Sorry for this somewhat long post but this is a life and death topic....Food. OK, recently the list has hashed out: - how to get the groceries (Volvo maintenance) - how to get it hot (stoves) - where to cook it (tarps) but now on to the important part - WHAT to eat.... Since planning a trip is part of the pleasure of a trip - imagine you're doing a 5 to 7 day paddling trip with 2 or 3 friends. You've been placed in charge of feeding everyone because they've all heard about your over-the-top cooking skills. You won't have access to grocery stores along the way - you'll have whatever you pack along. And don't rely too much on your fishing/clamming skills...you might have bad luck. Question 1: What would you plan for menus for your trip? two areas to consider: - basic it-keeps-the-fire-burning foods - may not taste like much but lightweight, easy, quick, and involves minimum clean up - indulgent foods - the stuff they talk about years later. The stuff the cardiologists try to steer you away from. I saw a sign once that read "I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables". Might not be good for you, but it sure is good. Question 2: What specialty kitchen items would you bring things like a favorite baking 'system', a cool tool or utensil, the best cooking pot ever made, espresso machine, pasta press, inflatable french pastry chef...) Question 3: What special preps do you do ahead of time - e.g., freezing some items for the first few meals? I anxious to learn of the culinary creativeness of the folks on the list, Keith *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> Question 1: > What would you plan for menus for your trip? I usually mix up indulgent and fast food for my trips. For fast foods I will take a dry soup or chili (taste adventure is good) with tortillas, cheese and perhaps some coleslaw (cabbage and carrots last forever). You can take smaller packets of your favorite salad dressing for the slaw. For my indulgent meals I will do a stir fry with canned shrimp or crab. I dehydrate vegetables, the frozen veggie work well because they are already blanched. Then take teriyaki, curry sauce, or other interesting sauce. They have some interesting powdered curry in the health food store and I love it with coconut milk. With curry I usually add cashews or raisins. I like the boil in a bag rice with the stir fry. I dehydrate spaghetti sauce, you can buy sauces that are powdered and add is a small can of tomato paste, you can also dehydrate tomatos make them into powder and use it for spaghetti. I like the 4 p's, pesto, pasta and parmesan with pine nuts. Beans and rice are a favorite, you can by bean and rice mixtures in the store and add summer sausage to it. They have some good combos with pre cooked beans. I do many pasta dishes with dehydrated mushrooms and canned chicken and vegetables. Bear Creek makes some really good pre-packed dehydrated meals (I like chicken and dumplings). Lunch is trail mix, crackers and tunafish or chicken salad with dried fruit. I usually have a quick breakfast of oatmeal, grits or granola with powdered milk (Milkman brand is the best). If I have a layover day I make pancakes or eggbeaters, or powdered eggs with cheese and dehydrated hash potatoes. Sometimes I take eggs but I hate packing them. > > Question 2: > What specialty kitchen items would you bring things like a favorite baking > 'system', a cool tool or utensil, the best cooking pot ever made, espresso > machine, pasta press, inflatable french pastry chef...) I have a compact kitchen my stir fry pan has the handle removed I put it over the top of my pots. My GSI adonized cookware are absolutely sensational for cooking and clean up; they never seem to scorch. My nestled pots with the small stir fry pan over the top makes a compact bundle, I put them in a mesh bag and the mesh bad is also my pasta strainer. The backpacker baker works really well and is fun for layover days, but I don't generally do much baking. I use channel lock pliers as my handles. Flexible plastic sheets are great cutting boards and pack anywhere, I use them on a GSI micro table. I use a filter for coffee, MSR has a nice coffee/ tea filter you can set in your cup. I have a ditty bad of cooking utensils; it is always packed and ready to go. I can't leave home without my microtable usually I take 2. For dishwashing I have 2 folding vinyl dish pans. The vinyls dish pans are a luxury, but they are useful for many things, and they roll up very small. > > Question 3: > What special preps do you do ahead of time - e.g., freezing some items for > the first few meals? Mostly dehydrating, if I freeze a meal I use my vaccum packer/sealer. With the vaccum sealer I have a boil in bag system. I have an excalibur dehydrator works extremely well, with a 26 hour timer, but you can also make your own. Sometimes I just buy pre-packed meals and throw away the extra packaging then repack in zip lock bags which, as others have mentioned, work well for garbage. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
[Moderator's Note: Content unaltered. Excessive quoting (i.e. headers/footers/sig lines/extraneous text from previous posts, etc.) have been removed. Please edit quoted material in addition to removing header/trailers when replying to posts.] Well Keith you definitely hit a topic that is near and dear to my heart (and most of the people I paddle with) FOOD! Here are my thoughts on your questions (in no particular order) Pre- prep- I have a food dehydrator and it is AWESOME- you can dehydrate almost anything- even full meals (homemade jerky is great)There are alot of books and websites about dry it yourself, so I won't go into any detail here. Favorite tools or prep items are a lexan spoon & fork on lanyards in my pfd pocket when kayak camping,on my backpack when hiking, etc.Also- a frisbee (glow in the dark) is very versatile- a cutting board, serving tray, mixing bowl, plate, and yes, you can also play with it!(You don't even want to get me started on bandana uses!) Another favorite item is a coffee press. For light, cheap and minimum prep (and even healthy) I use alot of whole wheat tortillas. They are good for wrap sandwiches, dessert pizzas,try 'em with Nutella!, pb&j's, with cheese, and also for mexican food! I've got a recipe for "boat burritos" that require no cooking that makes vegetarians and carnivores equally happy if you are interested. I hope any of that was helpful! Enjoy your trip! Kenny Sturgeon More Outdoors,Inc. 2660 US 27,S. Sebring,Florida 33870 Shop:(863)386-9111 Cell:(863)414-0035 www.moreoutdoors.com -----Original Message----- From: Keith Wrage Subject: [Paddlewise] 3 questions to chew on Sorry for this somewhat long post but this is a life and death topic....Food. OK, recently the list has hashed out: - how to get the groceries (Volvo maintenance) - how to get it hot (stoves) - where to cook it (tarps) but now on to the important part - WHAT to eat.... *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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