I am wondering what people are cooking with their personal jetboils, I need some stuff that is really simple, I am not a good cook. Maybe soup, pasta??

Take a look at my website www.freezerbagcooking.com Most of the recipes can be halved and done in a Jetboil (once you bring your water to a boil, just dump in the dry stuff).
Otherwise, anything that is "instant" or calls for "sitting for 5-10 minutes" works great in a JB :-)

Jetboil is fantastic but pretty much the only downside is you can really only cook stuff that requires boiling water. I have found it hard to 'cook' meals because it is sometimes hard to regulate the temperature enough to fry things. We rely on freeze dried foods + dehydrated potato for most meals (you can make the dehy meals in the packet and while it is 'cooking' in the packet, boil another lot of water for dehy potatoes. you can also add some dehy peas/corn/carrots for more flavour. We also cook instant noodles and sometimes cous cous. You can get flavoured cous cous (we use Ainsley Harriot brand but we are in Australia so dont know if you have the same brands in US). Cous cous is great because it is essentially pasta and cooks pretty much straight away, again you can add dehy veges. we dont cook instant soups for meals because we find they are not filling enough for a meal. Another idea is the flavoured instant rice packets. They cook much quicker than regular rice and can be tasty if you find a good brand. Instant noodles with a pouch of tuna or salmon mixed in can also be nice or if you are able to get dehydrated eggs they are nice mixed with noodles. I dont tend to use fish much though because no matter how well i clean the packaging, the smell always seems to attract flies. Anyway hope this helps...

Freezerbagging it is the way to go ...

A couple of really easy recipies:

Add 1 package Raman noodles to a Quart size Ziplock Freezer bag (must be a Ziplock FREEZER bag), Toss the flavor packet back in the food bag, add 1 packet of tyson chicken breast, or 1 packet of tuna, or some cut up beef jerky, and 1/2 packet of powdered Knorrs tomato sauce.

Add boiling water from the Jetboil, put an old acrylic stocking cap (don't wear it after this because it will smell like food to a bear) over the sealed ziplock and let sit for a few minutes. Eat and enjoy.

2.) Divide one packet of Stovetop stuffing and seasoning into two ziplocks, add 1/2 packet of brown gravy mix, add packet of chicken or cut up Kippered Beefsteak jerky, add boiling water from the Jetboil, let set for 1 minute ... mix and enjoy.

3.) crumble up some pre-cooked bacon into a Ziplock. Add 1/2 packet of Easy Mashed (just add water) instant potatoes, add boiling water from the Jetboil, stir, let sit for a few minutes, fluff and enjoy.

4.) Add some instant refried beans to a Ziplock .. add boiling water and let sit for a few minutes.

Take a tortila, add add some the reconstitued refried beans, sprinkle with some preshreded cheese, add a packet of salsa or taco sauce from taco bell if desired, and enjoy a great bean burrito.

Edited by flash582 on 12/11/2006 16:46:25 MST.

Robert,
I use a jetboil, alcohol, and esbit. I only use the jetboil for boiling water. The flux-ring is SO efficient at heat transfer that no matter how low I adjust the burner, solid food burns. And there is no way to easily move the cup away from the flame.(I admit I am not a skillful cook, YMMV). So, I only use it to heat water for cook-in-bag meals.
Are you able to actually cook in the pot without burning?

Thanks Sarah for the great recipes using rice and couscous and boiling water. I am certainly tired of just boiling water and using freeze dried meals that lack much in the variety category. I like the simplicity of using boiling water not to mention the ease of cleaning up and keeping bear smell to the minimum, but really don't like the large amounts of sodium that one finds in prepared freeze dried meals or prepared quick cook meals in the grocery store. Your recipes allow me the oportunity to dial in my salt intake. Again, thanks for the wonderful variety of recipes.

Hi Mitchell,

You are certainly right about not being able to control the sodium in prepared freeze-dried meals. Bear smells are certainly an issue. Thankfully I don't have to deal with bear canisters where I hike locally. We only have black bears and just have to hang the food (lots of trees in the Boreal).

Robert,

There are so many wonderful things you can "cook" using a JetBoil or similar setup. Unfortunately I haven't had much luck actually cooking with the JB. I usually use my 32 oz Nalgene and dump the food and boiling water in it - then pop it in my Aquatherm. Works like a charm.

There are also some great JetBoil recipes at http://www.jetboil.dk/JetboilRecipes.htm (the site is in German - but if you click - the actual recipes are in English)

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 12/12/2006 12:55:29 MST.

The sodium issue was a big reason for me in doing the website. While there are a percentage of sodium laden recipes on the website, they are definitely outnumbered by the lower ones.
If you haven't tried it, try the very low sodium homemade bullion recipe I posted here recently (it is also on my blog, on the website). It is tasty, and adds a lot to rice and couscous dishes!
I figured that one can add, but not take out salt ;-) I live on less than 1500 mg of sodium a day, so a Mt. House meal is easily one days worth!

Or you can go to the jetboil site and read everything in English

http://www.jetboil.com/Out_There/Recipes

Thanks Frank,

The link I had with the English links no longer worked - time to go through my favorites list I figure. I appreciate the help.

Laurie

Edited by Laurie_Ann on 12/14/2006 05:37:50 MST.