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lb_leeby Ro and Joanna Piekarski
Illustrated by Cathryn Clark
* total vegetarian, low fat
* hearty, healthful, and delicious
* lightweight and inexpensive
* quick and easy
* no-soap cleanup
* keeps the garbage out of your body, your pack, and the environment
Copyright 1995
Golden Glow
192 Porter Road
Morrisonville NY 12962
You're about to discover that you can enjoy delicious, healthful, quick-and-easy, "all-you-can-eat" food while hiking, bicycling, or canoeing, without any overpackaged, undersized, overpriced prepared "camping foods." All it takes is access to a good natural foods store or coop and some planning.
Table of Contents:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner:
Dessert
Unless conditions are very cold, backpacking, canoeing, and bicycle-travel breakfasts (and desserts) are always the same and always a treat. Before setting out, pour all the standard cold breakfast cereals into a big bowl or bucket and mix them together. The foundation of the breakfast mix is bulk rolled oats. Depending on how long you plan to be out, add several boxes each of generic "crunchy wheat and barley cereal" (40-50% cheaper than the original Grape-Nuts) and crumbled shredded wheat, and smaller quantities of the less-dense puffed grains, cornflakes, Oatios, and other sugar- and honey-free packaged cereals from the coop or natural foods store. You can mix in a good count of raisins or currants now, or keep them with the other dried fruits (see below). Then portion the mix into reused packable-size double plastic bags and seal them with their zip locks or twisters.
A few handfuls in a Sierra-style camping cup with water (heat the water on a cool morning) is instant breakfast. Seconds and thirds seem to refill the cups spontaneously so take care that you aren't depleting rations you'll need towards the end of your trip. Count out camping-cupfuls for the numbers of breakfasts (and desserts) you're relying on the mix to sustain you (two or three cupfuls for breakfast plus one or two for dessert), and add some extra in case the trip is unexpectedly lengthened.
You can also prepare ahead to have fruit and fruit juice with your breakfast every day. Before leaving home, use knife and/or scissors, or food processor to finely chop a mixture of different kinds of dried fruit. (Put raisins or currants in whole.) Pack them in double small plastic bags, well sealed with zip locks or twisters. As part of your evening routine on the trail, place some of this mix in a plastic container, pour water over to nearly fill the container, cover tightly, and keep it protected with the rest of your food stores. By morning, you'll have soft, plumped fruit to spoon over your cereal mix and plenty of sweet nectar to pour over it.
Couscous can prevent premature depletion of your breakfast mix supply Soak some overnight (water:couscous is 3:1) along with the dried fruit or in its own plastic container, and combine it in your cup with the dry mix in the morning.
Carry small containers of crystalline vitamin C and spirulina (blue-green algae) powder and sprinkle a spoon-handle-end's worth of each on the first bowl of the day for extra nutrition.
We like this breakfast mix so much, we took no other food except pre-measured bags of it on a six-day "tramp" (Kiwi for hike) on the Abel Tasman Track, South Island, New Zealand, during the southern hemisphere summer.
Because you're probably eager to pack and get going in the morning, you'll rarely cook breakfast. But it's good to have some hot-breakfast alternatives with you if you decide to stay at the same campsite an extra day or want or need something hot on a chilly day. Carry small amounts of quick-cooking Wheatena or grits (with the instructions cut out or copied); you can also cook for porridge the cornmeal and couscous you're carrying for dinner grains.
Water boils quickly in a teapot for herb tea bags (packed in small sealed labeled plastic bags) or a grain beverage (packed in a small plastic container). Bambu, Cafix, Inka, Pero, and Roma are delicious caffeine-free instant beverages made from combinations of barley, rye, chicory, malt, beets, and figs. Place one rounded or heaping teaspoon in a cup, pour boiling water over, and stir. You may prefer it sweetened with rice syrup and/or lightened with soymilk powder (also packed in a small plastic container). Two tablespoons miso in a cup of boiling water (thin miso first in a small amount of boiling water) and instant miso soup mixes make other warming and nourishing cool-morning starters.
You can carry bagels on the first few days of a trip. These can be split, speared with a fork, and toasted over the camping stove. Then spread them with fruit-only jam or rice syrup (packed in camping-food squeeze tubes).
The ideal trail lunch tastes good, is healthful, lightweight, and easy to access in your pack, requires minimum prep and clean-up time, and can be eaten anywhere, even behind or under a makeshift windbreak or raincover. Wholegrain, shortening-free crackers, such as some types of Wasa or RyVita, with tahini and rice syrup or fruit-only jam, accompanied by dried fruit, fit all the criteria.
Before leaving on a hike or canoe trip, make a mix of unsulfured, no-sugar-added dried fruit, such as apples, apricots, bannaa chips, dates, figs, nectarines, papaya, peaches, pears, pineapple, and prunes, and divide it among several double plastic bags. Wrap packages of crackers in double plastic bags to protect against moisture and crushing. Rice cakes are OK: they're light but crumble easily and take up a lot of space; you can tie them to the outside of your pack.
