food without a cooker

[OTT `Olanda]

What do you eat when youre on a trip a dont carry a stove? Any tips?

[phil_rad]

Cliff bars, snickers, spam, road kill. What you like to eat that fits in your bags/pack.

[Pivvay]

Muffins are a fav of mine, and those cheese pastries. Also Starbucks doubleshots. Reeces PB cups.

Pizza carries well out of towns but I've done burgers, fries, grilled cheese and sandwiches.

[jonesy792]

what ever I'm craving that can be had at the store I'm in and that is also factory packaged or freshly made:  Doughnuts, any type of bar (Cliff, granola etc.), jerky, m&m's, resees, burger, pasta, sandwich etc. etc. etc.

[ScottM]

I've had good luck rehydrating freeze dried meals (e.g. Mountain House) with cool/cold water.  Some of the choices work better than others, but all have been pretty good and usually more appealing than most everything else I'm carrying.

An old standby is a block of parmesan cheese (OK even in the heat), dry salami and either crackers or tortillas.  Makes a pretty satisfying 'meal' and doesn't require any water.

Otherwise, yeah... whatever the gas station offers...

[Pivvay]

oh yea, tortillas rule. Nutella too...yum

[Jilleo]

Chris, another fun fact about salami, tortillas, and cheese ... edible and tasty when frozen.

[OTT `Olanda]

thanx for the replies. Like the eat whatever the gasstation offer, but....
Does anybody make there own "energy bar" for long day trip?

[Pivvay]

Eric does. It's pretty much cookie dough without eggs

"Real" sports food gets pretty old fast and if I'm going through the trouble to make something it's usually a turkey sandwich. soooo good after sweets all day. Plus there are so many energy bars out there I'm not sure what I could get by making my own unless it was saving money but even that seems doubtful on a volume basis.

[sean salach]

i've never cooked on a tour. energy bars are fairly expensive as food goes. you could definitely save money making your own, assuming you don't have a source for discount energy bars. quick oats can be soaked for ten minutes in a bowl for an easy meal. i've even just emptied a can of dollar store strawberries in heavy syrup into a bowl of dry oatmeal and let that soak. dried fruit, sometimes fresh. peanut butter, honey. seperate or mixed together. cookie dough. cookies. tortillas. jerky if you're into that. chocolate is really good, high calorie, but kind of expensive. just go to your local supermarket, avoid the freezer and fresh aisles, and look for foods that look tastey and have a: the most calories by weight, and b: the most weight per dollar. canned food isn't all bad either if you're on or near the road system.

[jonesy792]

precooked bacon!  I just discovered it this weekend

[jhl99]

I'm starting to consider campfire cooking instead of stove cooking or just cold food... A couple ideas:
Tin foil cooking (cut up stuff, put in foil packet and put in coals and/or  baked potatoes and./or kabobs.

Came up with simple skewer carrier:



Once fall gets a little more serious and it cools down (and things can stay frozen a little longer), I'm thinking steak, green pepper and onion kabob instead  of SpamKabob:

[daveB]

For day trips, these are easy to make, taste wicked good, and go down readily:

Sushi Rice Bars
1.5 c sushi rice dry, cook normally
6 pieces bacon, fry
6 eggs, scramble in the bacon fat
mix in a bowl with:
couple T. soy sauce
couple T. balsamic vinegar
salt (depends on how much soy sauce you put in)

press FIRMLY into a flat bottomed pan and chill
cut into whatever bar shape you like and wrap in foil/wrap

Yum!

[Singlespeedpunk]

Sushi rice bars sound great...I have no trips planned soon but I might just make some to take to work

Thanks!

SSP

[Singlespeedpunk]

Pizza carries well out of towns

Yep, the old "Hereford Sandwich". It got its name as the guys from Hereford (22nd SAS) would pop down to the Pizza place in Brecon and buy a pizza, fold it in half (filling on the inside!) and wrap in foil and stuff down the side of their bergens before going in exercise in the Welsh Mountains. Lots of calories and a good mix of carbs/protein and sooo good eaten cold (and its always cold in Wales!)

SSP

[Eric]

love the spam kabab's! yes!
precooked bacon is excellent but I had some people think I was crazy for bringing a ziplock of it in bear country. Might want to consider that.
With a Titanium pot you can cook on fires all you want since it has a high melting point. Open fire cooking requires some re-thinking though. We typically bring lots of food we can eat sans cooking (basically cookie dough) and light weight simple meals for the fire - instant potatoes with butter & ramen. Yes not all that healthy but it's light, damn good and filling and you could still eat it all cold if everything sucks. If the weather or wood supply is limited we often fire up and eat a big lunch or early dinner while either there is good wood, or it's not raining etc.. then just have a snack for dinner.  Not being a slave to massive caffeine withdrawal helps with just getting up and going without cooking in the morning - and did I mention cookie dough for breakfast?
I guess in some areas open fires are frowned upon or illegal, but I've never seen the need for the bushbuddy type stoves in AK and they would be bulky for bikepacking.

[Keatan]

Used the tortilla/salami/Parmesan idea on a recent kayaking trip and it worked out well.  Also, anything with peanut butter is always a good choice.  Throw some dried fruit in a tortilla with peanut butter and you've got a PB&J.

[Jilleo]

I've never done a backcountry backpacking trip longer than five days, but I just don't understand the point of camp stove cooking, other than as a feel-good activity or a way to kill some time. The same lightweight nutrition can be found in sandwiches, energy bars, smoked salmon, lots of things. Maybe that's just me, though. I don't cook at home, either.

You can be a caffeine junkie and still get away with no stove/fire. They're called chocolate-covered espresso beans and they are delicious.

[Eric]

You can be a caffeine junkie and still get away with no stove/fire. They're called chocolate-covered espresso beans and they are delicious.

do they make diet pepsi beans?

[Pivvay]

I like to cook at home and sometimes on the trail. I almost always cook when touring, only sometimes when racing if it's real remote and a hot meal is rare (mid/end of CTR). I just boil water though with an 1/2 an esbit tab and cook up a Mary Jane farms meal. They're a little pricey but really tasty and easy for the amount of them I use per year. Lots of salt/cheese in them and extra olive oil is good.

Not being a caffiene slave is awesome! A little goes a long way (espresso gel, choco beans or a starbucks doubleshot near towns). I did carry a glass(!) frappacino one night on the Divide but it was sooo worth it.