[pct-l] Cooking Methods

[Jim Marco]

Daniel,
	Well it saves some...depends on how much water you are boiling, what type of stove system, how quickly the stuff will rehydrate with cold water, cooking style, etc. Generally, not enough to really bother with, I have found.
	Example: I typically do about 2-1/2 to 3 cups for an evening meal. After it starts to boil, I dip my cup to get enough for hot cocoa (aluminum cub, about weighs 1-5/8oz for 11.5oz) for hot cocoa, dump my premixed contents (veggies, boulion, rice/noodles, or whatever I decided to cook that night) and replace the cover. I stir it in once before the stove goes out, replacing the lid, and, making sure the stove is out, put my hat on top of it. I mix the cocoa, and drink a cup, shake out my bedding a bit more, set up for sleeping, do other camp chores (mending any tears, taking my boots off, rinsing my socks, and liners, getting firewood, etc...about 20 minutes worth...) and when I get back to it, it should be ready to eat. Sometimes I will mix up some dough and make a bisquit if I have a fire. Or, maybe start a bannock. Sometimes I will mix a little dough and make dumplings by adding about a 1/3oz of fuel and relighting the stove to boil the mix again after about 10 minutes of slow cooking. Sometimes I will drop a tablespoon of flour right in the mix making stew. Anyway, I eat whatever is ready. This takes about an ounce-maybe a bit more of alcohol in a cone. Some stuff (carrots, or dehydrated potatoe bits for example) might want more cooking, but I usually ignore that, eating whatever is cooled enough to eat. This is for a standard Caldera Cone set up, and, assumes you camp somewhere near water. If there is no water around, meaning I have to carry water in anyway, it doesn't make sense not to start rehydrating sometime before actual cooking. Do not forget, just because something is rehydrated, does NOT mean it is cooked. ~200F water will rehydrate most stuff in 3-4 minutes, but cooking is different. You need to break down any plant/animal tissue with heat to achieve what we think of a "cooked" state.  
	Overall, it does not pay to carry the 3/4 pound of cold water mixed with 1/2 pound of soup mix to rehydrate them for half a day. It costs about an extra 1/4oz of fuel just to cook them all at once. If I have a cold drink instead, I can save about 1/4oz of the fuel anyway, getting it down to about 3/4oz for cooking supper. The math doesn't make much sense to me: say 2 hours at 20oz while walking, or walking with an extra 1oz of fuel for the day. This works out to be about 1.74oz per hour carried weight for walking 12 hours or 1/4oz extra fuel divided by 12 hours. Cooking fuel weight is still about 3/4oz at a minimum. (I am only talking a solo supper, no hot drinks, no breakfast.)
	Precooking will save the fuel entirely, but you still have to add water well in advance of stopping. Or stop where water is available for an hour or so to rehydrate it. I tried this, and, it ain't no fun on a 32F morning to go without HOT coffee, cocoa, oatmeal in the morning...personal addiction on a hiking trip.
    My thoughts only . . .
			Jdm


-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Daniel Zellman
Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2013 8:53 AM
To: PCT-L
Subject: [pct-l] Cooking Methods

I think this may already have been discussed on here, but I can't find it in the archives and so was wondering if anyone can speak to whether it actually saves a significant amount fuel to cook by boiling JUST water and pouring it into the bag/pot with the beans [potatoes/noodles/whatever] vs putting the dry beans [potatoes/noodles/whatever] into the pot with the cold water and bringing the whole thing to a boil.

Thanks.

-dz

--
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
    --Buddhist proverb
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