No water and no stove food

[amp713]

So every year I seem to overpack in the food department, by day two or three I'm sick of Mountain house style meals and MRE's aren't much better and usually weigh a fair bit more. I make it another day or two on Idahoan potatoes and tuna and then I find myself snacking on less than healthy treats more than eating real meals. As I look at my food situation I constantly find myself wanting to find food that doesn't dip into my water supply and doesn't require a stove or fuel canisters. I often start real fires while up hunting and am often crossing areas with fish. Ive been debating replacing my stove and canister with a some fishing line and hooks/bobber/sinker set up, cooking fish or even fresh venison over an open fire seems far more appealing to me. Then Im just stuck with trying to find a food system that will keep a good weight to calorie/nutrient ratio to rely on if the fishing or hunting isn't supplying food.

I see the biggest benefit while scouting as its a short few days of covering lots of miles and sometimes in areas ive never been. However I don't know what to do for reliable body fuel. I have packed in protein and granola bars and fruit chews and of course starburst candies are my weakness in the backcountry. These all seem like they are more supplemental than nutritional enough to supply your self for 7+ days in the back country. I plan to still pack in my small titanium water boiling pot and I always pack some aluminum foil to cook on over a fire if I need it. Cutting a stove an canister is not a huge weight gain and I know many are looking at this as someone trying to cut very minimal weight but I just see carrying something for 3-4 days that im no longer using as a weight penalty I could avoid. I rarely make coffee in the back country and there isn't much I couldn't do over a fire if I really wanted to, sure its a little more effort but not a crazy amount especially with a little fore thought or while doing some downtime work like glassing. Plus I always seem to have issues in the mornings when I do want coffee with my canister being cold and having to heat it up to get it to work right and by then I am usually over the desire.

Overall Im just never truly happy with the whole set up and looking for anyone who has made similar changes to their food system. Ive thought of home made meals and sandwiches but not sure what will really be enough for extended stays and was hoping someone else has already made some advances in that department.

 

[Chad E]

If your intrested in the stoveless approach to back country food check out some of the articles Brady Miller is writing. I enjoy a warm meal to much to try it but some guys seem to like it.

 

[Violent Hippie]

Nutritional intake related to happiness and performance are very personal and unique to the individual. I personally find operating on low calories ( variety of protein and nutrition bars /snacks that are balanced and well thought out as well as substantial water( at least 100 oz bladder of water ) intake during the daytime with a solid dinner ( hot dinner such as mountain house)works great in the back country . Not bringing a stove is common with me ( I bring a little snowpeak stove and small fuel canister about 50 % of the time )as I usually make a camp fire and will boil water too purify and add to the instant meal dinner . I always carry a titanium pot / large coffee cup ( around 18 oz I think) that works great as multi use item and is very light. Fishing is fun and can add a more solid lunch to the menu for me. I find it time consuming although enjoyable BUT when I'm hunting I'm usually not gonna make time to fish until after the primary objective is complete unless I have patterned said target and am sure there is a reliable downtime mid day or something that affords the time ( I am not a mid day napper )to fish. For me its not a weight issue but more of a time issue when it comes to backcountry cooking . The calories arent hard too get with todays engineered nutrition but some folks dont feel "satisfied" with this method. A Very personal tailored approach is key with nutrition.

 

[blackpowderhunter]

I can't offer too much insight on this for stoveless and waterless...but.
you can re hydrate some meals without heat, just cold water if you want to start dehydrating your own meals.
Once I started making my own, I never got tired of even repeating meals. the rehydration process will take longer without heat, but you can just add water and the food in a bag a few hours before and youll be good for dinner. I've done this with dehyrated refried beans. Add in a taco bell hot sauce packet and a tortilla and you have a quick, easy bean burrito.
Get yourself a dehydrator if you dont have one already, it will allow you to get quite creative with things.
You could do wraps with chicken or tuna pouches as well.

 

[George]

Dehydrated fruit, nuts, and jerky.