During the morning camp-breaking, put all the "lunch stuff" in one place toward the top of your packs: a bag of dried fruit, a package of crackers, and squeeze tubes of tahini, rice syrup, and fruit-only jam. An opened empty cracker wrapper (carry it out) or an easily-wiped-clean plastic bag or two serve as a placemat, and no utensils are needed. The beverage, appropriately, is purified water from water bottles. Wipe your hands and placemat with a damp rag.
Hummus (p. 12) on crackers or keeper bread (p. 6) is another quick trail lunch.
Leftovers from dinner are a rarity on an outdoor trip, but occasionally the eye is actually bigger than the stomach, and you are surprised to discover you can't eat it all. Packed in a plastic container, these are a welcome addition to the standard lunch. Keep forks handy.
On bicycle trips and short hiking and canoe trips, or the first few days of longer ones, you can enjoy the luxury of fresh foods for lunch. Less-fragile fruit, such as apples and oranges (bury the peels), and wholegrain, shortening- and sweetener-free bagels and those small, dense, thinly-sliced loaves that we call "keeper" bread (found in the deli section of some supermarkets, near the pita), take the place of the dried fruit and crackers. Or bake brown rice bread in advance. It's a very dense, chewy, and satisfying bread, perhaps similar to the waybread Bilbo and the dwarves carried on their ponies into the Misty Mountains.
4 cups cooked brown rice
4+ cups whole wheat bread flour
1 TBSP tamari
hot water
In a large bowl, combine brown rice and flour. Mix with a fork until all rice grains are separated and coated with flour. Add tamari and enough hot water to make a moist but not wet dough. Knead 15 minutes, adding more flour if it's too sticky. Kneading with one hand right in the bowl works fine.
Form into one or two rounds or two loaves. Oil the dough, place on a nonstick or lightly oiled baking sheet or pie pans, or in loaf pans, cover with a damp towel, and let sit 8-12 hours.
Bake at 325 degrees F about one hour.
An infinite variety of backpacking, canoeing, and bicycling dinners can be made by combining quick-cooking grains (to conserve camping-stove fuel) with dried vegetables, legumes, and seasonings. Depending on how much water you use, dinner can be either stew or soup.
The fastest-cooking grains, along with their water:grain ratios and prep methods are:
bulgur wheat (2:1)
Stir boiling water over, cover, let sit about 15 minutes.
couscous (3:1)
Stir boiling water over, cover, let sit about 15 minutes.
quick brown rice
Take the directions with you: different brands have different proportions and cooking times (not more than 10 minutes)
rolled rye, wheat, and soy flakes (2:1)
Stir into boiling water, simmer, and stir 5-10 minutes.
If you don't have the ratios and prep methods memorized, record them in your journal or keep them on slips of paper between the double bags that hold each brain.
Another one-pot dinner must-have is dried vegetable mix, such as Frontier Hearty Vegetable Stew Blend. You can also bring separate dried vegetables; maybe your favorites are available in bulk. Dried onions are basic to many entrees on the trail, just as fresh ones are at home. Sea vegetables add a distinctive flavor. They can be snipped or crumbled at home. Pack dried vegetables in small reused plastic bags and keep them together with other small bags of dinner ingredients in a larger, heavier plastic bag. If the bags aren't transparent, or the contents are not readily identifiable, be sure to label them.
High-protein dry soy foods add more heartiness and nutrition. Freeze-dried tofu, texturized vegetable protein (TVP), made from defatted soy flakes, and soy grits or granules, made from toasted coarsely ground soybeans, can all be soaked in advance or reconstitute in the pot as the water boils, and they have brief cooking times.
You can buy freeze-dried tofu at a coop or natural foods store, or you can make it (see later). Since the tofu is broken into small pieces anyway for use in camping dinners, TVP and/or soy grits or granules may be a less expensive and more convenient choice. The trade-off is that TVP and grits/granules lack the pleasing "mouth-feel" of reconstituted freeze-dried tofu.
Seasonings are the finishing touch. Film canisters are good for packing herbs, spices, and blends; squeeze tubes for miso and tahini. You can probably accumulate a few tiny plastic containers to reuse for hot sauce and tamari.
There's no one correct way to prepare a one-pot dinner. Use your judgment in adapting the cooking requirements of the different components. Add the grain first or after the water boils, depending on its requirements. (For use in soup, the couscous and bulgur don't have to soak in boiled water; to keep to one pot, just stir them in as the water boils.) In general, put dried vegetables and soy foods into the water right away to give them time to reconstitute. Bring ot a boil, simmer, and stir. Keep covered between stirrings. Add more water if needed. Add herbs to the pot and other seasonings right to you bowl.
