Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Cooking under Fire Ban
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mmrocker13 |
We do a lot of dehydrated meals, yes (on a 10 day trip, we probably have the premade BP/Mountain HOuse/REI meals 5-6 nights; two packets each. Yes, lots of sodium). But aside from that... We also have a meal of fish with potatoes (mashed; add bacon pieces) and fried onions. We make pizzas--the pan sized boboli crust, sauce packets, cheese (we use individually wrapped cheese sticks and then cut into chunks; no we don't refrigerate), onions, pizza seasoning, package of olives, occasionally peppers if we have leftovers from tacos, pepperoni is optional. Fry the crust a bit, add toppings, cover and fry a bit more. One pan meal. We also do tacos with packaged chicken (or canned), taco seasoning, beans, tortillas, cheese (see above), taco sauce packets stolen from the gas station, garden peppers, and pringles (jalapeno for crunch). Cheese tortellini with spag sauce (all you need is the packet, add water and a bit of oil and some parmesan and italian seasoning). Lots of dried soups are just add water. We'll also often add cheese or bacon pieces or onions, etc. Pastaroni or other noodle dishes with a couple of packets of flavored tuna. Quesadillas...tuna, cheese, etc. The older we get, the more food we bring :D The onions, tortillas, etc. do add weight... but we also single portage, so not so much weight that we can't carry it in one trip. And definitely worth it. |
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RRHD |
This last week my daughter and I brought two kinds of cold granola and whey/milk powder, as well as pop tarts and bars for breakfast. We had crackers, cheese, sausage, and miso soup or Patagonia brand chili or Black bean soup for lunches. We also sometimes bring instant hummus or instant refried beans and have them with corn chips or rice crackers. The backpacking meals are SO MUCH better now then they used to be! My daughter is a vegetarian, and we love most of the various rice and bean meals. Our favorite home made meal is: Powdered coconut milk (can buy online or at a Natural food store) a vegetarian stock cube, dehydrated stir fry mushrooms, rice noodles, and a packet of curry paste (can buy online or at an Asian grocery) and if it's for my husband and I we add freeze dried chicken. Double bag everything - the noddles can poke your bag. On trail dump everything in 2-3 cups of water, bring to a boil, boil one minute, and then let sit for 10 minutes. Creamy, rich, delicious curry noodles! If you don't like mushrooms it's also good with the freeze dried Just Veggies peas, or other dehydrated veggies like zucchini. Another favorite of ours is corn cakes: 2 eggs worth of powdered eggs, 2 cups worth of powdered buttermilk , 2 cups of Masa Harina, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt. Bring with a goo-tube of ghee or your favorite oil or butter. On trail mix as much of the powder mix as you want into water until pancake or slightly thicker consistency, fry in dollops in the ghee, serve with syrup or honey. You can also make half of it into a single larger corn bread like cake if you have a stove that adjusts to a super low heat, and flip it half way through. Goes great with the Patagonia chili. Instant mashed potatoes with ghee, and then cheese grated on top, and maybe a packet of instant gravy is a weirdly satisfying breakfast - I am not a huge fan of oatmeal, but we eat a lot of refried beans and cheese or potatoes and cheese on trail for breakfast. My daughter's favorite first night meal is fajita veggies with instant refried beans and cheese in a tortilla. We make the beans in a bowl and top with the cheese to rehydrate and melt the cheese. We cook the onions peppers etc. in the pot and put in another bowl, and then I sauté a smoked bratwurst cut up (or andouille, or etc.) for my portion. I eat the veggies and meat over the beans, and my daughter makes a roll up with a wheat tortilla. |
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RRHD |
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Bushman |
