Backpacked four days in Yellowstone this past June. I had ultralight gear and was wondering what the tour leader from boyscout camp was going to do for food. The camp did not have the resources for freeze dried food so we took out food from scratch and prepared it on the trail. The "additional" weight was in some ways laughable to an ultralight backpacker, such as a frybake. However, when we ate pizza made from scratch, including yeast and flour, this was no laughing matter. We go light often just to go farther. This was a 5 mile per day trip and we ate like kings. We could have done more miles but one of our backcountry sites got closed due to bear activity. Still, now that I've tasted good food on the trail I'm hooked. On a low mileage weekend trip there is probably no good reason to just dehydrate something on a miniature jet engine stove. Why not some full course meals! If we put as much thought into our food prep as we do our other gear gram counting, I bet we could elevate trail cuisine to an ultralight art form. My first goal is going to figure out a way to make fillet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus on the trail.
Tip I came up with on this trip, take drainedwater from boiling noodles, add some soy, curry, and pepper (or a miso soup packet) and you've got yourself a leave no trace pre-meal soup.

On short trips why not take fresh food. Depends on where your interests are. Me, it's just food. I'm no gourmet. Same 6-8 things over and over. Fine with me.

Never leave chocolate behind.

I'm curious though. What resources do you need for dehydrated food other than boiling water?

Edited by kthompson on 07/10/2012 06:51:05 MDT.

Most of the time on 2-3 day trips, I take leftovers from the fridge and reheat in my pot. Why not? I'm a good cook, and they need eaten. As you've discovered, low intensity trips don't necessarily require space age UL noms.

"What resources do you need for dehydrated food other than boiling water?"

$$$

"Why not some full course meals! If we put as much thought into our food prep as we do our other gear gram counting, I bet we could elevate trail cuisine to an ultralight art form. "

We already have that in the Food, Nutrition and Hydration forum. I have learned a ton over there.

"Why not some full course meals! If we put as much thought into our food prep as we do our other gear gram counting, I bet we could elevate trail cuisine to an ultralight art form. "

I concur. Sarah Kirkconnell and Trailcooking.com certainly aren't slacking on trail cuisine innovation, and she's not the only one.

@OP- I'm diggin the miso soup idea. extra hydration, and I'm not broadcasting smelly water all over the forest.

I came up with a really good non-yeast pizza dough recently that I am going to work on adapting for trail use - my husband can't take the yeast. But I'll say this, the Bobili mini shells (you can get kits at Costco!) fit a 2L pot..........

http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/last-minute-meat-and-olive-pizzas
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/pizza-pan-biscuits
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/pizza-muffins

Photos are missing...sigh! We have been doing work on the site lately.

Gourmet one pot?
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/spicy-tuna-linguine
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/smoked-salmon-pasta-0
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/harvest-pasta