Cut a pound block of tofu into 3/8-inch-thick slices and arrange in one layer on a plate or baking sheet, taking care that the pieces don't touch. Place in the freezer until frozen solid, then remove from plate or sheet and store in a plastic bag for at least two days (the longer, the better).
To reconstitute, place frozen tofu in a large bowl or pot. Cover with boiling water and let stand until soft. Pour off water and re-cover with cold water. Lift out each piece and press between both hands to expel most of the water.
Preheat oven to 170 degrees F. Arrange the reconstituted tofu on a baking sheet, leaving space around each piece. Bake about 2 hours, until slices are crisp and dry. Remove and cool. Store in sealed plastic bags in a cool dry place and use within 3 months.
Broken-up bits and pieces of freeze-dried tofu, reconstituted for at least 10 minutes in a flavorful soup or stew, are delicious, chewy, and satisfying.
Ramen--packaged quick-cooking noodles with broth mix--can be augmented with your one-pot dinner ingredients to make a much heartier and more filling soup, and more of it! Get coop or natural foods store ramen, such as Westbrae, with wholegrain noodles that were steamed, not fried.
Use a quart or more of water, instead of the 2-3 cups suggested on the package. Put dried vegetables and soy foods into the water as soon as possible after you begin dinner prep. Coarsely broken fu (sheets of dried wheat gluten) or a small amount of a quick-cooking grain are other good enhancers. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add more water if needed. When the water boils, simmer until everything is rehydrated. Break up the ramen noodles as you stir them in, and cook another 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, thin miso in some of the hot broth. When the noodles are ready, add the miso to the soup along with the contents of the broth packet.
Dehydrated vegetable powders, which are available in bulk, and instant soup mixes can be foundations for soup-and-cracker dinners. Vegetable powders call for about one tablespoon per cup of water. Pea powder needs about 5 minutes simmering time; basic vegetable broth powder needs 1-2 minutes, and tomato powder needs none. The directions that come with soup mixes are either to just place in cup or bowl, add boiling water, and stir, or to cook for several minutes or longer.
But to satisfy your appetite after a day of hiking, canoeing, or cycling, use more water than the powder or mix directions call for, and as you bring the water to a boil, add other one-pot dinner ingredients: a small amount of a quick-cooking grain, dried land and sea vegetables and soy foods, herbs, and miso. Make sure the dried foods are fully rehydrated before you declare the soup done. Stir in the soup mix according to the timing in the directions; if it's the mix-in-a-cup type, add it to the pot anyway.
Some examples:
pea soup: Soak dried onions and potatoes in the water as you bring it to a boil before adding the pea powder.
creamy tomato-rice soup: Use quick bron rice, soy powder, and tomato powder.
miso soup: Soak dried vegetables, tofu, etc., in the water as you bring it to a boil. Thin miso in some of the hot broth, then stir in.
Tomato-vegetable soup: Use a combination of tomato powder, vegetable broth powder, dried vegetables, and any othe radditions you're inspired to include.
This is idea for an evening when you've been delayed by conversation or a jump in the brook, or misjudged distance or conditions, and arrive at your camp spot later than you'd hoped. Like its fresh counterpart, instant tabouli (available in bulk at natural foods coops and stores) contains parsley, onions, garlic, lemon, hebs, and spices, all in dried form, along with bulger wheat.
The only missing ingredient is tomatoes, which you can supply. At home, snip dried tomatoes or chop or coarsely grind them in a food processor, and carry in a small bag along with the tabouli mix.
Place equal parts of tabouli mix and water in a pot. Stir in a handful of dried tomatoes.
Cover and let sit 30 minutes or longer, while you organize your campsite and savor your surroundings. Use crackers as scoops.
This saves the day on those rare occasions when things have gone so wrong and you're so late and tired arriving at your camp spot that you don't even feel like bothering with dinner. Like its fresh counterpart, instant hummus contains chickpeas, tahini, garlic, spices, and lemon, all in dried form.
Place hummus mix in a bowl or small pot, add water, and stir. The longer it sits, the thicker it gets, so you may need to add more water. Spread on crackers, perhaps garnished with dried onions.
8 burgers
1 heaping cup prepared couscous
for car camping: 2 cups steamed vegetables, such a finely chopped garlic; chopped onion, carrots, summer squash, and celery; and corn.
for backpack, bicycle, and canoe camping:
1 cup mixed dried vegetables
1/2 cup rolled oats: soft, baby, or quick are best
4 oz tofu (from aseptic package)
dried parsley, basil, and celery seeds
Mix and mash everything together, form into burgers, and fry over a campfire on a sesame-oiled grill. Carry oil in a tiny well-sealed unbreakable container. (Sesame is the least perishable cooking oil.) The grill can be made form a 14x24" piece of standard aluminum flashing, folded in half to carry in your pack and unfolded when you need it. Wait for a low-flame, hot-coals fire. Check frequently with a fork or flipper, turn when brown, and continue cooking on the other side.
