easy meals

[freeclimb9]

My cooking repetoire is big when I've got a kitchen to work in, but my recipes for add-hot-water-only are limited. Without resorting to freeze-dried pre-packaged meals (which can be great), I've only got a couple:

Top Ramen with cheese and salami;

Couscous with cheese and pepperoni.

I can substitute tuna for the meat to add a little variety (the new foil packages are lighter than the traditional can, too). Oh yea, there's oatmeal. It's a limited menu.

Any other ideas? Favorites? How about no-cook meals?

[roger_johnson]

When you add meat to your glops you then need to wash the pot or run the risk of "digestive problems" later in the trip. If you boil water later for a hot drink you can incorporate the glop flavor into the drink or slosh the water around in the pot to clean it out a little. Skip cooked meals in a pot and do everyting in your cup. Boil water for drinks and food in the pot, it stays clean and your cup gets rinsed with every hot drink. You can use freeze dried rice with cheese and flavors or instant mashed potatoes with dried tofu with flavors. Eat Tuna straight out of the can or pouch. Go with instant rice and protien bars. of course, if you are backpacking, the menu can be gourmet and the cooking and cleanup increases dramatically.

[genepires]

Hmmmm Pizza,

Get bobilli pizza in the small personal size (to fit inside your pot) and the small sauce packets. A little oil in your pot, bobilli, sauce, then whatever you want to add for toppings such as cheese, pesto, onions, shroooms, chicken from a can, or whatever else looks good in the store. Then get you stove to simmer (crux of the whole thing but not bad if your fuel bottle is not pressurized to high) and then cook the pizza to melt the cheese and get it warm. I always get my partners hanging around begging like a hungry black lab, saliva dripping on thier foam pads.

Pad thai is pretty fast and not very messy either. Get it from the grocery store in those meal boxes with sauce. Just follow the instructions. Easy.

[Matt]

Instead of getting plain old Top Ramen go to Uwajimaya or some other Asian grocery store and get some real ramen. My favorites are kimchi ramen and miso ramen. When the ramen is almost done add an egg. The egg makes the meal.

Of course, if you run out of fuel you can eat the ramen dry. It's kind of tasty all by itself.

[joekania]

"Thai Kitchen" makes great pre-packaged backcountry food (Larry's/QFC carry them). The rice noodles cook quickly and the spice packets are tasty. If you are taking tuna, stop at 7-11 and grab a couple of mayo/relish/onion/mustard packets and make tuna salad in the can or pouch to put on a bagel- a welcome twist on tuna. "Tasty Bite" makes awesome Indian food in foil packets that you can heat in the water your boil-in-bag rice is cooking in, another quick fix- lots of calories, too.

[pope]

Cowboy coffee is cool. I've got a Zassenhaus grinder that I always bring camping. I dump the ground coffee into a pot of boiled water, let it steep, then pour it through a tea strainer into my cup. The result is identical to French pressed coffee, but the clean-up is minimal and there is no carafe to break. If you grind ahead of time, then "cowboy coffee" requires no special equipment.

[JoeTool]

One of my all time favs in the winter is split pea soup. the olympia co-op carries an instant soup in bulk. I buy a small chunk of smoked cheddar and cu it into cubes then drop them in when the soups done. i also get those pickled sausages at 7-11.I've been experimenting w/twights Gu theroy; one gu every 1/2 hou or so, its worked great so far but at the end of the day i still want a hot bowl of soup and about 3 cliffbars. also i used to make my own pemmican/logan bars.

[payaso]

Joetool, any tips on a recipe for pemmican bars? I saw some info about homemade gu awhile back, but that sounds like a big mess and probably not that cheap either.

This article may reveal a potential for expeditions food supply. http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/03/22/fish.food/index.html

[allthumbs]

Pam's Chocolate Cake/ Muffin/ Bar (no flour)

2/3 cup 100% soy protein isolate 3 tablespoon cocoa 3 large eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 tablespoon fructose 1 tablespoon peanut butter; melted with oil Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together all the dry ingredients.

Beat together all the wet ingredients. Stir into the dry ingredients with a fork until blended smooth, adding enough water to get a thick pasty consistency.

Spread in a sprayed loaf pan or four muffin tins (fill the remainder with water to prevent warping the pan.

