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Post by bobcat on May 3, 2019 7:24:14 GMT -8
Looking for ideas for no-cook, eat-as-you-go food that will survive 15 days packed in a humid, damp environment. Also needs to be vegan, especially dairy-free because of allergies. This is for a kayaking trip to Isle Royale in August. I'm ok with breakfasts (oatmeal, dried fruit bits) and dinners (home-dehydrated, just-add-water, FBC style but cooked in the pot to reduce the amount of wet trash I carry). My challenge is lunch. For shorter trips I bring pb, and powdered hummus, and have them on bagels early in a trip and crackers later on. But I don't think I can count on crackers being anything but stale crumbs after more than a week......and I get tired of peanut butter after too many days in a row!
I am intrigued by the dehydrated salads concept, some dry recipes I can soak for a couple hours and then eat? I also thought about carrying ingredients and making trail breads as I go, but not sure my minimalist kitchen (1 pot, 1 spoon, alcohol stove and windscreen) is up to baking. I think there are brands of tortillas that will survive for a couple weeks?
My top priorities are food safety (no spoilage), packing compactly with minimal wet trash, and durability for in and out of the kayak. Weight is also very important because of the length of the trip and the amount of food I will be hauling at the beginning, and the two monster portages at the beginning of my itinerary. Water is plentiful where I am going, and I would rather clean up the pot than accumulate two weeks of wet plastic bags and tuna packets - I did that last year on a 1-week trip to the same place and hoping to improve the smelly trash situation this time! Trade-offs that are lower priorities for me are repetition (four-day rotation works well for me!) and home preparation - I can spend all kinds of time doing home prep to make the food easy to deal with in the field. I think I might invest in a vacuum sealer, and I am already very competent with a dehydrator.
Can anyone help me with ideas for lunchtime meals that are no-cook to rehydrate, and very durable?
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zeke
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Post by zeke on May 3, 2019 8:39:34 GMT -8
Those thinwich bread rounds will keep a long time without going moldy or stale. I discovered 2 of them in a ziplock at the bottom of my pack after about 3 months in my closet. No sign of any deterioration. Scary enough to put me off them. LOL Pack any crackers you want into a hard sided container like tupperware. I've had crackers last 8 days in my kayak, but that was as long as the trip was. I think they would've lasted longer. A tall tube like what Pringles comes in would do well for most crackers, especially Ritz and Triscuits. I rotate PB with foods that don't meet your vegan requirement (tuna, pulled pork). Can't help you there. sarbar can. trailcooking.com/lunch/One thing I have begun to do is take fresh fruit on kayak trips. Apples last for several days, oranges do better. Garbage is the issue. I've learned to just eat the apple core, spitting out the seeds and stems. I also take containers of nuts. Planters peanuts, cashews, whatever I feel like. I can eat them endlessly. One of the nice things about my kayak is that it holds twice as many cubic inches as my pack, and I have to haul all of my water. Florida Everglades is my favorite trip locally. If I wasn't hauling a gallon per day, I'd have lots more room for luxuries, but I still fit in a small chair. It makes all the difference in camp. Good to see you again.
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sarbar
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Post by sarbar on May 3, 2019 9:26:16 GMT -8
Tortillas carry well, but you want the crappy brands as they last longer. Put them in a ziploc bag, with paper towels between them to absorb moisture, and then you have a pot wiping rag after every tortilla, or a prep surface. No cook salads are great for these kind of trips. Just let soak, then eat. Ps: stale tortillas are easily turned into quesadillas even in a tiny pot.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on May 3, 2019 16:28:14 GMT -8
Nutritional, energy needs lead me toward various activity bars for lunch. Cliff etc. It’s worth looking at the ingredients list and liking for things giving you protein and calories and not just roughage.
I tend to repack in ziplocks which I’ll reuse for trash etc as I go.
