BWCA BWCA.com Cook Book - FREEZER BAG COOKING Boundary Waters BWCA Food and Recipes
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muddyfeet
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09/06/2015 04:35PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Planning for a Solo trip and not finding a good collection of Freezer Bag Cooking (FBC) meal recipes on this forum, so I propose a new sticky add to the BWCA.com cookbook:
No comments, please, just recipes.

FBC Meals
-Single serving dry meals packaged in zip top freezer bags.
-Just add boiling water to rehydrate.
-Rehydrate in a cozy to retain heat.
-Eat out of the bag for no dishes to clean up.

Most of these are going to require dehydrating foods at home with a dehydrator or convection oven.

Not always possible, but you get extra special bonus points for:
-no special-order freeze-dried ingredients: everything available at local grocery store.
-Easy to pack and make.
-No dehydrating needed.
-High calories per ounce of weight.
-low/limited sodium.
-tasty/different from other freeze-dried meals.

I'll start off with four:

COZY:

 
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muddyfeet
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09/06/2015 04:47PM  
Cranberry Chicken and Rice
(from trailcooking)

Cranberry Chicken and Rice (makes 2 individual servings)

1 can cooked chicken (12oz)
Instant Rice OR stovetop stuffing
1 pouch Knoor dry vegetable mix
½ cup craisins (dried cranberries)
2 cubes (2 tsp) low sodium chicken bullion
Dry Parsley Flakes
Garlic powder

Home Prep:
Drain chicken and dehydrate. Separate into 2 portions.
In each freezer bag add: ½ of the chicken, 1/4cup cranberries, 1cup rice OR stuffing, 1 cube (tsp) bullion (crushed), 1 tsp parsley, 1 tsp garlic powder, and ½ packet of the knoor veggie mix.

Trail:
Add 1 ¼ cup boiling water and stir well. Rehydrate 10-15 minutes.

 
muddyfeet
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09/06/2015 04:52PM  
Unstuffed Peppers: (makes 2 individual servings)

1lb 90%+ lean ground beef
½ onion
14oz pizza/marinara/tomato sauce
1 red bell pepper
½ bag frozen corn
Instant rice
Parmesan cheese to garnish

Home Prep:
Mince onion and cook with beef in fry pan. Cook well. Rinse fat and drain.
Dehydrate beef.
Chop pepper and mix with ½ bag of frozen corn. Dehydrate.
Puree sauce if not smooth. Spread on silicone sheet and dehydrate.
Split dehydrated ingredients into two Freezer bags. Add ¼ cup rice to each.

Trail:
Add boiling water to bag and rehydrate ~15 minutes.
Garnish with parmesan cheese.

 
muddyfeet
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09/06/2015 04:54PM  
Chicken Carbonara Pasta (makes 2 individual servings)

1 box penne or rotini (13oz)
1 can cooked chicken (12oz)
1 Packet McCormicks Alfredo sauce mix
1 package (3.5oz) shelf stable bacon crumbles OR 8 strips shelf stable bacon.
1/2 cup Powdered milk
3 tsp Butter buds
Parmesan cheese to taste

Home Prep:
Cook the pasta. Drain and dehydrate. Divide into 3 portions. (4 oz dry per bag)
Drain chicken and dehydrate. Divide into 2 portions.
In each Freezer bag add ½ of the chicken, 1/3 of the pasta, ½ of the bacon (1/4 cup each)

Sauce is packaged separately: Mix Alfredo, milk, and butter powders together. Divide in half and bag each portion.

Trail:
Add boiling water to pasta/chicken. Rehydrate 10-15 minutes.
Pour excess water from bag and use to rehydrate sauce to desired consistency.
Add sauce to pasta and parmesan cheese to taste.
 
muddyfeet
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09/06/2015 04:55PM  
Peanut Pad Thai: (makes 1 individual serving)

Brick of ramen noodles
1/3 cup peanuts
2 Tbsp peanut powder
½ pouch Knoor dry vegetable mix.
Red pepper flakes

Home Prep:
Break up the ramen noodles in the package and dump into Freezer bag. Throw out the seasoning packet.
Add remaining ingredients to freezer bag with just a dash of red pepper flakes.

Trail:
Add boiling water to bag and rehydrate 5-10 minutes.
 
muddyfeet
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09/06/2015 05:21PM  
Three Oatmeals:

1) Peaches and Cream

2/3 cup instant oats
¼ cup powdered milk
¼ cup dehydrated, diced peaches (1 peach)
sprinkle of dried cranberries

2) Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

2/3 cup instant oats
¼ cup dehydrated, diced green apple (1/2 apple)
1tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup raisins
brown sugar to taste

3) Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal

2/3 cup instant oats
2 Tblsp powdered peanuts
2 Tblsp powdered banana (puree 2 bananas, spread on silicone sheets and dehydrate. Break into pieces and powder with a coffee grinder)
brown sugar to taste
 
09/08/2015 09:27AM  
Thanks for posting these. I usually just buy stuff these days, but have done similar things in the past and probably will again in the future.

