Food: Just Add Hot Water

A section in Chapter 3 of the book:
Prep Lists for Camping, Hiking, and Backpacking

Drinks

Adding flavor to hot water makes it much more enjoyable.

• Hot tea, in individually wrapped tea bags, in hundreds of flavors
  (remember sweetener and creamer if needed)
• Hot chai spice powder mix
• Hot chocolate packets

Meals with Hot Water

For many of these food items, you can simply pour the hot water into the pouch or heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag so that there’s no dirty dishes to clean. Use a hat, shirt, or glove to protect your hand from the heat.

• Oatmeal packets & cups
• Instant soup packets & cups
• Ramen noodles packages
• Pasta sauce packets (consider with noodles or meats)
• Instant Potatoes (box, cup, packet)
• Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MRE) – typically freeze dried
• Make your own freeze-dried meals

To include meat in any of these recipes,
freeze in a separate bag with ice to keep safe for several hours.
If you need it to wait overnight or longer, try using freeze dried or canned meat.

Prep Gallon-sized freezer zip-tight plastic bag with seasonings & bouillon (and maybe noodles), ready to add fresh fish (or game meat) and boiling water for a quick and tasty soup.

 

 

Meals in a Cup

Potato Soup

Prepare the following in a plastic bag. When ready to eat, pour about half a cup of the mix into a cup with boiling water, stir, and wait a few minutes.

• 2 cups instant mashed potatoes
• 5 cups dry milk
• 2 tablespoons chicken bullion
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons dried onion
• Big pinches of seasonings like pepper, parsley, thyme, turmeric

Tortilla Soup

Prepare the following in a plastic bag. When ready to eat, pour into a cup with boiling water, stir, and wait a few minutes.

• 3 tablespoons crushed tortilla chips
• 2 tablespoons instant rice
• 1 tablespoon Instant Vegetable Soup mix
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
• 1/8 teaspoon each of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin

Mexican Chicken and Hominy Soup

Prepare the following in a plastic bag. When ready to eat, pour into a cup with boiling water, stir, and wait a few minutes.

• 1/3 cup shredded chicken
• 1/4 cup jarred salsa Verde
• 1 teaspoon chicken bullion
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 cup canned hominy
• 1/4 cup canned pinto beans
• 1/4 cup coleslaw mix or shredded cabbage
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 tablespoons crushed salted tortilla chips

Meals in a Bag

Prepare any type of meal at home, (freeze if needed), and take in a heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag. When ready to eat, place the entire bag of food into a pot of boiling water to re-heat. The bag keeps the food dry while heating, and the water is gentler than direct flames from the campfire or camp stove.

Omelet

Mix the following in a heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag and keep cool with ice. When ready to eat, place bag in pot of boiling water until eggs are thoroughly cooked.

• Eggs, milk, cheese, salt, pepper (onion, vegetables, meat)

Pancakes

Mix the following in a heavy-duty freezer zip-tight plastic bag. When ready to eat, place bag in pot of boiling water until warm.

• Cooked pancakes, already covered in butter and syrup

See It Online: Shugemery is Inspirational in many ways

 

Heating Water

There are many ways to get hot water when camping—you may already have your favorite method. I have two favorites, since I often plan short trips where the only thing I need to heat is water—rather than cooking food directly over a stove or campfire.

• Metal Water Bottle: You can get these aluminum or steel bottles most anywhere for $10 to $20, but I pick up mine from the thrift store for about $1.00 for a large 16 to 20 ounce size bottle. Get one for each person on your trip. I make sure it has a water-tight cap (screwed on) to carry drinking water in my backpack, and some sort of ridge so I can lift it off of the campfire or stove when the water inside is boiling hot. After it cools, I keep it in a plastic bag so the soot on the outside doesn’t make a mess of things inside my backpack.
• Kelly Kettle: This cooking system is amazing—especially for making hot water for tea, hot chocolate, coffee, soup, noodles, or a full dinner. There are three kit sizes (each in aluminum or stainless steel) and a number of accessories that can be added to each Kelly Kettle They all work great. The one I use and recommend to get started is the Kelly Kettle Stainless Steel Medium Scout Basic Camp Stove Kit. There’s also a YouTube video demonstrating how to use it.