Day 1 was pastry from the gas station next to VNO, Venison summer sausage and Ritz with cheese for lunch and new York Strips for dinner. Day 2 was bagels and peanut butter for breakfast, jerky, snack sticks, trail mix and cashews for lunch and Eckrich smoked sausage with Zatarains black beans and rice. Day 3 was pancakes and spray butter and syrup for breakfast. Knorr cheddar broccoli pasta for lunch and Fish tacos for dinner. (Cajun fried fish with Spanish rice on a tortilla) Day 4 Bagels and PB (not sure how we stretched it for so long but none of us are big morning eaters. Lunch was more snacks and dinner was dehydrated burger (from home) along with egg noodles and mushroom gravy. (beef on noodles) Day 5 was scrambled eggs with real bacon pieces (Oscar Meyer) and I tossed in a couple Mountain House breakfast scrambles which we ate on tortillas as burritos with taco sauce or Siracha. Skipped lunch as we had a late breakfast after fishing. Dinner was fried fish and pasta marinara (Knorr) Day 6 was the last of the bagels with PB&J for breakfast, Lunch was skipped if I remember correctly (fishing again so probably snacks) and dinner was pizza quesadillas. (tortillas with pizza sauce, pepperoni and mozzarella string cheese and then covered with another tortilla. Day 7 was oatmeal for breakfast, skipped lunch and was at the Ely steakhouse by 5pm. All of this was cooked in the one small fry pan and/or two of the boiling pots that come with the set and I couldn't have been more happier. I for one may not ever have to collect firewood again in the BWCA. |
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bobbernumber3 |
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Richwon4 |
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Wharfrat63 |
We usually do a one pot Red beans and rice with smoked sausage added in. Smoked Sausage Red Beans and Rice |
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MN_Lindsey |
I use the MSR Pocket Rocket + fuel, so I just add water to my meals. Some of my FAVORITE brands - if you want to go that way are: Packit Gourmet --- Austintatious Tortilla Soup --- Ramen Rescue --- All American Burger Camp Chow --- Cranberry Turkey + Rice I've also made some really delicious meals from this website/blog including the Thai Peanut Noodles. I add Lotus Ramen since I don't always tolerate gluten the best. You can use regular Ramen too, but it's so good. As well as the Curry rice, or couscous! |
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straighthairedcurly |
MN_Lindsey: "As a hiker, I've learned to pack ultralight. +1 on The Yummy Life recipes...the oatmeal packets are delicious also (can be hot soaked or cold soaked. |
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LarryS48 |
Breakfasts: oatmeal and dried fruit. Occasionally a freeze dried breakfast. Hot chocolate, Tang or milk. Lunches: dried fruit, jerky, nuts/trail mix, protein bar Suppers: freeze dried meals, usually Mountain House. Can supplement with salmon or tuna from foil packets or freeze dried miso soup. The freeze dried meals are so easy to make and cleaning up is so easy. I think they taste good but everyone has their own taste preferences. Freeze dried meals are expensive, so I buy in bulk. The Mountain House ones have a thirty year shelf life, so even when a pandemic cramps your style they won’t go bad. All of this can be done with either no cooking or with a stove that only has to boil water. For a person who doesn’t like cooking and eats to live rather than lives to eat, this works well. |
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Banksiana |
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x2jmorris |
Salami, cheese, and butter sandwiches are great. Any sandwich would be good though. Tortillas, cold beans, cheese tacos Precooked pasta with pesto Granola and powdered milk Cold hotdogs with bread, mustard, and ketchup and also cold baked beans |
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Banksiana |
Richwon4: "does macaroni and real cheese dehydrate well? Of course we would dehydrate a bit of ground sausage in there as well. " Macaroni is already dry. Aged dry cheeses will keep without refrigeration (Romano, parmesan, aged cheddar etc). There is a wide variety of shelf-stable sausages. |
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bhouse46 |
In my evolution I have moved from raw meat and real potatoes and vegetables cooked in foil or over the fire to scratch prepared carb/protein focused meals. I solo so one dish meals I can cook and eat out of the same container saves hauling gear and cleanup. I do not do food only as nutrition (the pre packaged freeze dry item) as I enjoy the taste and texture of food. I eat quite well when camping. |
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climbmda |
Other than cooking fresh fish, I never do more than boil water. Freezer Bag Cooking |
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mgraber |
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LarryS48 |
GraniteCliffs: "On my annual solo I am quite content to eat dehydrated food. I don’t bother with a fire. I think there are plenty of no fire options for food for my upcoming group trips. No major problems there. Instead of sitting around a pocket rocket, you could try lying on a rock and watching the sun set and then watching the stars. |
