You are correct, the individual "Mountain House" meals can be very pricy. I do love the containers they come with and are indestructible. What I do is I save one of the bags that the individual Mountain House meals comes in, and keep reusing it over and over again. I just rinse it out with a little bit of water. I transfer my next meal whatever it may be into my old Mountain House bag when I am ready to eat, boil water, pour it in the bag, zip it closed and wait 15-25min and I am done. Only clean up is rinse the bag out for the next meal. All my cookware is just boiling water. Saves a lot of time cleaning, and getting the cookware dirty. Since you can zip it closed, and the inside lining is like tin foil, it works on everything. Since not all meals may be the same size, I try to use one of the larger Mountain House Packets for two or more person meals, and that is the one I reuse over and over. Thanks for taking the time to show this. Peace, Reese
Mountain houses are expensive. I agree with you. I occasionally buy one as a special treat but not very often. I follow your tip and it is very handy. Especially with the put together cheap meals in Reese's vid. Saves a lot of money and pack weight. How do you gather your water for meals? I have a hydration bladder but am frequently finding my supply exhausted by the time I fix dinner.
My 1st stop is Dollar Tree. Non name brands at much lower prices. 10 medium size flour tortillas, "pop tarts", sliced pepperoni, nutrigrain bars, dehydrated food packs for a buck each!
I really love your fresh approach to the backpacking food video... everyone usually just shows the food spread out on a table. Taking us shopping with you was a great idea!
Thanks man! I've been looking at videos all day but it wasn't until I watched your video that I really gained some confidence to put together my own meals!
throw in a pound of whole wheat fig bars a couple in the morning with a cup of coffee is a quick start for the morning .. they pack well and last long...
Great video! I've enjoyed 1/2 a package of stove top stuffing and a packet of the same chicken you showed. Basically cook the stuffing as directed but sub EVOO for butter and toss in the chicken towards the end. If you want to get into the holiday spirit you could also grab a packet of instant potatoes(I use the Idahoan packets and find them at Wal-Mart for around $1). At home, dump the potato flakes into a 1 gal ziplock bag, on the trail boil 2 cups of water and dump into the bag, mix thoroughly and done. Toss some dried cranberries into the pot with the chicken & stuffing and you have Thanksgiving on the trail!
@@MichaelTheophilus906 omit stuffing..add blue berries and mashed with chicken packets now made from starkist...buffalo chicken is good...kind of like a summer BBQ
What I love to take on backpacking trips is instant pudding with some milk powder added. I don't know why, but after setting up camp having a nice hot (and sweet) snack is just something that relaxes me within seconds. I don't know if you can find these everywhere, but in Germany "Pudding in a cup" is something quite normal to find in supermarkets, so I always bring these with me (light in weight, high in calories and delicious), coming in different flavors (caramel, chocolate, vanilla etc). Nothing beats sitting in camp with my dog on the feet 20 km behind me and the last camp and some sweet and hot in my belly =)
Very enjoyable most of the stuff i have used backpacking myself i did find many years ago to always make shure you try whatever you are taking at home making it just like you would on the trail beforehand let me say nothing sucks more than to be hiking all day be hungry and have something you can't stand . I have been there and done that never again .
Dan Leasure You have to try for certain! The peanut noodle package I bought and showed here is really, really good and around $2. Thanks for the note Dan.
I go to the craft section at the box store and buy the little craft zip top bags. Great for spice packs, parmesan cheese, prepping a cup of coffee, pre-measuring dried gravies and sauces, you can prep a whole meal in a larger bag such as pepperoni pizza Ramen, my favorite. Great vid, thanks for more ideas.
Quick tip - you CAN take things that need milk ... just buy the smallest package of powdered milk, keep it in the pantry, and take a small container of it with you when you camp. I find the dry-baking mixes that need milk instead of water are often slightly richer, and more enjoyable on the trail. :)
An EXCELLENT video that reminds me to check out what's easily and inexpensively available rather than attempting to purchase and use those 'expensive' pre-made meals for hiking, camping and prepping! Made a list and will check out the isles in my local stores! Thanks for a great video!
The classic Ramen-Bomb is a staple,both cheap,very filling and amazing tasting. Basically, boil up water for a Ramen package,put the Ramen in and cook,then pour in a Idahoan potato package and eat. Adding some canned meat like salmon,tuna,or chicken really takes it to the next level taste wise and gives you the protein to make this awesome. Also,honey and or pure maple syrup are a must for packing. They are totally super foods and a couple squirts (or spoonfuls) anytime of the day is amazing.
Thanks for going into the detail you did! A buddy and I are doing our first backpacking trip this summer and have no clue about what to pack for food haha
I don't pick up packs from fast food joints (well, I will get extra sugar packs and swizzle sticks from Starbucks) but I do go on Amazon to purchase single serving packets. Frank's Red Hot for my Ramen Bombs and some of my dehydrated soups, Grey Poupon for my Spam sammiches, and PB&J packets for, well, PB&J sammiches. I use the mini Mission Street Taco, flour tortillas for the bread. The tortillas also work brilliantly with the flavored Starkist tuna/salmon/chicken packs to make "hillbilly" tacos.
All great ideas. the sky is really the limit. If you find yourself sitting around on a cold evening and want something warm to drink other then coffee which would keep you up try jello mix. it makes a great soothing drink at the campsite
Thanks for talking about powdered milk. I never would have considered it. Tip for newbies: use a sharpie to write cooking directions on repackaged meals like the Thai Pad so you don’t forget how to prepare it.
Dude im so glad i came across your channel... Ive been looking for information like this for awhile... I love the way you did the video, going to store then talking about each meal and how to prepare... You also have a lot of great options... Thanks Jim
Rice! I thought the classic trail food was to get several packs of dry rice (black, red, brown) the bulk cheap stuff, then add a black beans and rice mix with flavor packet, and a rice mix with peppers plus flavor packet... Mix all the ingredients to your preferred ratio, put in ziplock bag. 1/2 cup = 1 serving. I prefer to put mix into a heavy duty sandwich size ziplock bag, holds 3 cups; making 6 dinners for a solo or 3 for a duo. Flour and yeast for bread (bring sugar for pancakes in the morning). Finally I also bring chicken packets, salami, and beef jerky; to mix with the dinner and lunch items to change it up. For breakfast I do a porridge mix (granola, oats, cream of wheat, dry fruit, etc) same 1/2 cup = 1 serving... Plus tortilla, honey packets, peanut butter. Lunch is PBnJ tortilla, salami or beef jerky ration, trail mix. Possibly peanut butter and honey again. Extras: coffee, tea, Tang, sugar, dessert mix (like muffins) and balsomic and dipping oil for foraged green salad (dandylion, washed stinging nettle, mint, raspberries, strawberries, etc) the flour and oil will also help if you fry up Dom dandylion fritters... Only forage what you know. Summary: Make a breakfast porridge mix, a trail mix, and a rice mix. To a minimalist that is 6 days food. Then get fancy with some dry meat and a few items.
I tried the lemon pepper salmon with broccoli and cheddar rice Knorr side. It was off the hook. Sometimes I dehydrate little veggies like broccoli, frozen veggies, etc and then add it too the boiling water when I make the entree.
