Cooking in the Backcountry

Sorry for the long absence, life's been a little bit busy - in the good way.  In early May Kaspar and I took a road/camping trip tour of New Mexico. We encountered a little snow, saw some amazing skies, dipped in a few natural hot springs and ate some good food along the way.

We try not to let camping sacrifice the taste or quality of our food. Though it can be a bit tricky when you are out in the mountains for days at a time, there is always some way to spruce up a boxed soup or spice up a package of ramen noodle soup - mac and cheese has always been a go to for us. In fact I usually start to anticipate the bright orange meal days before we head out on our trip. Food that honestly wouldn’t be on our radar at the supermarket takes on a new significance – simply because you cant make everything from scratch when you are camping, it just isn’t practical. Along with  pre-packaged food you can take a lot of good ingredients along with you – a sort of semi home made situation. You'll need a cooler and should try to cook the most perishable items first. Overall, it takes a fair amount of planning, but then when you’re out there in the wild or just car camping you already have your meals planned and there’s no stressing about what’s for dinner. Prepping and cooking becomes a matter of efficiency and waste becomes next to nil.

It’s an interesting phenomenon – when I go camping with Kaspar, I get to relax [!] and let him take the culinary reigns. So I’ve decided to feature him in this post. He’s been camping for longer than I, and I thought we could learn a few tricks from him and enjoy his wisdom. From here on out this post is brought to by Kaspar, photos and all. Enjoy!

[Disclaimer.. we wrote our entries separately - so any similarities is not meant to be redundant, just a coincidence. Perhaps its just evidence that we finally have camping routines down, we've been doing this for almost 8 years now!]

The great thing about cooking in the backcountry is that it is the only thing other than making sure you have shelter that matters.  Nothing else even needs to enter your mind; you know all you need is food, water and a place to sleep.  The reality is that those three things are all we ever really need, but we tend to over complicate things. 

When it comes to camping I get to handle the cooking and show off my domestic side.  I do it all, the meal planning, cooking and cleaning.  I think it blows Ali's mind that when we are in the outdoors all of a sudden I decide to be neat and tidy with the dishes and fastidious about the food. 

We have some "go to" meals we like to cook, but ultimately you really have to be able to freestyle when you get to the bottom of the food bag.

Breakfast:

Coffee or tea is a must-there are quality camping French presses out there, we've been using the GSI Coffee Press for a few years now, Make sure to pack sugar and powdered milk!

Sweet: Instant oatmeal base - Optional additions: homemade granola, fruit (sometime you can find wild blueberries or strawberries).  This is a great way to wake you up and make sure you do your business at the beginning of the day so you don't have to worry about it once you hit the trail.

Savory: Bacon Egg and Cheese on toast - Optional additions: avocado or leftover grilled veggies from the night before.  This is the best protein bomb you can make to repair your legs. Tip-we’ve been liking One Bun for a bread option.

Lunch is usually on the go, a granola bar, trail mix or piece of fruit.

Dinner:

Sausage and Vegetables - Optional additions: spicy mustard, horse radish, onions, carrots, broccoli and peppers will all keep for a few days without refrigeration so chop up what you got and toss it in. Tip-don't forget to pack spices for seasoning. Pre-mix them at home and store them in mini zip-lock bags.

Mac and Cheese, Ramen or Boxed Soup - Be sure to get a good mac and cheese like Annie's - Optional additons: peppers, garlic, onion. Tip – when boiling water for the noodles or shells you can place the skillet with sautéed veggies on top of the water, this keeps the veggies warm and act as a lid to speed up the boiling process.

chips make a nice crunch addition to any soup!

a multi-tool comes in super handy while prepping a meal

Don’t forget your flask with your liquor of choice. Ours this time was some home made moonshine that we infused with strawberries to make it into the camping version of a desert liquor.

don't forget to share

And of course there's the long road home - where all bets are off. When you've been hiking, trailblazing, and just generally exhausting yourself in the great wilderness - you deserve a treat. These donuts, hole included! are from Buns N' Roses in Marfa, TX.

Please submit any questions you have about food and camping! Also to see more photos from our trip find me [Ali] on instagram @borninaford.