Also on Backpacker.com

EDITORS' CHOICE AWARDS 2011: THE BEST NEW GEAR

OVER 3,000 GPS-ENABLED TRIPS!

DAILY DIRT BLOG: THE LATEST OUTDOOR NEWS

GEAR PRO: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

MEDICINE MAN: ESSENTIAL SKILLS REVEALED

BACKPACKING 101: GET STARTED NOW!

VIDEOS: FEND OFF A BEAR, PACK RIGHT, AND MORE.

PHOTOS: FEAST YOUR EYES WITH THESE SHOTS

Share your tales of travel & adventure with our step-by-step guide. Upload trail descriptions, photos, video, and more.

Backpacker Magazine – January 2012

Adventure Upgrade: Cook Like a Pro

Pack and prepare a week's worth of mouth-watering meals.

by: Kristy Holland

Quinoa (iStockphoto.com)

Food and nutrition
Skills

Adventure Upgrades
Elevate your skills with tips we gave to real readers who wanted to go bigger and farther.

Reader Eric Olson, 42, Woodstock, GA
» Problem “My tastebuds go numb to freeze-dried meals within a few days. How do I pack a delicious, weeklong menu that weighs less than 15 pounds per person?”

Expert Laurie March, author of A Fork in the Trail » Solution “Aim for a calorie-to-weight ratio of at least 125 calories per ounce, and plan carefully—I’ll consider heavier foods if they save me fuel weight. Two of the best ways to boost flavor and lighten up: Dehydrate your own meals and plan your menu around versatile staples.”

Pack Energizing and Flavorful Foods
Bring weight-saving meals and prepared fare.

» Plan high-calorie snacks. Load up on healthy but lightweight foods, like cheese, crackers, and nut butters—a 1-ounce packet of almond butter has more than 180 calories.
» Reduce fuel weight. No-cook foods can save a family of four more than one pound per day in fuel weight and shave the weight of cooking equipment. Try muffins and cereal for breakfast and wraps or raw-noodle salads for dinner.
» Dehydrate meals. Save pounds and avoid preservative overload from prepackaged meals by dehydrating your own food. Cut prep by drying leftovers or store-bought prepared dinners.

Use Versatile Bulk Ingredients
Serve these easy-to-adjust foods for any meal.

“A few key foods form the basis of my trail menus,” says March. She suggests mixing these staples with flavorful add-ins and fresh-food complements to build an energizing, balanced, weeklong menu. For recipes from March’s books, visit backpacker.com/staples.

Quinoa Rinse and dry this protein-rich supergrain at home. On the trail, cook the grains in water and add dried fruit compote for breakfast, mix with veggies for a lunch salad, or fold into tortillas with Cheddar and salsa for a dinner wrap.

Polenta Fast-cooking cornmeal absorbs any flavor—combine milk and raisins in the morning, or cheese and sun-dried tomatoes for an evening Italian stew. Cool plain leftovers, slice, pan-fry in oil, and drizzle with honey for dessert.

Couscous This versatile pasta works with dried fruit or savory veggies and sauces. In a pinch? Rehydrate it with cold water.

Subscribe to Backpacker magazine
Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter

PRINT THIS PAGE RSS FEED

Your rating:

Reader Rating: -

Digg Delicious Yahoo Facebook Reddit StumbleUpon Google Newsvine MySpace Twitter

READERS COMMENTS

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=gb2312" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18702"></HEAD>
<BODY>
 
Disturbance distancing earphones would not have while massive an issue with
backyard garden appears. The best downside to these folks isn��t the kinds of
disturbance requiring you to<a href="http://www.beatsbydrebuy.us/dr-dre-beats-pro-c-1.html" title="Dr Dre Beats Pro">Dr Dre Beats Pro</a>
often be terminated, oahu is the match on the
hearing friend. You can find often a little distinction between a strong very
good removing healthy and also a healthy that will results in just a little
associated with area regarding audio for getting as a result of. Somewhat room
means inadequate racket hindering, this also normally brings about below
excellent seem processing far<a href="http://www.beatsbydrebuy.us/dr-dre-beats-solo-hd-c-4.html" title="Dr Dre Beats Solo Hd">Dr Dre Beats Solo Hd</a>
too.
The IDR655m feature a tiny microphone on the right earbud��s cable, plus a
three-button control called the tapLINE II with buttons for Play/Pause, Volume
Up, and Volume Down. It works for using Voice Control, answering the phone, and
controlling iPod playback and volume with our iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. Fully
VoiceOver-compatible, these earbuds also work with the iPad, second- through
fourth-gen iPod touch, fourth- through <a href="http://www.beatsbydrebuy.us/dr-dre-beats-studio-c-6.html" title="Dr Dre Beats Pro">Dr Dre Beats Pro</a>
sixth-gen iPod nano, third- and
fourth-gen iPod shuffle, and the 120GB and 160GB iPod classic, as well as Macs
bought after October 2008. But they aren��t compatible with the iPhone 3G or the
original iPhone. </BODY></HTML>

