cold weather cooking

[Lisabob]

Thinking about that cold weather camping thread brought this to mind. What modifications do you make to your menus when camping in really cold weather? Maybe some of it is that you need more high-energy foods to keep warm through the day/night. Maybe some is ingredients or cooking styles that need to vary. For example, I remember my son's patrol coming home from a winter camp out at one point early on, and him telling me that the french toast didn't work out so well because all the eggs had frozen solid.

 

What little cooking tips and tricks have you picked up to deal with the cold?

[Hal_Crawford]

At times I've found it hard to convince our scouts that their is any difference at all. They had to learn the hard way that it is hard to eat tacos with gloves on.

 

Hal

[frank10]

Beef Stew!

 

Any thing in a dutch oven.

 

More fat than your mother would approve of.

 

Hot coco and soup on demand all day.

[CalicoPenn]

Think one pot and simple. You're goal is hot food that's quick and easy to make. Now is not the time to think gourmet, or even home cooking. Its time to think about survuval food - giving your body the nutrition and energy it needs.

 

For breakfast - oatmeal - stick to your ribs oatmeal - and not the instant kind (well, ok, if you insist, it's ok). I prefer a big pot of real oatmeal with raisins, apples, nuts, brown sugar and cinnamon available to add in. You want hot and fast in the morning. French toast, eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, etc. - complicated - takes too long.

 

Lunch? Soup and sandwiches (hint - pre-make the sandwiches as much as you can - and think "outside the box". A great sandwich for winter camping (heck for any kind of camping/hiking) is peanut butter and cheese on a bagel. Bagels hold up well while hiking and packed. Peanut allergies? Then use lunchmeat.

 

Dinner? Beef Stew is good - if you are in camp long enough to be able to cook it properly (which may mean someone, usually an adult or two staying behind while the Scouts go do something active). Otherwise - keeping with simple and fast - Macaroni and Cheese - yes, the yellow stuff on noodles sold by Kraft - but doctor it up - add ham chunks, peas, corn, carrot pieces. Believe it or not but on a cold winter day, this reallt hits the spot and tastes good - stickes to the ribs too.

 

Calico

[Beavah]

Hard to keep younger lads hydrated. Lots of hot drinks, soups/stews, etc.

Winter meals need more fats. Cheese, etc. Especially before bedtime for warmth durin' the night.

Meats are fine. You're livin' in a freezer.

Anything with water content is goin' to freeze. Hard. So yeh need to pre-cut it. Cube the cheese, pre-slice the meat. Eggs I just have to laugh at.

Calico is right, eh? Go simple for the most part, at least for the younger boys. Frying and boiling are techniques of choice. Baking in the winter takes more finesse than at least the younger lads can manage.

And of course, clean quickly!

 

Beavah

 

[GernBlansten]

At OKPIK, we teach at least a 5000 calorie meal plan. Lots of fat, protein and carbs.

 

Dry Jello, mixed with water gives you carbs and protein. Its the breakfast, lunch and dinner of champions. Nothing stops the shivers better than a warm cup of liquid Jello. VERY YUMMY!

 

Typical menu will be a instant oatmeal breakfast with bagels and peanut butter or cream cheese. Toasted over a Whisper Lite stove.

 

Lunch is lasagna, pre-cooked and vacuumed bagged.

Dinner is stew, pre-cooked with rice or pre-cooked noodles. All vacuumed bagged.

The scouts just drop the bags in hot water, mix and eat right out of the bags.

 

Of course, this isn't car camping, its backcountry. So you can't bring in the iron dutch ovens.

 

[le Voyageur]

For a high energy drink....hot coco with 2 to 3 tablespoons butter

 

For fast snacks....premade brown rice squares mixed with creame cheese, molasses, pecans and crumbled bacon

 

 

[Eagle1982]

Snickers, pop the small bite sized ones occasionally. GORP is still king, even in winter.

 

Pre slice or pre assemble as much stuff as possible before hand. I like the idea of vacuum sealed stews. Soup in a pot is good. Warm apple cider is good.

 

With the pot, don't forget the lid, heats things up faster. Also, a wind shield can help with heating the pot.

 

 

[dolliverc]

Ditto on the HOT jello--the drink of champions.

