Backpacking Food (Cook, No-Cook, Cold Soaking, Storage, Stoves, Cookware)

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to talk about all things related to food wild backpack I'm gonna cover types of foods that you can cook some options if you decide that you don't want to cook food storage stoves and cookware when considering the type of food that you're gonna take with you backpacking you really have to ask yourself one main question and that is do I want to cook or do I not want to cook some benefits of cooking are having a nice hot meal at the end of a long day of backpacking and I know in the summer time that may not feel as important but if you're hiking in the cooler months then that is definitely a morale booster also having some hot coffee in the morning is one of my favorite things about being on trail and cooking if you have a stove in your cooking you're gonna have a backup method of treating your water you're gonna have more variety in your diet and more options on the other side of things if you're a person who wants to see more and get more miles logged in a day cooking is gonna take more time away from hiking and finally your pack is gonna be a little bit heavier because you're gonna have the weight of your fuel your stove and your cookware now you can minimize the cost and weight of things if you just carry along a food pot and no stove and decide to cook on fires instead so just a little pointer if you do want to cook but you want to reduce the cost of gear and weight of your pack now let's talk about some food options if you decide you're gonna cook most folks who go out back pack in that have a stove are gonna carry along things like rice pasta instant mashed potatoes things that they can rehydrate because that way the foods a little bit lighter and general rule of thumb for things that you could bring along is something that you would sit on a shelf and it would take it a while to rot some people even dehydrate their own vegetables and meats like ground beef actually have a video on dehydrating ground beef without having it taste like gravel and I'll put that link in the video description so if you're interested in dehydrating your own food and you want to do ground beef then that might be something you want to check out if you dehydrate some meats and vegetables you can throw that stuff into those other types of foods I was talking about like rice and pasta just to kind of kick them up not one good source for information and where I learned to make that ground beef is backpacking chef's calm so if you want to get a little fancy on trail that is a good place to find some new recipes some people don't feel quite as creative on trail and they just want something simple but that is still really good and for that there are already prepackaged freeze-dried backpacker meals available most of the backpacker meals are pretty tasty they're high in calories and protein they can be on the pricey side but the prepackaged backpacker meals are some of the best meals I've had on trail if you're not gonna cook then you can pack along things like summer sausage jerky my favorite is bacon jerky tortilla peanut butter Nutella you still have a lot of different options again something that can kind of sit on a shelf for a little while without going bad another option for people who decide to not cook is cold soaking with cold soaking all you need is some kind of container like a twist lid Tupperware dish and then you just pour in some type of food that would need rehydrating like rice pasta all of those things that I mentioned earlier and then you add water close the top and put it back in your pack while you're hiking for a bit in the evening and then when you get to camp voila dinner is served some common snacks for backpackers are things like jerky sports bars granola bars Snickers bars and other candy chips donuts etc in cooler temperatures you can pack out more fresh type foods like apples vegetables spinach cheese just something to kind of add to your food to help you be a little bit healthier and to add more variety to your diet but just keep in mind that those fresher foods that don't need rehydrating are gonna be a little bit heavier one thing people seem to stress over when they go on their first backpacking trip is how much food should I bring per day you don't want to have way too much because then you're carrying a lot of weight on your back that you don't need you don't want to have way too little because you don't want to be hungry but I feel like this is something you just have to try and then figure out you know as you progress in your journey of backpacking almost always people overpack food so the general rule of thumb is two pounds per day now of course this is gonna vary from somebody who's a small female like my size to a larger male but again the general rule of thumb is two pounds per day you should be pretty good with that through hackers or a long-distance backpackers tend to worry more about how many calories are in each pound of their food because they want to make sure that they're maximizing that ratio so that their food is as light as possible while they're also getting as many calories as possible but when you're on a section hike or a weekend trip this isn't really something that people generally stress about as much if you want to find out more about the food that I specifically ate on each of my through hacks and I'm gonna put some videos in the video description of this video so you can find out more about that and you might get some more ideas of what people typically eat when they're backpacking now let's talk about food storage because once you have all of that good food picked out you're gonna carry with you on your backpacking trip you need to have something to keep it in most people go with a lightweight waterproof bag that has a roll down top and then clicks together and as far as sizing goes if you're going on a trip for up to five days and I think a 15 litre bag is a pretty good place to start on my thru-hike of the 18 I carried a 15 liter bag that was pretty cheap and from Academy sports and outdoors and then on the PCT and CDT I carried the Z packs bear bagging kit and it's actually 14 liters but because of the shape of the bag held my food a lot better than the bag did that I used on the Appalachian Trail if you're in bear country you'll want to hang your food at night so to do that you're gonna need some cord I suggest having about 50 to 100 feet of cord because the idea of bear bagging is you want the bag to be far enough out from the trunk of the tree that if a bear were to climb it it could just reach out and grab your food bag you want it low enough from the branch that you hang it over that the bear can't shimmy out on the limb and reach down and grab your food and then you're gonna want it high enough from the ground that it can't just reach up and grab your food bag from the ground and the hangs should take place at least a hundred feet from your camp the main