8 buns
Combine 2 cups whole wheat bread flour and 2 tsp baking powder. Stir in just enough water to make a stiff dough. Form into buns and bake over a campfire, flipping when bottom is browned. For an oven effect, bake on half the flashing and fold the other half over.
Split open buns. Spread with miso and tahini or mustard, or make tomato sauce (see later) and blend with chili powder or hot sauce, or use salsa. Depending on where you are and what you have, enjoy as is, or top burgers with fluffy sprouts and lettuce, and sliced onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Or put on wholegrain bread or in whole wheat pita.
This is a three-potter, but quick and easy.
Pre-cooked bean flakes--black beans and refried pinto beans--are available in bulk at natural foods coops and stores. First, boil water for the beans in a covered pot or teapot: 2 cups water for every 1 1/2 cup beans. Measure the beans into another pot, and when the water boils, pour it over the beans, stir well, cover, and let sit 5 minutes.
Now boil water for the cornmeal in a larger pot. The ratio is 3 cups water for every cup of cornmeal. Lumping is not a problem if you dissolve the cornmeal first in an equal amount of cold water, then stir into the boiling water. For example, boil two cups of water and stir one cup of dry cornmeal into one cup of cold water until the mixture is smooth. Add the cornmeal mixture to the boiling water, return to a boil, and cook briefly, stirring. Cover to keep warm.
In the third pot or a container, make the sauce. Combine tomato powder and water to desired consistency, about 1/4 cup powder with each cup of water. Add hot sauce or chili powder for trailside salsa.
You're ready to eat! Put cornmeal in bowls, top with beans, and pour sauce over all.
Keep accessible in your packs a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack: a small bag of dried fruit or healthy gorp: a mixture of raisins or currants, unsweetened carob chips, and Oatios; and, of course, enough purified water in your water bottles to see you through the day. You'll be glad to discover that your body won't request as much water on a plant-based diet.
The reality is that we have to assume all groundwater to be contaminated. It's essential to carry and use a small-pored water filter, For breakfast-cereal water and thirst-quenching through the day, use filtered water storied in polycarbonate water bottles, which don't impart a plastic taste to the water.
For cold mornings and evening dessert, carry herb tea bags, well-secured in labeled plastic bags, and a grain beverage in a small reused container, like a plastic vitamin bottle. You can use carob powder and soy powder (1 heaping teaspoon of each per cup) and rice syrup to make hot chocolate.
Open the package and empty into water bottle or other container. Add water to fill.
Ever-versatile rolled oats, or your oat-based dry breakfast mix, sprinkled with raisins or currants and eaten dry or with water, cold, or hot, nicely rounds off your evening meal. Or, soak some couscous and chopped dried fruit when you arrive--for at least an hour--and have it in place of some or all of the oats or mix.
Edible wild berries picked along the trail and stored in a plastic container provide an unexpected dessert treat. Mix them with your oats and couscous, squish them on crackers for instant jam (make wild cranberry jam by cooking cranberries briefly with a bit of water and rice syrup), or invent your own spontaneous creation with whatever's in your packs. Try to save some berries for breakfast.
If you want to get more involved, you can make instant tapioca pudding. Prepare it before dinner, so it has a chance to thicken a bit more before you eat it. If you take the time to make the dry pudding mix at home, you'll be very pleased with yourself when the time comes to cook it. The proportions are 1 part carob with 2 parts granulated tapioca and 4 parts soy powder; for example, 1/4 cup carob powder, 1/2 cup tapioca, and 1 cup soy powder.
In a pot, combine a heaping 1/2 cup of pudding mix with 2 cups of water. Let soak 5 minutes. Bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat to medium, and cook and stir about a minute. Let sit until thick. Then add 2 or more tablespoons rice syrup.
It's also pleasant to munch of dried fruit or unsweetened carob chips as you relax in your sleeping bag.
Climb the mountains and get their glad tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
--John Muir
Fly! I want to fly with you, fly with you,
fly with you, fly!
Floating photons flow, fall feather slow,
photons floating flow.
Flow our canoe down entangling streams
of natural dreams.
Flow our two wheels on paven paths
of golden hills and sylvan swaths.
Flow over wooden trails of mountain folds
that nature cajoles.
But-to-fly, But-to-fly, But-to-fly with you!
--Ro
Forest floor, trees, streams
To boulders, clouds, cool sun, breeze
Beyond timberline.
Moutaintop silence
Wild sweeping panorama
Adirondack peak.
--Joanna
The days that make us happy make us wise.
Illustrated by Cathryn Clark
* total vegetarian, low fat
* hearty, healthful, and delicious
* lightweight and inexpensive
* quick and easy
* no-soap cleanup
* keeps the garbage out of your body, your pack, and the environment
Copyright 1995
Golden Glow
192 Porter Road
Morrisonville NY 12962
Trail Cooking - Clean and Green
You're about to discover that you can enjoy delicious, healthful, quick-and-easy, "all-you-can-eat" food while hiking, bicycling, or canoeing, without any overpackaged, undersized, overpriced prepared "camping foods." All it takes is access to a good natural foods store or coop and some planning.