Nice comprehensive vid! It makes me wonder what your backpack foods would have been in pre industrial food production times. Oats, potatoes, salt pork?
Chocolate and cigars: nice. My brother and I often take a (pre-frozen) steak to grill on that first night. It's something to look forward to at the end of a long day. If there's running water near the trailhead, cache a beer under water out of sight to enjoy once you come out of the woods.
You can by powdered butter in the large cans, when you are buying dehydrated caned foods. You can measure it out and then use mylar bags and a vacuum sealer then you will have all your breakfast, lunch and dinners ready to go. It makes more room in your bag for more water and other essentials. Just a thought. Great video by the way.
if you like brewed coffee, get a coffee filter and put enough coffee for a single serving on it tie the bag with string then when your at camp seep your coffee filter in the hot water and enjoy!
This is a helpful video, Rob! I'm really trying to improve my backpacking menu. A couple of questions. How do you keep your Pop Tarts from breaking up? Mine end up like corn flakes after a couple of days. Also, do you find the Tyson chicken packages are too much for single serving? They seem big to me. Lastly, who is performing "The Heart of the Matter?" It doesn't sound like Don Henley. I no longer use instant oatmeal. Instead, I take the 1 Minute Quaker Oats Oatmeal. It cooks in a cozy in just a few minutes and is FAR superior in taste than the instant stuff. I throw in a handful of walnuts and Craisens. You will never go back to instant again.
featheredprop Thanks Dane. I have been lucky with pop-tarts, I just store them in my "daily" gallon bag (I have a vide on that) and they seem to do well. I do try and keep them in the middle of the bag between "stuff" though. It is a ton of chicken - when I do that as a meal it is usually on day 3 when I am getting hungry at night, or if I plan to share a meal, or I have opened it at lunch and had 1/4 of it on a wrap then ziplock bag the rest for dinner than day. I should have mentioned that in the video, thanks for bringing it out. I will have to try the 1 minute oatmeal, thanks for sharing! - Rob
featheredprop ..... I also prefer regular oatmeal but not "over cooked".. I simply add hot water.. When th fruit is ready so are th oats.. I pack my own meals in vacuum bags that I use to rehydrate then eat out of th bag..
somehow i got sucked into a youtube video vortex about backpacking food and this is the third video where they pronounce it RAYmen noodle. WTF is that all about?
Excellent advice and I love your videos. I have a dehydrator and bring things like dried spinach, cabbage, corn, onions, peppers and/or broccoli to add to the rice and pasta sides to fortify them up and add some fiber. (important as the years add up, heh) A personal tortilla sandwich I like that sounds strange, but tastes great, is a thin layer of peanut butter, a packet of grape jelly from KFC and thin sliced salami folded up. Another favorite one is jalapeno kettle-cooked potato chips (crushed and in a ziplock) BBQ sauce/horsey sauce/your choice and packaged chicken or salmon. Put the meat on the tortilla, drizzle with the BBQ sauce (or whatever) and sprinkle liberally with the crushed chips. The crushed jalapeno kettle-cooked chips are great to sprinkle over anything that is not sweet, heh.
Great Job! It really does save people money. We dehydrate alot of our foods at home and that saves us alot to. I like to add hamburger gravel to Ramen and to alot of the rice dishes. So easy!
TomsBackwoods Thanks Tom. A year ago we contemplated purchasing a dehydrator but decided against it. We are back thinking about it again...probably should jump in feet first. I hiked with a guy who had homemade dehydrated beef stroganoff and let me have a bit, it was incredible. Thanks for watching and leaving a note. - Rob
Great ideas. I followed the same ideas as you when I hiked in Arkansas. My buddy went with nothing but Mountain house. I think I had the best variety and was never hungry and had loads of energy.
Nice job Rob! You had a few I've used and enjoyed and a few I'm going to have to try. Thanks for sharing! One of these days I might get back on Facebook and check out your page.
***** Thank Mike, finding a new meal in the store is fun, most of the times. I have some real duds as well. The FaceBook thing is new to me. I am hoping to have it be a place where people can make video recommendations and talk about ideas they would like to see. Spring is a coming - - - it is just hid real well currently.
Just so you know if you bring some powdered milk with you you can still use the blueberry muffin pack calling for milk and then add the milk to water and to pack. problem solved! You can bring powdered eggs if you can find that also for whatever.
@@-NateTheGreat tou do know that diabetes is a pancreatic disease that you have no control over? Type one the pancreas does not release insulin at all. Type 2 it may or may not release enough insulin.
Regarding peanut butter and jelly. I transfer peanut butter into Coughlan's reusable squeeze tubes. No mess. If it's going to be a warm hike, jelly doesn't do we'll. It runs like water. Preserves may be a better choice. I've kept squeezable butter in a hot pack for a week with no problems and raw bacon for 3 days (unopened) and it turned out fine. No one complained or got sick. Eggs also do very well as long as they're fresh.
You have such a great selection of stuff in your local Walmart. Selection here in Montreal, Canada is crappy. Nowhere even close. I can only dream to get so many available options. Thank you for sharing your ideas.
+Rangersly It's not just Montreal ... it's ALL of Canada that has a crappy selection, even at Wal-Mart super-centers. That's why my sister goes cross-border shopping. I'm just outside Calgary, so that's not an option for me.
Thanks for the great video! I have a few prepared meals from the major companies that I rely on, but I am working hard to put together a menu closer to what I eat at home. I never seem to pack too many vegetables!!! Rice-a-Roni Cheesy Rice w/freeze dried broccoli is yummy! I also find that I am always dehydrating yet another bag of Fiesta Vegetables (black beans, peppers, onions, corn). I mix it with some boxed Mexican Rice that I prepare and dehydrate at home for quicker trail prep. So good! Wish I could figure out how to make a shrimp scampi w/garlic rice or noodles. hmmmm
I just got a dehydrated Shrimp Linguine recipe TODAY from the backpackingchef.com newsletter ! Must be karma. :-) I couldn't find it on his site and too long to post here, but I'll bet you could contact him to send the newsletter to you even though it already went out. Nice guy.