reason in bear bag is you don't want a bear coming into your tent at night trying to get your food and hurting you in the process and also in general you don't want bears associating humans with food because when that happens and then you have a problem bear a lot of times it gets put down even if you're not in bear country if there are trees around bear bagging is a good idea in general because it can help protect your food from other hungry critters like mass there are several different ways to hang a bear bag I did a video where I covered three different methods so if you want to know more about the specifics of bear bagging then in the video description I will also include a link to how to hang a bear bag in some areas of bear country like the Sierra Nevada in California you're required to carry a bear canister and they are in my opinion a lot more convenient because you don't have to fuss over hanging in a bear bag you just put your food in your canister and then take it 100 feet from camp and just sit it down however there are pros and cons to every piece of gear and the same is true with bear cans because although they're convenient they're also very heavy there are some lighter weight bear cans that are made out of carbon fiber but those are pretty pricey there is another fairly common option for food storage called the earth sack and earth sack bag is basically a bear proof bag that's made out of bulletproof material or sacks come in different types and sizes it really depends on what kind of critter you're trying to keep out of your food but they're gonna be more expensive than a bear bag and kit and a little bit heavier on the other hand they're gonna be more lightweight than a bear can and probably cheaper or about the same price if you're going with a heavier bear can the earth sacks are pretty convenient like a bear canister because you just have to make sure that the bag is anchored down to a bush or a tree or a post just anything that you can make sure it's tied down pretty well I have had a lot of folks ask well what do you do about food storage in the desert where there are no trees and you can't hang a bear bag and in those and senses a bear canister or an earth sack might be useful they're heavier than your normal food bag or bear bag though so a lot of people don't really want to have to use one of those options so a lot of times what I would do is just try somehow to get my food up and off the ground and I would hang what I would call a mouse bag just on a low-hanging branch now mice could definitely still get my food and it's really gonna depend on the area that you're hiking and the time of year because they seem to be a little more aggressive late in the fall you know when food is getting scarce but when I was in the desert on the CDT and the Pacific Crest Trail I really didn't have an issue with rodents you can risk it and try to sleep with your food if you don't have to worry about a bear coming in on you but there is a chance that rodents could chew through to get to your food whenever you figure out where you're gonna go backpacking it's important to check out if there are certain requirements for that area that way you know hey bear bagging is okay or no you have to have a bear food canister some trails that you'll go backpacking on might even have designated food storage areas so they could have bear boxes hanging cables or hanging post where they want you to specifically keep your food I think your best bet is to just check for the specific area that you're gonna go backpacking and see what their requirements are for food storage if you've decided that you're gonna cook all that good food you have in your bear bags and you're gonna need a stove there are several types of stoves but fuel canister stoves are the most common and with the fuel canned stove so what happens is your stove is gonna screw on to the top of an ISO butane propane mixture fuel cannon and there's a valve that's going to control either the flow of the gas or once you light the stove then it'll control the heat of the flame some of the pros of carrying a fuel canned stove is that because you can control the temperature of the flame you kind of have more versatility you can simmer food if you want to or you can boil it quickly they do have a pretty fast cook time they're generally lightweight and not too expensive my BRS stove weighs one ounce there are some that might be a little bit heavier but are still pretty lightweight and for a good fuel canister stove you can pay anywhere from 15 to about 40 dollars one of the cons of using a fuel canister stove is that you really can't see how much fuel you have remaining in that can but as you use it by shaking it you can kind of get an idea of how much fuel is left also fuel cans are a little heavy in and of themselves so obviously the weight is gonna go down as you use the fuel canister but even when it's empty it's still kind of heavy the next common option on trail is the alcohol stove and these are fueled with denatured alcohol heat moonshine I don't know why you'd want to waste your good moonshine but basically any liquid that will burn alcohol stoves are generally pretty lightweight and inexpensive and you can even make your own at home with a tuna can or a cat food can but all you have to do is empty out the tuna or cat food and then punch some holes with a hole punch around the top rim of the can just so you give some ventilation and allow the fire to breathe you pour alcohol inside the can and then light the alcohol and set your food pot right on top of that and voila if you decide to make one of these out of the Fancy Feast food can it'll be you know a little smaller surface area to set your pot on but it weighs less than an ounce and it'll cost you whatever Fancy Feast costs and a hole punch what's nice about alcohol stoves is that you can see exactly how much fuel you have left because you're gonna have a bottle of liquid and also as you use that fuel you'll probably notice a bigger weight difference than you will when you use the fuel canisters of a fuel canned stove some of the negative aspects of using an alcohol stove is that you can't control the flame so it kind of limits your chef-like abilities also if you pour too much fuels and you have to either let it sit there and burn out so you can kind of waste fuel or you have to dump dirt on it or cover it with a pot and somehow you know choke out that flame if you knock over an alcohol stove it can put you in a tight spot if you've ever spent any time in the shelters along the Appalachian Trail and you see burn marks on the shelter floors it's probably where somebody has knocked over their alcohol stove and the alcohol keeps burning finally you're gonna have slower cook times the final stove option today that I want to talk about is a wood stove and these are fueled with either pellets or sticks of wood that you find on the forest floor these really aren't as common but if you want to do things the old-fashioned way then it