I don't have any specific recipes to share at the moment, but a couple of general ideas that might provide you some food for thought.

Other things that make a good base - couscous, quinoa, orzo, and capellini. The couscous and quinoa can also be used as a breakfast cereal, as can rolled oats for a different texture.

You can also add beans, lentils, split peas.

You can use just about any dried fruit, nut, or seed.

There is a wide variety of spices and seasonings to experiment with depending on your personal taste.

All of these are readily available at the store and require no prep besides combining and packaging.

On shorter trips where weight isn't such a big issue, you could just take foil packs of chicken or fish without dehydrating first.

I've found that many general recipes are easily adaptable for this kind of cooking - you don't just have to look for "trail" recipes.

 
muddyfeet
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09/14/2015 09:56PM  
Hot breakfast fruity granola:

1cup Granola mix (Bear Naked or brand of your choice)
1/4cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1/4cup milk powder
1 banana, pureed and dried into leather.

Trail:
Add just enough hot water to constitute bananas and milk and this makes a very satisfying hot breakfast.
 
ECpizza
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06/19/2016 09:52AM  
My mom always called it goulash, just your standard caserole .

FYI, just about any caserole works for freezer bag cooking...

2 cup macaroni noodles
1 LB ground beef
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste or diced tomato
1 can kidney beans

Bake 1 hour at 350

Dehydrate portions

To rehydrate, add boiling water to cover food. Seal bag, squish once or twice while rehydrating.
 
10/25/2016 11:34PM  
I've found many good recipes and ideas here . The blogger has even organized the meals/snacks/beverages/supplements by day in gallon storage bags to make it easy to avoid having to dig through your food bag/barrel/pack. I tried this method on my last 3-day backpacking trip on the Superior Hiking Trail. Worked great, except I packed way too many snacks. ;)
I did invest in a large can of freeze dried chicken for some of the recipes. I've also taken the 7-ounce pouches and just split them between two people. I've tried dehydrating the pouch chicken but wasn't that fond of the texture when it rehydrated. I've also bought the 3-ounce cans of chicken and just drained them a little and sealed them in small bags with the Food Saver.

Here's a couple of my favorites from the Trail Cooking website:

Breakfast Pistachio Rice Pudding

Pecan Chicken Salad (Be sure to add the cranberries. Small packets of Ranch or Balsamic Dressing available at www.minimus.biz)
 
MEPPS
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12/06/2016 09:31PM  

The Hungry Hammock Hanger has several excellent meals here here
 
muddyfeet
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07/23/2017 09:57PM  
A favorite from Skurka. It can be adapted to FBC and is pretty tasty.

Beans and Rice with Fritos and Cheese:

At home:
2oz dried instant beans
1.5oz instant rice
Teaspoon taco seasoning (chili powder, garlic, cumin, salt...)
Pack seperately: 1 oz fritos chips
Pack separately: 1 oz cheddar cheese

At Camp:
12 oz hot water to Rehydrate seasoned beans and rice in bag (in cozy) for 10 min. Add cheese and let melt a few more minutes. Add fritos just before eating or they will be soggy.
 
krberry11
  
01/08/2018 06:31PM  
In the grocery store they have lots of dry choices. mac and cheese, Knorr has choices in sealed pouches like alfredo broccoli. Potato buds. you can buy cheese powder. They have tuna and salmon in pouches on the shelf. Also scalloped potatoes. Pop up pastries for toaster. Popcorn and parmesian. cereal. Soup mixes. Hope these help people out.
 
alpinebrule
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07/26/2018 06:45PM  
Check out the Backpacking Chef . All homemade dehydrated meals. One of his things is using a small thermos to start hot lunches in the am that are ready to eat for lunch. No association with him just have been following for a while.
 
alpinebrule
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09/16/2018 10:02AM  
Tomato Soup;
I just tried some good old Campbell's Tomato Soup I dehydrated, powdered in a coffee grinder, mill and reconstituted. A definite success 95% like just out of the can.
One can to a tray fits nicely. Does take a while to get it well dried so it will powder in the
grinder. Add water a bit at a time while stirring until you get the consistency you want.
I let it sit for about ten minutes before heating.
 
golds009
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05/28/2021 01:00PM  
You are the only other person I am aware of who eats directly out of the freezer bag. My family thinks it is uncivilized, I think it's an easy clean-up! I weigh and measure all of my ingredients at home, so they are monitored for salt, sugar, MSG, protein and fat.

























 
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