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Post by bobcat on May 4, 2019 11:11:39 GMT -8
I’ve got a batch of Logan Bread baking right now as a test. It has lasted well on canoe trips in the past, but I lost my old recipe so this is testing a new one, as close as I can remember to the other. Logan bread and just about any spread makes a good lunch.
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null
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Post by null on May 4, 2019 13:15:42 GMT -8
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Post by trinity on May 4, 2019 17:13:57 GMT -8
If you want to splurge and carry some extra weight for a few meals, Packit Gourmet makes some good cold prep options. I've had their Many Beans Salad, it is excellent. Just add cold water a few hours before lunch, and put it back in your pack until lunch time. The Southwest Corn and Black Bean Salad also looks good, and can be prepared vegan.
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sarbar
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Post by sarbar on May 4, 2019 18:48:39 GMT -8
That salad is good!
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Post by High Sierra Fan on May 8, 2019 14:31:02 GMT -8
810 calories, 25 gm protein: scorers nicely for nutrition.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on May 8, 2019 20:04:41 GMT -8
I've delayed answering because I've been pondering. For backpacking, I've gravitated toward minimal lunches, such as an energy bar and a packet of peanut butter or piece of jerky. Sometimes it's just the trail mix I should have eaten more of during the morning. When I ate heavier at lunch, it was typically bits of cheese or sausage or peanut butter on a tortilla. If possible swill some electrolyte drink.
However, paddling is different for me. For whatever reason, I get a hungrier on a long paddling trip than I do when backpacking. I'm also likelier to do a paddling trip in mid-summer, when daylight hours are long enough to spend more time at lunch. I would aim for something more like an actual sandwich or something warm like soup or ramen.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on May 18, 2019 16:13:53 GMT -8
I have always just eaten vast quantities of cheese and summer sausage. That finally got old, so now I mix it up. Some days are crackers and cheese/sausage, others maybe a different cracker and hummus, still others dried salads (like lentil or the black bean salad mentioned above). Any of those will be supplemented through the day with nuts, bars, chocolate, etc.
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Post by bobcat on Aug 4, 2019 9:44:01 GMT -8
The food is packed. 4 home-made dinners, repeated 3 or 4 times each. Burritos, lentils and rice, cashew curry, and tomato-spinach stew with peanut sauce. Oatmeal for breakfasts with some dried fruits and maple sugar to choose from each day. Lara bars and trail mix for snacks. Bagels and pb first 4 days, crackers and hummus or peanut butter , cold-soak cabbage and ramen Asian salad, and a cold-soak approximation of German potato salad for lunches. I made sure the cold-soak salads work and are tasty to me by packing them for lunch for work a few times. The total weight of all my food and food packaging is just over 16 pounds for 15 days. But, for me the quantities seem about right. Last time I went to Isle Royale I had about a third of my food left over. And there is a store at Rock Harbor if I run low after the first ten days or so. After the other topics on this board, I did sneak in one flat can of kippered herrings as a treat somewhere along the route! I eat generally vegan but a little bit of fish once in a while is ok-the choice, for me, is not philosophical or ethical but based on what seems to keep my medical numbers on track.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 4, 2019 10:41:04 GMT -8
bobcat, I’d be interested in your recipe for the german potato salad, if you care to share.
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Post by bobcat on Aug 4, 2019 11:24:33 GMT -8
Idahoan brand premium Hash Browns, 3-oz packet. Chopped green onions (dehydrate at home). Cold-soak for several hours until potato’s are softened. Drain off excess liquid. Toss with Newman’s Own oil and vinegar salad dressing and a few baco -bits for color and crunch. Let sit for a while for potatos to absorb the vinegar flavor. This is 2 servings worth. I tried several brands of hash browns to find one that ends up the right texture after cold-soak. Ymmv.
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null
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Post by null on Aug 6, 2019 6:50:24 GMT -8
I know you're already packed (and gone?), but Tofurkey will last a week so you could mix in a few of those meals at the start.
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