might be for you wood stoves can be a bit heavier than other options but there are some more lightweight collapsible versions and if you take into consideration that you won't be carrying a separate fuel source if you decide to use little twigs and stuff then you know maybe it'll balance out a little better the main benefit I see with wood stoves and if anybody else has any other benefits please feel free to share that in the comments but my idea is that by using a wood stove you're reducing your cost of fuel wood stoves can be a little more troublesome than other stoves because if you're using wood that you find out on the trail and it's been raining for days and you're gonna have to have a little bit more skill and patience with a wood stove you're gonna have slower cook times and you won't be able to control the flame there are other stove options out there but as far as what I've seen while backpacking these are the top three tops and as you're making your decision it's really gonna depend on how much time you want to spend cooking and how much versatility you're looking for in a stove now let's talk about cookware because if you're gonna cook ya got to have a pot to cook in the first thing I was concerned about when I was trying to pick out a pot was what capacity do I need and if you're gonna be cooking and eating out of your pot then I recommend at least 900 milliliters but I like to go with a 1 liter pot and I think that's a good baseline to start with there are people who get by with less but again just being able to stir not being worried about sloshing everything around I think about a liter is good you can find pots made out of stainless steel they're gonna be cheaper but heavier titanium is a great way to go and is probably what most people use because it's durable lightweight but it's gonna be more on the expensive side what I did is I went with an aluminum grease pot made by Stan CO and it's really light not maybe as durable but I don't care if it's got a few dings and it just gives it more character and just modified the lid a little bit because it had a plastic knob so I just unscrewed that knob and replaced it with an eyebolt that way if I wanted to cook on a fire it wouldn't melt that knob I've heard that you're really not supposed to eat out of aluminum some people say that's bogus some people say yes you shouldn't do that but I always kind of joke about it and make light of it by saying that while I'm on trail I'm not using deodorant so that's how I offset my aluminum intake for my food pot I also made a pot cozy and that might be something that y'all would be interested in trying the main idea of the pot cozy is so when you start your food bowl and you don't have to keep that food in there boiling until the noodles or rice or whatever is tender you can just bring your water to a bowl have your food in there and then put your pot into a cozy and let it sit for a while and the pot cozy is made out of reflectix material which holds in that heat and continues cooking your food even though it's not on the stove with the cozies you'll have to be a little patient and wait maybe ten more minutes until your food but then you've got something to hold your food in so you're not trying to hold a hot pot and also it keeps your food warm while you're eating and the idea of the cosy is that overall it will help you with your fuel consumption and the cost of fuel don't forget that if you're gonna cook you're gonna need a utensil to eat with there's like this eternal battle between sporks and spoons and I used to be a big spork er but now I have transition to a Spooner honestly I don't know that I ever actually use the little pokey parts on a spork when I transitioned to a spoon I went with the topes long-handled titanium spoon because when you get out of those backpacker meals the little envelopes or packages that they come in are kind of deep so you have to stick a hand down in there if you've got a short spoon or spork so the long handle spoon is just kind of asked to eat those backpacker meals with honestly this is not something to stress over I mean titanium is lightweight and durable but you could always take a spoon out of your silverware drawer at home or use something plastic but of course titanium is gonna last you a little longer next some people like a cup to drink out of and some just used their food pot for coffee or tea or whatever other liquids they want to drink I prefer to have a separate cup for my pot because I like to be able to drink coffee while I'm eating my breakfast or drink tea in the evening while I'm eating my dinner the two most common cups I've seen on trill are either the titanium cups or the collapsible mugs the titanium cups could be useful if you thought that you might just use those freeze-dried backpacker meals so you only needed to boil water and you could probably get by using that mug and just heating up water in that I personally use the collapsible mug from sea2summit because it's compact it fits well in my pot with my stove and everything else and I like that it has little graduated marks in there so I know exactly how much water I'm measuring out when I'm cooking now once you eat a good meal how do you wash dishes on the trail I personally just used my hand and some water so I just pour a little bit of water in my pot and stir it around with my hand and rub all around the sides real good if there's something in there that's kind of sticking and doesn't really want to turn loose then I'll either get a twig or some moss just to give a little more scraping action inside the pot and then I just take my bandana and dry it out real well and if there's any kind of film still in the pot usually that takes care of it some people like to do a little bit better than that and they'll carry like a little piece of a dish sponge and some camp soap if you're gonna use soap to wash your dishes make sure you're at least a hundred feet from a water source alright y'all well that is all I have for you today on the topic of food and everything that surrounds it while backpacking and as I go I usually leave y'all with some kind of you know leave your favorite such and such in the comments so today I'm gonna do something a little different I want to hear if any of y'all do not take a stove while you're backpacking your best argument for why you shouldn't take a stove backpacking and I just I really want to be convinced of why I should go from having a stove to stove list for any of you new folks who are just getting into backpacking if you have a question about any of the stuff that I went over to please leave that in the comments below thank y'all so much for watching and don't forget to subscribe before you go because it helps more than you know and we will see y'all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 333,162

Rating: 4.9391012 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic

Id: wBZ07Vr6zmg

Length: 20min 7sec (1207 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2019