 

Here in the Pacific Northwest, our guys love "Rainier Spotted Dog"--cheesy,buttery instant mashed potatoes mixed with either pre-cooked crumbled bacon, chopped ham or chopped up hot dogs. Heat the meat in the water as it comes to a boil, dump in the mashed potato mix, and you're done. Really sticks to the ribs and is great for either breakfast or dinner.

 

My favorite uber-snack for snow camping is Halvah--39% of calories from fat; 390 calories per serving. Kind of like eating sesame seed frosting.

 

 

[GernBlansten]

Great idea on the instant potatoes. Always the forgotten backpacking staple.

I love to just add "stuff" to my spuds.

Potatoes will give you the carbs, the cheese and butter the fat, and meat products like crumbled bacon, the protein. YUMMY! Plus, all that should be easy to pack and cook in sub-zero temps on a whisper lite stove.

[SMT224]

GernBlansten (or anyone else who knows) - What's the ratio of hot water to powdered jello to produce a warming cup of liquid jello? How many cups can you get out of a 3 oz box of jello?

Thanks!

[Lisabob]

OK help me with the jello idea, which just sounds nasty to me. What's in jello except a quick sugar rush, which isn't likely to help for long? I guess I'm finding it hard to believe there's anything nutritious about a packet of grape jello.

 

I love reading through your ideas. My son was camping in zero sub-zero weather last weekend,and he'll be doing a winter backpacking trek next month. It's been fun, talking with him about what he has learned about winter cooking over the years, and also about some of the new ideas you guys are giving him. He nixed the potato flakes (doesn't like em) but did take note of several others. He liked the pre-cook and heat ideas (stew, lasagna, etc). Does it really have to be vacuum bagged? Wouldn't a regular (heavy duty) ziploc work ok? Snacks, I see nobody listed jerky. I'm wondering - does it freeze too hard to bite/chew if it is really cold out? (I don't like jerky so haven't ever tested this but that's my son's current plan for snack food for his backpacking trek)

[GernBlansten]

Jello....

First, you take the dry jello (cherry is the best) out of the box and put it in one those reusable food tubes with the rollup end.

Next, you take your cup and squirt about a tablespoon of dry jello. Then add hot water. Stir. If its too week, squirt a little more jello in. If its too strong, dilute it or just suck it up cupcake. Trust me, it really warms you up on those cold mornings. Much better than coffee or hot chocolate.

 

Jello provides two key ingredients, sugar and gelatin. The sugar is quick fuel to get you warm fast. The gelatin is protein (ground up pigs hoofs) and provides slower burn. You don't get the rush then crash you'd get from just using KoolAid which is just sugar and flavor.

[GernBlansten]

Didn't respond to the second half of your post.

Yes, you could use ziplock freezer bags, with one note, they always seem to figure out how to leak. That could get real nasty and dangerous. It violates the C(lean) in the COLD equation. Hate to have a stew pack leak all over inside my pack getting my L(ayers) un-D(ry).

 

Jerky is great. Protein, but zero carbs and fat and it isn't warm. Good for trail snacks and lunchtime, but morning and night, you want something warm in your belly.

 

From our OKPIK training materials.

Winter Menu Planning (4000-5000 calories/day)

-Carbs 40% - sugars, pasta, breads, potatos

-Protein 20% - meats, gelatin, peanut butter

-Fats 40% - cheese, butter, nuts

[SSScout]

Once upon a time, a Scout Troop went winter camping with a Girl Scout Troop... snow on the ground, camp fire with CHESTNUT for fuel (does that date it for you?), and -- here's the good part-- the "traditional" division of labor. B's cleared the site, chopped wood, hauled water, and the G's cooked and both B's and G's cleaned up. Cocoa and skits in the evening.

The G's brought all the food pre packaged. Lunch was "homemade" chicken/vegie soup, in reused (didn't know the term 'recycle' back then)milk cartons, froze solid. Peel back the milk cartons, soup blocks dropped in pans and boiled up. Ritz crackers. Dinner was milk carton chili, same arrangement, prefrozen and boiled up. 'Pop' package biscuits, fried on a griddle. Us BS's were duly impressed with the pre-preparation and copied it often in future expeditions.

Breakfast was oatmeal with'stuff' in it and more cocoa.