“We don’t go into the wilderness to exhibit our skills at gourmet cooking. We go into the wilderness to get away from the kind of people who think gourmet cooking is important.” – Edward Abbey

There are multiple ways to handle food on a backpacking trip. Traditionally, backpackers carry a stove to heat food and/or water. Freeze dried meals are popular because they are light and ready to go, just add hot water. Recently, there is a trend among long trail hikers away from carrying a stove. Regardless of your approach to food preparation, all backpackers have to deal with food storage, especially in bear country. For some informative videos about food on long trails and resupplies, check out Dixie at Homemade Wanderlust.com.

Food

Freeze Dried

Mountain House Freeze Dried meals have been a staple of backpacking food. They started with making meals for US Special Forces nearly 50 years ago

There’s a lot more variety available in recent years. Good to Go offers a wide range

Freeze drying is a water removal process typically used to preserve perishable materials, to extend shelf life or make the material more convenient for transport. Freeze drying works by freezing the material, then reducing the pressure and adding heat to allow the frozen water in the material to sublimate. Food that has been freeze dried lasts for years if stored properly. Why don’t more people freeze dry their own food? A freeze dryer costs at least $2,000 and usually requires a dedicated 20 amp circuit with a special plug. Unless you are freeze drying a lot of food, the cost is prohibitive.

You can get #10 cans which have often 10 servings and repackage into smaller storage bags for camping. While unopened, these cans can be stored for up to 30 years

Dehydrated Food

I recently tried my hand at dehydrating food using a dehydrator that removes moisture from food through low steady heat. The dehydration process takes many hours (10+) for most foods. Dehydrated food lasts for months depending on storage method. If not dried well enough, the food can harbor bacteria. Dehydrated food is not as dried out as freeze dried and is heavier. You can easily buy a dehydrator for around $300, so the upfront investment is less cost prohibitive. If you want to dehydrate ground beef which could be added to pastas, instant mashed potatoes, lentils, etc.., Dixie at Homemade Wanderlust has a great how to video. The best resource I’ve found for those looking to home cook, dehydrate and package their own food is Backpacking Chef.com. The site has helpful dehydrating information, even for folks who don’t backpack, and many recipes.

Food prepped for dehydration: fruit and fruit leathers

My at home dehydrated eggplant, chicken, and ground beef

Ready-To-Eat Foods

From recent blogs and books about thru-hiking, there is a growing number of ultralight backpackers who do not carry any type of stove. Without a stove, ready-to-eat foods such as peanut butter, tortillas, granola, nuts, cereals, pop tarts, and bars are popular.

Ready-to-eat food is grab and go

Cold Soaking

Another method currently used is cold soaking. From TheTrek.co website: “Cold soaking is the culinary art of backpacking without a stove. While most hikers choose to carry a device with which they can cook a meal with (mainly just to heat up hot water), some choose to forgo this luxury. This saves weight/space in my pack, simplifying meals and resupplies in town. My bowl is a 24 ounce peanut butter jar. Accompanied with a long spoon, this universal bowl is all a stoveless hiker needs in his or her kitchen.” Variations we have come across use any container with a lid such as a Talenti ice cream jar or a nalgene bottle. So what is being soaked? Couscous, quinoa, rice, lentils, oats, ramen, instant potatoes, etc. Other tidbits for cold soaking from The Trek.co include: 1) ABS. Always Be Saucin’: check gas stations and grocery store delis for packets (hot sauce, soy sauce, sweet and sour, BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, etc), and 2) Pack out fruit and vegetables for the first couple of days out of a town.

Cold soaking allows for creativity, you can mix and match ingredients. Mountain House offers freeze dried meats (ground beef, chicken, diced beef) that can be added to starches. We enjoy adding cheese powder from Hoosier Hill Farm

Our Food & Cooking Style

When describing our backpacking eating style, Mike and I blend a combination of cooking freeze dried food with a stove (ie add boiling water) and ready-to-eat food. For a single overnight we are more likely to leave the stove at home. We enjoy a nice dinner after a long day of hiking. I also like to have hot coffee or tea on cold mornings. When backpacking in bear country we avoid foods that have strong odors (like tuna) and find freeze dried foods hold less scent and are the lightest.

For backpacking, finding foods that are calorically dense is key as you get more calories per weight of food carried than less calorically dense food. Food density is calculated is by calories per pound. Some calorically dense food examples are peanut butter, butter, oils, salad dressings, sugar, nuts, seeds, egg yolk, avocado, dried fruit, red meat, and pizza.

Caloric density by food type from veganfebruary.com

We look for calorie dense food which provides the most energy for the weight of the food. We like to mix Carnation Instant Breakfast with peanut butter powder and Peak’s full cream instant whole milk for a caloric bomb that’s super light

We prepackage granola with freeze dried fruit and instant whole milk for breakfast. Augason Farms sells Blueberries,apple, banana, and a wide range of vegetables. Brother’s makes a range of Fruit Crisps, we like their strawberries and cinnamon fuji apples

Cook Stoves, Pots, Utensils

We currently have 2 stoves in our backpacking gear. We have a MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe stove. Mike had a prior version, which he used for years before we met. More recently we’ve added a Jetboil Flash stove system. Both stoves use isobutane-propane fuel in canisters. For our Yellowstone Thorofare Trip we will be using our Jetboil Flash.

MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe

MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe is smaller than the Jet Boil and weighs only 2.9 oz, though this does not include a cooking pot weight. Our current pot weighs 4 oz, for a combined weight of 6.9 oz
It costs about $70
Your pot is balanced on top of the stove somewhat precariously on the 3 arms. I have accidentally knocked the pot over.
Finding a mostly flat surface to cook on is required.
Manufacturer lists the boiling time for 1 liter at 3 minutes and 18 seconds
Manufacturer claims an 8 oz fuel canister will burn for 60 minutes, though we feel more fuel is used up getting it lit than the Jet Boil.

The MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe

Jetboil Flash

Jetboil Flash is an integrated pot and cooking unit and is more efficient
Jetboil Flash costs about $110
Built in wind guard
Thermochromatic logo (3 stripes) turns orange when water is boiling, so you know it’s time to shut off the stove and avoid using any more fuel than necessary
Needs a fairly flat surface to cook on, but I don’t worry about the pot coming off of the stove as it is attached
One liter of water is listed as boiling at 3 minutes and 20 seconds. The manufacturer also claims 16 oz of water can boil in 100 seconds and we can confirm that.
We took this stove on our recent gear test overnight in Colorado where we camped at 10,600 feet elevation. We could not discern any difference in the Jetboil’s performance compared to when we used it on the East Coast.
A downside of the Jetboil is the weight at 13.1 oz, but this does include the Neoprene insulated pot and the stove cover doubles as a bowl/cup
The rapid boil results in fuel savings. Fuel savings means needing to carry less fuel for the trip

The JetBoil Flash is an integrated system

A fuel canister fits inside the pot

Utensils

We are currently using long handled Bamboo spoons we purchased from Gossamer Gear. One bamboo spoon weighs between 0.38-0.25 ounces. They are handmade so there is variation in weight. They are approximately 8.25″ in length and cost $5. Another lightweight utensil option is titanium, but we read that they have a taste. Plastic utensils may melt in cooking pots.

Gossamer Gear’s Bamboo Spoon

Cooking Pot

The JetBoil Flash comes with an integrated cooking pot. If using prepackaged meals like Mountain House or Backpacker pantry, boiled water is poured in the packages and we eat right out of the package and do not require a second pot for the second person. For meals that are split into 2 servings one person eats out of the package and the other uses the Jetboil pot. For longer trips it is lighter to transfer the meals into smaller baggies and prepare them in the pot. We could eat one after the other out of the same pot to save weight, but we carry a second pot in that scenario.

Snow Peak Titanium Pot

Food Safety & Storage in Bear Country

When backpacking in bear country, safe storage of food is a must for the safety of both backpackers and the bears. As you may have heard, “a fed bear is a dead bear.” Bears that access and eat people food will try to get more people food. Bears are opportunistic and backpacker food sitting around is an easy meal. In their quest for more people food bears can become aggressive to people. You want to protect yourself and your food.

When camping, always prepare and store food safely. In the front country, use bear boxes when provided or store food in your locked vehicle. For backpackers, all food prep, cooking, eating, and storage should be completed at least 100 yards aka 300 feet (preferably downwind) from where you will sleep! Do not cook in the clothes you will sleep in. Do not keep any food in your tent. Keep sleeping gear clean and free of food odor. It is recommended that you store food 100 yards from where you prepare food.

Referred to as the “Bear”muda Triangle, this is a great diagram from momgoescamping.com, though Yellowstone recommends 100 yards or 300 feet between the 3 areas

When you are not actively cooking or eating, all food, cookware, and smelly items (such as deodorant, toothpaste, bug spray, chapstick and trash) should be secured in bear proof containers and/or hung. Depending on your location, there are “approved” bear storage containers that may be required. Bear storage containers can be a hard sided canister which may be available to use on a loan on first come first serve basis at some parks. A newer product, which is what we have, is the Ursack which is a bag made of a special material that includes Kevlar which bears are unable to bite through. Ursacks have been approved in the Greater Yellowstone region since 2014. Both types of bear storage containers should still be stored at least 100 yards from where you will sleep.We tie our URSack to a tree or food pole so that it doesn’t get carried off.

Bear Canisters

The URSack is made of material a bear cannot bite through

The other method of storing food safely in bear country is hanging it. Experts recommend hanging your food at least 12-15 feet off the ground and at least 6-10 feet out from the tree trunk. This requires at least 35 feet of rope and some knot tying. For hanging food, we use a Zpacks “Bear Bagging Kit” which is made of Dyneema® Composite Fabric which is light and water resistant. The kit included the food bag, a small rock bag and 50 feet of cord. Yellowstone provides bear poles at many of their backcountry campsites and allows hanging. Check the food storage regulations where you plan to camp.