Cooking and Nutrition

I have been experimenting with no cook backpacking meals from Outdoor Herbivore for the past six weeks to see if I want to bring them on a big backpacking trip I have slated for this year. I’ve been burned by bringing food that I haven’t tried at home on trips …

It’s a sad fact that many of the grocery stores you used to find in small towns along the Appalachian Trail and other hiking trails have been replaced by gas station convenience stores. The quality of food available has suffered and it can be difficult to walk away with anything resembling …

Have you ever looked at the nutrition labels on Mountain House and Harmony House backpacking meals and Knorr Rice and Pasta sides. You’ll be appalled by the amount of sodium included in these meals, especially since the other trail foods (nuts, bars, salty snacks) most people eat during the day, also …

Backpackers are always looking for ways to save pack weight. Some continuously upgrade to the latest lightweight gear, while others remain solely focused on eliminating all but the necessities. Regardless of the motivation, the objective is the same – to lessen the load so that hiking is easier and more …

What’s your cooking style on backpacking trips? Do you prefer to mix up your own freezer bag meals using store ingredients or ingredients you’ve dehydrated at home? Or do you like eating soupy, one-pot meals that easy to heat and clean up? Many hikers like buying commercial dehydrated dinners from …

Many of us eat ramen noodles on the trail because they cook so fast, but shy away from dried pasta because it takes so long to cook and uses too much stove fuel. But did you know that you don’t have boil dried pasta using the amount of water recommended on the …

One of the secrets of successful backpacking is learning how to become extremely organized and to stay organized throughout your trip. That might sound obvious but it’s actually a skill that requires a lot of practice and the development of a set of rituals that you can “do in your …

Have you ever been on a backpacking trip and not had an appetite? Even if you’re hiking 15 to 20 miles a day? It’s frustrating because you know you should be hungry, and you know need energy to hike the next day, but you can’t bring yourself to dig in …

Outdoor Herbivore’s Vegan Cheddar Herb Sauce is a great way to dress up ramen noodles or instant mashed potatoes and turn them into a tasty powerhouse of a meal. Entirely vegan and non-dairy, you’ll swear there’s cheddar cheese  in this sauce even though it’s just a mix of nutritional yeast, …

I had a reader contact me recently asking me how he could cook dinner in the rain, inside a double walled tent with an MSR Whisperlite stove. He wanted to know whether he should get rid of his tent and replace it with a tarp that could be pitched higher …