freezer bag cooking – backpacking over the hill

Days slipping away

I am now in final throes of packing for my 5 month backpacking trip. As a natural born procrastinator, I am in my element.

Food: Introducing Speltmeal

I am making and sending almost all of my trail meals. There are roughly 120 of them. Although I’ll rotate through about 7 different dinners for variety, breakfast is pretty tough. I basically have two breakfasts that are quick, easy, and nutritious. (note the absence of the word delicious…)

First up is good old granola. I found some ancient grains brand that I like at Costco. I package this with a small zip bag of powdered whole milk. In the morning, I’ll add water to the small bag, mix, and then add to the granola. I’ll let that soak while I pack up and then eat the granola while walking (due to my ungraceful nature, I will proceed slowly since doing anything in addition to walking pushes the limits of my abilities). I keep the whole milk powder separate for two reasons. First, I want to make sure I can get the powder and water to mix well enough to resemble the texture of real milk. Second, let’s face it, powdered milk is not the greatest tasting thing in the world and I may get sick of it.

My second breakfast choice is a combination of spelt and rolled oats. I add in cinnamon, a little sugar, a pinch of both salt and powdered butter. Unlike the Granola, I do add powdered milk to the mix. I bag portions up and throw in small bags with various treats to break up the monotony. Examples are freeze dried fruits, chia seeds, or nuts. At night I open the pouch, take out the treat, add water, and let the “Speltmeal” rehydrate overnight. In the morning, I’ll add the treats.

Spray versus Spray

I have been testing all my equipment. It is important to make sure things work and that I know how to use them. This seems obvious, but my usual instincts are to just go ahead with something and figure it out on the fly. There can be unfortunate consequences. Everybody knows what bug spray is, right? I have this small pump-spray container. It works better on my thinning hair than a lotion. Well, on this trip, I am also bringing bear spray in the National Parks as a safety precaution. However, I need to to emphasize that bug spray and bear spray are quite different. It turns out bear spray is not applied topically. (Well, it can be, but it is ineffective against bears and very effective at repelling humans.)

Store Runs

Finally, I have a few last store runs to complete. I need to get a few small items at REI. On top of that I need to visit Trader Joe’s for some dried fruit to ship out. The likelihood that I will enter these two stores with a short, fixed list and emerge with only the items on the list is close to the odds of winning the lottery.

Did squeeze in a quick hike yesterday.

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

This is a classic backpacking meal. If you are not backpacking, it is bad. Basically a carb bomb with some fat added.

The key is to dehydrate some canned chicken. Try a few different brands of canned chicken to find one you like. It is already cooked in the can, so all you have to do is squeeze out as much water as possible and then flake it on to the dehydrator sheet. About 8 hours at 145 degrees should do the trick.

A second note is that I used Bob’s Red Mill potato flakes which are only potato flakes. As a result, there are no additional ingredients. Most boxed mashed potatoes come with added items.

A third note is the I used Simply Organic chicken gravy which had the least amount of added ingredients. I felt the mainline gravy mixes had ingredient lists which required an advanced degree in chemistry to understand.

Finally, the stuffing is optional. It really doesn’t really add any significant texture, but there are some flavors. (Remember to shake up the stuffing to distribute the spices.)

1 cup potato flakes

1/2 cup stuffing mix

1/2 cup dehydrated canned chicken

1/2 tsp instant chicken gravy

1/2 tsp chicken broth powder (or bullion)

2 Tbsp Sour Cream powder

1 Tbsp whole milk powder

2 Tbsp butter powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Will fit in a quart sized ziplock. Note: I put the dehydrated chicken in a small snack sized zip-close bag to reduce the chance of the meat going bad and contaminating the whole meal. Also, I put all of this in a quart sized mylar bag (with an oxygen absorber) and heat sealed it. Some of the meals I made are not going to be eaten for 5 months so I proceeded with caution. If it was just for a week or two, I would personally keep it in a ziploc (note: I am not a doctor or food scientist)

At camp, rehydrate with boiled water. The chicken will take the longest to rehydrate (about 10 minutes). You’ll probably want to have a little extra hot water handy because the potato flakes are greedy.

Add spices if you like. I find that the gravy powder, broth, stuffing, and even the chicken had enough salt. By my calculations, this recipe has 725 Calories, 37 grams fat, 72 g carbs, and 41 g protein. I averaged about 6.5 ounces, so it yields only about 110 calories ber ounce. You can go crazy with add-ins. One could put in an ounce of extra virgin olive oil (evoo) to bump up the calories/fat. Or those fake bacon bits or some powdered cheese.

One last tip involving mashed potatoes: Every couple of weeks I’ll resupply with a snack sized baggie of potato flakes. They are handy to add to a meal that is too soupy. Plus, they can be a quick easy meal in a pinch.

Spicy Lentils

Spicy Lentils		Calories	Fat(g)	Carbs (g)	Protein (g)
1 cup	dehydrated cooked lentils	678	2	115	50
3/4 cup	couscous whole grain	325.5	0.5	67	11
1/4 cup	dehydrated veggies	40	0	8	2
1/2 Tbsp	Creole spice	0	0	0	0
1 tsp	ginger powder	0	0	0	0
1/2 cup	sunflower seeds (and/or pumpkin)	134.5	12	4.5	5
1 ounce	EVOO	248	28	0	0

		1426	42.5	194.5	68	305
			14%	64%	22%
	Mix all dry ingredients
	(or put seeds in a sandwich bag if you want more crunch)
	Put all of the above (except EVOO) in a quart size bag.
	At camp, boil 2 cups or more water, remove seeds.
	Add 1 1/2 cups boiled water to bag.
	Add EVOO.
	Stir, seal, and let hydrate for 10 minutes.
	Test for doneness, adding more water or EVOO if desired.
	Stir in nuts.