on a kayak camping trip! i was thinking on how i could get by with only taking drinking water and very minimal amount of cooking water. one thought is making beef stew and freezing them in individual servings and then using them as an ice pack for other foods . no cooking…only heating them up. boil eggs ahead of time.(already done) instant oatmeal with granola(very small amount of cooking water for this) then the majority of my water i do take can be used for drinking . does anyone have any other ideas that work for you and would like to share?
You’re gonna need the . . .
. . . same amount of water wether you drink it or eat it. If water is short don’t eat foods where you discard water like mac & cheese.
Peanut butter is high in calories. Jelly is all calories (mostly sugar). Whole wheat bread last a week or more. I like to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during the day.
For breakfast 1/2 cup oatbran, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tbs powdered whole milk, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Add to 2 cups boiling water and simmer 5 minutes. Use river water if you are paddling fresh water.
For dinner add to 1 cup river water Ramen noodles, can chicken, can mixed vegetables cook 5 minutes.
yeah
I guess you’re looking to cut down on filtering/boiling?
I’ve really taken to pre cooked Indian food that comes in pouches. To heat you boil it in the pouch. You don’t need potable water for this, since the pouch is sealed. However, if you fancy some hot water for another dish or tea or whatever, you can kill two birds with one stone. So you can be heating your chicken saag and boiling water for your tea at the same time. Or just use river/lake water/seawater to heat it. So it’s versatile like that.
Pouch rice. I find that if my masala is hot enough I don’t need to heat it.
There’s a lot of pouch/pre-cooked stuff out there these days. Might want to just go to your biggest grocery store and see what you discover. It’s not backpacking light stuff, but that’s why we like boats 
Hormel roast beef, chicken, etc.
– Last Updated: Sep-06-09 11:12 PM EST –
comes in those sealed plastic containers so they stay fresh longer than homemade beef stew would (not as tasty, of course). Just open and heat. Not the greatest nutritionally, but it provides a necessary dose of protein and they taste reasonably good. You can even eat them without heating.
I've read that hard-boiled eggs spoil quickly and have to be kept cold all the time to avoid food poisoning.
I often don't feel like cooking breakfast so I eat cheerios with powdered milk, with protein powder mixed in. That requires water but heck, your body needs that water anyway.
One meal that is delicious and healthy is Kashi precooked grains with vegetables. It takes a small amount of water to cook and the water is not discarded. Add some olive oil and tamari.
Do you carry a water filter? (assuming you're not in sea water)
we will be in sea water.
so that is why i thought of freezing the predone meals and using them as my ice and then when it thaws i have the meals…killing 2 birds w/ one stone. we don’t have alot of pouch food available were we live and it’s expensive and not hearty enough in my opinion.thought this would taste better. we do peanut butter and jelly or honey all the time.yum…it’s one of our favs.
just a thought
we enjoy tortillas instead of bread. it packs smaller and stays fresher longer. tastes good with almost anything on it. especially peanut butter.
cool tip…
that’s worth a try
thanks
Spaghetti
I’ve frozen homemade spaghetti sauce and pre-cooked the pasta & stored in zip-lock bags. I store the frozen sauce in recycled peanut butter jars, but a quality bag would work. You just heat up the sauce and add in the pasta (bow tie or similar). Since the pasta is already cooked, you can heat it up with the sauce.
An easy one-pot meal. Take some bread and you can “sponge” up the pot to help with clean up and it tastes great.
-Tom
I agree…
with mitty and kanoo: you’re going to need water whether you drink it or pour it into your dinner. The best way to save water is avoid foods such as pasta that require lots of water that is the wasted.
I can echo kanoo’s suggestion for “curry in a hurry” I love these Indian boil-in-a-bags and they have become a staple on both my kayak and ski trips. Try tossing in a couple of those minute rice perforated bags while the curry is reheating. They will absorb most of your cooking water and will nicely complement the curry.
I’m a vegetarian so I often toss in simulated chicken breasts (also in boiling bags) with this combo or with noodle dinners. My meat-eating friends don’t even notice the difference.