Scout Moms - Hike Cooking Help Needed

[ashfern]

DS will be doing the 50 mile hike with his troop this summer. They are doing 3 practice hikes and completing the hike cooking portion of the Cooking MB. I need ideas for meals for these practice hikes and also the 5 day 50 mile hike. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Unicorn.]

Ds and dh used to take those packages of noodles and sauce, or rice and sauce and take along tuna or chicken in a pouch (cans were too heavy).  That way all they had to do was boil water, and it didn't weigh much.  Dh usually found a way to take veggies.. either by finding noodles or rice that had the already added, or he would take a small can.  I think one time he made his own dehydrated veggies ahead of time.

 

Lunch was usually those little packs of bbq chicken and crackers, granola bars, trail mix, etc. 

 

Neither one of them liked the pouch meals made for backpacking.  I always thought it was funny that ds wouldn't eat those, but he loves MRE's. 

[JuanitaL]

, but he loves MRE's. 

 

That's a great idea. Amazon actually sells MREs. I always found them to be like eating extremely constipating cardboard, but I'll bet a boy might be pretty happy to have one of those in his backpack.
 

[In The Great White North]

 

 

That's a great idea. Amazon actually sells MREs. I always found them to be like eating extremely constipating cardboard, but I'll bet a boy might be pretty happy to have one of those in his backpack.

 

The boys at CAP love them too.  They also really like the little heat pack thingie in them.  

 

Personally, I keep the main dish and throw away the rest of it.

[Unicorn.]

That's a great idea. Amazon actually sells MREs. I always found them to be like eating extremely constipating cardboard, but I'll bet a boy might be pretty happy to have one of those in his backpack.
 

 

Boy says any of the pasta ones are really good.  The omelets are awful, and whatever you do, do NOT get the clam chowder. He says that should be thrown as far away as possible.  The grilled chicken and pork chop are bland.  He also says to tell your ds, that any of the "extras" that he doesn't eat, become excellent trading material!   :lol:

[bolt.]

Isn't this his job? Or do I not understand scouting as it applies to Americans? Anyhow I assume he will be reading along.

 

Anyhow this is the standard backpacking meal system from my family's scouting days:

 

Breakfast: Instant oatmeal, dry fruit & nuts

 

Lunch: Non-squishable and non-crumbly breads (bagels, pitas etc) with either pb&j or cheese (factory sealed, size for as many as are eating it that meal) or preservative-rich meat (salami, summer sausage, pepperoni -- also factory sealed for as many as are eating)

 

Snacks: granola bars, fruit & nut snacks, lots of good stuff.

 

Suppers:

- Cup-o-soup starter

Plus a one-pot meal

- A starch that boils in water and comes with powdered flavor (mac & cheese, noodles and sauce, rice with flavoring)

- Meat protein, either dehydrated (dry ground beef, jerkies, backpacker chicken, salami, hot dogs) or pouches

(sometimes soup or stew with 'dumplings' from bisquick as the starch)

 

- Desserts & treats

 

Whenever possible, things should be factory-sealed and completely consume after opening. It's a good time to buy things that are individually packed like single serve snack foods, rather than buying enough for a whole trip and expecting to open and re-seal things. A surprising number of things are safe at outdoor temperature as long as they are still sealed (ie cheese, hot dogs). Plan to eat the heaviest things first, and save your lightest meals to carry them the longest. You may need powdered milk, but mac& cheese mixes up fine without butter, especially if it's got hot dogs in it.

[Mrs Mungo]

My last backpacking trip with middle dd had this sort of meal plan:

Breakfast foods: instant oatmeal, instant grits, hot cocoa packets, freeze dried fruit to put in the oatmeal, granola bar

Snacks and lunch: tortillas, PB, cheese (this will last a few days if it isn't too hot, especially hard and/or waxed cheeses), beef jerky, nuts, fruit leathers, pepperoni

Dinners:
Store bough dehydrated meal
Tacos using tortilla, taco seasoning, chicken from a pouch and cheese
Ramen with chicken from a pouch
Pizza with a just-add-water Bisquik crust, individual sauce packets, pepperoni, cheese

You can also get olive oil in individual packets (like ketchup packets from McD's) from subway, those help add fat to things like mac and cheese.