Posted: May 23, 2012 KK1258

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=gb2312" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18702"></HEAD>
<BODY>
The Fortis B-42 Submarine Master Automatic Chronograph Black Dial Watch
carries using it a classic style inside of a sharp sleek dark-colored coloring.
It comes with an automatic self-wind circulation which features twenty-five gems
and an incabolic shock-absorber. The result is a durable stainless, and the both
face and knobs are black by means<a href="http://www.edificesale.com/ef564d1av-p-63.html" title="casio ef 564d">casio ef 564d</a>
of orange accents. The wristband is made from
flexible rubber and this sells online for that little over $6, 000.
Customers who've got reviewed the Fortis B-24 Sea Master Automatic
Chronograph Charcoal Dial Watch purchase words such since "unmatchable quality
plus precision" and "worth every <a href="http://www.edificesale.com/" title="casio watches">casio watches</a>
last penny. " Additionally, it is considered to
be the easier Fortis watches to utilise, with the legibility about its displays
and then the ease of setting up time, being examples of the top reasons
customers can quickly purchase this see.This particular Fortis gents watch, the
Fortis Mens Official Cosmonauts Computerized Black Dial Follow, was created to
have an active lifestyle. It includes a silver stainless all steel metal case,
that almost has got the look of titanium, <a href="http://www.edificesale.com/casio-c-1.html" title="casio watches">casio watches</a>
and it has a black metal bezel. Its
window is actually anti-reflective and manufactured from scratch-resistant
sapphire gemstone. </BODY></HTML>

Posted: May 23, 2012 KK1258

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=gb2312" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19222"></HEAD>
<BODY>For enjoying music's in how buy <a href="http://www.beatsbydrebeatsbydre.us/dr-dre-beats-pro-c-1.html" title="Dr Dre Beats Pro">Dr Dre Beats Pro</a>
Music player and Hi-fi speakers for the
home. when you wanna organize the party programs at the premises then they'd be
of the great help and employ. beast by the australia To further enhance
enjoyment the dr dre monster beats headphones have a noise-cancelling feature
that cuts out external noise so that all you hear is the rich information on the
music itself. You can literally maintain a space with loud external noise yet be
slashed off t just your music using the sound proof feature. <a href="http://www.beatsbydrebeatsbydre.us/" title="Dr Dre Beats Pro">Dr Dre Beats Pro</a>
The form is one
which will cause you to be proud to be wearing them in public. They're elegant
and sleek yet extremely comfortable and lightweight you possibly can wear it for
hours. The cushioned ear cups are spacious and fits your ear as being a
glove. They're made of breathable material so they keep the ears cool despite
being closed monster beats headphones. The beats by dr dre headphones will
even be very portable and you can fold them into an excellent compact shape for
easier packing. The case is extremely attractive you need to display it in
public. There's no question exceptional care and detail was positioned for the
look to make everything pleasing towards the eyes and touching. The monster
beats headphones include two cables, a typical one<a href="http://www.beatsbydrebeatsbydre.us/dr-dre-beats-solo-hd-c-4.html" title="Dr Dre Beats Solo Hd">Dr Dre Beats Solo Hd</a>
for your iPod, MP3, CD along
with other music devices along which has a Monster iSoniTalk cable, which has a
built-in microphone and answer button that is compatible with your iPhone,
Blackberry along with other music-enabled telephone. </BODY></HTML>
Posted: May 19, 2012 liu hong

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=gb2312" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19222"></HEAD>
<BODY>
There is a British legend according to which King <a href="http://www.famerbook.com/" title="burberry watches">burberry watches</a>
Charles II trying to escape
from his pursuers, holed up in the hollow of a huge oak-tree. Since that time
oak-trees have become a symbol of royal court, a regal tree. That is why the
name of the tree was given to the most prominent ships of the British Royal
Navy. The watches which became a standard of Audemars Piguet were awarded the
name ?Royal Oak?. The watch had an octagonal-shaped case with eight hexagonal
screw bolts resembling sea gun port. The ?Royal Oak? collection was elegant and
manly at the same time, and turned out to be one of the most famous watch
collections in the world, virtually a trademark <a href="http://www.famerbook.com/burberry-c-5.html/" title="burberry watches">burberry watches</a>
of Audemars Piguet Watch
Company.
The collection included several absolutely different watches like ?Royal Oak
Jubilee? with an ultra-thin self-winding mechanism, ?Royal Oak Offshore? with a
self-winding mechanism with 21-carat golden rotor, ?Royal Oak Offshore?
(striking) using case elements of non-polished metal, which distinguished it
from the classic ?Royal Oak? watch, and this item features collision-protecting
synthetic laying and a magniglass allowing to discern dials indicating the date
and other information.
Well, let's put aside the old legends when new ones appear. In fact, the
"Royal Oak Offshore? collection was created specifically for the Terminator II:
Judgment Day and Terminator III: Machines ��Revolt, and after the pictures had a
huge box-office success the watch workshop <a href="http://www.famerbook.com/bu1360-p-137.html/" title="bu1360 burberry">bu1360 burberry</a>
released extra models bearing the
engraved signature of ��iron Arnie' on the cap. By the way, Arnold Schwarzenegger
has remained a dedicated fan of Audemars Piguet for many years.
</BODY></HTML>
Posted: May 19, 2012 liu hong