Me and my friend when we go camping up in the Rockies we like vanilla powdered meal replace meant with our oatmeal not everyone's cup of tea but you might like it
I make a lot of my meals and dehydrate them and use a food bag sealer.Take oat meal, brown sugar and raisons portion it out and seal, dehydrate froze vegs. portion rice and vegs. add a bullion cube. 93 per sent burger cut then dehydrate boil noodles and add sauce .Combine and let it sit in frig. for a day or so, dehydrate and package it up with processor. Plus you can dehydrate fruit Apples Bananas Caned Pears Pineapple - - - AKA ROCKY
If u like Mexican chorizo theirs something called chilorio its similar in flavor but shredded comes in a pouch or a can and that pouch is enough to make 6 or more tacos if you mix it with eggs or if you take a couple potatoes can possibly stretch ut for more and u get a punch of refried beans you have burritos and can share
If you know how to cook, then it will be easy to make trail foods. take flour, salt, black or cayenne pepper, garlic, onion powder, boullion cubes veggie,veef, chicken. honey, ketchup, soy sauce, worchester sauce, tabasco, old bay. and you can put each in a smal pill bottle and with flour you can make dumplings, noodle, gravies, coffee you csn make red eye gravy. bring some rice. with packs of tuna, beef jerk, dehydrated eggs, dehydrated chicken. oat meal, powdered milk, you should be able to live like king or queen. I know I do. i bring a little to make a lot. going fishing, bring corn meal. i hope I contibuted to your list of ideas. peace V
Rob, this was an interesting video. My buddy and I usually take the same foods all the time because we have found what seems to work for us, but, I too, have often wondered what other backpackers take along for food, so this was an interesting video. The usual staples for us are: dehydrated spaghetti sauce (with hamburger, of course), dehydrated taco-seasoned hamburger, tortilla shells, mini bagels, mini packs of peanut butter, Mountain House meals, oat meal, packs of hot chocolate and coffee, Velveeta shells and cheese, salami sticks, a block of cheddar cheese, a bag of shredded cheddar cheese, pop tarts, trail mix, Knorr pasta meals and I'm sure there are one or two that I have just forgotten at this moment. We get double duty out of the tortilla shells. We use them with the taco meat and shredded cheese (and packs of hot sauce from Taco Bell) to make burritos for dinner. We also slice up pieces of the block cheese and put the pieces inside of a tortilla shell with a salami stick and some mustard for quick lunch stops. Good eatin'! Another menu item that we've tried, although, for some reason, we don't seem to take it as often, is to take along a foil-wrapped pack of tuna which we then add to some type of pasta dish, much like your salmon and Knorr pasta. Also very good. I'm liking the videos you put out. By the way, I found you through my friend's RUclips channel (featheredprop - aka Dane).
Great Lakes Backpacker Excellent, welcome. Dane is a great guy. Too funny you mention the pepperoni and hard salami, I will be bringing that on a trip or 2 this year with some spicy mustard on a wrap or a sandwich thin for lunch. Thanks for all the great ideas and for joining along the channel. - Rob
A very delicious hiking and backpacking lunch is what people call a BMC (Bagel, Meat, & Cheese). I dont usually eat bagels very often when I hike. They are heavier than tortillas and tortillas are just as delicious. I personally like salami and provolone and I pack along vinaigrette packets or mustard packets from stores like subway and jack in the box. It is delicious.
I had to grab a snack during this video. I am actually excited for my first hike so I can eat all of the food I would NEVER touch now!! I haven't had Ramen in years, but OH MY GOSH I love it!
HI, Some great ideas on here. Ilive in England, UK and am going on a 3-4 day hike on a coatal path in Cornwall and you have given me some useful tips and ideas for food. Unfortunately we do not have the great selection of the kinds of food you have in the US. It would be rather useful to have a walmart here in the UK! Mucho Thankyou-o. Shad
Also the Hormel ready cooked bacon works too I just toss a few strips in a bag it doesn't have to be put in the fridge. Ill rip a few pieces up for my eggs
Tristin Kirby I have never brought it, although I have seen it. I can only imagine how good bacon would taste on the trail! Thanks for the note Tristin!
If you thought about taking butter, here is an idea, (it works for me ) cut some small single serve bags out of food saver bags and make clarified butter, freeze it, cut it into singles and put in the bags and seal the bags. Bingo, Clarified butter will last longer than regular butter.
Awesome vid!! There’s tons of “camping foods” made easy fast n delicious. Especially wen bland n boring just doesn’t cut it! lol thanks for the great ideas. Be safe not sorry camping y’all blessings
Prego and Pace are making foil wrapped ready to eat meals like pasta and chicken and rice. Just put the unopened pouch in your pot of boiling water like an MRE and you have a hot meal You can use the water you boiled it in for a hot brew. PS Great tunes! Nice version of Southern Cross.
Hi Im feed up with eating the same old toot all the time and having to carry the weight. Found your vid very useful fella given me some ideas. On my next lot of leave I gona wander around Tesco's and Asda's and have a gander at the packet grub. Nice one mate ATB Dave (across the pond)
WackysWanderings hi,how you doing,did you find anything you could recommend in tescos or asda? I live in the south of France and the supermarkets here have very limited choice compared to the UK. I come back to the UK every couple of months to visit family and don't usually have to bring a rucksack/packpack with me. I'm thinking next visit,bring a bag/rucksack,go to tesco or asda and load up with stuff to bring back for the trails here. So any recommendations you might have would be much appreciated. Cheers.
NOPE - those calories are for ONE PopTart. Uggggh! :-( One tart = one serving. Who eats just one? lol P.S. That instant espresso is fab to add to brownies - just a tablespoon in the mix makes even box brownies extra yummy. Great tips, thanks!
I wanna know where your Walmart is. The two nearest me don't have half the stockage yours does. :) Also, great advice at the beginning about making it normally, then trying it. If it doesn't taste good as a "normal" meal, it won't taste good on the trail. I also like the fact we think alike about making on the same field equipment you'd use on the trail. Really lets you know how long that meal will take to prep and cook.
good2go201 Haha, some are definitely some better than others, I am just outside of Syracuse, NY. I have found that testing approach works for me. I usually buy 2, one to cook the way they say, one to cook it as if I was on a trip. If I like it at that point, I will pick it up and take it to the woods! Thanks for the note. - Rob
Very informative video. I'm heading out tomorrow morning with my brother for a couple nights. I have everything together except my food and this gave me a ton of ideas. Thanks! Subbed, for what I assume are going to be more great/informative videos.
When you repackage the foods put them in a Kalamata olive jug. It keeps foods from getting crushed (e.g. pop tarts), and they are pretty much bear proof (if you hike in bear country), and are easy to hang in a tree. Well worth the weight, and gives a extra bit of weatherproofing
My living room is that yellow and one bedroom that red. LOL You don’t happen to have another room relish green, do you? :). Just found your channel and love it. I live 20 minutes south of Northville, and have hiked the area for years, but haven’t tackled the N-LP trail yet. Thank you for the preview.
instead of ziplocs.. you might invest in a food saver.. it will really help with making that food compact and then you can measure out your food to just what you need.
On the chicken gravy mix, I think you meant to say teaspoon and not tablespoon. Because I am pretty sure there is only 2 maybe 3 tablespoons of chicken gravy mix in one of those little packets. And, I didn't see that you mentioned above Walmart Great Value brand Pulled Pork in BBQ sauce. That you can find with the rest of the foil type pre-packaged foods. I put it in just about anything, from putting it on a Tortilla, or I put it in some top ramen noodles. 🍜
Hey...i see you have ramen. I like to take those Maruchan Yakisoba noodles (I prefer the Spicy Beef)..I take them out of the original packaging and put several bricks in one large Ziploc with the flavor and veggie packs as well...saves space. They cook up fast in the pot and you can add instant rice, jerky, even trail mix or whatever and it's a really good filling easy meal at the end of the day.
