[pct-l] trail cooking

Wed Oct 27 15:29:29 CDT 2010

What is the problem with just eating out of the bag? I've really taken a
liking to using those bags to "cook" my one pot meals. I put the dry
ingredients into the bag, poor in boiling water, and then let it "cook" for
awhile. When it's ready, I just eat out of the bag. You just need a long
spoon. I picked up a telescoping spoon a couple months ago. It works great.
It's long, but it collapses down to fit inside my greasepot cookpot. The one
I bought is made by Jet Boil, but there were a couple brands of telescoping
spoons at my local shop. At first I thought $6.99 for a spoon was crazy, but
it actually works so well that I decided it was worth every penny. :)  My
previous spoon was about 15 years old. I had bent it and cut the end off to
make it fit in my cookset. The new solution is much better.

In regards to the cozy... I just stick the bag inside my down coat. This has
a couple benefits. If I'm wearing the coat, it must be cold. This means I
get the extra warmth of the hot food bag. I can't express how nice this is
when it's really cold ;)  If it's warm out, I can still use the down coat to
wrap around it. No need to carry anything extra. The only caveat I would
give is make sure the zip lock is sealed well or you will end up with food
on your coat. Not that I know anything about that ;)

This method has worked well for me on my last 3 trips. I like to have a
couple of the bags, so I either bring a couple freeze dried meals or just
the empty bags from previous trips. I've used them dozens of times and they
are no worse for wear. The biggest benefit for me is in dry camps. First,
they use less water as it is all absorbed and/or consumed. More importantly
IMHO is, I don't have to use water to wash my cookpot. If I have 2 or 3 of
the bags, I can cook a dinner and a breakfast and wait until I am at water
to cleanup. Also, the bags cleanup much much easier than a cookpot. Put some
water in the bag, shake it up real good, repeat, done.

On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 9:24 AM, Mike Cunningham <hikermiker at yahoo.com>wrote:

> I use an Caldera Cone inferno from Antigravity Gear to cook. It nicely
> comes in a container, one side of which I use for holding a one quart ziploc
> bag into which I pour the boiling water having previously put whatever I
> want heated up into the bag. The other side can be used as a cup but would
> then need to be cleaned.
>
> hm
>
> --- On Tue, 10/26/10, Scott Williams <baidarker at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Scott Williams <baidarker at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] trail cooking
> To: "Paul A" <alphabetsoupmmm at gmail.com>
> Cc: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 11:32 PM
>
>
> At kick off, a fellow had a table for making pot cozys, and it turned out
> to
> be a favorite piece of gear for a number of us.  Smiles and I loved ours as
> you could bring your meal to a boil, pasta, rice, couscous, or whatever,
> let
> the stove go out, and slip the pot into its cozy and cozy cover, and let it
> steep.  I've used this technique for years without a cozy, but with one the
> food has a more cooked taste and texture.  I guess it simply keeps things
> just that much hotter, and also makes the pot really comfortable to hold
> when you go to eat out of it.  Smiles even had one for a piece of tupper
> ware with lid which she used to steep a wonderful batch of oatmeal, nuts
> and
> dried fruit she began re-hydrating in the evening so it would be ready for
> breakfast each morning.  That breakfast is so delicious, I'm making it
> still
> off trail every evening for breakfast the next day.  The cozys were simple,
> just a bit of foil insulation, like bubble wrap, which we cut and taped
> together with clear mailing tape.  The temps of the hot pot never caused
> any
> of the tape glue to break down and they are as good today, (a bit dirtier)
> as they were at kick off.  Be sure to make a cozy for a lid as well.  The
> cozy and lid weigh almost nothing and pack in place around my pot and lid
> when not in use.
>
> As for freezer bag rigidity, I agree, they have very little and although I
> ate out of them whenever I had an actual freeze dried meal in a pouch,
> which
> was not often, the bags were a pain.
>
> Shroomer
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 8:06 PM, Paul A <alphabetsoupmmm at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I climbed Viejas peak today, and while on top of the mountain, decided to
> > try out Freezer bag cooking..I'm relatively new to long distance hiking
> so
> > I
> > am spending a lot of time learning to live the life of a hiker...Anyone
> > have
> > any suggestions as to what I should use for a cozy? What about eating out
> > of
> > those freezer bags, they have no rigidity what-so-ever..Any suggestions?
> I
> > spend a ton of time experimenting, (have nothing but time on my
> > hands...with
> > income, so it works out..)  Any suggestions will be happily accepted and
> > tested as I am not the type to wait until I'm actually on my way to
> canada
> > to discover an issue with a piece of my gear...
> >
> > thanks all
> >
> > --
> > _______________________________________________
> > Pct-L mailing list
> > Pct-L at backcountry.net
> > To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> >
> > List Archives:
> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>