Freezer Bag Cooking Vol. 1: Trail Food Made Simple

by Sarah Svien Kirkconnell

Published by Bay Street Publishing

http://www.trailcooking.com

As I have gotten older, I have noted some significant changes to my backpacking style. Most notably is the fairly recent addition of an inflatable pad to my sleep system. Another is my appetite. Gone are the days of cowboy camping with a few granola bars and an apple. I now crave hearty, belly warming, filling dinners. I still skimp on breakfast and lunch but at the end of the day, I want some FOOD! For me, freezer bag cooking (FBC) is definitely the way to go. I’m all about the ease of FBC, just boiling water and pouring it into a bag. And the best part . . . no dishes to wash. Just lick your spoon, throw your Ziploc into your trash bag and forget about it.

There are some pretty tasty pre-made/packaged options out there but they are expensive (in my opinion), come in a limited variety of flavors and are notoriously loaded with sodium (I’m looking at one right now made by Backpacker’s Pantry and it contains 1220mg sodium per serving). Another difficulty I have is that I am a vegetarian, so that gives me a lot less pre-packed options than all you non-veg’s out there.

So I decided it was probably just as easy and most likely cheaper to start assembling my own FBC meals at home instead of settling for whatever happened to be available at my local outfitter (usually pasta primavera). I started looking around online for FBC specific cook books and found a very good offering from trailcooking.com. Here’s a quick break down of the contents of the book.

Table of Contents

Intro
Gear and Techniques
Breakfast – 11 recipes
Drinks – 15 recipes
Salads & Vegetables – 14 recipes
Soups – 12 recipes
Lunch – 10 recipes
Dinner
Rice – 30 recipes
Couscous – 10 recipes
Pasta – 12 recipes
Wraps & Burritos – 5 recipes (more wraps in the lunch section)
Stuffing, Potatoes & Everything Else – 12 recipes
Desserts – 11 recipes
Index
~90 pages total

There are a few vegetarian specific recipes in the book but most recommend including some type of meat product. But the great thing I found about most of these recipes is that they can easily be adapted to fit your personal preferences. The recipes offer a great variety of ingredient options, and some very creative dishes. One of the things I will benefit from is having a baseline recipe to start from, I am very lacking in my knowledge of ingredient to ingredient ratios, and without some sort of guide to start from, I would most likely have way too much of one and not enough of another.

The main highlights of the book for me are the hot drink and couscous sections, in particular the Mocha Au Lait and Curry Couscous. Oh, and I can’t forget the Grits and Cheesy Veggies . . . or the Spinach Couscous . . . or Thai Peanut Noodles!

If you are looking to expand your backcountry, trail or car camping menu, I recommend giving this book a read. Also be sure to check out their website as there are additional tips and recipes available there, as well as a store where you can purchase some very nice looking handmade freezer bag cozies.