Hi all, I was in the grocery today and came across a product that I thought had some potential. I am really just posting this as an FYI. Heaven knows we all differ greatly in what is worth putting in our packs.

The item is compact FOIL packaged tuna or salmon steak. An example of the product is by Bumble Bee it is a 4oz albacore steak that is "already cooked ** just heat and serve" There are various flavors available. I saw Ginger and Soy, Mesquite and a couple others. Also, various manufacturers had similar representative products. So there were choices. The cost was less than or equal to $3. I saw various out-dates on the packages with the earliest Dec. 2006 and the latest was Mar. 2007 so it seems to store well. It is a product of Thailand. And finally, it is dolfhin safe.

I dont like the idea of packing out fishy foil pouches especially in bear country. But, it is a normal everyday product (priced for that market)that has some backpacking merits as well. Kinda like finding good functional flytying material in a craftstore at craftstore prices.

So as to not leave this thread unanswered. Who carries cous-cous with them to supplement Mt House or use in original recipies?

Been using those for pack food for a few years now, there are pre-cooked chicken breasts packed like that too.

And........

Zatarains has ready to serve rice dishes in pouches,

Zatarains Ready-To-Serve

Not bad either.

I don't carry couscous, but I think it's a good item. Cooks almost instantly with only hot water...doesn't need to be boiled for 15 minutes and saves on fuel. It can be used as rice or as a breakfast item.

the chef

Yup, that foil packed tuna and salmon is excellent for backpacking. There are several recipes for same in the booklet "Freezer Bag Cooking" by Sarah Sven, and all of them use water that boils and is immediately put into a freezer bag. Very fuel thrifty! See the website www.freezerbagcooking.com/.

I use the cloverleaf brand pouched Albacore.I boil up 1/3 cup Orzo pasta,add tuna.Great twice a day for lasting fuel.RB

On the Bumblebee products...
The "Ginger-Soy" tuna is really good.
So is the "Mesquite grilled" tuna
The Lemon & Cracked Pepper flavor tastes (to me) like furniture polish, but others like it
I think with additional black pepper it'd be OK.

There are three flavors of BumbleBee chicken breast, Barbeque sauce, "Southwest Seasoning" and Garlic & herb
The Barbeque is OK, the Southwest Seasoning is excellent, I haven't tried the Garlic & Herb... yet.

There are also two flavors of salmon, Teriyaki (really good) and Lemon & Dill (which I haven't tried yet).

Starkist has their chunk light "Tuna Creations" a hickory smoked tuna which is pretty good, but the Hickory smoked is the only one of the four flavors I've tried. The others are; Herb & Garlic, Sweet & Spicy and Zesty Lemon pepper

and new three StarKist (just introduced) "Filet" items, "Albacore Lemon and cracked pepper", "Light meat lightly seasoned" and "Light Meat Teriyaki", but except for the lemon-pepper they are "light" tuna (The Bumblebee is a solid slab of white)

Chicken of the Sea, also has flavored fish in a pouch, but so far only three varieties of Salmon, Salmon Steak on Honey Barbeque Glaze,
Salmon Steak In Mandarin Orange Glaze and finally Salmon Steak in Roasted Garlic Marinade
I haven't tried them yet, but I did just purchase some of the barbeque flavoe, unfortunatly the only flavor the retailer had.

I don't think I'd want to pack out empty bags in bear country myself, but unlike cans the foil-plastic packages will burn.

Being grocery store items they are likely available EVERYWHERE, unlike normal "Backpack food" and also unlike backpack food they are reasonably priced.
Typical retail price in my area is $2-$2.50 a pack for the "filet" varieties, and somewhat less for the chunk flavors.

AD

how do you handle the waste? I've used these as well, but only in areas where bears were of little threat. Are you putting the wrappers in a bear box?

quote:

Originally posted by John358:

So as to not leave this thread unanswered. Who carries cous-cous with them to supplement Mt House or use in original recipies?

John, cous-cous is an excellent backpack food! Light weight and easy to prepare. All you need is boiling water and a little olive oil.

I buy the flavored versions and just omit the seasoning pack if I want just plain couscous.

I repack the couscous in vacuum sealed bags. The boxes they come in are too fragile for rough treatment.

I just had some of the Bumble Bee albacore while caribou hunting in Ak. It was a good and welcome change of pace from dehydrated food. I just took a fork and ate it out of the package.

I used the foil-packaged tuna and mixed with with Tuna Helper on my float down the John River four years ago. Better than eating granola for a week.