Table of Contents:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner:
One-Pot Dinners
Quick-Cooking Grains
Freeze-Dried Tofu
Enhanced Rmane
Other Soup-Based DInners
Instant Taboluli
Instant Hummus
Rojo's Best Burgers and Buns
Cornmeal, Beans, and Salsa
BeveragesQuick-Cooking Grains
Freeze-Dried Tofu
Enhanced Rmane
Other Soup-Based DInners
Instant Taboluli
Instant Hummus
Rojo's Best Burgers and Buns
Cornmeal, Beans, and Salsa
Dessert
Breakfast
Breakfast Mix
Unless conditions are very cold, backpacking, canoeing, and bicycle-travel breakfasts (and desserts) are always the same and always a treat. Before setting out, pour all the standard cold breakfast cereals into a big bowl or bucket and mix them together. The foundation of the breakfast mix is bulk rolled oats. Depending on how long you plan to be out, add several boxes each of generic "crunchy wheat and barley cereal" (40-50% cheaper than the original Grape-Nuts) and crumbled shredded wheat, and smaller quantities of the less-dense puffed grains, cornflakes, Oatios, and other sugar- and honey-free packaged cereals from the coop or natural foods store. You can mix in a good count of raisins or currants now, or keep them with the other dried fruits (see below). Then portion the mix into reused packable-size double plastic bags and seal them with their zip locks or twisters.
A few handfuls in a Sierra-style camping cup with water (heat the water on a cool morning) is instant breakfast. Seconds and thirds seem to refill the cups spontaneously so take care that you aren't depleting rations you'll need towards the end of your trip. Count out camping-cupfuls for the numbers of breakfasts (and desserts) you're relying on the mix to sustain you (two or three cupfuls for breakfast plus one or two for dessert), and add some extra in case the trip is unexpectedly lengthened.
You can also prepare ahead to have fruit and fruit juice with your breakfast every day. Before leaving home, use knife and/or scissors, or food processor to finely chop a mixture of different kinds of dried fruit. (Put raisins or currants in whole.) Pack them in double small plastic bags, well sealed with zip locks or twisters. As part of your evening routine on the trail, place some of this mix in a plastic container, pour water over to nearly fill the container, cover tightly, and keep it protected with the rest of your food stores. By morning, you'll have soft, plumped fruit to spoon over your cereal mix and plenty of sweet nectar to pour over it.
Couscous can prevent premature depletion of your breakfast mix supply Soak some overnight (water:couscous is 3:1) along with the dried fruit or in its own plastic container, and combine it in your cup with the dry mix in the morning.
Carry small containers of crystalline vitamin C and spirulina (blue-green algae) powder and sprinkle a spoon-handle-end's worth of each on the first bowl of the day for extra nutrition.
We like this breakfast mix so much, we took no other food except pre-measured bags of it on a six-day "tramp" (Kiwi for hike) on the Abel Tasman Track, South Island, New Zealand, during the southern hemisphere summer.
Hot Breakfasts
Because you're probably eager to pack and get going in the morning, you'll rarely cook breakfast. But it's good to have some hot-breakfast alternatives with you if you decide to stay at the same campsite an extra day or want or need something hot on a chilly day. Carry small amounts of quick-cooking Wheatena or grits (with the instructions cut out or copied); you can also cook for porridge the cornmeal and couscous you're carrying for dinner grains.
Water boils quickly in a teapot for herb tea bags (packed in small sealed labeled plastic bags) or a grain beverage (packed in a small plastic container). Bambu, Cafix, Inka, Pero, and Roma are delicious caffeine-free instant beverages made from combinations of barley, rye, chicory, malt, beets, and figs. Place one rounded or heaping teaspoon in a cup, pour boiling water over, and stir. You may prefer it sweetened with rice syrup and/or lightened with soymilk powder (also packed in a small plastic container). Two tablespoons miso in a cup of boiling water (thin miso first in a small amount of boiling water) and instant miso soup mixes make other warming and nourishing cool-morning starters.
You can carry bagels on the first few days of a trip. These can be split, speared with a fork, and toasted over the camping stove. Then spread them with fruit-only jam or rice syrup (packed in camping-food squeeze tubes).
Lunch
The ideal trail lunch tastes good, is healthful, lightweight, and easy to access in your pack, requires minimum prep and clean-up time, and can be eaten anywhere, even behind or under a makeshift windbreak or raincover. Wholegrain, shortening-free crackers, such as some types of Wasa or RyVita, with tahini and rice syrup or fruit-only jam, accompanied by dried fruit, fit all the criteria.
