Food to Go - a backpacking cookbook

Frank and Sue Wall, who run the popular Australian blog Our Hiking Blog recently released an e-book about eating well on the trails, co-authored by Sue Hadskis.

"Food to Go" is a bit different from other backpacking cookbooks. What I found unique about it is that it caters to a wide variety of ways to eat on a multi-day trip, rather than focusing on making dehydrated meals from scratch. It does cover recipes for such meals, but let's face it, there are a lot of backpackers who never cook from scratch when they're eating at home, and aren't about to start just because they're going on a trip!

There is a section comparing various pre-packaged freeze dried meals. These are growing in popularity, and it's nice to have some first-hand accounts regarding portion size, flavour and texture. While I wouldn't use these meals while hiking locally, I can see it being a good option if you are far from home and don't have access to a kitchen.

They also discuss dehydrating techniques at length, including examples of how to dehydrate a take-out meal for your trip. Brilliant! Even if you have no idea how to make a curry, you can buy one from your favourite restaurant, dehydrate it, and eat it at camp. Ditto your favourite stir fry or pad thai.

If you're willing to do a bit more work, there are also recipes which include the use of pre-packaged sauce mixes and other convenient ingredients. And of course for the purist there are recipes from scratch for both omnivores and vegetarians.

The book also includes sample four day menus from a variety of outdoors enthusiasts, myself included. It's quite interesting to see what different people like to eat on their trips. I know that when I'm at tramping huts in New Zealand, I'm always fascinated to see what other people are having for dinner. I think my biggest surprise was when some friends started cooking up garlic shrimp! (Granted, it was a one night trip.)

Food to Go costs $19.50 Australian - which is around US$17.50. You can download the pdf HERE.

Frank and Sue also have an e-book about hiking Tasmania's famous Overland Track - so if you're heading down under you may want to check that one out too.

Trail Mix or Whatever You Call It

(Photo: Zazzle.com - you can buy the t-shirt there too!)

Frank and Sue over at Our Hiking Blog just posted their favourite recipe for scroggin (that's trail mix or GORP for those of northern hemisphere origins.) Their preference is for a sugary combination including licorice allsorts and gummy snakes.

Since hooking up with G, my trail mixing has been cut to a minimum. He's a big fan of keeping the elements separate. Nuts in one baggie, dried apricots in another, chocolate in another...

But I actually love a nice trail mix, and so I was inspired by Frank and Sue to list some of my favourite things to include. Let's give it a catchy name too.

Maple Kiwi Mix (contains neither maple nor kiwi)
Salted almonds
Peanut M&Ms (or peanut butter ones if I can get them)
Honey roasted peanuts
Yogurt dipped raisins
Dehydrated pineapple (not the crystallized stuff)
Dried apples
Dried peaches
Dried cranberries
Animal crackers

I aim for a good balance between sweet and salty, crunchy and chewy. A full water bottle is mandatory when the trail mix comes out!

Camping Recipe Competition

(via Trailspace.com)

Okay, all of you campers who've been hoarding your secret recipes for "dehydrated tofu á l'orange" - now is your chance to shine!

The American Hiking Society is holding a competition for the best frontcountry and backcountry recipes - and the grand prize is a shiny, new outback oven.

The best recipes are going to be compiled into a cookbook. I have to admire AHS for finding a way to publish a whole cookbook of great camping recipes without actually paying anyone for any of the content! And the role of the author is diminished once again... sigh.

Anyway, if you're keen to be included with your recipe for "roasted banana splits" or whatever, get a move on. Entries have to be in by July 31, 2008. E-mail entries to Volunteer@AmericanHiking.org.

A Fork in the Trail

I've really been looking forward to my upcoming trip to the South Island, and all of the great trails we'll be walking. But one of the things I was not looking forward to was eating the same bloody dinners over and over again along the way.

So I started digging through the new cookbook by fellow Canadian Laurie Ann March, called "A Fork in the Trail". Laurie has put together a back country cookbook that covers everything from breakfast to dessert, with lots of fodder for the dehydrator. The recipes are easy to follow, and there are lots of great tips too.

Laurie aslo offers an online "Wilderness Cooking" course, in case you haven't had much experience making food for or in the back country. And if that isn't enough, she manages the "Outdoor Adventure Canada" website.

Anyway, so far I've been focusing on vegetarian stuff (I can't quite get over my fear of dehydrated meat) and the results are delicious. Lentil soup, black bean dip, and dal, have all been tasty and dehydrated well.

