No-cook meals

[shortridge]

What no-cook meals have proven to be backpacking trip favorites in your units?

 

I've used tortilla wraps, bagels, peanut butter, jerky, string cheese, fresh fruit on first day, GORP, tuna fish pouches.

 

Any innovative suggestions? Anything your Scouts really like?

[Gold Winger]

After a morning of hiking, I noticed that just about anything tastes good.

 

Also, to save time, we eat breakfast on the trail. Break camp, hike for about an hour and then when it's time for a break, eat.

[OldGreyEagle]

Back in the late sixties they troop of my youth went to the Grand Canyon, quite a trek from Chicago I can tell you.

 

There I learned the joys of no cook meals especially for lunch. PB&J was one, Spam and Crackers was the other.

[Gold Winger]

I thought that peanut butter hadn't been invented in the 1860s :-)

[scoutldr]

When I was a kid going on 50-milers...Korean War era C-rats.

[Ohio_Scouter]

shortridge,

 

You might want to try Philmont's trail meals and get your guys ready for a trek in God's Country at the same time.

 

http://www.scouting.org/highadventure/philmont/camping/menus.aspx

[John-in-KC]

I despise C-rations if I'm out walking. WEIGHT. I am so glad the C-ration and its final form, the Meal, Combat Individual, is gone.

 

Meals Rejected by Ethiopians are novel, but LNT friendly they aren't!

 

There are plenty of dehydrated no-cooks out there.

 

Beef jerky ... especially if you're able to make it at home, can be fantastic. Store bought stuff is so salty it demands water, but when friends make homemade jerky, they use maybe 10% of the salt commercial stuff uses.

 

PB&J works, especially on hard biscuits such as Rich-Moor's Pilot Biscuit.

 

My thoughts.

[shortridge]

Thanks for the ideas so far... keep 'em coming!

 

Ohio Scouter: Alas, I missed out on Philmont as a youth. It's going to take me about another decade to make it - have to wait until my daughter joins Venturing and see if she wants to go.

 

I'm an eastern flatlander, too. In my book, God's Country is sandy coves, flat trails and pine trees. You just can't beat the smell of pine.

[AnniePoo]

Hi John-in-KC,

 

Salts in foods, including regular old sodium chloride as well as curing salts used for meats, are preservatives. This means that they keep microorganisms from growing and causing problems. These microorganisms include bacteria, yeast, and mold that can spoil food as well as bacteria that can make you really sick.

 

So, it's really important that when you are making any type of preserved food that include salt, such as pickles, jerky, etc., you follow the recipe. Cutting down the amount of salt, especially if you only use 10% of the normal amount, can lead to major problems with foodborne illness. This is particularly true of foods not stored at proper refrigeration temp or frozen.

 

In other words, it's not a good idea for you to be eating jerky on the trail if it's made with only 10% of the normal salts & curing agents. A nasty case of "two-bucket" disease that at home would be unpleasant would be potentially life-threatening on the trail. You may get lucky 99% of the time but that 1% could be pretty nasty.

 

(For canned foods such as pickles, if you cut way back on the salt level you could end up with botulism).

 

Take care,

Food Safety Annie

[anarchist]

shortridge

these are no cook meals our treking scouts really love:

 

summer sausage and/or

pepperoni and/or

hard salami and/

hard cheeses

crackers/or pitas/soft tortillas,

thin sliced onion

small packs of mustard...

virtually no clean up...(a knife, cutting board, some small plastic packages, and cracker boxes)

 

or

dried fruit, (LOTS OF DRIED FRUIT! apples, rasins, pinapple, mangos, appricots, cranberries, prunes you name it!)

hard cheese,

nuts,

crackers

 

pitas,

chicken (pouches- just like tuna)

onion, diced

small pouches of Mayo

small pouches of relish

mix on the trail when needed...

only makes a little trash- a knife and spoon and large zip lock are your clean-up!

(condiment packs can be purchased by the box at Costco type stores or restaurant supply companies)

or

 

hint; fold up several small sheets of paper towels for clean up and store with the "makings"... in the large zip lock.

 

For fall and winter -a small vacume bottle (Thermos)filled with boiling water (at breakfast time) and "loaded" with ramen noodles makes a great trail meal!

 

get even- eat well!

Anarchist

 

(This message has been edited by anarchist)

[Ohio_Scouter]

shortridge,

 

We agree with you. There's not much better than the smell of pine.

 

Well, Philmont doesn't have many flat trails, but you should see the expanse of pine tree views from atop of Mt. Phillips (11,750 ft. elevation). The aspens are quite beautiful, too, constantly quivering in the breezes. The entire ranch is just gorgeous! Find a way to get there with your daughter as soon as you can. I'm tearing up right now just thinking about a return trip.

 

[raisinemright]

On a recent backpacking trek, the scouts had Hudson Bay Bread for lunch along with summer sausage. I managed to grab a bit of it before they inhaled it. It was incredibly good and very filling.

 

Here's a recipe.

 

http://www.holry.org/essays/baybread.html

 

The leaders went healthy (against my better judgement although it was quite tasty) Tortillas with cucumber slices, fresh avacado and Tuna.

 

 

[Eagle1982]

Food Network, Alton Brown's site, has several recipes for protein bars, they are pretty good too! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/protein-bars-recipe/index.html

 

Small cream cheese packages (in squeeze pouch or in small bowl from Panara Bread) keep for several days on the trail without refrigeration. Nothing like a salty, everything bagel and cream cheese after some hard hiking.

Hummus keeps for a day or two or three.

Cucumbers keep a while (they are heavy though)

 

Add dehydrated apples to some cooked pie crust in a bag for a yummy no-cook snack.

Instant pudding, with an oreo or two crumbled in is great.

Mix granola and instant pudding for a nice treat.