"Not sure you can put 'couscous' and 'good dinner' in the same sentence... I prefer real food."

For instance?

Couscous is a form of pasta. Make it plain and it tastes bland to yucky. Spice it up well and it can be yummy! The only person I know who likes plain pasta is my 5-year-old grandson, and even he puts olive oil on it!

If you don't want the weight and bulk of the cans or foil packages, you can dehydrate the canned chicken before your trip.

Edited by hikinggranny on 06/10/2010 21:38:20 MDT.

"Couscous is a form of pasta"

Which is also available made with whole wheat flour. Not bad for unreal food.

Couscous can taste bland - but then ALL pasta tastes plain without anything on it.
A little oil, a liberal application of Parmesan cheese, some pepper and that makes any plain pasta taste good.

I carry a cup of couscous for my emergency/last nights dinner. It is a great way to use up the last of the odds and ends in your food bag and still have a tasty dinner. This is how I prepare it.

1. Mix the couscous with some dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, cherries) and some crushed nuts (walnuts are good). If no indivual nuts or fruits are left in the foodbag, just dump the leftover trail mix in.

2. If the fruits and nuts above where salted you don't need this next step. Add boiling water to dissolve half a bouillon cube.

3. After you've the added boiling water, sqeeze out the last of the olive oil you've been carrying and see if you have any cheese left in that foodbag.

4. Be creative, you can throw almost anything in. Once I used up what was left of a bag of chips - it tasted pretty good.

"I carry a cup of couscous for my emergency/last nights dinner."

Bulgar, or cracked, wheat is an excellent replacement for cous cous, especially as emergency food. You can soak it for an hour or two, drain it, and mix with nuts, dried fruit, some milk, and possibly a sweetener, and have a very tasty breakfast type cereal dish. Alternatively, you can proceed as Nia wrote above for an evening meal. The advantage is that bulgar wheat requires no cooking/boiling water to be tasty and edible. It makes a lot of sense to have at least one meal planned around it on longer trips if you are cutting your fuel allocation close.

BTW, couscous can be rehydrated with cold water. Give it 30 minutes and eat away!

Couscous
Feta cheese
anchovies packed in oil
1 zuccinni
1 shallot
olives re-packed in olive oil with chopped garlic, and some herbs and spices and hot sause.
some dried seaweed.

so good.

I always thought raw couscous takes a long time to cook..

so what is this couscous that can cook by just sitting in hot water for 10 mins?

Are you using some kind of pre-cooked couscous? The kind that comes in a cardboard box? Or is this real raw couscous, the kind you can buy in bulk etc?

I'm preparing about 60 dinners for two of us doing the CT trail in about 35 days.. I was thinking of mainly buying pasta and spaetzle , cooking it and then dehydrating it and packing it.

If I can just BUY couscous, that'll save me a LOT of trouble..

Any other pasta-replacement idea when preparing huge amounts of food? Are there any pre-cooked pastas?

Ptitim, also called Israeli Couscous takes a while to cook/steam with a simmer, that possibly where you are confused. These are large pearl size balls of pasta.

Regular couscous, small granules, takes about 5-10 minutes with hot water and require no further cooking.

Almost all couscous sold in the US is the instant kind - it is precooked and ready to be used. Israeli as mentioned needs to be cooked but is also considerably larger in size - and is usually found in the Jewish food section of stores.

You can also use ramen (baked is best) and Lo Mein (known as Chuka Soba) noodles also. All of them don't need to be "cooked" - a simple soaking in hot water works.

Yes, I paid attention at the grocery store and picked up both couscous and bulgur wheat.

Greatly simplifies my 60 meal preparation..

I'll also check out this low-mein / ramen thing.. any other pre-cooked cereals high in calories would be most welcome!! (So far I have mashed potato powder, couscous, bulgur .. and I'm planning to cook and dehydrate several kinds of pasta including egg pasta -- spaetzle. But this is obviously energy and time consuming.)

Currently, my favorite is Quinoa. I cook it, then dehydrate it overnight. What comes out I call "Instant Quinoa." In camp, it rehydrates easily and mixes with other things just like rice.

--B.G.--

At some natural food stores you can find an instant version of quinoa that comes in packets just like instant oatmeal. Look in the hot cereals for it. You can use it for a savory base - think like using instant grits, which I might add make a tasty base for cheese/hots sauce and shelf stable bacon.

I'm still waiting for Sarbar to do the FBC version of chicken fried steak and gravy. I'm still not sure I know what couscous is.

"any other pre-cooked cereals high in calories would be most welcome!! (So far I have mashed potato powder, couscous, bulgur"

Bring along some olive oil, or other vegetable oil. It goes well with all of the carbs you mention and will bump the calorie count considerably since any vegetable oil contains ~250 calories/oz. Ground up nuts is another good addition that will add 170-200 calories/oz. I say ground up because they take up less space that way. Also, Nido whole fat powdered milk could be used. It contains 152 calories/30 gram serving. A combination of Nido and a sprinkling of Butter Buds makes for delicious mashed potatoes. Neither takes up much space.

Replace that Butter Buds (or Molly McButter) with butter powder for a tastier version :-)

FBS chicken fried steak? Pick one up at the diner on the way to the TH, pack in bag, eat for lunch.

Hehheh!!!!

I often make couscous with a bit of salt, hot pepper, and a pouch of that salmon you find near the Spam at the store. It's great!

I think Molly McButter and Butterbuds are zero fat products. Order the real stuff from Packit Gourmet or King Arthur flour. :)