Bake approximately 15 minutes. Cut 4 bars

Homestyle Bike Snack Bar

JoJo's modification of George's Bar1/4 cup butter, melted, or oil 4 large eggs; beaten 1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup nonfat milk powder 3/4 cup rolled oats 1 teaspoon salt 1 3/4 cup sugar or brown sugar 2 cups raisins or dried fruit and chopped 2 1/2 cups walnuts; chopped 3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan.

Beat together eggs and oil, sift together dry ingredients except fruit.

Add flour to eggs, combine, then stir in fruit, nuts, and chips.

Spread evenly in pan, bake 30 minutes, they are still soft when done.

Cool, cut into 24 pieces, wrap in foil and freeze.

Getting Even Energy Bars

By: Bonnie Rider-Martin

1/2 cup oil substitute, fruit based, or 3/4 cup smashed banana 1 cup fructose 2 tablespoon Molasses 4 large egg whites or 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup cocoa; optional 2 cups 10 grain cereal; ground in blender 2 cups flour, unbleached 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups chocolate chips; optional 1 1/2 cups chopped nuts; optional Makes 12 2 ounce bars. 291 calories, 63 grams carbs, 7 grams protein, 2 fat.

With add-ins, 562 calories, 99 grams carbs, 15 grams protein, 20 fat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9 inch by 13 inch pan.

Mix all the dry ingredients except the add-ins. Cream the oil substitute, molasses and sugar, ad the vanilla.

Mix with a beater- it gets very thick and sticky. Stir in the add ins.

Spread evenly in the pan, bake 25-30 minutes. Cut while still warm.

Calories, Fat, Carbos,Protein ~2 oz. Plain Getting Even Bar 291cal, F2g, C63g, P7g 2 oz Sinful Getting Even Energy Bar 562cal, F20g, C99g, P15g 2 oz Power Bar, Original 230cal, F2.5g, C45g, P10g 2.3 oz. Power Bar, Harvest type 240cal, F4.5g, C45g, P7g 2.4 oz. Clif Bar 250cal, F2g, C52g, P4g 3.75 oz. Pemmican Fruit Bar 420cal, F13g, C59g, P17g

George's Power Bars-no bake

1/2 cup honey or molasses 1/2 cup peanut butter, or cashew or almond 1 cup nonfat milk powder, non-instant 1 cup raisins/dried fruit or chocolate ch; optional 1/2 cup shredded coconut; optional Knead all the ingredients together, adding enough milk powder to form a stiff but not crumbly dough.

Shape into 1 inch by 3 inch logs. Roll in optional coconut or confectioner's sugar. Chill.

George's Energy Bar- Fruit-filled

1 cup raisins 1 cup dried blueberries 2 cups chopped dates 2 cups chopped dried apples 2 cups chopped dried apricots 2 cups chopped dried prunes 8 oz almond or peanut butter 1/2 cup sunflower seeds 8 cups rolled oats 12 oz pancake mix (complete)(3 cups) 16 oz honey Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a large cookie sheet.

Knead together all the fruit and the nut butter.

Knead in sunflower seeds, rolled oats, and pancake mix.

Add honey and knead until blended.

Press out onto tin 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick and as even as possible. Using a table knife, press the bar lines into the sheet.

Bake about 20 minutes until top is light brown.

Freeze very well if individally wrapped and then put in a ziplock.

Ellen notes: boost the protein with 1-2 cups of vanilla protein powder or dried milk.

Bill Patterson's Chocolate-dipped Deluxe Overnight No-Bake Power Bar

1 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted and ground 1/2 cup dried apricots; chopped fine 1/2 cup raisins; chopped fine 1 cup shredded unsweetened dried coconut 1 cup almonds; blanched, chopped or sliv 1/2 cup nonfat dried milk powder 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ 2 teaspoon butter or margarine 1 cup white corn syrup or 3/4 cup honey 3/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter 1 teaspoon orange or lemon extract 2 teaspoon grated orange or lemon peel 12 oz chocolate chips; 2 cups 4 oz paraffin, food grade or 3/4 cup butter Toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan for about 7 minutes, until golden,Ellen's note- then grind coarsely. Toast the oats in a 300 degree oven in a 10 inch by 15 inch baking pan for 25 minutes, stirring to prevent scorching.