They got ground beef that comes in the foil packages just like the tuna does I like to add it with a package of the uncle Ben's rice they are both ready to eat
If you want to go cheaper on the granola, Quaker has a few Simply Granola cluster cereals, and you spend only about 15 cents per ounce as opposed to buying proper packaged granola. And it pads the content with oats rather than flakes. You can use the savings to add extra nuts, fruit, chocolate chips, etc. The pasta does get gummy, and even the hamburger helper varieties are only slightly less so if you're bag boiling. For those you pretty much have to cook them in the pot, which obviously doesn't help fuel conservation. You can also thicken sauce by adding some potato flakes to them. It takes some experimentation to get that dialed in, though. Maybe bring a baggie of unflavored flakes along for that purpose. I like the popular option of tortillas, Pop Tarts, etc., but man they seem to be a little weighty for their purpose. But I'm more thinking toward longer thru-hiking miles, which definitely makes a difference when planning trail meals.
Here is another one. Apple pies come in boxes now. Making them easy to take along. Now get one of those single serve Jif to go spread over the top of that apple pie. How easy was that? Loaded with calories. No need for jelly.
David Kovachi Just about everyone agrees. Mountain House Beef Stroganoff is pretty good. Now how can it be made better? Much better in fact. Bring some Frenches French fried onions along. First remember to add an eighth to a quarter cup of extra water or it will be to thick. Add the water to the pouch. Five minutes in add the French fried unions and stir. Now wait that last five minutes. This gives those unions the right constancy and intensifies the flavor.
David Kovachi Mountain House Chicken and potatoes. This is expensive I know. But that package can be stretched for all day use. I like to use clarified butter with this one. Clarified butter can last for weeks and is easy to do. Take along a few ounces of this butter. Now mix this in the morning. Bring tortillas. Through the day make tortillas with this. ITS PRETTY DARN GOOD!! I forgot to mention. Before you add water crumble the dried chicken breast adding the potatoes at the same time then mix the water.
Good info, thanks for taking the time to make yourself the guinea pig trying all this food. Do you eat all this food and then eat what you wife prepares. How does she do it.
Hey Rob, love the videos. Planning my first trip to the Adirondaks this summer. Northville -Placid trail to be exact. Noticed you dont carry a bear can. Everyone I've talked to at the DEC recomends I carry one. What are your thoughts on that and experience with bears on that area? Thanks
David Dierolf Hey David, thanks for the note. The NPT is a blast, you will love it! I don't use one (bear can) unless it is mandated (such as the Eastern High Peaks area of the Adirondacks). On the NPT it is not required to do so. For a number of years I used the PCT method of bear hanging my food. I simply used a dry bag from Walmart. Last year I picked up an Ursack and love it. I just walk 100 yards from camp and tie it to a tree. There are bears in the area, although I have never seen one. Let me know if I can help in any way.
Thanks. That's exactly what I do here in Michigan and have never had a problem, but the DEC seemed to be pushing the canisters :/ Figured I'd talk to a fellow hiker for the best info. Very psyched about this trip, hope to do the entire trail eventually.
Great stuff man, thanks for this. I'm fairly new to backpacking and have been sticking to mountain house kinda meals. I have had the chance to do the tuna packs and tortillas for lunch which works great. Have you ever tried dumping a tuna pack into ramen noodles? I was thinking a spicy chicken or shrimp flavor with Thai spiced tuna pack could be pretty decent.
I think buckwheat would make an excellent trail food, but I haven't seen anyone with it yet. Tons of calories, carbs, and even protein. The only problem is it requires a bit of simmering to absorb the water so you use more fuel.
I almost always bring a liter of vodka and some powdered lemonade to make cocktails by the campfire. Nothin like a stiff drink out in the woods with good company after a long hike and camp chores. Great vid btw
To make sure you don't make a mess in your pack if you cut a corner out of you zip lock bag like he says about peanut butter and jelly, fold it back and tape it but also have an extra zip bag to put them both in no mess that way.
You are correct, the individual "Mountain House" meals can be very pricy. I do love the containers they come with and are indestructible. What I do is I save one of the bags that the individual Mountain House meals comes in, and keep reusing it over and over again. I just rinse it out with a little bit of water. I transfer my next meal whatever it may be into my old Mountain House bag when I am ready to eat, boil water, pour it in the bag, zip it closed and wait 15-25min and I am done. Only clean up is rinse the bag out for the next meal. All my cookware is just boiling water. Saves a lot of time cleaning, and getting the cookware dirty. Since you can zip it closed, and the inside lining is like tin foil, it works on everything. Since not all meals may be the same size, I try to use one of the larger Mountain House Packets for two or more person meals, and that is the one I reuse over and over. Thanks for taking the time to show this. Peace, Reese
Mo Pieces; I just started doing this myself after a section hike of the AT. Glad I'm not the only one!
Mountain houses are expensive. I agree with you. I occasionally buy one as a special treat but not very often. I follow your tip and it is very handy. Especially with the put together cheap meals in Reese's vid. Saves a lot of money and pack weight. How do you gather your water for meals? I have a hydration bladder but am frequently finding my supply exhausted by the time I fix dinner.
Caleb Hodson get some collapsible water bottles
Awesome tip. Thanks.
My 1st stop is Dollar Tree. Non name brands at much lower prices. 10 medium size flour tortillas, "pop tarts", sliced pepperoni, nutrigrain bars, dehydrated food packs for a buck each!
Thank you- this is really useful for non Americans planning hikes in the US
I really love your fresh approach to the backpacking food video... everyone usually just shows the food spread out on a table. Taking us shopping with you was a great idea!
CarameloTV2010 Thanks for that, it was fun to do. I appreciate the comment and view, cheers. - Rob
BackpackingAdventures is it hard to make it
@@BackpackingAdventures don't forget the marshmallows for roasting
This was very helpful..I really enjoyed your video and would like to see 👀 more. THANKS
Thanks man! I've been looking at videos all day but it wasn't until I watched your video that I really gained some confidence to put together my own meals!
I am so glad I found Backpacking, Its better than video games.
Great Video thanks for the tips man.
by far the best video I have seen about hiking food
throw in a pound of whole wheat fig bars
a couple in the morning with a cup of coffee
is a quick start for the morning ..
they pack well and last long...
Great video! I've enjoyed 1/2 a package of stove top stuffing and a packet of the same chicken you showed. Basically cook the stuffing as directed but sub EVOO for butter and toss in the chicken towards the end. If you want to get into the holiday spirit you could also grab a packet of instant potatoes(I use the Idahoan packets and find them at Wal-Mart for around $1). At home, dump the potato flakes into a 1 gal ziplock bag, on the trail boil 2 cups of water and dump into the bag, mix thoroughly and done. Toss some dried cranberries into the pot with the chicken & stuffing and you have Thanksgiving on the trail!
@@MichaelTheophilus906 omit stuffing..add blue berries and mashed with chicken packets now made from starkist...buffalo chicken is good...kind of like a summer BBQ
What I love to take on backpacking trips is instant pudding with some milk powder added. I don't know why, but after setting up camp having a nice hot (and sweet) snack is just something that relaxes me within seconds.
