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Backpacker Magazine – Online Exclusive

Trail Chef: Send Us Your Backcountry Cooking Secrets

Plus: 10 time-saving tips from the pros

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Food
Skills

Do you have a quick-and-easy, handy-dandy trick for making camp meals taste better, cook faster, clean up more easily, or weigh less? Tell us! We’ll pick the best ones and run them in our January Readers’ Choice issue. Here are 10 secrets from our own chefs to get you started.

1. Add the right amount of spices—but without packing teaspoons—using these “rules of thumb”:

1/8 teaspoon = one-finger-and-thumb pinch
1 teaspoon = three-fingers-and-thumb pinch
1 tablespoon = four-fingers-and-thumb pinch
½ cup = 1 palmful

2. Brew cowboy coffee. Stir grounds into hot water; let it stand a few minutes. Grasp the kettle by the handle and swing your arm—fast—in a windmill motion for five or six full circles (like a softball pitcher winding up). To settle the grounds, tap the sides of the kettle and add a few drops of cold water.

3. Choose the right cheese. Hard cheeses (like cheddar, Swiss, Parmesan, provolone, and Gouda) stay fresh about one week in temps of 40°F to 70°F. Semisoft (Monterey Jack, mozzarella, Havarti, Muenster) last about four days. Meanwhile, blue-veined cheeses (Roquefort) and soft cheeses (cream cheese, Brie) can keep less than a day in your pack. Of course, in cold temps, the pack life for a cheese increases by a week or two.

4. Want to melt chocolate for fondue but without having the chocolate burn to the bottom of the pot? For no-mess fondue, pour hot (near boiling) water over it, and wait five to 10 minutes (don’t stir!). Then drain the water, stir the chocolate, add any cream or flavorings, and enjoy. Watch the step-by-step video at Trail Chef: Chocolate Fondue.

5. Melt snow efficiently. While melting snow in a pot (you do this by placing snow and a little bit of water in a pot and heating it over a stove), get twice the bang for your butane by filling a second pot with snow, covering it, and setting it atop the first, to take advantage of the rising heat.

6. Eat steak halfway through your backpacking trip. Freeze the meat before your trip, then insulate it with paper towels and or newspaper. When the T-bone thaws a couple of days later (depending on the temperatures), you can grill it up.

7. Clean a funky-smelling hydration bladder. Irrigate it with a diluted bleach solution (1 teaspoon bleach per quart of water). Rinse well, and hang dry.

8. Deal with burned with food. If your noodles or rice starts to burn on the bottom of your pot, don’t stir it. That will only spread the nasty char taste. Transfer the unburned food into a bowl, clean the pot, then move the rest of the noodles back into the pot, and finish cooking them.

9. Perfectly melt the cheese on a pizza. Before removing your pie from a Dutch oven, sprinkle a teaspoon of water onto the very edge of the pan (not on the crust). The water will vaporize, and will melt cheese in less than a minute.

10. Make cleanup super easy. Bring Tupperware containers for your bowls. When you’re done, add a little bit of water, put the lid on, and shake vigorously. Then wipe away the mess with ease.

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READERS COMMENTS

Thanks for all your great tips, readers!
Posted: Sep 23, 2010 BACKPACKER: The Pulse

I am planning a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail for 2011. I am going to buy a bulk supply of dehydrated foods, create my own meals adding extra seasonings and sauces, and vacuum seal them. This will cut weight and cost while increasing both my meal variety; based on my own personal preferences, and the simplicity of cooking when its dinner time on the trail.
Posted: Sep 17, 2010 Danielle Anderson

I am planning a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail for 2011. I have been looking into doing mail drops. I want the most cost efficient lightweight food with the most variety. So I started researching. Some like to buy all of those expensive pre-packaged meals, some like to dehydrate their own food and some buy non-perishable items from the store and use zip lock bags.

I have decided I will buy a bulk supply of dehydrated food. Costco has a six month supply of dehydrated and freeze dried food for one person totaling 2515 servings at a cost of only $549.99. It is called the Self Reliance Thrive system. Adding some extra spices and sauces I will package my own meals with a vacuum sealer, cutting weight and cost as well as increasing my variety of meals based on my own personal preferences.

Posted: Sep 17, 2010 Danielle

Combine in a small freezer bag. One small jar of whole mushrooms (drained) and cream of mushroom soup. Double bag and freeze. Pack this insulated with paper towel or newspaper along with a packet of pre drained tuna and some rice. A couple days into the trip when the soup thaws. Combine in pot the soup and tuna. Heat thoroughly and pour over cooked rice. Salt and pepper to taste. Makes a great tasting, rib sticking, filling, re-energizing meal fit for a king.
Posted: Sep 16, 2010 Randy Bowman

Cheesy potato mashers with no cleanup:

Boil water.
In a ziploc:
Potato flakes, cheese packet from mac and cheese, powdered milk, spices.
Slowly add water, zip closed and knead. Add bacon.
Enjoy.
Toss bag.
Posted: Sep 16, 2010 Matthew

For a light weight non-spoiling lemon juice Substitute - use un-sweeten powdered kool-aid - add to your mix or sprinkle on top�
Posted: Sep 16, 2010 Jeff Dillavou

The best campfire cooking ever done was by my Friend Carly Drought (she's a hydrologist). She called the meal outdoor omelets and they were to die for...here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

- eggs,
- celery
- basil
- tomatoes
- cheddar cheese
- green and/or red peppers
- hot sauce (tobasco)

Cooking Instructions:

- put large pot on fire to boil
- hand out sturdy sandwich sized zip-lock bags to all those who plan on eating
- Crack one to two eggs in to the bag and mush up until the yolk and white are nicely blended
- add cut up tomatoes, celery and peppers
- add a pinch of basil and possibly hot sauce if you like it
- Throw in grated cheese or small cubes if you are cutting it up
- mush up a bit more and mix the the ingredients in to the eggs
- drop the bag in to the boiling water and leave there for three to five minutes
- remove from pot open and eat!

yumm!

Posted: Sep 16, 2010 DBE