For many years I packed Mountain House, Peak, Back Packers Pantry, etc. meals on multi-day hunting trips. Last couple of years I eliminated those and shopped for food items in local grocery stores. I must say it is working out well.
I agree. I still find myself taking 1-3 Mountain House pasta sauce meals though on a 5-7 day hunt. Something about boiling and waiting while doing clothes and hunt prep for next day maintenance while soaking with hot water and then eating and going right to bed with warm stomach that's nice....
Yeh, a warm meal in the evening is part of my routine. It usually consists of instant oatmeal with dried fruit or beef or chicken bouillon cubes and vegetable chips soaked in hot water.
I only go backpacking a few times per year. So, the convenience of the backpacking meals is too much for me to pass up.
We generally prefer the Beef Stroganoff variants for dinner, but I add in some quality beef jerky to them before adding the boiling water.
For breakfast, if I'm hunting, it's usually just a Cliff Bar or something. If not, we usually have one of those breakfast scramble meals, but, in those, I add bacon jerky.
During the day, it's usually dried fruit, nuts, jerky. Sometimes, I bring some greasy potato chips, which along with booze, make a good emergency fire-starter when needed.
I find that oatmeal doesn't last long enough. A local store has bulk foods with a 5 grain cereal that lasts much longer. I add chopped dates for a sweetener and several kinds of nuts and seeds. A bit of powdered milk helps, too. I prepackage it in meal sizes in quart freezer bags. Just add boiling water and let it sit 6 or 8 min. The only dirty dish is a spoon.
For me cook in the bag rules, my pot only boils water and I lick the spork clean. I can have coffee and breakfast or dinner while in my bag. Homey don't wash dishes. MH biscuits and gravy for the win.
I am horrible about this. If I have a main base camp I usually have a jet boil to have Mt House in the evenings, but if I am spike camped I usually just live off of snacks and prepackaged junk. I probably shouldn't, but I can't stand to do anything besides open a package and eat it. That is not to mention that by the time I get back to camp I am also usually way too tired to boil water and let a Mt House sit for 10 minutes. I'd be snoozing before it is ready.
I live off of cliff bars, trail mix, single serving fig newtons, etc. and for mornings a bigger bag of cereal. I don't bring any silverware. I just shove handfuls in my mouth and chug water. I can't stand to bring bowls, spoons, etc. It is just more stuff to pack in and out, or burn. I usually don't build fires either, unless I kill a grouse to cook or want to sear a tenderloin. The last thing I want to do at camp is gather wood and tend a fire. I just want to sleep.
I really should get better about backcountry chow but old habits die hard.
For me cook in the bag rules, my pot only boils water and I lick the spork clean. I can have coffee and breakfast or dinner while in my bag. Homey don't wash dishes. MH biscuits and gravy for the win.
mike r
I couldn’t agree more! MH Biscuits & Gravy are delicious - better than some restaurants! I’ve eaten them at home with an over easy egg or two - so tasty.
To throw in a grocery store item - Belvita Breakfast Crackers. Addicting.
I get these at Costco . Empty into ziplock bags. I bring tuna in pouches that I add too with hot water into ziplocks. I throw dried seaweed you can get at Costco too, a packet or two of sriracha . The packets of sauce with the soup are pretty good. Having one good meal a day to look forward to helps me mentally, especially if schitty weather.
For me cook in the bag rules, my pot only boils water and I lick the spork clean. I can have coffee and breakfast or dinner while in my bag. Homey don't wash dishes. MH biscuits and gravy for the win.
I use a mixture of MH and dehydrated meals. Here are some examples of the dehydrated items;
Oatmeal - Quaker Fruit & Cream instant Instant Coffee Instant Cocoa Breakfast Cereal & dehydrated Milk Country Time dehydrated Gravy mix & some real Slider Rolls Beef Jerky Bacon, precooked Cup-O-Noodles Tang Velveeta Shells & Cheese + can of Ham (in a foil pouch) Burritos - dehydrated Refried Beans + Boil-in-Bag Rice + Tortillas Lypton dehydrated Chicken Casserole + small can of Chicken (also in a foil pouch)
I get these at Costco . Empty into ziplock bags. I bring tuna in pouches that I add too with hot water into ziplocks. I throw dried seaweed you can get at Costco too, a packet or two of sriracha . The packets of sauce with the soup are pretty good. Having one good meal a day to look forward to helps me mentally, especially if schitty weather.
We just freeze leftovers in vacuum bags put them in boiling water, shut off heat and let them sit for about 20 minutes, home-cooked meals in camp. Easily get 7 plus meals in a small collapsible cooler. Mostly for boat camping, have breakfast sandwiches for Bfast, deluxe meal at night. No odors to attract bears a plus here in Alaska, and cheap and fast. Plus stomach is a lot happier in camp.
