So we’ve been busy. One of the things we’re busy with is planning for a five day backpacking trip. Based on the search terms used by folks who find my blog, we’re not the only ones, so I figured I’d share our dinner menus for inspiration (and I’d love to hear what others are packing, so feel free to leave a comment!)
Dinners
Pepperoni calzone: this is actually a new one for us, inspired by our friend Marlies. She suggested using the Jiffy-brand pizza crust mix (made with lard, sorry vegetarians). We’re drying a jar of spaghetti sauce, some olives, and a bell pepper that we’ll rehydrate all together, and we bought some fabulous pepperoni at Gartner’s Meats last weekend. Cheese is always a staple in our backpacks, and there will be plenty of mozzarella in this concoction. Dessert will be Jello No-bake cheesecake. More about desserts below.
Pad Thai: I’ve written about this already. Since it’s just the two of us I just bought the kit that includes the noodles and the sauce. We’re planning on adding a packet of chicken to this. Dessert after this dinner will be coconut pudding with dried pineapple.
Mexican mac & cheese: we decided to try our standard mac & cheese & tuna & peas with a twist this time. We bought Annie’s mild Mexican shells and cheese and a packet of hickory smoked tuna. We’ll see if this is as good as our normal combo…. We’re going to make a giant chocolate chip cookie to follow this.
Bean, cheese, & rice tostadas: pretty self-explanatory. We’re drying a jar of salsa and a can of pinto beans (we used to be able to find dehydrated refried beans, but we didn’t find any this time so we’re trying something else.) The rice will be instant brown rice cooked with a vegetable bouillon cube and some spices. I wanted to make our own tortillas for this meal, but Jeff wants to just take the ones we already have in our fridge. It’s pretty easy to make trail tortillas though–just mix masa with water and roll out with a water bottle (rolling the dough inside a bag is easier and cleaner). Fry in a hot pan, you don’t even need any kind of fat. This can be a little time-consuming (one tortilla at a time can get old) but they’re sooooo goood…. Probably have one more batch of cheesecake after this, or maybe just some of the sweets we brought along for snacking.
Desserts
I always like sweets, but dessert on the trail is extra exciting.
One of our favorites is Jello cheesecake. We’ve adapted the directions a bit, and it’s delicious every time. If it’s just going to be the two of us I usually split up the package at home. It comes in two packets, one for the crust, and one for the filling. I weigh each packet on my little food scale and then split the packet by weight into two ziploc bags. I add the right amount of powdered milk to the filling mix and write the amount of water I need to add on the outside of the bag. On the trail, mix the filling with water and fry up the crust mix with several tablespoons of butter. Pour the filling over the top, then set the whole thing aside to cool while you fix and eat dinner.
Pudding is always an easy choice. I prefer the cooked version to the instant (and the cooked version typically does not include gelatin, a plus for vegetarians). Sometimes we use powdered coconut milk rather than regular powdered milk, and we often cook up some dried fruit to make some kind of sauce as well.
Cookies are a new addition to our trail repertoire. Smaller-sized baking mixes sold in plastic packets are great for packing. Some are “just add water”, others require fat and/or egg, but all can be mixed right in the packet, then poured out into a well-greased (really well-greased) pan. Keep the stove on it’s lowest setting and flip the cookie(s) when they begin to set around the edges. We usually just do one big one, but if you’re feeling ambitious you can try to make them cookie-sized.
Needless to say, we don’t lose any weight while backpacking. There are lighter-weight meals out there, but nothing tastes better than a good meal after a long day of hiking!