Namibiahunter

I have used the chicken flavored pasta and rice by Knorr and added foil package Sweet Sue brand chicken for a fairly tasty meal. Cooks in one pot.

I keep my backpack hunting diet pretty basic. A couple of Cliff Bars for breakfast, after they thaw out in the cargo pockets of my hunting pants, and gorp I make myself out of what I like from the bulk foods section of a local supermarket.

Dinners are the only hot meal of the day and cooked with boiling water from a Penny Alcohol stove. Before cooking the food is placed in either a 8 oz Nagelene Wide Mouth jar or hot drinks are placed in an 8 and 1/2 oz Rubbermaid Juice Box bottle, then the food and beverage containers go in beverage can insulators after the boiling water is added, insulators like you use for soda and beer cans to keep them cold. You can have hot food and drink at the same time from a one-burner stove, and the covered containers will keep food and beverages hot for more than an hour. The Juice Box comes with its own fold out straw and shut off valve. The complete cooking units with insulation weigh about 3 oz a piece.

I also really like the couscous for all the reasons already mentioned as well. There are foil packages of dried refried beans available in supermarkets that are also really good, especially if you add things like precooked, crumbled bacon, powdered milk, salt, cumin, garlic, red chili flakes, olive oil or butter and freeze-dried chives to the mix. It takes the bean flakes a while to reconstitute - about 20 minuets - but is well worth the wait. Both Black and regular beans are available as well as some other flavors I believe.

Instant potatoes are considerably faster and equally tasty when given a similar added protein, spice and fat content treatment mentioned above. All of which can be done at home before packaging in ziplock bags for each ready made meal.

I usually munch on some beef jerky while waiting for my water to boil. Its lighter and more compact than the foil packets of fish and chicken are but probably not quite as tasty. I wish someone would do the foil packet thing with some beef. On packing out the used foil packets in bear country, double ziplock bagging them would be the way to go.

A desert item that has worked out well for me and satisfies my bread craving in the back country is Mexican Cinnamon Bread, as made by spreading butter over half of a Whole Wheat Tortilla and sprinkling a spoonful of premixed white sugar and cinnamon over the butter. You fold the tortilla in half and fold it in half again in the other direction. You hold it vertical so it resembles an ice cream cone with the pointed end down so the cinnamon and sugar can't fall out. The whole wheat tortillas keep well with out refrigeration for at least a couple of weeks and are pretty durable...Rusty.

quote:

Originally posted by BioChem:
how do you handle the waste? I've used these as well, but only in areas where bears were of little threat. Are you putting the wrappers in a bear box?

Where allowed and possible, I build a little twig fire and burn everything. That kills the smell dead, and reduces most stuff to ashes. The stuff that doesn't burn, you put in a baggie and cart out.

Some people do this even when not permitted . . .

Interesting posts! I'm getting hungry.

I'm going to try out Orzo. I don't think I've ever eaten it before. Looks like big cous cous. But I see it takes a little longer to boil (more fuel needed).

That 'Freezer Bag' cookbook has some interesting ideas too.

Any ideas on pancakes? I've been trying to find the Hungry Jack "easy packs".

Can't find them locally. Alternatives?!!!

TIA!

I've used the regular pancake mix that uses water and mixed it in a zip-lock bag. Clip a corner off and use it just like an icing decorator. Works well for me.

Krusteaz mix in a ziplock......just add water.......I have a small square of Titanium to cook them on......normally I don't mess w/pancakes unless we have a basecamp and I'm cooking for others......in basecamp it's still Krusteaz mix can be used for other things.....cooking in basecamp means a proper pan.

I've been using the freezer bag cooking for a while now, and I dehydrate my own meals for that purpose.

Joe

ovis,

I've had a dehydrator for a while and have made jerky with it mostly. I take it the process works well for you on other foods. What are your favorite dehydrated foods?

Making meals w/the dehydrator is really easy and, although some of the meals take a bit longer to rehydrate than freeze dried, they're really great and are freezer bag compatible......very convenient.

Joe

I went to a different store in the area today to get one of the regular big boxes of "just add water" pancake mixes as suggested by Hit Man.

I found the Hungry Jack easy packs buttermilk (no blueberry) and I also found the following.....

The Bisquick Shake 'n Pour come in two sizes. I got the smaller one which contains 5.1 oz. of mix and is supposed to make 6-8 pancakes.

I also bought a box of the Hungry Jack Easy Packs (4 packets of 4.4 oz. ea. supposed to make 6-7 pancakes).

