One pot meals. -Cooking off of the bike

Mechanical

Adventurer
I was backpacking before I got into motorcycles, so I usually just take freeze dried backpacking food. Freeze dried food has come a long way in the last ten years, and now it is actually pretty good. The stuff from Backpackers Pantry is pretty tasty, cheap (you can get it at Walmart), and very lightweight. Just add water, heat on the stove, and you are ready to go. You can cook it right in the bag so you don't even need a pot. When we are backpacking we usually take some tortillas with us as well to make burritos of sorts. One bag of this plus four tortillas is easily enough to get a substantial amount of calories into two people for one meal. Hope this helps.

http://bit.ly/IA94Ug
 

Mechanical

Adventurer
Oh, and don't forget about booze. A plastic blatter full everclear 151 and powdered grape cool aid will always get the job done, and has an amazing alcohol/weight ratio.
 

Cody1771

Explorer
i usually pack depending on the length, first day is good to do meats, they pack small and are hardy, pastas are good to, you can get pretty creative with pasta. if im just doing a weekend trip i can take pretty much anything i want. i havnt put to much thought into long distance trips but i imagine those hiking meals would be pretty good, the ones where you just add water.

oh and for breakfast... oatmeal. its the only thing ive found so far that doesnt just end up making a mess :p i like the quaker single serving pouches. you can pack a TON of them i your gear all over the place lol. im pretty biased to the apple cinnimon myself.
 
Oh, and don't forget about booze. A plastic blatter full everclear 151 and powdered grape cool aid will always get the job done, and has an amazing alcohol/weight ratio.

+1 However, I prefer bacardi 151 and coke.

I usually carry MountainHouse foods, a 1qt stainless steel water bottle, and an MSR pocket rocket stove.

Gourmet options are a luxury, and luxuries are not conducive to a light packed trip on a motorbike. Enough food to keep me alert the next day and enough booze to get me lightly schnockered each evening by the fire.
 

zolo

Explorer
I do a lot of Mountain House as well. They make breakfast and dinner. I keep about 3-4 days worth on the long rides. Restock as needed.

Jerky, almonds, and power bar type energy stuff. During the day. Its easy to find and it quick energy.

Oh and one big one for me is some type of water flavor. I find nothing but water sometimes sucks.
So I bring water drink mixes like crystal light or what have you. Flavor. It helps me drink more.
 

FAW3

Adventurer
On the MC travels...I love having a small stove. Had the backpack type and when that gave up (after about 10 years), transitioned to a Jet Boil. Very happy with either for a quick hot food item...the Jet Boil is clearly more focused on heating liquid based foods (and quickly), but can do other duties.

I usually carry some Mountain House...wide variety, taste good, travels/packs great and very easy to cook. Kinda high sodium content in most freeze dried stuff (esp. soups) may be something to watch...

I carry normally 2 small (1.5 cup?) tupperware type containers some Ben's Instant Rice, some powdered milk; also take along with prepacked oatmeal, tea, hot chocolate, and a commercial mix of spices (like an Itilian spice mix, or a jerk mix). I often do a 1/2 cup of rice, and add in some small package/can of tuna, salmon, shrimp, chicken or the like to bulk it up, add some spices...there you go. The powdered milk I like for the oatmeal and hot chocolate - using straight water is for me too bland. Sometimes instead of the instant rice, I'll take instant mashed potatoes instead...just to change the variety.

I carry a nice Le Cruzet (sp?) enamaled heavy bottom iron skillet about 6" wide. This thing is heavy - but the heavy bottom makes use with a small stove possible for decently cooking a caught fish, or doing some eggs or other food item. I collect and carry a few butter packs (as well as salt/pepper) from restaurants along with about 1oz of cooking oil in a squeeze bottle.

Most frustrations I hear about small stoves is the high heat makes "cooking" hard...yep, turn it down, and attend the skillet or pot full time is the key...you cannot just put food on and leave it sit.

Flavored water packs are really great as mentioned..."potable water" covers a broad range of taste throughout NA...nice to have!
 

WU7X

Snow on the Roof
It's amazing how you can make even freeze dried food a bit more pallatable by bringing along some small plastic shakers of spices. I like Italian seasoning, white pepper, lemon pepper, Johnnie's seasoning salt, boullion cubes, and even a small container of tabasco sauce. For the first couple of days, I like to bring along fresh fruit. My favorite is a big orange. High water content and lots of Vitamin C. Perfect for that first get off in mid-morning! Seems to suck the dust right out of your throat.
 

INSAYN

Adventurer
Anyone have anything to share in regards to cooking off of the bike? I am well aware of Ara's website: http://store.theoasisofmysoul.com and Living Overland: http://www.livingoverland.com/ but would like a bit more info and insight as to what others are doing.

