[pct-l] Cookless meals in Section A

[Brian McLaughlin]

No recipes to share, just a few no-cook tips:

You can rehydrate some foods without cooking, just by putting
the dehydrated food, together with water, into a well-sealed (!)
container a couple of hours ahead of time and putting it back
into your pack. It'll rehydrate as you walk.

Pasta and noodles, generally, do not rehydrate well in this way.
The semolina flour used in most pasta requires cooking, so,
unless you precook the pasta at home and dry it again in a
dehydrator, what you'll get will be a soppy, nearly inedible
paste instead of yummy noodles.

Also, the easiest no-cook food tends to be junk food and
other highly processed stuff. This puts a premium on finding
ways to get enough fiber into your diet. Without fiber your
"mountain" digestive system will struggle mightily to bring forth
its "mouse" each day. Dried fruit is a good way around this
problem. Dried vegies, too, although they are not easy to
find if you aren't using maildrop resupply and prefer to shop
for supplies at each town.

Experiment at home to discover what works best for you.
Appetites are very individual and one man's meat is another
man's poison, as they say.

Happy hiking!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J J at Ridge Trail" <jj at ridgetrailhiker.com>
Subject: [pct-l] Cookless meals in Section A


> I learned a lot from the messages recounting fires started by hikers in 
> southern California, and that reinforced my decision to go stoveless until 
> at least Kennedy Meadows (south).
>
> I am looking for great recipes and strategies for cookless eating on the 
> trail.