G

 

[Desk Jockey]

The ultra light backpacking crowd is all over the no stove thing. A little Google fu can turn up a lot on the topic.

Maybe rethink your approach. Ditch the stove in favor of small trip and cooker. Plenty to heat up a cup of coffee or coco if you don’t need a full stove.

Also, maybe rethink your menu.

Too many people start swilling gorp and sucking down mountain house the moment you step out of the parking lot just out of habit. “Real food” actually travels pretty well. There are plenty of prepackaged options like uncle bens rice dishes and what not that Pack pretty well without needing rehydration. Heck, a frozen steak, fresh eggs veggies will keep fine in a pack for a few days. Cured meat is staple Prosciutto salami and even country ham and cured bacon are great but look at biltbong and machaca . Bread bagels sandwich meat and cheese too.

 

[Northernpiker]

I tried some of Off Grid bars, Trail Mixes and Cereals you mix with cold water, pretty good stuff. Worth a try.

 

[Owenst7]

The Kirkland mixed nut pouches are 188 Cal/ounce and delicious. Pretty sure it's from the high fat content in the macadamias. Pure fat is 250 Cal/ounce.

I love pilot bread and eat it with smoked fish (foil pouches if you don't have a homemade source), cheese spread, peanut butter, or even olive oil. They are 100 Cal/ea and I think around 1 ounce. Look for spreads that are high in fat for weight savings, and protein for nutrition. I get more than ample carbs in my diet while I'm backpacking to the point that I go out of my way to avoid them. They bring your Cal/ounce down anyway and offer little nutrition.

Whole oats are decent cold, you just need to soak them longer. Sometimes in the summer, I will carry them in a Tupperware or gelato jar in the evening so they are ready to eat in the morning. I like to add some dehydrated milk (don't get low fat) and dried berries for flavor without as bad of an insulin rollercoaster as you get with glucose/table sugar.

Some of the protein bars out there are pretty decent. I look for ones with high fat to get the Cal/ounce to acceptable levels. The ones with chocolate coatings aren't practical when it's warm out, FYI.

A lot of cheeses work well, and are awesome with salami on pilot bread. I could probably subsist on just that if my wallet could afford it. Hard cheeses have a better shelf life generally.

Field Trip beef jerky is the most nutritious I've found in stores. IIRC, it's 16 grams of protein and 80 calories/serving. Don't recall the weight of a serving, but I used that and cocktail pepperoni a lot this past season to get me to 2400 Cal, 100grams protein, and ~20 ounces packaged/day.

 

[Cant hit em]

I love coffee , i need it , stove is always coming


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[amp713]

Thanks for all the info guys, its a good starting point for me to look into and play with while scouting this season

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Pop tarts in a billion different flavors, summer sausage and cheese, precooked bacon with a breakfast roll, peanut butter bacon tortilla sandwich, pepperoni and cheese, trail mix (sort your own or buy prepackaged), various breakfast energy and trail bars, tuna in various flavors, beef jerky, various dried fruits, precooked and packaged salmon, precooked and packaged chicken, nutella. That's about all I can think of right now, but there is a ton of info on no cook meals on several backpacking forums/sites.

 

[GregB]

I buy bulk nuts and seeds and make my own mix. Tortillas with peanut butter and jelly packets, pepperoni and/or summer sausage slices, honey stinger is awesome. A wrist rocket for grouse always comes in handy. And there are a bunch of different protein bars. Once you figure out what you need for calories and protein intake each day its easier to figure out a daily meal plan.

 

[MuleyFever]

I stopped taking a stove a few years ago and don't miss it. This year I was hunting and back at the truck most nights so I took the stove. In 7 days I still only used it once. I just don't mind living off a variety of meal bars and stuff. It is a learning curve to see what you like. I thought the first year I could eat a lot of cliff bars. By the end I could barely choke them down. I have my variety pretty dialed in now. I have found a good variety of fruit flavors fits me.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

On shorter 2-3 day trips it is pretty easy for me to survive on jerky and trail mix. Eating that stuff for much longer starts to make my stomach feel queasy though.