I have a nice MSR stove and sno-peak cookset I carry but have never used it. :Wow1::chef:

Be sure to visit your local $0.99 Store. I have found many pasta dinners that just require some boiling water. Various tuna in Mylar pouches, SPAM singles, oriental soups that just need boiling water, instant mashed potatoes, corn bread and biscuit mixes that just needs water added and baked. You can easily bake small batches of corn bread or biscuits by steaming them in a plastic bag, or being creative with tin foil next to a fire, or even with you camp cookset pots.

Here's a great example of steamed corn bread.



Then there are many items that you can make at home, dry on a food drier and then rehydrate with just water and heat.
I don't usually promote youtube channels specifically, but I have run across a pretty creative guy that does a lot of food drying for his backpacking trips.

Check out Babelfish5's Channel (The Hungry Hammock Hanger). He does a lot with beans, and all look awesome!
 

ChadHahn

Adventurer
If you have a food dehydrator you can prepare meals and then dehydrate them. The only thing I've done is spaghetti, it's kind of trial and error to figure out how much water to add but it works.

Chad
 

Clutch

<---Pass
Mostly Mountain House, or dried foods...maybe some of those tuna packets and crackers...nothing too fancy...something I only have to boil water for...as I don't like to actually have to "cook", or like to carry perishables on the bike. Practice the K.I.S.S. method as much as possible while traveling on two wheels, carry too much food means weight...too much weight equals bad....

Also grab something to eat as I refuel...or stop at a grocery store if I know I am stopping soon and grab a steak, go over to the soda machine and toss some ice in doubled up plastic bag to keep the the meat cold, while heading out of town.
 

robert

Expedition Leader
If you're sensitive to sodium watch the content in dehydrated foods, most of them are high; it also means you'll probably need to drink more water. That said, I buy some of those cup of noodles/soup/pasta from the local EarthFare and repackage them using the vacuum packer or just dumping them in a Ziploc bag. You can get low sodium varieties if you look for them (I don't like salty foods even though I'm not salt sensitive). Throw in some fresh green onions or whatever else you have on hand and some of them aren't that bad.
 

rathackman

New member
While on a trip I find I usually eat one meal a day out since a big part of the adventure for me is finding good local foods and restaurants...

I make every effort without being religious about it, to eat natural and whole foods, organically raised if possible. On the other hand I will eat a Big Mac if need be....I don't miss many meals....:)

I will carry several breakfasts of a plain instant oatmeal (the instant packaged ones are mostly sugar) , nuts, usually pecans since I live in pecan country, and dried fruit of some kind, often cranberries or blueberries. I mix these together in ziploc bags per meal. I like to add a few tablespoons of dried soy milk....I carry a container of it and it keeps really well and immediately dissolves when put in water... (I use Better Than Milk brand)

When I make hot water for coffee in the morning with my Primus stove, I make enough to fill the oatmeal bowl with enough water to soak and hydrate the oatmeal. It is done and ready to eat in just a couple minutes.

I always carry a few things to make a meal if needed. I have a couple foil envelopes of dried chicken noodle soup, a couple foil packs of tuna salad, a couple of Spam slices. I carry good crackers, a few bagels, a pack of wheat tortillas, fresh ground peanut butter, a bottle of honey. Several high energy bars, some dried fruit and nuts.

I ride a sidecar rig so I do have more room than most but I try to travel as light as I comfortably can. I have gotten away from ice and refrigeration of any kind. More of a hassle then I like to deal with and I have learned to drink warmer water, etc. I do have a Aerostich cooler cover for a bottle that you wet and when you are in the wind it cools your drink down. I like it. I don't drink alcohol so there is no problem keeping beer cold, etc.

Living near Mexico in a Hispanic culture, as well as spending a lot of my time in Latin America, I eat as is pretty customary there.
Lots of fresh onions, garlic, jalapeño peppers, red and green chile powder, etc., tortillas, eggs and some meat and fish. Lots of fresh fruit.I like cheese too but in Mexico,...not so much as there isn't as much flavor in their cheeses.

I find this way of eating perfect for my camping habits and everything I make has some of those ingredients, sometimes all of them. Dried re-fried beans and Rice Sides work well to repackage and make as part of a meal.

I use a small spray bottle of vinegar water mix to spray on whatever needs cleaning, even on fruits and veggies to sanitize. Or my ever present bottle of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint castile soap and a dish washing sponge cut in half.

When traveling in Mexico or anywhere in Latin America I eat out more often as I absolutely love the foods there. But I still eat my main meal in the morning or middle of the day and lightly at night....

Mostly I try to eat simply on the road and not have cooking be a large event...Lots of cold food too. In Latin America I eat a lot of street food...just make sure it is being cooked as I watch.

I just learned on my last trip that a bladder from a box of wine makes a really good little water vessel for camp...takes up little room and you can carry it in a plastic shopping bag back from the spigot! My friend who does still drink, brought one along and I was impressed with it. I proceeded to find one in a campground dumpster so have one of my own now. hehehe
Actually I carry a 2 1/2 gallon jug of water on my sidecar so I am usually set up fine.

Hope this makes sense and might be helpful to someone....
Happy trails...
Brian
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,533
Messages
2,875,602
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top