Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Stoveless Meals - What About Vegetables?

Hi all,

I am wanting to go stoveless for extended periods of time this fall. I have plenty of recipes with plenty of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. But I am somewhat concerned about vegetables - I normally eat a diet very high in veggies, but can't figure very efficient ways to incorporate them with no stove, and in a form with a reasonable caloric density.

I might make a few batches of zucchini chips, but other than that, what do you all think?

Thanks,

Pete

I'll admit that this is new to me... dried fruits maybe? Vitamin pills to make up for missed essentials?

For my education, what is your reason for not carrying a little bacpacking stove? Weight? How about one of those really tiny, foldable, light thingies that seem to run on nothing but twigs?

I believe these call for warm water to rehydrate. I'd imagine they would still work without heating the water, just take a while longer. A phone call would answer that question.

http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_FN%20B110_A_name_E_Provident+Pantry%AE+Freeze-Dried+Green+Beans+-+6+oz

Another option would be to get an edible plants book for your area.

Google Patrick Smith's wild casserole. I think I actually like it better dry then with water. Lots of vegtables in the casserole.

Basically, vegetables supply vitamins, cancer fighting compounds, anti oxidents and fiber. But not much energy.
If you are going really light, with no stove, you are probably using freeze dried stuff with an eye towards lots of calores. Right ?
Realistically, you can get by w/o much fiber or the other stuff, for a while. But, since vitamins are easy to supply in pill form, that would be a good way to go.
As I understand it, you can get by on straight protein for a week or two w/o any harm. But adding some fats and complex carbohydrates would make that work better. E

I personally wouldn't worry about it within the time frame of almost any single backpacking trip.

Ray Jardine pretty much invented UL hiking. He opined that going stoveless for a long hike on the AT IIRC was one of the most stupid things he'd ever done.

Fire is cool.

Yeah, having a fire is one of the great pleasures in camping of any kind. However, in some areas, fuel/wood for a stove is hard to find, takes quite a while to process so one can cook with it, and, in some places, we are prohited from having fires.
Those things should be considered. Hunters, especially, need to spend as little time as possible preparing food and eating. Kinda tough to make and use a cooking fire in the dark. E

In a large chunk of so. Idaho, you don't have much of a choice. Because of the extreme fire danger, even stoves are prohibited outside of established campgrounds. If we don't get some serious rain before Oct., hunting will be cold groceries.

Unless an open fire is banned, I wouldn't go without a stove. With the micro lite stoves available with different sources, there is no reason NOT to have one. Even in warmer temps, the ability to heat up food or just water is invaluable. Hot food is always a great way to replenish calories.

"Mary Bell's Complete Dehydrator Cookbook". Great reference, and covers many vegetables. Tomato chips, zucchini chips, etc. And consider an alcohol stove. If you measure out your alcohol needs the weight is more than reasonable, it's silent, and works great when it's not real cold.

Thanks for the tips. The reason I'm thinking about this is not just the weight/space savings, but also the time savings. I'd rather not spend the time when I could be sleeping, hiking, or hunting. But we'll see...

I have gone on two stoveless hunts. One three day scouting trip I took three days worth of PBJ and cookies. I couldnt eat PBJ for 6 months afterword. The next was a weeklong hunt. I ate those precooked foil indian meals which are mostly vegetarian and precooked rice packets which also have vegis. Bars for breakfast and trail mix for lunch. I also had vegi chips which are another possibility and they sell dried vegis in the supermarket. They have chips made out of sweet potato and spinach. Your right, it was quick, no stove or fuel and very light coming out with no food, stove or fuel.

But I would never do it again. I missed hot coffee and realized in a snowstorm that a hot beverage could save your life even. Good luck

Well, "pka" may want to try a stoveless experience or two just to see what its like. That's fine cause he can draw from his own experience.
I have been on quite a few early archery elk hunts (Sept.)in Colorado that had cold mountain showers complete with sleet and snow. I just believe that a hot meal/coffee does a lot to satisfy your nutritional needs and is a comforting pickup.
I ate many hot MRE meals using their "heat tab" system and it was just fine.
Good luck and have fun.

For short trips, I wouldn't worry about trying to include vegetables at all. I do like freeze dried or dehydrated fruit for snacks though which hits the vitamins, fiber and energy density buttons. But like so many of the posters above, I wouldn't go stove less for an extended trip. Sure I'd pack a lot of foods that don't need cooking but a hot drink, some soup, or having a hot meal at night are all morale boosting events.

Thanks for the thoughts, all. I'm planning going cold for several 4-6 day bivy hunts, then resupplying and eating hot food before embarking on the next. I'm fine with cold food, especially since I'm not a coffee drinker, but my buddies are seeming a little less OK with that. So we're still weighing our options...

Seems to me sleeping, hiking, and hunting are all "enhanced" shall we say, with decent food/meals. Admittedly, I have to force myself to slow down from the daily hustle when I get "out there" but I fail to see the hurry being such that 3 minutes to boil water and another 5-10 to eat is really cutting into my hiking, hunting or sleeping(?) time. But that's just me.
Personally, I get satisfaction from eating a hot meal out there even when just on a day hike or day hunt.
To each his own.

Interesting thoughts though.