I don't know if you can find these everywhere, but in Germany "Pudding in a cup" is something quite normal to find in supermarkets, so I always bring these with me (light in weight, high in calories and delicious), coming in different flavors (caramel, chocolate, vanilla etc). Nothing beats sitting in camp with my dog on the feet 20 km behind me and the last camp and some sweet and hot in my belly =)
Very enjoyable most of the stuff i have used backpacking myself i did find many years ago to always make shure you try whatever you are taking at home making it just like you would on the trail beforehand let me say nothing sucks more than to be hiking all day be hungry and have something you can't stand . I have been there and done that never again .
Dan Leasure You have to try for certain! The peanut noodle package I bought and showed here is really, really good and around $2. Thanks for the note Dan.
I go to the craft section at the box store and buy the little craft zip top bags. Great for spice packs, parmesan cheese, prepping a cup of coffee, pre-measuring dried gravies and sauces, you can prep a whole meal in a larger bag such as pepperoni pizza Ramen, my favorite. Great vid, thanks for more ideas.
Chance ifer That is a really good idea with the little bags. Thanks for the note!
Quick tip - you CAN take things that need milk ... just buy the smallest package of powdered milk, keep it in the pantry, and take a small container of it with you when you camp.
I find the dry-baking mixes that need milk instead of water are often slightly richer, and more enjoyable on the trail. :)
An EXCELLENT video that reminds me to check out what's easily and inexpensively available rather than attempting to purchase and use those 'expensive' pre-made meals for hiking, camping and prepping! Made a list and will check out the isles in my local stores! Thanks for a great video!
The classic Ramen-Bomb is a staple,both cheap,very filling and amazing tasting. Basically, boil up water for a Ramen package,put the Ramen in and cook,then pour in a Idahoan potato package and eat. Adding some canned meat like salmon,tuna,or chicken really takes it to the next level taste wise and gives you the protein to make this awesome. Also,honey and or pure maple syrup are a must for packing. They are totally super foods and a couple squirts (or spoonfuls) anytime of the day is amazing.
Thanks for going into the detail you did! A buddy and I are doing our first backpacking trip this summer and have no clue about what to pack for food haha
+Brian Blau you can get very creative, I am working on another of these that shows some of my favorite meals.
+BackpackingAdventures awesome, I look forward to it!
I always pick up Jelly, hot sauce & honey packs from places like McD's, Chick Fil A, etc too. Easy to pack, small waste to pack out.
TheGoatMumbler @ Oh yeah man. 😀 That's what I do.
Cicis pizza,red pepper
I don't pick up packs from fast food joints (well, I will get extra sugar packs and swizzle sticks from Starbucks) but I do go on Amazon to purchase single serving packets. Frank's Red Hot for my Ramen Bombs and some of my dehydrated soups, Grey Poupon for my Spam sammiches, and PB&J packets for, well, PB&J sammiches. I use the mini Mission Street Taco, flour tortillas for the bread. The tortillas also work brilliantly with the flavored Starkist tuna/salmon/chicken packs to make "hillbilly" tacos.
@@tommychileti5890 pizza hut red pepper flakes and parmesean ;)
All great ideas. the sky is really the limit. If you find yourself sitting around on a cold evening and want something warm to drink other then coffee which would keep you up try jello mix. it makes a great soothing drink at the campsite
Thanks for talking about powdered milk. I never would have considered it. Tip for newbies: use a sharpie to write cooking directions on repackaged meals like the Thai Pad so you don’t forget how to prepare it.
You can also cut out directions and pack your meal with that in it. 😇
Dude im so glad i came across your channel... Ive been looking for information like this for awhile... I love the way you did the video, going to store then talking about each meal and how to prepare... You also have a lot of great options...
Thanks Jim
Jim Bowling I am glad it helped! Thanks for the note Jim.
BackpackingAdventures I watch Shug too, he is a trip.. Have you ever checked out OutDoorGearReview.. Very informative on Gear
Rice! I thought the classic trail food was to get several packs of dry rice (black, red, brown) the bulk cheap stuff, then add a black beans and rice mix with flavor packet, and a rice mix with peppers plus flavor packet... Mix all the ingredients to your preferred ratio, put in ziplock bag. 1/2 cup = 1 serving. I prefer to put mix into a heavy duty sandwich size ziplock bag, holds 3 cups; making 6 dinners for a solo or 3 for a duo. Flour and yeast for bread (bring sugar for pancakes in the morning). Finally I also bring chicken packets, salami, and beef jerky; to mix with the dinner and lunch items to change it up.
For breakfast I do a porridge mix (granola, oats, cream of wheat, dry fruit, etc) same 1/2 cup = 1 serving... Plus tortilla, honey packets, peanut butter.
Lunch is PBnJ tortilla, salami or beef jerky ration, trail mix. Possibly peanut butter and honey again.
Extras: coffee, tea, Tang, sugar, dessert mix (like muffins) and balsomic and dipping oil for foraged green salad (dandylion, washed stinging nettle, mint, raspberries, strawberries, etc) the flour and oil will also help if you fry up Dom dandylion fritters... Only forage what you know.
Summary:
Make a breakfast porridge mix, a trail mix, and a rice mix. To a minimalist that is 6 days food. Then get fancy with some dry meat and a few items.
Thanks for this dude great video and so much detail here I love it
Dehydrated pineapple is easy to find and makes a nice upgrade for Spam.
Ronald Paludan Great idea - I am packing up for another trip next weekend and I am going to grab some. Thanks
I tried the lemon pepper salmon with broccoli and cheddar rice Knorr side. It was off the hook. Sometimes I dehydrate little veggies like broccoli, frozen veggies, etc and then add it too the boiling water when I make the entree.
Nice comprehensive vid! It makes me wonder what your backpack foods would have been in pre industrial food production times. Oats, potatoes, salt pork?
You wouldn't have fuel constraints because you would cook on the fire so potatoes would be an option indeed.
connosaurus hard tack
You can carry bagels on your trekking poles. ( ;) )
Kelly S Do you put the peanut butter on first? - Thanks for watching and the note!
BackpackingAdventures Damn Skippy! as the saying goes
I prefer Krispy cremes lol
i can carry them in my pants;)
Or donuts, and toilet paper..
1st timer. Excellent info. And the music ROCKS!!!
I miss this guy. Great videos
Chocolate and cigars: nice. My brother and I often take a (pre-frozen) steak to grill on that first night. It's something to look forward to at the end of a long day. If there's running water near the trailhead, cache a beer under water out of sight to enjoy once you come out of the woods.
You can by powdered butter in the large cans, when you are buying dehydrated caned foods. You can measure it out and then use mylar bags and a vacuum sealer then you will have all your breakfast, lunch and dinners ready to go. It makes more room in your bag for more water and other essentials. Just a thought. Great video by the way.
if you like brewed coffee, get a coffee filter and put enough coffee for a single serving on it tie the bag with string then when your at camp seep your coffee filter in the hot water and enjoy!
This is a helpful video, Rob! I'm really trying to improve my backpacking menu. A couple of questions. How do you keep your Pop Tarts from breaking up? Mine end up like corn flakes after a couple of days. Also, do you find the Tyson chicken packages are too much for single serving? They seem big to me. Lastly, who is performing "The Heart of the Matter?" It doesn't sound like Don Henley.
