Mt Whitney Zone Forums Gear Heads no-cook trail food

I'm really happy to have found some ways to make some decent homemade trailfood. I was prowling around this forum and following some links and have come upon some good solutions for us.

We wanted to not bring a stove, and we also wanted whole foods as best we could plus one of us is a vegetarian. Perhaps a tough call.

I used to make a bunch of beef jerky before a trip, but wanted something more filling-feeling this time. Plus the new vegetarian.

But combining the ideas of home-made boil-in-bags with dehydrated options we found "Harmony House" dehydrated foods that allow us to have beans and lentils without long cook times.

I ordered their deluxe sampler and we've been making no-cook baggie-meals to try out recipes. The rehydrated vegetables are surprisingly flavorful just being soaked not cooked. So I'm happy to report apparent success at finding ways to have yummy home-spiced bean salads and vegetable stews (and possibly tacos!) that we will rehydrate as we hike and eat upon arrival at camp. A foil pouch of salmon steaks added to the omnivore's bags at the end and I think we will eat very well!

It will also save on weight as we don't need to pack individual pouches, we can just pack all 4 people's meals into a single larger baggie which can then be re-sealed with the trash in it when we're done.

This is what we bought:
http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/Deluxe-Sampler-30-ZIP-Pouches_p_1853.html

I gave up on pots, pans, fuel, cleanup, stove, etc. Go lighter.

I can easily live a week on
Tang and Fig Newtons for breakfast
raisins, peanuts, M&Ms, bars, salted almonds, etc during day
jerky or real bacon bits (no, not bacos)+ nabs for supper. desert is instant vanilla pudding+ dry milk, + cold stream water
if bored with this, eat some more M&Ms
some dried fruit every now and then


if this sounds too skimpy, then load up with burgers before and after. No one starves to death in a week

I like the way you think.

I just did Whitney without a stove. One word of warning: Do not mix spiced couscous with Hostess single server pie snacks. It will absorb the flavor. With temperatures where they were, I actually wish I had a stove. We survived just fine though.

I'm constantly bouncing back and forth between freezer bag cooking (for dinner only) and going cold.

On my last trip 2 weeks ago from Kearsarge to Portal, I decided to go cold once more since I was out only 2 nights (once below Forester and the next night @ Crabtree RS).

Like you, I take my own mix of nuts, dried fruit and caramel/chocolate. As you say, no one ever starved to death in 5 days (or less).

However, like usual, I regretted not having a hot meal at night. To make matters worse (from a "stupid light" perspective), I have a Caldera cone + Ti pot that weigh a combined 10oz. A few esbit fuel tabs weigh maybe another oz. (I an get two boils out of 1 tab.)

My hot meal of choice are 3-4 cups of ramen dumped into a single freezer bag that amounts to almost 1,000 calories. Even better, the super sodium hot water mix is a great sleep inducer + warmth enhancer.

I've got a short trip up Shepherd to Wallace/Wales lake at the end of July, but this time I'm taking my cooking system.

I am looking at my last two boxes of resupplies I am about to drop at Parcher's and Reds Meadow, wondering if I could do without the stove. Maybe for a while, but not for a long hike. Just the lack of coffee in the morning would drive me out of the mountains after a week. It all can be done, but it's just not worth it to me.

Long ago, I hiked without any stove or intent to eat anything warm, and then I shared a camp site with another hiker who had pretty much the same ideas about mountains and how to travel light and affordable, however, he had a stove. He cooked me some wicked spaghetti, with a little French wine we picked up that day, some fresh onion, tomato paste, cut up salami, yummmie. I don't think I ever went out into the mountains without a stove again.

For a summer Whitney climb, though, I don't think you need any of that. We are facing a 3+ week trip starting once our car gets fixed here in Bishop, hopefully tomorrow. Just to keep the morale of my son at above 50%, we need some really good warm meals in the evenings, warm drinks for breakfast. That's all we need the stove for, but it's so worth it.

Hot chocolate works every time with my son. LOL

Hot chocolate is a universal cure. I've had good luck with the following, though you might only want one of the flavors at a time:

1/4 cup Nido milk powder (any Indian store)
2TBSP Valrhona cocoa powder -- it is strong, so YMMV
1TBSP sugar (I like coconut sugar)
1TBSP Yaucono Selecto instant coffee from Puerto Rico
1TBSP coconut cream powder (any Asian store)

Put in a plastic peanut butter jar and shake to knock out clumps.

Add ~1 Cup cold water (hot causes clumping) and shake it smooth. Now you can heat it if you wish, but I like it cold.