How to Cook When Hiking

Nothing beats a hot meal after a long day of hiking so if you're tired of carrying the same predictable no-cook foods, such as crackers, chocolate and trail mix, you may want to consider using a camp fire or camp oven to heat your food. Cooking while on the trail can be easy or complex, depending on the method. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Matches or a lighter
• Camp stove
• Aluminum foil
• Fuel source
• Seasonings
• Silverware or plasticware
• Cooking utensils
• Plastic bags
• Pie iron or Dutch oven (optional)
• Cooking pots
• Freshwater container

1. Pack meals well. This is the most important step since you can't cook what you don't have. To ensure that you don't forget anything, write a list and include items such as pasta, powdered milk, soup mixes, gravy mixes, sauce mixes and meals that come in a box.
2. Prepare your ingredients. If you choose to do this at home, wrapping these items in tin foil, zip-lock bags or several layers of brown paper bag can keep them fresher for longer.
3. Turn on the heat. Allow your heat source to reach cooking temperature but avoid turning the setting up to full since this can turn your meal into a charred mess. Camp fires take the longest as they need to burn for at least an hour to allow the wood to form into a hot bed of coals.
4. Cook your meal. Once you've placed your food on the camp stove or over the fire, be sure to check it periodically to ensure that it is not burning or cooking too slowly. Simply adjust the heat setting or distance that the meal is from the fire and continue until it is hot and ready to eat.
5. Clean up. Be courteous to the environment and other hikers by properly disposing of items such as wrappers and used tin foil.

Tips & Warnings

• When packing food, remove any extra and unnecessary packaging, such as boxes and plastic casings as these can increase the weight of your pack significantly. Instead, write the cooking instructions down on a piece of tape and stick it to your sauce and gravy packs.
• Double bag powdered items to reduce the chance of messy surprises in your pack.
• Add all purpose seasonings to your pack since they are versatile and can add loads of extra flavor to your meals.
• Read the instructions for your Dutch or gas oven carefully to learn how to adjust the temperature settings properly and avoid a cooking catastrophe.
• Use lids whenever possible to reduce cooking time.
• Create a platform for a barbecue grate by placing wet rocks or logs on each side of the fire. Ensure that the ground in that spot is even so that once your food is cooking it doesn't roll off or spill.