I no longer use instant oatmeal. Instead, I take the 1 Minute Quaker Oats Oatmeal. It cooks in a cozy in just a few minutes and is FAR superior in taste than the instant stuff. I throw in a handful of walnuts and Craisens. You will never go back to instant again.
featheredprop Thanks Dane. I have been lucky with pop-tarts, I just store them in my "daily" gallon bag (I have a vide on that) and they seem to do well. I do try and keep them in the middle of the bag between "stuff" though. It is a ton of chicken - when I do that as a meal it is usually on day 3 when I am getting hungry at night, or if I plan to share a meal, or I have opened it at lunch and had 1/4 of it on a wrap then ziplock bag the rest for dinner than day. I should have mentioned that in the video, thanks for bringing it out.
I will have to try the 1 minute oatmeal, thanks for sharing!
- Rob
featheredprop
..... I also prefer regular oatmeal but not "over cooked".. I simply add hot water.. When th fruit is ready so are th oats.. I pack my own meals in vacuum bags that I use to rehydrate then eat out of th bag..
Being diabetic .. can you suggest ideas that aren’t all carbs / starches and sugar ??
Love the joy you get when taking about food. Great tips.
somehow i got sucked into a youtube video vortex about backpacking food and this is the third video where they pronounce it RAYmen noodle. WTF is that all about?
RAHmen is the only acceptable pronunciation!
Angelica Pickles: It's a Southern thang. They also say PEE-can for pe-CAWN.
I hate it when people pronounce it "snob" when it should be pronounced "shit".
while we are being pedantic, it is pronounced Kah-Nor, with a hard K like in Evel Knievel.
I hate when Americans always pronounce foyer as foy er instead of foy a
Excellent advice and I love your videos.
I have a dehydrator and bring things like dried spinach, cabbage, corn, onions, peppers and/or broccoli to add to the rice and pasta sides to fortify them up and add some fiber. (important as the years add up, heh)
A personal tortilla sandwich I like that sounds strange, but tastes great, is a thin layer of peanut butter, a packet of grape jelly from KFC and thin sliced salami folded up. Another favorite one is jalapeno kettle-cooked potato chips (crushed and in a ziplock) BBQ sauce/horsey sauce/your choice and packaged chicken or salmon. Put the meat on the tortilla, drizzle with the BBQ sauce (or whatever) and sprinkle liberally with the crushed chips. The crushed jalapeno kettle-cooked chips are great to sprinkle over anything that is not sweet, heh.
Great Job! It really does save people money. We dehydrate alot of our foods at home and that saves us alot to. I like to add hamburger gravel to Ramen and to alot of the rice dishes. So easy!
TomsBackwoods Thanks Tom. A year ago we contemplated purchasing a dehydrator but decided against it. We are back thinking about it again...probably should jump in feet first. I hiked with a guy who had homemade dehydrated beef stroganoff and let me have a bit, it was incredible. Thanks for watching and leaving a note.
- Rob
what is hamburger gravel? lol..like ground hamburger?
+matanuska high Dehydrated Hamburger.
It's amazing how many more packaged options the U.S. has than us in Canada. When I plan my backpacking trip I'm going State side for my packaged food
Great ideas. I followed the same ideas as you when I hiked in Arkansas. My buddy went with nothing but Mountain house. I think I had the best variety and was never hungry and had loads of energy.
Scotty Onespeed Agreed - a nice mix is good!
Great information!! Doing my first 7 day backpacking trip this summer, this video will help a lot!
Another great one, Rob. Looks like your Gander and Walmart are both much better stocked than mine! Cool tune!
North Country Outdoor Guys Thanks Ben, we are lucky for certain. Cheers.
Nice job Rob! You had a few I've used and enjoyed and a few I'm going to have to try. Thanks for sharing! One of these days I might get back on Facebook and check out your page.
***** Thank Mike, finding a new meal in the store is fun, most of the times. I have some real duds as well. The FaceBook thing is new to me. I am hoping to have it be a place where people can make video recommendations and talk about ideas they would like to see. Spring is a coming - - - it is just hid real well currently.
Just so you know if you bring some powdered milk with you you can still use the blueberry muffin pack calling for milk and then add the milk to water and to pack. problem solved! You can bring powdered eggs if you can find that also for whatever.
Awesome tips. I go to big bend next weekend and this will help me plan my meals. Thanks.
Great video! Gave me some new ideas to try on my next backpack trip.
Damn, you have a LOT more variety in the states
Yes we do. However at the end of the day we all have one thing in common. Diabeetus.
Millions
Where are you miss?
@@-NateTheGreat tou do know that diabetes is a pancreatic disease that you have no control over? Type one the pancreas does not release insulin at all. Type 2 it may or may not release enough insulin.
@@dewayneearley9103 it is also inherited. my family has it so it was only a matter if time before I got it.
Regarding peanut butter and jelly. I transfer peanut butter into Coughlan's reusable squeeze tubes. No mess. If it's going to be a warm hike, jelly doesn't do we'll. It runs like water. Preserves may be a better choice. I've kept squeezable butter in a hot pack for a week with no problems and raw bacon for 3 days (unopened) and it turned out fine. No one complained or got sick. Eggs also do very well as long as they're fresh.
You have such a great selection of stuff in your local Walmart. Selection here in Montreal, Canada is crappy. Nowhere even close. I can only dream to get so many available options. Thank you for sharing your ideas.
+Rangersly 100% reason...we dont find those tuna in bag or chicken hahaha
+Rangersly It's not just Montreal ... it's ALL of Canada that has a crappy selection, even at Wal-Mart super-centers. That's why my sister goes cross-border shopping. I'm just outside Calgary, so that's not an option for me.
Thanks for the great video! I have a few prepared meals from the major companies that I rely on, but I am working hard to put together a menu closer to what I eat at home. I never seem to pack too many vegetables!!! Rice-a-Roni Cheesy Rice w/freeze dried broccoli is yummy! I also find that I am always dehydrating yet another bag of Fiesta Vegetables (black beans, peppers, onions, corn). I mix it with some boxed Mexican Rice that I prepare and dehydrate at home for quicker trail prep. So good! Wish I could figure out how to make a shrimp scampi w/garlic rice or noodles. hmmmm
I just got a dehydrated Shrimp Linguine recipe TODAY from the backpackingchef.com newsletter ! Must be karma. :-) I couldn't find it on his site and too long to post here, but I'll bet you could contact him to send the newsletter to you even though it already went out. Nice guy.
Me and my friend when we go camping up in the Rockies we like vanilla powdered meal replace meant with our oatmeal not everyone's cup of tea but you might like it
+Flare chaser (Crackbone187) That sounds good actually. Thanks for the idea.
no problem man and might i say thanks for the informative video planning to go for a week when weather gets nicer
BackpackingAdventures do you have Instagram
Thinking is good. Selective shopping is essential. There are many genius things for the trail in almost every grocery store.
Good vids, bro.