These 2 brands punch way above their class IMO. Both usually a buck or less @ Wally World. There's other verities of both, but those Baby Reds are to die for.
These 2 brands punch way above their class IMO. Both usually a buck or less @ Wally World. There's other verities of both, but those Baby Reds are to die for.
Stir in an envelope of precooked bacon pieces with those potatoes and you've really got something. Add butter if you're really living large. We had that a couple nights on a fly in trip last year. Large servings for two.
I got a copy. The book has no contents, no index, and no page numbers. The recipes aren't even in alphabetical order. What kind of idiot author leaves out any means of finding anything in the book? Be prepared to number the pages yourself and make a list of the recipes you like so you can find them again.
These 2 brands punch way above their class IMO. Both usually a buck or less @ Wally World. There's other verities of both, but those Baby Reds are to die for.
I've used this kind of stuff too. Also dehydrated beans from the bulk section. Having a girlfriend that makes complete dehydrated meals is pretty handy as well. That and packs of moose jerky, dates and walnuts get me by pretty well indefinitely.
These 2 brands punch way above their class IMO. Both usually a buck or less @ Wally World. There's other verities of both, but those Baby Reds are to die for.
Those mashed potatoes are damned good. I “make” them at home pretty often. I always add a big spoon of butter and a little black pepper.
With all of the dry goods available in a modern market, why would one want to limit his dining opportunities? I eat better on outings, than I do around the house.
The Knorr sides and pouch proteins are great, a bag of mixed dried fruit to throw in with oatmeal. I premix bannock mix,, fry in one piece in a pan or wrap around a stick and hold over the fire, add more sugar and cinnamon for a desert cake.
My load out depends on temperature and how long I am out. Anything difficult I just stick with MH or a few select others. When and how much I eat is entirely dependent on the type of hunt. Unsalted mixed nuts like Costco has or the dry bins mixed with a few M&Ms aren’t bad. You eat a big meal during your hike I always think it puts you at risk of injury and takes your mind off point. S.
Last few years have brought some browned taco meat in a ziplock, and made burritos with that and cheese, soft tortillas and knorr mexican rice mix. I don't get too nervous about packing in a few ounces of water infused in my browned taco meat. Tortillas warm/cook easy on a flat rock from the fire. Kids like it too.
Wait until you mix a MH biscuits and gravy with a breakfast skillet and then fill a tortilla with it! 😃
I’ve also been bringing a few of the Justin’s PB packets and spreading them on a Honey stinger waffle or a protein cookie for a snack while glassing.
The PB packet on a tortilla is my usual lunch on a backcountry hunt; maybe a piece of jerky or two if it’s cold. The packets are the perfect size and durable as heck.
I agree that the MH Biscuits & Gravy are awesome. I like to bring along black pepper to add.
I took along Lono Life bone broth & protein coffee packets on my past trip, each of which contain 10 Gr protein, and really enjoyed them. The coffee adds UMPH to my morning which usually consists of Starbucks via. The bone broth is great as a warm drink by itself but also as an additive to the noodles/soups/potatoes many have cited here.
A buddy sent me this link for baggie recipes you can prepare at home and I have been experimenting at home gonna try em on my next trip:
For many years I packed Mountain House, Peak, Back Packers Pantry, etc. meals on multi-day hunting trips. Last couple of years I eliminated those and shopped for food items in local grocery stores. I must say it is working out well.
I get whatever looks good and doesn't weigh much until hydrated, plus nurishing high nutrient dense food that doesn't need refrigeration and I am used to. For instance, I like sweet potatoes. They hold up well with no refrigerator and can be sliced thin for quick cooking. I like to eat on trail what I do well with at home. That way there's no digestive surprises. Young guys don't worry about that as much as over fifty, but everyone should consider that. It can take a couple weeks for gut flora to develop to deal with major dietary changes. Heavy fruits like apples and oranges are great because of the enzymes that help the body under stress. They are responsible for many hundreds of functions. I can tell the difference eating live uncooked food and nothing but cooked. See if you can too. Ask yourself how you feel energy wise and if that would be a good thing while hunting and hiking. Just my two cents.
If there's water nearby, dry goods are fine, but watch out for overindulging on trail mix. It's easy to get a bunch of goo backed up. It's a common cause of death in seniors.
For meat, I just go with jerky. A quality UNpreserved bacon with lots of fat holds up after cooking. .summer sausage too. Only go with no nitrates. Nuts are very dry as well, but you get a lot of good oil from them.