The Bisquick "shaker" is kind of a novel idea. I think it should be reusable too. We'll see.

Buying the big boxes and then individually repackaging (like HitMan and Ovis suggested) is more economical and smarter.

Ovis, they had Krusteaz there too. I'd never heard of it before (must be a northwestern version of Bisquick). Just add water to it for pancakes?

Krusteaz is a NW, now gone nationwide, mix.....I use it at home and in the bush.....just add water.....even better w/milk(imo) Lots of stuff you can do w/Krusteaz.....use your imagination......dust some sheep steak w/Krusteaz, salt, pepper, and flash fry......

Joe

I flavor my cous-cous with beef and chicken bullion. I also bought a bunch of MRE entrees off eBay that I can eat hot or cold for any meal. I like the fruit roll-ups too.

On the subject of storing stuff so bears are tempted to get into it.

I saw some Watchful Eye "O.P. Saks" (odor proof) today at REI. The manufacturer claims they are absolutly odorless when sealed per instructions and can also be used for "boil-in" bags for food preparation. They're about $8 for a 3 bag pack.

Some of you guys are very gourmet!

I keep it really simple...I don't even use fire.

Power bars, dehydrated apples/bananas and homemade gorp. And water of course.

That's it. I have lasted up to 4 days just eating that, while backpack hunting. I can honestly say it does not get boring to me, at least not for those few days. I hope I get a chance to try that diet for 5 or more days.

I love not having to lug dishes and a stove/fuel. I also love not having to mess around cleaning what I cook with/eat out of.



Tim

I've made ground meat type jerky in my dehydrator
but I've made far more banana sticks.

Instead of cutting the banana's into thin slices and drying them into hard chips I quareter then lengthwise and twice crosswise to turn each banana into 12-or-so sticks that I dry until they are chewy.

Much more enjoyable to me than banana chips.

Though one thing, I never eat bananas when there is a potential for mosquitos, eating them is like ringing the dinner bell for the little six legged vampires.

AD

Allan,

What is it about bananas that attract mosquitoes?

make small biscit dough turnovers with peanutbutter in the middle and cook them directly on the coals. The best way to do this to drag a small bed of coals out of the fire and blow off the ash. Drizzle with a bit of honey when done. We called these ash cakes.
mix the dough in a plastic bag and you have no pots or pans to clean up.

quote:

Originally posted by MS Hitman:
Allan,

What is it about bananas that attract mosquitoes?

I have no idea but mosquitos will flock to someone who'd been eating bananas while ignoring someone sitting a few feet away.

Additionally eating garlic and/or onions will frequently repel them.

AD

okay, just curious. Thanks for the reply. I like bananas, but not mosquitoes.

Thanks for the info ... sadly I am too far away (in the other cardinal point of this continent ) to take proper advantage ...

Depending the type of hunt intended and the expected weather (which might make me carry something else for extra fat requirements) but for the protein needs, my choice is to carry some bars of powerbar (some boxes actually )

Of course at least every two days I need to eat a good asado !!!

Power bars provide carbs not fat and actually little protein.

Ditto for Clif bars (I actually like both) but don't depend on them for more than a temporary energy boost.

Cold climate, REALLY cold? you will look longingly at a stick of butter and not even consider something to go with it...

You begin to understand eating blubber.

But as for "meals" in a non-survival situation one of my favorites are the zatarains pre-cooked rice packs.
these can be heated in a pan of hot water (they are intended for microwave) then a 5oz pack of starkist
Sweet and spicy tuna makes them a really good meal.

AD

While at our ranch in Idaho a couple of years ago, a guy who I believe was a teacher wondered in to pick up some supplies he had flown in. Every year he spends 21/2 months backpacking the Mt.'s of the Middle Fork, much of it off trail. If you've been through that country, you know it isn't a picnic. We started talking and he said he usually lost 33% or a little more of his body weight over the course of the trek. I say all this, since he had a fair amount of experience with various foods, etc. as to what gave him the most benefit when considering weight of the food etc. The main things he was picking up food wise, other than some freeze dried stuff, was peanut butter and especially a very large jug of olive oil, which he said gave him the most benefit of calories to weight. A nutrionist friend of mine has since confirmed this. Although, the thought of chugging a glass of olive oil doesn't sound all that appealing to me, adding copius quantities (with a little garlic thrown in) sure makes alot of other "stuff" taste better and really increases the nutritional punch.

Bang for weight FAT is "high octane fuel" for the body.