Before leaving on a hike or canoe trip, make a mix of unsulfured, no-sugar-added dried fruit, such as apples, apricots, bannaa chips, dates, figs, nectarines, papaya, peaches, pears, pineapple, and prunes, and divide it among several double plastic bags. Wrap packages of crackers in double plastic bags to protect against moisture and crushing. Rice cakes are OK: they're light but crumble easily and take up a lot of space; you can tie them to the outside of your pack.
During the morning camp-breaking, put all the "lunch stuff" in one place toward the top of your packs: a bag of dried fruit, a package of crackers, and squeeze tubes of tahini, rice syrup, and fruit-only jam. An opened empty cracker wrapper (carry it out) or an easily-wiped-clean plastic bag or two serve as a placemat, and no utensils are needed. The beverage, appropriately, is purified water from water bottles. Wipe your hands and placemat with a damp rag.
Hummus (p. 12) on crackers or keeper bread (p. 6) is another quick trail lunch.
Leftovers from dinner are a rarity on an outdoor trip, but occasionally the eye is actually bigger than the stomach, and you are surprised to discover you can't eat it all. Packed in a plastic container, these are a welcome addition to the standard lunch. Keep forks handy.
On bicycle trips and short hiking and canoe trips, or the first few days of longer ones, you can enjoy the luxury of fresh foods for lunch. Less-fragile fruit, such as apples and oranges (bury the peels), and wholegrain, shortening- and sweetener-free bagels and those small, dense, thinly-sliced loaves that we call "keeper" bread (found in the deli section of some supermarkets, near the pita), take the place of the dried fruit and crackers. Or bake brown rice bread in advance. It's a very dense, chewy, and satisfying bread, perhaps similar to the waybread Bilbo and the dwarves carried on their ponies into the Misty Mountains.
Brown Rice Bread
4 cups cooked brown rice
4+ cups whole wheat bread flour
1 TBSP tamari
hot water
In a large bowl, combine brown rice and flour. Mix with a fork until all rice grains are separated and coated with flour. Add tamari and enough hot water to make a moist but not wet dough. Knead 15 minutes, adding more flour if it's too sticky. Kneading with one hand right in the bowl works fine.
Form into one or two rounds or two loaves. Oil the dough, place on a nonstick or lightly oiled baking sheet or pie pans, or in loaf pans, cover with a damp towel, and let sit 8-12 hours.
Bake at 325 degrees F about one hour.
Dinner
One-Pot Dinners
An infinite variety of backpacking, canoeing, and bicycling dinners can be made by combining quick-cooking grains (to conserve camping-stove fuel) with dried vegetables, legumes, and seasonings. Depending on how much water you use, dinner can be either stew or soup.
The fastest-cooking grains, along with their water:grain ratios and prep methods are:
bulgur wheat (2:1)
Stir boiling water over, cover, let sit about 15 minutes.
couscous (3:1)
Stir boiling water over, cover, let sit about 15 minutes.
quick brown rice
Take the directions with you: different brands have different proportions and cooking times (not more than 10 minutes)
rolled rye, wheat, and soy flakes (2:1)
Stir into boiling water, simmer, and stir 5-10 minutes.
If you don't have the ratios and prep methods memorized, record them in your journal or keep them on slips of paper between the double bags that hold each brain.
Another one-pot dinner must-have is dried vegetable mix, such as Frontier Hearty Vegetable Stew Blend. You can also bring separate dried vegetables; maybe your favorites are available in bulk. Dried onions are basic to many entrees on the trail, just as fresh ones are at home. Sea vegetables add a distinctive flavor. They can be snipped or crumbled at home. Pack dried vegetables in small reused plastic bags and keep them together with other small bags of dinner ingredients in a larger, heavier plastic bag. If the bags aren't transparent, or the contents are not readily identifiable, be sure to label them.
High-protein dry soy foods add more heartiness and nutrition. Freeze-dried tofu, texturized vegetable protein (TVP), made from defatted soy flakes, and soy grits or granules, made from toasted coarsely ground soybeans, can all be soaked in advance or reconstitute in the pot as the water boils, and they have brief cooking times.
You can buy freeze-dried tofu at a coop or natural foods store, or you can make it (see later). Since the tofu is broken into small pieces anyway for use in camping dinners, TVP and/or soy grits or granules may be a less expensive and more convenient choice. The trade-off is that TVP and grits/granules lack the pleasing "mouth-feel" of reconstituted freeze-dried tofu.
Seasonings are the finishing touch. Film canisters are good for packing herbs, spices, and blends; squeeze tubes for miso and tahini. You can probably accumulate a few tiny plastic containers to reuse for hot sauce and tamari.
There's no one correct way to prepare a one-pot dinner. Use your judgment in adapting the cooking requirements of the different components. Add the grain first or after the water boils, depending on its requirements. (For use in soup, the couscous and bulgur don't have to soak in boiled water; to keep to one pot, just stir them in as the water boils.) In general, put dried vegetables and soy foods into the water right away to give them time to reconstitute. Bring ot a boil, simmer, and stir. Keep covered between stirrings. Add more water if needed. Add herbs to the pot and other seasonings right to you bowl.