My wife has been wanting a freeze drier so this summer we sprang for one. They ain't cheap and HarvestRight is the only maker of home sized ones on the market (made in Utah, not China). We've been experimenting some. I cooked up a big stockpot of elk stew with spuds, onions, corn, beans, peas, tomatoes,carrots, and who knows what else. We freeze dried a bunch of it and bagged it in 2 serving bags. When reconstituted, it's really good. I cooked a big elk roast then sliced and freeze dried it. It doesn't taste very good FD'd but when reconstituted, it's tastes very much like fresh elk meat. Eat it as is or mix it with other stuff. We dried a bunch of tomatoes, then ground them to a powder. When sprinkled on anything, they quickly moisten up and give anything a good fresh tomato flavor. They're kind of tricky to preserve, though. Within 30 min of coming out of the drier they start to absorb water from the air. It's necessary to store them immediately or they won't keep.
We've done a bunch of fresh fruit right off the trees - apples, peaches, cherries, apricots, plums. FD apples aren't as good as dehydrated apples but the other fruits are excellent. You can carry a bunch of them for snacks on the trail and have no weight at all. Peaches and nectarines are especially tasty. Just slice and dry them.
Fats don't FD well so it needs to be trimmed off the meat. That's why FD stuff doesn't seem to be as filling as you'd like.
Mix a bunch of honey and Adams PB, spread on a cinnamon raisin or blueberry bagel, individually wrap and freeze. Plan for 1 a day.
Usually have a clif bar in my fart sack for breakfast.
Take a coghlan's food tube full of mixed mayo, pickle relish and fine chopped onion/celery. Mix with a tuna bag and spread on a buttered Wasa or on some dense buttered bread. Caution! Potential for STANK farts, here.
Pre-spread the bread with butter and individually wrap your sandwich halves rather than fighting a frozen block of butter on the hill. Same for crackers. Use spent wrap for firestarter.
Hot food is generally overrated. The burritos I mention above are worth doing. I'll make hot food if the kids are with but mostly cold food if solo. MH barely qualifies as food, and is no better than food not requiring means of heating water, IMO. I'll bring some for convenience if I have stove and pot with.
I usually have some summer sausage and cheese with, along with aforementioned dense buttered bread or Wasa.
in the past and probably for the future will keep using new MRE`S with the heaters in the bag when i am in the mountains , learned to use them with my bow hunting friend an Viet Nam ex- front line Marine / Alaskan oil rig plumber who ate them for many years .this Marine said its no mess no fuss and this Marine said these new MRE`s are tasty compared to the World War 2 rations he had to eat in Nam. so i have ate MRE`s for 2 weeks at a time and they sure are easy to store and eat .
I brought these for elk hunting last year and back packing. They're pretty good. I empty out content into zip lock bags and I add the Costco dried seaweed,dried miso and a siracha packet and tuna in oil in a pouch
Wasa is great with peanut butter , frozen butter and honey. Love that stuff
Originally Posted by Vek
Mix a bunch of honey and Adams PB, spread on a cinnamon raisin or blueberry bagel, individually wrap and freeze. Plan for 1 a day.
Usually have a clif bar in my fart sack for breakfast.
Take a coghlan's food tube full of mixed mayo, pickle relish and fine chopped onion/celery. Mix with a tuna bag and spread on a buttered Wasa or on some dense buttered bread. Caution! Potential for STANK farts, here.
Pre-spread the bread with butter and individually wrap your sandwich halves rather than fighting a frozen block of butter on the hill. Same for crackers. Use spent wrap for firestarter.
Hot food is generally overrated. The burritos I mention above are worth doing. I'll make hot food if the kids are with but mostly cold food if solo. MH barely qualifies as food, and is no better than food not requiring means of heating water, IMO. I'll bring some for convenience if I have stove and pot with.
I usually have some summer sausage and cheese with, along with aforementioned dense buttered bread or Wasa.
Another example of cafe' packs is the margarine that you get at KFC, in little plastic packets. They make for good oil in your pan to fry up some fish.
Most diners have a container of cafe' packs in the table. They contain mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, margarine, etc.
Beware of any storage or freeze dried foods put out by Wise. They come under several different names but all I've seen have Wise in the name. They specialize in emergency storage foods, not camping foods. They're also mostly vegetarian. Their word 'serving' isn't the same as the serving used by MH or other camping foods companies. When you get a packet with 4 servings, that's not 4 meals. It's 4 helpings of some item intended to be added to helpings of 3 or 4 other items. It takes several of their 'servings' to make a meal. Their foods aren't bad but just be aware that you aren't getting a filling meal with 1 of their servings. Adding meat helps, too.
I bring about a pound of minute rice along. i use it to bulk up many meals like, Ramen or any soup, pasta, packets if chicken/spam singles with a bullion cube for flavor. Walmart almond butter/ jelly combo packets are awesome.
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