So if you're looking for some new food ideas for your wilderness adventures, check it out. Available on Amazon.

Goodbye cans of tuna, hello tasty curries!

Rising to the Occasion

Last week during a grocery shopping excursion, G casually tossed a bag of "bread mix" into our trolley. My quizzical look should not have surprised him. G doesn't particularly like to cook, so why would he want to start making his own bread?

It turns out he was inspired by a story in the newsletter from the Tararua Tramping Club, about a couple who made fresh bread almost daily on their eight-week trek along Australia's Bibbulmun Track. With a bit of off-season practice, he figures we could make bread when we're out tramping next summer.

Making bread on camping trips is nothing new. As a Canadian, I grew up hearing about early traders making bannock over an open fire. I didn't give it much thought, as these were the same people who happily ate pemmican. But bannock is probably the easiest camping bread to make, since it is relatively flat and cooks in a frying pan. Most basic recipes include flour, baking powder, salt and water and/or milk.

Down in California, sourdough evolved as gold prospectors found a way to cook their bread without a fresh supply of yeast, using leftover dough to keep things moving along.Down Under, meanwhile, the locals were making their own campfire bread called damper. The simplest recipes call for just flour, water and salt. Obviously baking powder is a big help if you want the bread to rise, and self-raising flour is now used for most recipes. More elabourate versions use beer or milk, along with butter and sometimes sugar. Traditionally, damper is cooked directly in the ashes of a campfire. Ash is used to cover the top as well, so that it cooks more evenly. So yeah, the end result requires some dusting off.

Of all the recipes I've seen, though, the one this Bibbulmun-walking couple used on their trek definitely takes the longest! They would mix up their dough using pre-made bread mix (for breadmakers) and yeast in the evening, throw it into a stuff sack, and keep it in a sleeping back with them overnight! Then they would re-knead in the morning, put it back into the stuff sack, and carry it in a pot until lunchtime. They cooked it on a rack inside their pot over their stove, with the flame as low as possible. I guess they must have liked the results if they did this daily!

Fresh bread is definitely a nice treat when you're camping, especially if you're on a long trip. It breaks up the monotony of rice and noodles, and it can perk up an otherwise bleak day. It does seem like a lot of work though. I think personally I'd go with the self-raising option, but if G wants to haul around bread mix and yeast, well, I won't say no to eating the results!

Spice Things Up

I'm into cooking good food, and I don't see any reason for that to stop just because I happen to be in the middle of the woods. But one of the things that I have found a bit of a pain is bringing along a small quantity of spices for a backpacking trip.


The last thing I want to do is load up my backpack with a bunch of heavy, glass spice bottles. So what I sometimes do is pre-measure the herbs and spices for a specific meal and take them in a tiny plastic baggie. But that doesn't allow me to adjust the seasoning at all.


What I really wanted was a way to bring along a selection of herbs and spices in a lightweight, spill-free container. And here's my solution--a multi-compartment pill box!



Pill boxes have small, separate compartments so you can bring along a variety of spices and keep them separate. I had to do a bit of looking around to find ones that seal well on the top. Since pills are quite large, sometimes the makers of plastic pill boxes don't care if their lids leave gaps, but for spice that would mean they'll leak out.


There are two basic configurations for the boxes, so depending on how many spices you want to take you can buy the box that suits your needs.


The most common ones have seven compartments, one for each day of the week. For most people, this is enough for a good, basic spice kit. My suggestions (although everyone has their own favourites) for a seven-spice kit would be: salt, pepper, curry powder, ginger, basil, oregano & garlic powder.


You can also find boxes with four compartments, like the one pictured. They are for medications taken several times per day. In fact, mine came as a set of seven, four-compartment boxes. The whole thing cost me a whopping $2. And you thought camping gear was expensive!


Using several small boxes, I can tailor my spice requirements to the meals I am planning for any given trip rather than taking a basic set of seasonings.


Of course, if you're really hardcore you could pick up a 28-section pill box which is for multiple doses for a whole week. That would give you a full palette of spices to choose from at any time! A bit bulky, but it still wouldn't weigh much.


So that's my advice on spicing up your camping meals. It's all about keeping things light and easy. And since most pill boxes have little flip-up lids I suggest carrying them inside a plastic bag so that they don't accidentally get opened up in your pack and coat everything you own in cayenne pepper!