Skully
I make a lot of my meals and dehydrate them and use a food bag sealer.Take oat meal, brown sugar and raisons portion it out and seal, dehydrate froze vegs. portion rice and vegs. add a bullion cube. 93 per sent burger cut then dehydrate boil noodles and add sauce .Combine and let it sit in frig. for a day or so, dehydrate and package it up with processor. Plus you can dehydrate fruit Apples Bananas Caned Pears
Pineapple - - -
AKA ROCKY
If u like Mexican chorizo theirs something called chilorio its similar in flavor but shredded comes in a pouch or a can and that pouch is enough to make 6 or more tacos if you mix it with eggs or if you take a couple potatoes can possibly stretch ut for more and u get a punch of refried beans you have burritos and can share
If you know how to cook, then it will be easy to make trail foods. take flour, salt, black or cayenne pepper, garlic, onion powder, boullion cubes veggie,veef, chicken. honey, ketchup, soy sauce, worchester sauce, tabasco, old bay. and you can put each in a smal pill bottle and with flour you can make dumplings, noodle, gravies, coffee you csn make red eye gravy. bring some rice. with packs of tuna, beef jerk, dehydrated eggs, dehydrated chicken. oat meal, powdered milk, you should be able to live like king or queen. I know I do. i bring a little to make a lot. going fishing, bring corn meal. i hope I contibuted to your list of ideas. peace V
Rob, this was an interesting video. My buddy and I usually take the same foods all the time because we have found what seems to work for us, but, I too, have often wondered what other backpackers take along for food, so this was an interesting video.
The usual staples for us are: dehydrated spaghetti sauce (with hamburger, of course), dehydrated taco-seasoned hamburger, tortilla shells, mini bagels, mini packs of peanut butter, Mountain House meals, oat meal, packs of hot chocolate and coffee, Velveeta shells and cheese, salami sticks, a block of cheddar cheese, a bag of shredded cheddar cheese, pop tarts, trail mix, Knorr pasta meals and I'm sure there are one or two that I have just forgotten at this moment.
We get double duty out of the tortilla shells. We use them with the taco meat and shredded cheese (and packs of hot sauce from Taco Bell) to make burritos for dinner. We also slice up pieces of the block cheese and put the pieces inside of a tortilla shell with a salami stick and some mustard for quick lunch stops. Good eatin'!
Another menu item that we've tried, although, for some reason, we don't seem to take it as often, is to take along a foil-wrapped pack of tuna which we then add to some type of pasta dish, much like your salmon and Knorr pasta. Also very good.
I'm liking the videos you put out. By the way, I found you through my friend's RUclips channel (featheredprop - aka Dane).
Great Lakes Backpacker Excellent, welcome. Dane is a great guy. Too funny you mention the pepperoni and hard salami, I will be bringing that on a trip or 2 this year with some spicy mustard on a wrap or a sandwich thin for lunch. Thanks for all the great ideas and for joining along the channel.
- Rob
A very delicious hiking and backpacking lunch is what people call a BMC (Bagel, Meat, & Cheese). I dont usually eat bagels very often when I hike. They are heavier than tortillas and tortillas are just as delicious. I personally like salami and provolone and I pack along vinaigrette packets or mustard packets from stores like subway and jack in the box. It is delicious.
Those damn mountain freeze-dried pouches get expensive.. Nice CSN song at beginning. ✌️👍
Just add water. Got to be a hiker's three favorite words. They are for me at least. Even when I'm not hiking. lol
+ajammes1 I got asked if I learned how to cook yet or if I still just add water. "Ya, I add chili spice to lots of things now"
I CAN cook but I tend to be lazy since it is just me most of the time. Chili spice is good in lots of things is true story.
ayce
I had to grab a snack during this video. I am actually excited for my first hike so I can eat all of the food I would NEVER touch now!! I haven't had Ramen in years, but OH MY GOSH I love it!
Too funny. It is nice to walk off what ever you want to eat!
HI,
Some great ideas on here. Ilive in England, UK and am going on a 3-4 day hike on a coatal path in Cornwall and you have given me some useful tips and ideas for food. Unfortunately we do not have the great selection of the kinds of food you have in the US. It would be rather useful to have a walmart here in the UK! Mucho Thankyou-o.
Shad
Winco Store has dried food section with over 700 items. Including coffee. Price is "by the pound" !
Winco is a great place. I wish they were back east too.
Also the Hormel ready cooked bacon works too I just toss a few strips in a bag it doesn't have to be put in the fridge. Ill rip a few pieces up for my eggs
Tristin Kirby I have never brought it, although I have seen it. I can only imagine how good bacon would taste on the trail! Thanks for the note Tristin!
If you thought about taking butter, here is an idea, (it works for me ) cut some small single serve bags out of food saver bags and make clarified butter, freeze it, cut it into singles and put in the bags and seal the bags. Bingo, Clarified butter will last longer than regular butter.
That's a great idea. I guess you could put it in little cubes when you freeze it and you would not have to cut it. Thanks for the tip. Peace, Reese
Awesome vid!! There’s tons of “camping foods” made easy fast n delicious. Especially wen bland n boring just doesn’t cut it! lol thanks for the great ideas. Be safe not sorry camping y’all blessings
Prego and Pace are making foil wrapped ready to eat meals like pasta and chicken and rice. Just put the unopened pouch in your pot of boiling water like an MRE and you have a hot meal You can use the water you boiled it in for a hot brew. PS Great tunes! Nice version of Southern Cross.
Hi Im feed up with eating the same old toot all the time and having to carry the weight. Found your vid very useful fella given me some ideas. On my next lot of leave I gona wander around Tesco's and Asda's and have a gander at the packet grub. Nice one mate ATB Dave (across the pond)
WackysWanderings hi,how you doing,did you find anything you could recommend in tescos or asda? I live in the south of France and the supermarkets here have very limited choice compared to the UK. I come back to the UK every couple of months to visit family and don't usually have to bring a rucksack/packpack with me. I'm thinking next visit,bring a bag/rucksack,go to tesco or asda and load up with stuff to bring back for the trails here. So any recommendations you might have would be much appreciated. Cheers.
NOPE - those calories are for ONE PopTart. Uggggh! :-( One tart = one serving. Who eats just one? lol P.S. That instant espresso is fab to add to brownies - just a tablespoon in the mix makes even box brownies extra yummy. Great tips, thanks!
Great idea!
Peanut butter and precooked bacon crumbles (Costco has them cheap) together on a tortilla. Great for breakfast or lunch.
You've inspired me to reevaluate my backpacking menu options. Thank you
I wanna know where your Walmart is. The two nearest me don't have half the stockage yours does. :) Also, great advice at the beginning about making it normally, then trying it. If it doesn't taste good as a "normal" meal, it won't taste good on the trail. I also like the fact we think alike about making on the same field equipment you'd use on the trail. Really lets you know how long that meal will take to prep and cook.
good2go201 Haha, some are definitely some better than others, I am just outside of Syracuse, NY. I have found that testing approach works for me. I usually buy 2, one to cook the way they say, one to cook it as if I was on a trip. If I like it at that point, I will pick it up and take it to the woods! Thanks for the note.
- Rob
this is neat, I always just used meat and crackers, noodles, and mashed potatoes. now I know there are more options to try.
Thanks man for some new ideas for trail food.