Mix the seeds, apricots, raisins, coconut, almonds, dry milk, and wheat germ; mix well. Mix hot oats into dried fruit mixture.

Butter the hot baking pan; set aside.

In the frying pan, combine corn syrup or honey and sugar; bring to a rolling boil over medium high heat and quickly stir in the peanut butter, orange extract, and orange peel. At once, pour over the oatmeal mixture and mix well.

Quickly spread in buttered pan and press into an even layer. Then cover and chill until firm, at least 4 hours or overnight.

DIPPING FOR CHOCOLATE COATING

Cut into bars about 1 1/4 by 2 1/2 inches. Combine chocolate chips and paraffin in to top of a double boiler. Place over simmering water until melted; stir often. Turn heat to low. Using tongs, dip 1 bar at a time into chocolate, hold over pan until it stops dripping , then place on wire racks set above waxed paper. With paraffin, the coating firms very quickly, bars with butter in the chocolate coating may need to be chilled. When firm and cool), serve bars, or wrap individually in foil. Store in the refrigerator up to 4 weeks; freeze to store longer.

Makes about 4 dozen bars, about 1 ounce each. Per piece: 188 cal.; 4.4 g protein; 29 g carbo.; 9.8 g fat; 0.6 mg chol.; 40 mg sodium.

Bars of Iron

By: Eric Conrad 1 cup raisins 1/2 cup golden raisins 1/3 cup butter or margarine 1/2 cup sugar 1 large egg 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ 1/2 cup blackstrap molasses 1 cup dried nonfat milk 1 cup almonds; sliced 1 cup quick cooking oats 1/2 cup nonfat milk 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Bakes at 350 degrees for approx. 30 minutes. Butter/grease a 9 inch by 13 inch pan.

Chop raisins (using a food processor if possible).

Cream butter, sugar, molasses and egg.

Combine flour, dry milk, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger.

Blend flour into creamed mixture with liquid milk.

Stir in oats, raisins, and half the almonds (if desired).

Pour into greased 13x9x2 inch pan and spread evenly.

Sprinkle with remaining almonds (if desired).

Cool in pan and cut into 1x4 inch bars, or 24-30 pieces.

Energy Bars- Unbaked

By: American Running Association Running and Fitnews1 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup wheat germ 1/2 cup oat bran 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder 1 cup crunchy peanut butter 1 cup raisins or dried fruit and chopped 1 cup chocolate chips 1 cup light Karo syrup Mix it all well.Freeze in bar shapes.

[]Delphene's Protein Bar Recipe[/]

By: Irononline Archive 3 1/2 cups rolled oats 1 1/2 cups dried milk 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 cup lite syrup 2 scoops protein powder 2 large egg whites or 1 egg 11/4 cup orange juice 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup raisins or dried fruit and chopped Line cookie sheet with waxed paper and preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly.

Spread onto sheet, press cutting lines in to make 10 pieces.

Bake 15 minutes untill golden brown, cut apart, then cool and wrap. Store airtight at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Emergency Ration

By: various survival sites 3 cups rolled oats, barley, or wheat 2 1/2 cups nonfat milk powder 1/2 package jello powder, citrus 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoon honey 3 tablespoon water Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Heat together water and honey, stir in jello powder.

Stir dry ingredients together, stir in jello water, mix well. Then add additional water 1 tablespoon at a time, just until mixture can be formed into two bars.

Dry in oven, wrap in foil to store. Each bar is 1000 calories. May be eaten as is, or cooked in a pint of water.

[ 03-23-2002: Message edited by: trask ]

[jon]

Dude trask, where did you find that?

[none_dup1]

#1 ingredient in Clif bars and Clif Shots (Gu): brown rice syrup.

Buy a jar of BRS for about $2.50 at the local health food store (right next to the molasses), pour into a plastic squeeze bottle, and you have a Gu stand in for way cheap. I use it on all my longer climbs and I know it keeps my legs moving all day. Keep it in an inside pocket so it stays more liquid. Great stuff!

[erik]

easiest meal....

whatever your partner is eating....

another option friends houses

and another one stop by the folks place and clean them out.......