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GraniteCliffs |
I am struggling with the concept of the group sitting and talking around the blue flames of my pocket rocket as dusk settles in. |
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dschult2 |
egknuti: "I've been dehydrated my meals for years. If you don't have a dehydrator, I'd get one. Spaghetti with ground beef, chicken chipotle with refried beans and rice, and beef stew are some of the dinners I make. I do a pre-hydration before the actual cook to save on fuel." I don't suppose you have a link for your ckicken chipotle. That sounds really good. |
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cmayer37 |
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Richwon4 |
What are your top 3-4 meals when restricted to a camp stove/ single burner. We are trying to think creatively beyond Ramen Noodles, Knorr Pasta, and Idahoan Potatoes. |
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schweady |
And, now that I added a JetBoil pot support to my MSR WindBurner setup, anything that goes into a regular frying pan is also in play. During a fire ban, the fire grate becomes a level, sturdy work table: |
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x2jmorris |
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danbogey |
Richwon4: "does macaroni and real cheese dehydrate well? Of course, we would dehydrate a bit of ground sausage in there as well. " Powdered cheddar cheese is awesome and you only need to bring that macaroni to a boil then put it into a cozy. Pasta noodles only need to stay 180 degrees to finish cooking. You'll save a lot of fuel using this method. |
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Michwall2 |
Backpack Gourmet - Linda French Yaffe Cooking the One Burner Way - Melissa Gray and Buck Tillman I suggest the Upside Down Sloppy Joe and the Ground Beef Paprikash. Spaghetti dehydrates well. I have a recipe with beans as the protein instead of meat. Mac and Cheese is always good. I add a packet of tuna. I have a recipe for Breakfast Cookies. This allows us to get away quickly in the morning. Heat water for drinks only and there is no clean up. |
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schweady |
x2jmorris: "Level schweady!?!!? Lucky I swear every one I use is not level." :-) I jest, of course. My measuring cup for boil-and-eat meals will usually show a difference of up to 1/4 cup on opposite sides. Perhaps one could start portaging in a 12 lb sledge... :-) |
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blackdawg9 |
we have done some calzones, in a fry pan. a liquid fuel stove would be better here. cabbage and noodles and some sort of meat. bagged chicken or tuna or turkey sausage. you just need a large enough pot. 2 liter probably . liquid fuel stove. |
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Canoeinggal |
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egknuti |
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andym |
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straighthairedcurly |
It is also really easy to cook anything with couscous. Having a dehydrator is super useful for making your own ingredients or dehydrating whole meals. There is a great forum on here with lots of ideas and instructions for food. |
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Northwoodsman |
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cyclones30 |
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northallen |
We're considering traveling lighter and packing more handhelds (Salami-cheese-mustard-tortillas, pop tarts, gorp, hardboiled eggs, etc.). Less dishes to offset the disappointment of no fire. |
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rdgbwca |
I also take two stoves that use the same iso-butane canisters so that I have a back up. |
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rdgbwca |
I have also tried adding freeze dried beef to this bear creek stroganoff. I am planning to take it along. I buy ingredients and meals from packit gourmet. |
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lindylair |
For us a fire ban wouldn't affect our cooking at all, just the ambiance of the evening, which is significant. Guess I will wait this one out. |
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boonie |
schweady: "x2jmorris: "Level schweady!?!!? Lucky I swear every one I use is not level." You might think about a mini bubble level and some shims . . . ;) I always cook on the grate, usually the most level spot at camp :) |