Gary Cloud I hope they work out for you. Please share any creations you come up with along the journey. Thank you!
- Rob
Love your choices of music. Thanks.
Very informative video. I'm heading out tomorrow morning with my brother for a couple nights. I have everything together except my food and this gave me a ton of ideas. Thanks! Subbed, for what I assume are going to be more great/informative videos.
+Walk Michigan Thanks. Have a blast this weekend!
When you repackage the foods put them in a Kalamata olive jug. It keeps foods from getting crushed (e.g. pop tarts), and they are pretty much bear proof (if you hike in bear country), and are easy to hang in a tree. Well worth the weight, and gives a extra bit of weatherproofing
My living room is that yellow and one bedroom that red. LOL You don’t happen to have another room relish green, do you? :). Just found your channel and love it. I live 20 minutes south of Northville, and have hiked the area for years, but haven’t tackled the N-LP trail yet. Thank you for the preview.
Really useful video. I have my own list for different regions in the World but it is cool to have a heads up on the product variety in the States.
instead of ziplocs.. you might invest in a food saver.. it will really help with making that food compact and then you can measure out your food to just what you need.
On the chicken gravy mix, I think you meant to say teaspoon and not tablespoon.
Because I am pretty sure there is only 2 maybe 3 tablespoons of chicken gravy mix in one of those little packets.
And, I didn't see that you mentioned above Walmart Great Value brand Pulled Pork in BBQ sauce. That you can find with the rest of the foil type pre-packaged foods.
I put it in just about anything, from putting it on a Tortilla, or I put it in some top ramen noodles. 🍜
There are coffee bags like tea bags and there are small creamer packs also all at walmart.
Hey...i see you have ramen. I like to take those Maruchan Yakisoba noodles (I prefer the Spicy Beef)..I take them out of the original packaging and put several bricks in one large Ziploc with the flavor and veggie packs as well...saves space. They cook up fast in the pot and you can add instant rice, jerky, even trail mix or whatever and it's a really good filling easy meal at the end of the day.
Dehydrated vegetables are great to add to ramen. I do my own and store in the freezer in ziploc bags.
They got ground beef that comes in the foil packages just like the tuna does I like to add it with a package of the uncle Ben's rice they are both ready to eat
Tristin Kirby I have seen that as well - I have used it in a bacon mac n cheese meal before, it is good. It kinda tastes like taco meat ;)
If you want to go cheaper on the granola, Quaker has a few Simply Granola cluster cereals, and you spend only about 15 cents per ounce as opposed to buying proper packaged granola. And it pads the content with oats rather than flakes. You can use the savings to add extra nuts, fruit, chocolate chips, etc.
The pasta does get gummy, and even the hamburger helper varieties are only slightly less so if you're bag boiling. For those you pretty much have to cook them in the pot, which obviously doesn't help fuel conservation.
You can also thicken sauce by adding some potato flakes to them. It takes some experimentation to get that dialed in, though. Maybe bring a baggie of unflavored flakes along for that purpose.
I like the popular option of tortillas, Pop Tarts, etc., but man they seem to be a little weighty for their purpose. But I'm more thinking toward longer thru-hiking miles, which definitely makes a difference when planning trail meals.
Here is another one. Apple pies come in boxes now. Making them easy to take along. Now get one of those single serve Jif to go spread over the top of that apple pie. How easy was that? Loaded with calories. No need for jelly.
That is a terrific idea! Thanks for sharing David. Do you mind if I put this over on my facebook page?
That will be fine.
David Kovachi
Just about everyone agrees. Mountain House Beef Stroganoff is pretty good. Now how can it be made better? Much better in fact. Bring some Frenches French fried onions along. First remember to add an eighth to a quarter cup of extra water or it will be to thick. Add the water to the pouch. Five minutes in add the French fried unions and stir. Now wait that last five minutes. This gives those unions the right constancy and intensifies the flavor.
David Kovachi
Mountain House Chicken and potatoes. This is expensive I know. But that package can be stretched for all day use. I like to use clarified butter with this one. Clarified butter can last for weeks and is easy to do. Take along a few ounces of this butter. Now mix this in the morning. Bring tortillas. Through the day make tortillas with this. ITS PRETTY DARN GOOD!!
I forgot to mention. Before you add water crumble the dried chicken breast adding the potatoes at the same time then mix the water.
Good job! Very in depth and informative!
Tamara Maxwell Thanks Tamara - I hope it helps - it just makes me hungry :)
Good info, thanks for taking the time to make yourself the guinea pig trying all this food. Do you eat all this food and then eat what you wife prepares. How does she do it.
+Jonathan Sibalski This all got used up on different trips and was stuff I have had before. Thanks for the note.
Hey Rob, love the videos. Planning my first trip to the Adirondaks this summer. Northville -Placid trail to be exact. Noticed you dont carry a bear can. Everyone I've talked to at the DEC recomends I carry one. What are your thoughts on that and experience with bears on that area? Thanks
David Dierolf Hey David, thanks for the note. The NPT is a blast, you will love it! I don't use one (bear can) unless it is mandated (such as the Eastern High Peaks area of the Adirondacks). On the NPT it is not required to do so. For a number of years I used the PCT method of bear hanging my food. I simply used a dry bag from Walmart. Last year I picked up an Ursack and love it. I just walk 100 yards from camp and tie it to a tree. There are bears in the area, although I have never seen one. Let me know if I can help in any way.
Thanks. That's exactly what I do here in Michigan and have never had a problem, but the DEC seemed to be pushing the canisters :/ Figured I'd talk to a fellow hiker for the best info. Very psyched about this trip, hope to do the entire trail eventually.
You can bring milk in little carnation milk or even shelf top milk that you don’t have to refrigerate
Great stuff man, thanks for this. I'm fairly new to backpacking and have been sticking to mountain house kinda meals. I have had the chance to do the tuna packs and tortillas for lunch which works great. Have you ever tried dumping a tuna pack into ramen noodles? I was thinking a spicy chicken or shrimp flavor with Thai spiced tuna pack could be pretty decent.
+Carl Skarne Thanks. I haven't tried it, but I bet it would be great. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Will do brother. Heading out for a long weekend hike on the AT in CT at the end of April.
You had me at cigar! thanks for info and tips for the hike
I think buckwheat would make an excellent trail food, but I haven't seen anyone with it yet. Tons of calories, carbs, and even protein. The only problem is it requires a bit of simmering to absorb the water so you use more fuel.
I almost always bring a liter of vodka and some powdered lemonade to make cocktails by the campfire. Nothin like a stiff drink out in the woods with good company after a long hike and camp chores. Great vid btw
Great video, and great advice.
Thank you for sharing
To make sure you don't make a mess in your pack if you cut a corner out of you zip lock bag like he says about peanut butter and jelly, fold it back and tape it but also have an extra zip bag to put them both in no mess that way.
You can always use PB2 peanut butter powder and all you have to do is add water
Good video, lot of info and ideas, thanks
Great info. I repack my pop tarts using a vacuum sealer because left in the original foil they break up.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
nice haul. good ideas from simple components.
Coffee....must have...I use fillable tea bags, just heat up water pour over tea/coffee bag and seep.