Tortillas, salami, peanut butter, tuna pouches, rice pouches, etc, are all easy and relatively lightweight, especially if you’re ditching the fuel and water weight.

Heating dinner over a fire is also an option if you plan on building one. I like hot food and coffee so I’m not going stoveless on anything beyond 2 nights.

If you’re camped next to a creek I suppose you could drop 2-3 hooks on a trot line (if legal there), but the last thing I want to do on a serious hunting trip is spend time trying to catch a fish so I can not be hungry. It’s not quite as easy as going to an area where you’ve fished extensively and know what to use, where the holes are, etc. Watch the TV show “Alone” for an idea.

 

[bluestone]

I carry an Emberlit titanium stove Always can have coffee and hot meal.

 

[wesfromky]

Might be worth checking out Soylant as at least a partial meal replacement - but that would take water to mix. They have premixed, but that would be pretty heavy to pack in.

Soylent.com - Soylent Powder Pouch - Original details

 

[Topo_trekker]

I hunt in an area where there are plenty lakes and streams, unfortunately the best times to fish are the best times to hunt. You could probably manage it during the day but most times requires a detour from the good hunting areas and the amount of energy spent is not gained in the calories from trout caught. Not practical for me but I will do during my scouting trips.


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[Glendon Mullins]

Y'all ever heard of the staple food west Virginia coal miners used to carry?

Pepperoni Rolls

They keep and would be awesome in the backcountry

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[jorgensen.travis]

I posted my meal plan in a thread on here titled Ketogenic Meal Plans. I itemized it and broke it down into macros. The only thing that requires a stove is the coffee.


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[Diesel]

The ultra light backpacking crowd is all over the no stove thing. A little Google fu can turn up a lot on the topic.

Maybe rethink your approach. Ditch the stove in favor of small trip and cooker. Plenty to heat up a cup of coffee or coco if you don’t need a full stove.

Also, maybe rethink your menu.

Too many people start swilling gorp and sucking down mountain house the moment you step out of the parking lot just out of habit. “Real food” actually travels pretty well. There are plenty of prepackaged options like uncle bens rice dishes and what not that Pack pretty well without needing rehydration. Heck, a frozen steak, fresh eggs veggies will keep fine in a pack for a few days. Cured meat is staple Prosciutto salami and even country ham and cured bacon are great but look at biltbong and machaca . Bread bagels sandwich meat and cheese too.

This last paragraph hits on how I approach food. I start with a really good filling meal to eat the first night that is everyday food that weighs the most and is the most perishable, something like steak, eggs, potatoes or a frozen lasagna. Also because you just did the big pack in and burned a bunch of calories. The next day is somewhat similar in type of food and day three is starting to get into stuff like the hard salami, cheese, tortillas, tuna, rice, and so on down the line of the least perishable. Take a small grill that can be set on rocks for hot food, even hot dogs. Save the mountain house for the end days. Hell, you might be out with your quarry by then. And BTW, I save a potato with butter and sliced onions wrapped in foil and then plastic wrap for the tenderloin over the fire. Incentive.

Teach yourself the tricks the old timers used. Storing perishables in some zip loks and keep them submerged in a nearby stream. Pile frozen rocks over you more perishables. Usually it is cold in hunting season so stuff keeps longer. Think different about the whole trail food idea. Eat more like you normally eat. You will be more satisfied and probably have a better attitude about your time out there. With some tweaking, you will find a seven day plan that is what you like and what satisfies you. The weight will likely not add more that a couple pounds, but will be offset by a much more enjoyable and memorable hunt experience.

The era of freeze dried and the like wasn't how it always was. Experiment with a preseason trip to give yourself a trial run for confidence. Think of it as replacing that old piece of gear that you used to carry but didn't ever use with something that really makes a difference.

Just my way, but it may have some parts you can incorporate.
Nick