[willstrickland]

Erik, what are you Crack now?

[Terry]

I'm with Roger. I don't like to do dishes when climbing so the pot is only used to melt snow or boil water. My favorite non-freeze dried meals are the Indian meals (garbanzo curry, spinach curry, or masaman potatoes) that come in foil envelopes. I've seen them at Trader Joes and Marlenes Deli in Fed Way (next to REI) and Tacoma. Throw minute rice in a bag in the pot along with the foil pouches and heat. I use a two cup plastic measuring cup or quart-size yogurt container to eat out of. Use the heated water for cup of soup or other hot drink.

Terry

[jhamaker]

Instant potato or rice w/ stuff in it.

Pad-Thai is not too hard. Diferent linguinini and fetuchini dished.(w/ Angle Hair pasta)

Mabey I should re-print my book "The One Pot Gormet". I just hate the marketing.

[glen]

If you have a dehydrator, you can make 'chunky' meals, dry them out and drop them into a ziplock bag. Just add hot water when you get to camp. Few dishes and tasty. Note, of course, that the original meal probably shouldn't have dairy lest it spoil and spoil you. Rice-based dishes work well.

[philfort]

If you dehydrate the meal, you have to boil it for several minutes to get the water back in, so it's not so quick or fuel efficient.

Now... if they made home freeze-driers....

[ 03-27-2002: Message edited by: philfort ]

[AlpineK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by roger johnson:

When you add meat to your glops you then need to wash the pot or run the risk of "digestive problems" later in the trip. If you boil water later for a hot drink you can incorporate the glop flavor into the drink or slosh the water around in the pot to clean it out a little. Skip cooked meals in a pot and do everyting in your cup. Boil water for drinks and food in the pot, it stays clean and your cup gets rinsed with every hot drink. You can use freeze dried rice with cheese and flavors or instant mashed potatoes with dried tofu with flavors. Eat Tuna straight out of the can or pouch. Go with instant rice and protien bars. of course, if you are backpacking, the menu can be gourmet and the cooking and cleanup increases dramatically.

---

What are you some kind of wimp? I've spent months cooking 1 pot meals with meat in them. Health warnings my ass!

What you need to do is toughen up your system, so you can deal with bad shit. If you try and be pure you'll have no immunities, and then Darwin's going to kick your ass.

[arlen]

I like the dehydrated refried beans--I add some chili powder, even some dehydrated ground meat (buffalo is a little less likely to spoil); pour in some boiling water and rig up a "tea cozy" to let it rehydrate.

For some reason, it's a lot better for solo trips.

Arlen

[Zenolith]

terry, those are called "tasty bite" and yep, they are. trouble is, your bag'll stink for a long time...

one of my new favorites is sardines in mustard sauce. sounds gross but it is really desirable after a lot of exertion. also like to fry the salami on my lid w/ cheese on it.

[Country_Jake]

I like dryed foods because they are lite... One of my favorites to bring is power rice...

dryed pork... (smoked)dryed chives garlic saltonion powderRice

Because everything is dryed, you can cook the pork-clives right along with the rice... that way it gets soft and yummy... add the onion and garlic salt after cooked, to your taste...

everything fits nicely in a small ziplock baggy, and adds little weight to any pack...

[chucK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by philfort:

If you dehydrate the meal, you have to boil it for several minutes to get the water back in, so it's not so quick or fuel efficient.

---

You usually don't have to boil the meal. Just add hot water and let it sit for a while (insulate it with your fleece). So, there's not a problem with the fuel efficiency, but you're dead on with it being not so quick.

[payaso]

Trask, thanks for the recipes! Maybe I'll do some baking this weekend.

[KeithKSchultz]

It is always a good idea to prepare for battle by eating a can of smoked oysters or perhaps some elk sausage early in the day (but after you are out of the car). In this way, you can always be assured of having a long lead.

[lizard_brain]

Am I the only one that doesn't cook on trips anymore? I eat only cold stuff, and leave the stove at home unless it is absolutely necessary for melting snow. I find it hard for me to eat when I'm working hard anyway, so I pretty much have to force myself to eat on trips. So for any early morning summit day, for me it's a Cliff bar and a couple of Vivarin for breakfast, Gu all day, and dinner in town.