Freeze-Dried Tofu
Cut a pound block of tofu into 3/8-inch-thick slices and arrange in one layer on a plate or baking sheet, taking care that the pieces don't touch. Place in the freezer until frozen solid, then remove from plate or sheet and store in a plastic bag for at least two days (the longer, the better).
To reconstitute, place frozen tofu in a large bowl or pot. Cover with boiling water and let stand until soft. Pour off water and re-cover with cold water. Lift out each piece and press between both hands to expel most of the water.
Preheat oven to 170 degrees F. Arrange the reconstituted tofu on a baking sheet, leaving space around each piece. Bake about 2 hours, until slices are crisp and dry. Remove and cool. Store in sealed plastic bags in a cool dry place and use within 3 months.
Broken-up bits and pieces of freeze-dried tofu, reconstituted for at least 10 minutes in a flavorful soup or stew, are delicious, chewy, and satisfying.
Enhanced Ramen
Ramen--packaged quick-cooking noodles with broth mix--can be augmented with your one-pot dinner ingredients to make a much heartier and more filling soup, and more of it! Get coop or natural foods store ramen, such as Westbrae, with wholegrain noodles that were steamed, not fried.
Use a quart or more of water, instead of the 2-3 cups suggested on the package. Put dried vegetables and soy foods into the water as soon as possible after you begin dinner prep. Coarsely broken fu (sheets of dried wheat gluten) or a small amount of a quick-cooking grain are other good enhancers. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add more water if needed. When the water boils, simmer until everything is rehydrated. Break up the ramen noodles as you stir them in, and cook another 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, thin miso in some of the hot broth. When the noodles are ready, add the miso to the soup along with the contents of the broth packet.
Other Soup-Based Dinners
Dehydrated vegetable powders, which are available in bulk, and instant soup mixes can be foundations for soup-and-cracker dinners. Vegetable powders call for about one tablespoon per cup of water. Pea powder needs about 5 minutes simmering time; basic vegetable broth powder needs 1-2 minutes, and tomato powder needs none. The directions that come with soup mixes are either to just place in cup or bowl, add boiling water, and stir, or to cook for several minutes or longer.
But to satisfy your appetite after a day of hiking, canoeing, or cycling, use more water than the powder or mix directions call for, and as you bring the water to a boil, add other one-pot dinner ingredients: a small amount of a quick-cooking grain, dried land and sea vegetables and soy foods, herbs, and miso. Make sure the dried foods are fully rehydrated before you declare the soup done. Stir in the soup mix according to the timing in the directions; if it's the mix-in-a-cup type, add it to the pot anyway.
Some examples:
pea soup: Soak dried onions and potatoes in the water as you bring it to a boil before adding the pea powder.
creamy tomato-rice soup: Use quick bron rice, soy powder, and tomato powder.
miso soup: Soak dried vegetables, tofu, etc., in the water as you bring it to a boil. Thin miso in some of the hot broth, then stir in.
Tomato-vegetable soup: Use a combination of tomato powder, vegetable broth powder, dried vegetables, and any othe radditions you're inspired to include.
Instant Tabouli
This is idea for an evening when you've been delayed by conversation or a jump in the brook, or misjudged distance or conditions, and arrive at your camp spot later than you'd hoped. Like its fresh counterpart, instant tabouli (available in bulk at natural foods coops and stores) contains parsley, onions, garlic, lemon, hebs, and spices, all in dried form, along with bulger wheat.
The only missing ingredient is tomatoes, which you can supply. At home, snip dried tomatoes or chop or coarsely grind them in a food processor, and carry in a small bag along with the tabouli mix.
Place equal parts of tabouli mix and water in a pot. Stir in a handful of dried tomatoes.
Cover and let sit 30 minutes or longer, while you organize your campsite and savor your surroundings. Use crackers as scoops.
Instant Hummus
This saves the day on those rare occasions when things have gone so wrong and you're so late and tired arriving at your camp spot that you don't even feel like bothering with dinner. Like its fresh counterpart, instant hummus contains chickpeas, tahini, garlic, spices, and lemon, all in dried form.
Place hummus mix in a bowl or small pot, add water, and stir. The longer it sits, the thicker it gets, so you may need to add more water. Spread on crackers, perhaps garnished with dried onions.
Rojo's Best Burgers and Buns
8 burgers
1 heaping cup prepared couscous
for car camping: 2 cups steamed vegetables, such a finely chopped garlic; chopped onion, carrots, summer squash, and celery; and corn.
for backpack, bicycle, and canoe camping:
1 cup mixed dried vegetables
1/2 cup rolled oats: soft, baby, or quick are best
4 oz tofu (from aseptic package)
dried parsley, basil, and celery seeds
Mix and mash everything together, form into burgers, and fry over a campfire on a sesame-oiled grill. Carry oil in a tiny well-sealed unbreakable container. (Sesame is the least perishable cooking oil.) The grill can be made form a 14x24" piece of standard aluminum flashing, folded in half to carry in your pack and unfolded when you need it. Wait for a low-flame, hot-coals fire. Check frequently with a fork or flipper, turn when brown, and continue cooking on the other side.
