BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Giant Eagle, as well as other stores, carries pouches of Indian food by a company called Tasty Bite No need to refrigerate, perfectly edible cold (although better warmed), and, well, tasty. They're not terribly high-calorie (roughly 300 calories per pouch), so you'd probably want to supplement with some flatbread or similar.

This is possibly my favorite topic of all things to discuss in all contexts!! I like making a real and proper dinner when I am camping (biking or backpacking). Things that cook quickly and are super nutritious are my goals. are you bringing a camp stove or are you planning to build fires, or do you want cold options? One thing that is great about the GAP/C&O is that you can easily swing through towns to pick up a few things here and there so you can a) eat fresher stuff while carrying less, and b) wing it!

Emma, I was talking with my bike mate and he suggests a portable stove and some freeze dried meals (just add water). So I'm leaning towards that but definitely interested in other opinions!

Oh you can do way better than freeze-dried!! Even cooking up a big pot of pasta and sauce is easy and awesome. Dunno what kind of dietary restrictions you might have or foods you like, but there is always a workaround. I really like to bring cornmeal or milled rice for grits / polenta-- cooks up fairly quickly and is a great extender for the Indian food packets mentioned above. It is easy to make a pot of soup or stew. Red lentils cook up fast. You could whip up some peanut sauce in a bowl while you have some pasta going, and yet pal can slice up some vegetables and there you have a great fresh meal without much effort. I eat a mostly vegan diet which makes camp cooking a lot easier (no worries about contaminated knives or cutting boards, etc) so I can't really speak to cooking meat. Cheese travels well. You can bring a small bottle of oil and a couple ziplock bags of spices and the world is your oyster!

Or, if you just want to be lazy, just pick up some MREs from an army surplus store. No need for the stove - just add water and be done with it.

Or if you wanna be super lazy, a jar of peanut butter and a bag of carrots will take you pretty far too!

Also, I totally don't mean to be dismissive of quick n dirty camping dinners! They can be really fun, and of course easy if you don't like cooking. I love camp cooking though and love to talk about it. Haha!

Sounds like you need to come with us wink wink

Ha! I am actually going next week!

Also, I camped last weekend at Roundbottom for my birthday, and the other folks at the campsite made me birthday s'mores!! Don't discount the possibility of sharing a meal on the trail!

I've been thinking of doing a long, long, long bike ride and have been thinking of similar considerations. My favorite food is burritos. I wonder if I could carry dry beans, ride with some of them soaking, then cook them in the evening and kind of just keep that cycle going. I'm a vegan myself, so again, makes contamination issues less, and I think spoilage less of a problem too. Maybe I could bring small onions too. Basically, just try and prepare and cook a lot of single meals so I don't have to worry about refrigeration, but the components have long storage life themselves. If you got into canning, or know anybody who cans, or you can probably just buy... small things of jelly, which again, can be put on bread with peanut butter or something. Bread is good for a couple of days.

Cooking beans sounds like it would take a loong time. I am a big fan of the instant refried beans (kidney or black- I like the red stuff) sold at the coop in the bulk section- just add hot water, stir, and wait a few minutes. You can make as runny or stiff as you like. I often have a small container already made up in my fridge for whatever. I always liked mixing a little powdered milk, peanut butter, honey, and maybe a touch of nutritional yeast for a super nutritious snack.

If you do take meat, consider taking sliced, cured meat, as it should eliminate most of the fuss and worry you might have. It was actually all I took for my GAP ride, but then, I had meals planned to be in towns along the way.

Boxed mac and cheese. Add a little water and butter (or a touch of vegetable oil). Light, cheap, high calorie content. If you use butter as directed, it's about 1k calories a box. Easy mac may be good as well and don't need butter, but they are single serving, create more trash, and take up more pack space. Those indian packets (also available at trader joes) and some instant rice work pretty well also. Hard cheese and Cured meat or jerkey is nice. I never feel full when eating just carbs. Oatmeal + raisins + walnuts in a bag and a touch of brown sugar pre-measured before the trip and individually bagged. Just mix with boiling water in the morning and let sit for 5-10 min. A scoop of peanut butter can be added for more calories. Chocolate bars with nuts. Grab a few meals along the way at restaurants for a break from camp food.

Dont forget to forage along the way too. While I wouldnt count on them for all my calories, they can be a great added burst of flavor. And lots of berries are just a few weeks away, and many "weeds"are already available. Here's a good video library from a guy in Florida, but many of these plants can be found in PA too. https://www.youtube.com/user/EatTheWeeds/videos

You can def do the soaking of lentils, not sure I would do it for other beans, just because they take so long to cook that it is a lot of fuel. But I have also heard of this approach for steel cut oats for breakfast -- letting them sit overnight with boiling water poured over them. Then breakfast is ready when you get up! I haven't done that while camping but I attest that it works just fine in a regular kitchen. We set out tomorrow and have a head of broccoli to take with us. Haha!