People tend to think fat is "Bad", but in certain circumstances lack of it can kill a lot more quickly and surely than the relatively distant threat of hardened arteries and cardio vascular plaque and the even more distant chance of a heart attack...

Carbs are the most accessable calories, but they are like gasoline on a campfire....

Olive oil will stay liquid to lower temps than butter will
but can still "Gell up" in your pack.

I like splitting the difference and mixing clarified butter with
Olive oil then putting it in those fill your own squeeze tubes
that most back packing suppliers (Campmor etc) sell.

Another thing I've recently discovered is Starkist's marinated tuna in pop top cans., The Roasted garlic
is good, the lemon dill is even better.

Remember that without carbs or fat, preferably fat, your body cannot efficiently metabolize protein, because to metabolize protein is an endothermic process first before it actually yields energy.

Protein intake also increases your need for water.
Fat doesn't, atleast not to the same degree

Read the nutritional information on candy bars sometime
The calories from fat from any candy containing chocolate or peanuts can be very enlightening.

BTW, peanut oil can be substituted for olive oil if you don't particularly like the taste of olive oil OR oilve oil "clashes" with something else you want to eat.

AD

I try to keep meals very simple, that way I have more time hunting or resting for the next day.
Day starts with hot cocoa, a wheat bagel with peanut butter and 2 packs of instant oatmeal. Lunch is a wheat bagel and jerky. Dinner is a Mountain House freeze dried. I also have granola bars (Pro Bar or Honey Stingers) and candy bars along when I am hungry between meals. All I need is boiling water and a spoon, no plates and all the trash fits in the MH pouch after dinner. I also carry Crystal Light flavoring packets for adding a little flavor to my Nalgene bottle.

I'm not a backpack hunter and was just reading through the posts. I thought I would ask a question. What is Gorp?

I do bring food in my daypack while hunting. I make a type of hardtack that really keeps me going between meals. Cooked in butter and with added fruit, like blueberries, it really is quite nutritious. It weighs close to nothing and lasts for a long time.

Just my .02 worth

GORP is an acronym, Good Old Raisins and Peanuts.

I'll take the nuts, but leave the raisins. Dried fruit is heavy and has few calories. If you need something sweet, chocolate is much better. In one man's opinion, at least.

Dried fruit has tons of calories, is a good source of carbohydrates and fiber. Fiber is a little lacking in most instant foods and dried fruit can KYBO (keep your bowels open). Remember to drink lots of fluids with all dried foods.

I have to disagree Calgarychef1. Do the math to determine how many calories 1 pound of dried fruit has. Or, check this site: http://www.annecollins.com/diet_nutrition/raisins.htm

Notice, only 1000 calories per pound. Milk chocolate has over twice that amount. Furthermore, chocolate is fatty. Calories from fat is the key, otherwise you could each granulated sugar during a backpacking outing.

We purchased a dehydrator to make our own trail food for a family of 4 for a 10 day backpacking tripasta cooked aldente,sauce w/o any oil made into leather,meatballs cooked ,sliced & dried;stew dried,chili dried,veggies dried,trail mix;peanutbutter,honey,oats & dried fruit shredded & placed in poly tubes for energy use,hard tack biscuits,milkman powdered milk,complete dry pancake mix,jerky,syrup,butter buds,dehydrated potatoes,spices,oil,instant coffee , tea bags,powdered fruit drinks & .

True chocolate or pure oil has more calories per unit weight than dried fruit. I'd like to see you after a week of only eating oil

Raisins are about 50calories per ounce, some dried fruit is more and some less. An ounce of oil is 250 calories.

I always make a mixture of nuts, dried fruit and callebaut chocolate (dark and milk) throw in a handful of chocolate covered coffee beans and you can skip your afternoon cup of coffee. Make sure you use real chocolate not the North American garbage, it's just hydrogenated fat ug.

quote:

Originally posted by 458_wanderer:
GORP is an acronym, Good Old Raisins and Peanuts.

I'll take the nuts, but leave the raisins. Dried fruit is heavy and has few calories. If you need something sweet, chocolate is much better. In one man's opinion, at least.

Dried fruit is on average 70-75% sugar by weight
and brings critical enzymes and potassium to the party.

Papaya in particular contains enzymes that greatly speed the digestion of animal protein.

But Papaya is usually higher in sugar.
Mango is higher in fiber
Figs will cure any case of constipation
that could be imagined. (and cause the opposite condition if eaten carelessly)
I'm also kinda partial to dried apricots.