The very some fender Low-cost Nike Shoes, could make <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-2009-c-31.html" title="cheap nike air max 2009">cheap nike air max 2009</a>Certainly within the eyes to Protecting Regarding exterior injury. The <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-2010-c-37.html" title="cheap nike air max 2010">cheap nike air max 2010</a>Dog Capucine Flat is super flattering employing the ruched pointed toe. <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-2011-c-28.html" title="cheap nike air max 2011">cheap nike air max 2011</a>soft fabric shoes with rubber soles are really easy to walk in, it may be will need to use them the whole day long at the office. <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-247-c-50.html" title="cheap nike air max 24-7">cheap nike air max 24-7</a>women choose the look of your smooth, round toe, while other ladies really love the structure and feel associated with a pointy toe shoe, these are exactly the individuals that can be <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-360-c-61.html" title="cheap nike air max 360">cheap nike air max 360</a>. Do you need exactly the required office <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-87-c-43.html" title="cheap nike air max 87">cheap nike air max 87</a>? The Liz <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-90-c-25.html" title="cheap nike air max 90">cheap nike air max 90</a>Hartley most certainly smooth leather loafer that includes the ideal levels of style and comfort. The rubber soles help in keeping the feet from feeling tired when worn all round the day to colleagues in addition to the detail stitching really adds most of <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-91-c-46.html" title="cheap nike air max 91">cheap nike air max 91</a>to the present shoe. Just ignore looking wear pumps right through the day while you're running around school and wear established shoes may perhaps remain happy without interruption these are typically within your feet! The Edie Flat is probably good for ladies would you n't need to use just a cheap plain <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-classic-bw-c-164.html" title="cheap nike air max classic bw">cheap nike air max classic bw</a>on the feet! <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-command-c-103.html" title="cheap nike air max command">cheap nike air max command</a>round toe flats have gold hardware involve a very stylish get started looking to a normally plain <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-classic-si-c-60.html" title="cheap nike air max classic SI">cheap nike air max classic SI</a>. Attractive occupation each side flats, but desire a dressier pair to put on you have always wanted acquire all primped up, mentioned befitting your classy toes! Flat shoes are ideal for so many women since they're so <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-96-c-62.html" title="cheap nike air max 96">cheap nike air max 96</a>and fashionable, on the other hand really prevent your feet <a href="http://www.nike-dunks-2012.com/nike-air-max-95-c-40.html" title="cheap nike air max 95">cheap nike air max 95</a>.
Posted: Apr 13, 2012 nike air max shoes

I create my own mix: corn flour -60%, sugar -20%, dr. milk 20%, some soda; and plus garlic and multivitamins on side. I use it in hot climate.
No need much water to be digested.
You can just add cold (purified) water and not bother with fire. But 30sec of boiling help.
Sugar and corn flour are available in any remote village all over Latin America.
Sorry for those tests,
Posted: Apr 03, 2012 torockov

test
Posted: Apr 03, 2012 s

test
Posted: Apr 03, 2012 S

Powdered milk is the best option for backcountry travel. There are so many powdered varieties available these days... cow, soy, rice, goat, and almond milk. Almond milk is sometimes hard to find so I dehydrate my own.

That said... if weight isn't a concern one could use a little shelf-stable tetra pack. That's far too heavy for the trips we do but would be an option for an overnighter.
Posted: Mar 22, 2012 Laurie Ann

Try to bring foods that double-duty--like salami for lunch and as a dinner ingredient, peanut butter for snacks and as a sauce base, etc. You'll save weight and money and eliminate waste.
Posted: Mar 01, 2012 Camille

powdered goats milk for cereals/nola/everything just add water and not much it's rich and creamy you'll never go back...mmm
Posted: Feb 25, 2012 anti

Milk is essential for lightweight sidekicks!
Posted: Feb 24, 2012 Jason

you should look into powdered milk
Posted: Jan 31, 2012 sarah

Who brings milk on a backcountry hike?
Posted: Jan 28, 2012 joseph