount of time spent baking or making special meals. We'll throw in a couple things to liven up a meal or a lunch, but even then, it's only a treat.

On the other hand, we fish hard and we live to eat walleyes on a regular basis while we're up there.

Eat to live, in fact the next trip's food will likely come from a convenience store.

It's eat to live, usually simple one pot rehydrate and simmer meals, but it doesn't have to suck either. The answer for me is the dehydrator. Dehydrated burger works with dehydrated spaghettti sauce, or homemade rice pilaf or with a packet of dried soup and noodles. I usually spice things up with some thyme, pepper and garlic. Another good one is chicken or shrimp in a foil pouch with dehydrated diced onion, green pepper and diced tomatoes, cajun spices, garlic and thyme served over rice, like Shrimp Creole. If you cook a little at home, there are a lot of dishes that you can dehydrate and cook up in camp. Red Beans and Rice, Dirty Rice, Mexican Rice are all good dehydrated, especially the Red Beans and Rice with smoked pork shanks.

eat to live here too.

I live to eat so my strength wouldn't be drained awhile on trip.

I don't want to make a choice. I keep trying to have it both ways! Light, simple, nutritious, fast and very tasty meals. One that people would prefer to eat even when at home. I'm a long way from reaching my goal, but I'm still reaching for the perfect "backpack" meal.

A bit of both, I guess. We have really good breakfasts most days unless there is a pressing need to get on the water before 8 AM. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, etc. Pancakes some days. I might even make a coffee cake. Take fresh eggs, when those are gone, I like the BackPackers Pantry Denver Omelets. At least one cup coffee apiece and one of hot chocolate.

Very light lunches. Snacky foods, summer sausage, cheese, crackers, dried fruit, maybe some nuts or trail mix. Mix a nalgene of water with lemonade or kool aid. Almost NEVER cook anything for lunch, even on a layover day.

Most evening meals are a freeze-dried entree, a freeze-dried veggie, and some sort of dessert. I had fun last year with the jello-mold oven so will probably do some cakes again this year. I got some dehydrated tomato sauce from Packit Gourmet this year and will take some spices and dried onion and try some spaghetti sauce. But don't really cook a lot in the evening. Too busy taking pictures. :-)

Never take a cooler, or any foods needing special care. I figure we eat fresh foods 50+ weeks a year, we can do freeze-dried veggies for 8-10 days. Too many other things to think about.

I'm pretty much a K.I.S.S. kind of guy too, gutmon, especially when I'm solo. Add boiling water, eat out of the bag, ProBars and GORP for lunch. Simple sweet treats.

I like a combination. Some evenings, a great dinner is a nice thing, others I like something quick and simple. Maybe I want a late start, so some eggs and spam are a great breakfast, while other days I just wanna get on the water, so oatmeal or cold cereal is just fine.

Combo here too. Steaks the first night. And of course, pizza!

Meal planning is my favorite part of getting ready for the BWCAW! I love the challenge of trying to find food that tastes great, is simple to make and uses the least amount of dishes possible. (I hate washing dishes!)

Traveling trips are definitely eat to live: simple, simple, simple.
Base camp trips are more live to eat because there is more time to prepare and clean up.

Both types of trips necessitate bringing the luxury of an orange or apple: There is nothing better than something fresh after days of dehydrated food :-)

I'm not sure but wonder if a cold brew wouldn't be better than a fresh apple. Hmmmmmm

Every year in BWCA I eat some spam & some Rammon noddles - and they taste great. If I attempt to eat eather outside of BWCA, I can't swallow it.

For whatever reason - bad food even tastes great up there. So I eat to live, and somehow still find it tastes awsome.

I eat to live, but I'm sure my wife (my tripping partner) wishes I planned the menus so we lived to eat. I end up compromising between the two.

quote buz: "On the other hand, simple and very tasty is still possible, given good planning, and skill in assembling meals beforehand. "

This is soooo true!

I do primarily freezer bag cooking. I spend a fair amount of time before my trip planning the meals, gathering ingredients, and assembling meals. Then once we're there, there is very little left to do, AND it tastes great. It's healthy, too. I also really like that it minimizes leftovers and extra ingredients.

i eat well at home and do most of the cooking so on the trail i don't feel any need to repeat that on what should be a vacation.
over the years i have learned what's easy to make,filling and tasty.
many complated meals that call for several pots and pans,long simmers,
baking and such are left home.i don't even bother with making dried buffalo burger anymore,just ground chuck is fine.a rice side and dry chicken make up half of my meals.a MRE meat pack with some Mac and Cheese or a noodle side a quarter and freeze dry bag meals the other quarter.i don't even do the steak dinner in Ely anymore,i just drive home and pick up a Sub or burger on the way.my only real cooking treat is a hot bannock with lots of jam and butter.pancake breakfast or dry eggs and rice at breakfast with the same coffee i make at home only in a plastic drip cone and not a ceramic one.crackers and cheese or PB at lunch with some sort of nuts or fruit.it's like fishing,cooking is too much work for the pay off when your trying to paddle and camp alone.

Eat to live...

But I still like quality. No freeze dried food here. Steaks, pasta, grilled trout, pan seared walleye, biscuits and gravy, scones, fried eggs etc....

I am a lightweight packing paddler though--we eat quality but not quantity.

T

When one goes on vacation they usually like to dine at nice restaurants. That restaurant would be my camp when in the BWCA. We are foodies..

Eat to live or live to eat?

I'm not quite sure how to answer that.
I eat so I can live, but on the other hand, I live so that I can eat again. Seems like a chicken-egg situation.

I'm hungry. Funny thing, the answer seems so irrelevant just before lunch.
:-)

eat to live??..how about i better eat it's getting really late!!
anyone "forget" to eat?..on more that a few lay over days i did some heavy snacking and it was past 8PM when it hit me i better have dinner as the next day would be the long carrys..same with lunch,which is why i look at my watch in the afternoon.."gee--it's 3:30..no wonder i was hungry"..

I'm in the combo camp also. Most of the times things are simple but sometimes we do things like this.

Or this.

quote mr.barley: "I'm in the combo camp also. Most of the times things are simple but sometimes we do things like this.


Or this. "

That is eating to live!

When I'm home I live to eat. I'll spend hours in kitchen preparing food using all my best equipment. When I camp I don't have the gear, the time, or the inclination and I usually eat freeze dried. I would rather be doing something else other than cooking.