Cooking in the Backcountry

Basic Backcountry Kitchen Skills

You don’t have to be a worldly chef to cook amazing food while hiking around in the backcountry.  With so many ready to cook meals available it’s easy to eat like a king on the trail. There are a few things that will make your cooking experience stress free.

It is a good rule of thumb to avoid glass, cans, plastic, and other foods that require large or odd packaging. This is important because items of this nature make a lot of trash. You don’t want any more trash in your pack then you have to carry and hopefully you pack out your trash!

What you can do to save room in your pack is to repackage all your foods. Take contents of boxes such as instant pasts and put them in a zip-lock bag.  Don’t forget to put the directions in the zip lock bag. This not only makes it easier to remember how to cook the food but also acts as a label if the bag is nothing more than pancake mix or some other cooking powder. You can buy small plastic bottles at your local sporting goods store for liquids like syrup or cooking oil. By doing this you are also cutting down on the amount of unwanted trash you would be taking along.

Now that they have precooked package meat the possibilities for what you can cook on the trail are almost endless. If you are unaware of what they make, there is, tuna, chicken, and bacon. The amounts are good for one person but probably feed two depending on what you are cooking.

What To Eat

It takes a lot of energy to scale mountains and forge rivers. Its very important to make sure you replenish your body to keep you in shape and help you feel better in the long run. You need foods that will help your endurance. These kind of foods can be found in complex carbohydrates. No cutting carbs in the backcountry. You will want to make sure you have a good mix of carbs, protein, and fat.

Some classic trail food that is ready to cook is:

Breakfast:

• Pop tarts
  


• Instant oat meal
  


• Mal-to-meal
  


• Grits
  


• Jerky and Eggs