And yeah, onions!! When we are in Spain last year, our bags were full of shallots and red bell peppers and avocados and small packets of tomato soup and pasta.

couscous is also a light food for packing. if using for breakfast I put dried fruit in for flavoring, you could also add a broth or other flavorings/ add ons for a dinner side.

Ooh, that reminds me: quinoa! Delicious, light, easy to pack, doesn't go bad, complete protein.

We are on the trail right now. Dinner last night was broccoli and rice noodles. Oatmeal with peanut butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon for breakfast. Sandwiches for lunch today. Q took a photo of a loaf of bread tucked into my gear. Tonight's dinner will be potatoes, mushrooms, string beans, and bell peppers. Basically, we are always game to stop at a grocery to pick up a few things. There is a fine grocery in Shepherdstown WV, and in Connellsville, and I am sure some other handy spots too. Even a gas station will usually have a can of beans and a can of peaches!

Staying at a hotel tonight to warm up and dry out, but picked up ingredients for tacos for tomorrow. Is this thread destined to become my camp cookery diary? Haha! But no, really, even in the tiny grocery in Cumberland, we found tortillas, black beans, an onion and pepper, and some tomatoes. We have come prepared with spices. Also, Cumberland might not have a whole lot going for it, but it does have a sign for drivers coming down the alley to watch out for pedestrians. I like that burden being on the drivers! Good job, little city!

Out last night camping, we made a red lentil cauliflower coconut curry! SO GOOD! We had the revelation that you can get cut veg in whatever quantity you desire from grocery stores with salad bars. The world has just opened up!!!!

I'm the guy who shows up 10 miles back into the Dolly Sods wilderness with a NY Strip Steak stuffed with gorgonzola and roasted red peppers, with some sweet potatoes, asparagus, and a cold 6-pack kept cold with those break n shake ice packs normally used for sports injuries (once the ice thaws). However, a few of my favorite EASY to pack backpacking meals include: Bacon Mac N Cheese Just get a box of the GOOD mac and cheese (the one with the cheese sauce pouch vs the powdered cheese crap). Grab a package of freeze dried bacon chunks and you're good to go. Turkey Dinner Take a box of Stovestop stuffing and seal it in a smaller bag. Grab a turkey gravy packet, some dried cranberries, and a pouch of chunked chicken breast (or even Turkey if you can FIND it). I did this on a backpacking trip around Thanksgiving once and it wasn't half bad. There are tons of things you can make along those lines. Granted, it's all processed GMO riddled garbage, but it beats the crap out of Ramen Noodles and Granola at the end of a day! Either of the above can be cooked with a small backpacking cookware set and butane stove and/or jet boil system.

Turkey Dinner!!!!!!! Amazing.

Foil pouches of tuna or chicken. Tuna packs are always in the tuna section of the grocery store, chicken is a bit hit-and-miss. They're lighter than cans, have almost nothing to drain, and taste better. Pre-cooked bacon stores at room temperature, says to refrigerate after opening, but I'll be it will be ok for several days. Onions, they keep well. Small bottle of olive oil. Small pasta, like couscous or orzo, cooks faster than bigger pieces, tastes about the same. If you want spaghetti, you can pick up prepared spaghetti sauce in a grocery store that day -- it's heavy, so you won't want to carry it far. Sauce packets from the grocery store. Or get creative -- I've done faux-Thai by thinning peanut butter with soy sauce and adding some garlic or hot sauce (which you can find in small packets). I did this with chicken, not tuna. Fresh vegetables from stores along the way. Prepare the pasta, saute the onion and fresh vegetables, dump in the chicken or tuna, stir in the pasta to reheat. Skip the freeze-dried meals. Freeze-dried peas and corn are ok, you can find them as snacks at Whole Paycheck, probably cheaper than the camping version. MREs are actually ok, much better than freeze-dried (though heavier, because you don't add water). For lunch, peanut butter, hard cheese, hard salami or other cured sausage. Carry sturdy bread like bagels or flatbread or WASA crackers, or buy rolls along the way. If you want tuna salad, use a ziplock bag to mix a couple of packets of mayo with a foil pack of tuna. Seal the bag, squish with your hands until it's mixed. You can toss in nuts, dried fruit, etc for flavor.