Ideas for a tasty and lightweight meals?

[theneuhauser]

If youve got a decent recipe for some lightweight meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner) please share them on this thread.

Were getting ready for a seven night backpacker, last time I did that I nearly killed some small furry animals just to get some variety into the mealplan!


Ill contribute one:
Dried chili
fast cook noodles(like macaroni)
TVP
dried tomatoes
tabasco sauce
parmesan cheese (on top)

[azbackpackr]

OK, I like hot granola for breakfast. It beats instant oatmeal out by a long shot. Oatmeal has this gooey, sticky thing going, but hot granola doesn't. You get some good crunchy granola, not the grocery store over-sugared crap, but some good stuff from the health food store. It should be a granola you'd happily eat with cold milk, so you know you already like the taste. You put some in a zippy. Then you add some powdered milk and shake it up. At breakfast you put the mixture in your bowl and add hot water. (Dried strawberries, etc. would also taste good added in.) Of course, you can add cold water instead of the hot, but on a cold morning the hot water really does taste good.

Call me a granola, I don't care! ;)

[azbackpackr]

yea, it's very much like a tea cozy. Just an insulated something to keep the heat in, roughly bigger than a ziplock bag in my case.

Well, then!

[dysfunction]

Saves fuel!

[te_wa]

Then you add some powdered milk and shake it up.

NIDO, imported WHOLE milk powder. From Chile. Found in many grocers, including the Ftn. Hills Fry's.
unlike Non-Fat Milk powder, Nido has 26% milkfat. (whole milk is on the average of 4%) this stuff is creamy, and delicious
i add more water than usual and its still creamy. tasted almost like evaporated milk, not quite, but close. good on granola.

hey, did you hear about the couple from Colorado?
wife: honey, can you pick up Granola on your way home?
husband: sure, im only a block away from the daycare..

[azbackpackr]

Sounds good, not available in Springerville of course. (But we have clean air and no traffic.) Wouldn't do my cholesterol any good, either, but I would try it for backpacking for sure.

[Crocodile Ryan]

Walmart has it in their hispanic section, that stuff is pretty good for packing calories on a long hike

Mix the NIDO with some instant vanilla pudding with cinnamon and rice and you got some pretty tasty rice pudding, and its super lightweight

[azbackpackr]

Gee, that sounds pretty good. You guys are creative!

[writelots]

Just dried some hummus in my dehydrator. Works great, light weight, don't even need heat to rehydrate it! Looking forward to that on a tortilla/wrap for lunch this weekend on San Jacinto...

NIDO is fantastic, but be careful if you're not used to having lots of dairy in your diet. I find that Nido starts to get its revenge on me after a few days of regular consumption.

S is right - couscous is a joy in the packcountry. Use the powdered milk, brown sugar and raisins to make it a yummy warm breakfast - lighter and better than oatmeal.

The recipe for pizza ramen on the freezer bag site is dynamite. Takes a little assembly, but it's worth it! It's the perfect way to pay homage to the flying spaghetti monster in the back woods...

At Costco I discovered these little packages of dried hashbrowns. They come in containers that look like small milk boxes. Just add hot water, rehydrate and mix in your favorite ingredients! (Or brown them with some powdered eggs, throw on a tortilla with some Cholula and Bam!) It's a nice texture change from the potato flakes, and just as easy. Maybe even combine the two...

I can go on like this for days... :GB:

[tibber]

S is right - couscous is a joy in the packcountry. Use the powdered milk, brown sugar and raisins to make it a yummy warm breakfast - lighter and better than oatmeal.

Wendy "Rachel Wrae Lo" is a master of the backpack camp cooking. I can attest to this EXCELLENT breakfast. It's been over a month but I think mine had apples and cinammon too. As RR would say, "YUMMO", "DELISH". But I bet RR can't cook AND sing ;) .

[azbackpackr]

"RR??" Railroad? Richie Rich? Richard Rogers?

[big_load]

RR??

My guess is Rachael Ray. Her fame is one of my pet peeves.

[azbackpackr]

Never heard of her. I don't pay much attention to famous people, though.

[te_wa]

Never heard of her. I don't pay much attention to famous people, though.

the only reason she is slightly famous is her cuteness, methinks. what burns me is that goofy "E-V-O-O" she always spouts on about.. anyone who went to culinary school will tell you that most chefs never use Extra Virgin to cook with. Its for salads!
cook with regular, refined olive oil. or better yet, peanut oil. or better yet, grape seed oil.

but then again Liz, you usually pay attention to me so your statement has holes.

[dysfunction]

so you're saying that cooking with something that has a higher smoke point es bueno!

[azbackpackr]

Never heard of her. I don't pay much attention to famous people, though.

but then again Liz, you usually pay attention to me so your statement has holes.

Yeah! Sure!

So does this chick sing or cook or what? Does she sing while cooking, or cook while singing? Do I really want to know? Should I google her to find out?

I'm going hiking. I road biked 20 miles this a.m., then did some gardening, then did some errands. It's time to get off the damned computer.

[joebartels]

what burns me is that goofy "E-V-O-O" she always spouts on about..

dang I never watched with the sound ON

[BobP]

Bobby Flay is my favorite on the food channel and he's a real chef. A little corny at times but if you like to grill/cook, he is the Man.

[azbackpackr]

My husband watches this entertaining guy with a broad New York accent on the "Green" channel, (whatever that is.) I do stop by the living room occasionally, but not often. (I'm serious! I have a big house!) Anyway, this guy does cook really good food on there.

[te_wa]

back on topic: here's 2 online grocers that carry ingredients you can use to be gourmet on the trail.
http://www.packitgourmet.com/General-Grocery-c14.html
http://www.minimus.biz/default.aspx
powdered burgundy? cheese? packaged A-1? you bet

[kevinweitzel75]

Ok,I noticed that some of you said "TVP". What is that? Kind of new to this, so I guess I need to school up on the language.