[JFSinIL]

I think the scouts are supposed to figure out what to take and/or cook on the hike  (will they stop to make a fire and cook something?) not the Mom.  Our job is to drive the boys to Aldi or another grocery store and let them figure out what to get, etc.  (they should have a budget and funds of their own for this, too).  It is all part of their learning experience.

 

Been there, done that (CollegeMan made Life Scout before he dropped out).

[Harriet Vane]

Some of the others have given good ideas. I'll add a few thoughts:

 

Every meal must include some form of protein.

 

You can get pouches of tuna or chicken in the canned goods aisle. They are lightweight and do not need refrigeration before opening, and the amount of meat in the pouch can easily be consumed in a sitting. It's easy to add tuna to a backpacking freeze-dried mac'n'cheese or add the chicken to spaghetti.

 

Definitely rely on things like summer sausage or pepperoni. If you live near a Polish or Italian deli, though, go there and get some real kielbasa or other sausage. The flavor is far superior to what is found in most supermarkets.

 

We usually start our first backpacking day with boiled eggs at lunch. It's easy to keep them safe for just the length of the morning hike.

 

Carrots are a great way to get in some fruit/veggie without adding a lot. They are skinny and hard, so they travel well in a backpack.

 

 

[ashfern]

Yes he's responsible for figuring it out but he's also a 14 yo boy. I'm not a camper and only do day hikes so this is all new to me. Part of this is also that they are doing the Cooking MB which requires them to cook real food for other scouts. They have been told that they can't do ramen or anything like that. The other scouts also said no cans because they are too heavy. They gave us 2 weeks notice of this first hike and they have to do all 3 practice hikes or they aren't allowed on the 50 miler.

 

We appreciate all of the help & suggestions.

[ashfern]

Yes he's responsible for figuring it out but he's also a 14 yo boy. I'm not a camper and only do day hikes so this is all new to me. Part of this is also that they are doing the Cooking MB which requires them to cook real food for other scouts. They have been told that they can't do ramen or anything like that. The other scouts also said no cans because they are too heavy. They gave us 2 weeks notice of this first hike and they have to do all 3 practice hikes or they aren't allowed on the 50 miler.

 

We appreciate all of the help & suggestions.

[JFSinIL]

DS (my former Scout) says don't let the boys go for the cheapest hotdogs - no one wants to eat those! 

[Harriet Vane]

Some other suggestions:

 

Dehydrated potatoes are cheap and available at Aldi.

 

If rice is wanted, go with MinuteRice.

 

When we go backpacking up in the boundary waters, we usually make our first meal steak. We put the steak in the pack last, just before we leave. The steaks are frozen rock hard. If buried in the pack a little, the other things in the pack act as insulation. The steak will be cold but thawed enough to cook at dinner time. Just make sure to keep the steaks buried; keep the pack in the shade on breaks; and keep the pack tightly closed immediately after retrieving any other items from it (like lunch).

 

In your son's shoes, I would lean heavily on those vacuum-packed tuna or chicken packs. He can find them in the same aisle as canned tuna.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Congratulations to your DS for working on the 50 miler.  That is awesome.  Please update us after he has finished.

 

 

[Plateau Mama]

The scoutmaster here banned hotdogs for that very reason.
The secondary reason is that the troop has a motto of "We Eat Good" and he wants to keep that going. Does make a difference, I know with my son as a Webelos, when he visited another Troop and was offered hot dogs and chips for lunch...he decided to go with this troop because they let him make his own foil pack and cook it for lunch.

I wish our troop had this motto. The patrol leaders are giving my son a hard time because he wants to cook real food. Like eggs and bacon or pancakes. They tend to do things like Pop Tarts because they don't want to do the clean up of real food.