8 buns
Combine 2 cups whole wheat bread flour and 2 tsp baking powder. Stir in just enough water to make a stiff dough. Form into buns and bake over a campfire, flipping when bottom is browned. For an oven effect, bake on half the flashing and fold the other half over.
Split open buns. Spread with miso and tahini or mustard, or make tomato sauce (see later) and blend with chili powder or hot sauce, or use salsa. Depending on where you are and what you have, enjoy as is, or top burgers with fluffy sprouts and lettuce, and sliced onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Or put on wholegrain bread or in whole wheat pita.
Cornmeal, Beans, and Salsa
This is a three-potter, but quick and easy.
Pre-cooked bean flakes--black beans and refried pinto beans--are available in bulk at natural foods coops and stores. First, boil water for the beans in a covered pot or teapot: 2 cups water for every 1 1/2 cup beans. Measure the beans into another pot, and when the water boils, pour it over the beans, stir well, cover, and let sit 5 minutes.
Now boil water for the cornmeal in a larger pot. The ratio is 3 cups water for every cup of cornmeal. Lumping is not a problem if you dissolve the cornmeal first in an equal amount of cold water, then stir into the boiling water. For example, boil two cups of water and stir one cup of dry cornmeal into one cup of cold water until the mixture is smooth. Add the cornmeal mixture to the boiling water, return to a boil, and cook briefly, stirring. Cover to keep warm.
In the third pot or a container, make the sauce. Combine tomato powder and water to desired consistency, about 1/4 cup powder with each cup of water. Add hot sauce or chili powder for trailside salsa.
You're ready to eat! Put cornmeal in bowls, top with beans, and pour sauce over all.
Snacks
Keep accessible in your packs a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack: a small bag of dried fruit or healthy gorp: a mixture of raisins or currants, unsweetened carob chips, and Oatios; and, of course, enough purified water in your water bottles to see you through the day. You'll be glad to discover that your body won't request as much water on a plant-based diet.
Beverages
The reality is that we have to assume all groundwater to be contaminated. It's essential to carry and use a small-pored water filter, For breakfast-cereal water and thirst-quenching through the day, use filtered water storied in polycarbonate water bottles, which don't impart a plastic taste to the water.
For cold mornings and evening dessert, carry herb tea bags, well-secured in labeled plastic bags, and a grain beverage in a small reused container, like a plastic vitamin bottle. You can use carob powder and soy powder (1 heaping teaspoon of each per cup) and rice syrup to make hot chocolate.
Freeze-Dried Water
Open the package and empty into water bottle or other container. Add water to fill.
Dessert
Ever-versatile rolled oats, or your oat-based dry breakfast mix, sprinkled with raisins or currants and eaten dry or with water, cold, or hot, nicely rounds off your evening meal. Or, soak some couscous and chopped dried fruit when you arrive--for at least an hour--and have it in place of some or all of the oats or mix.
Edible wild berries picked along the trail and stored in a plastic container provide an unexpected dessert treat. Mix them with your oats and couscous, squish them on crackers for instant jam (make wild cranberry jam by cooking cranberries briefly with a bit of water and rice syrup), or invent your own spontaneous creation with whatever's in your packs. Try to save some berries for breakfast.
If you want to get more involved, you can make instant tapioca pudding. Prepare it before dinner, so it has a chance to thicken a bit more before you eat it. If you take the time to make the dry pudding mix at home, you'll be very pleased with yourself when the time comes to cook it. The proportions are 1 part carob with 2 parts granulated tapioca and 4 parts soy powder; for example, 1/4 cup carob powder, 1/2 cup tapioca, and 1 cup soy powder.
In a pot, combine a heaping 1/2 cup of pudding mix with 2 cups of water. Let soak 5 minutes. Bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat to medium, and cook and stir about a minute. Let sit until thick. Then add 2 or more tablespoons rice syrup.
It's also pleasant to munch of dried fruit or unsweetened carob chips as you relax in your sleeping bag.
Back Cover
Climb the mountains and get their glad tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
--John Muir
Fly! I want to fly with you, fly with you,
fly with you, fly!
Floating photons flow, fall feather slow,
photons floating flow.
Flow our canoe down entangling streams
of natural dreams.
Flow our two wheels on paven paths
of golden hills and sylvan swaths.
Flow over wooden trails of mountain folds
that nature cajoles.
But-to-fly, But-to-fly, But-to-fly with you!
--Ro
Forest floor, trees, streams
To boulders, clouds, cool sun, breeze
Beyond timberline.
Moutaintop silence
Wild sweeping panorama
Adirondack peak.
--Joanna
The days that make us happy make us wise.
