Forum Index > Food & Grub > super simple soaking?
 Reply to topic
Previous :: Next Topic
Author Message
neek
Member
Member


Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 2329 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA
neek
Member
PostMon Aug 19, 2019 12:02 pm 
Sorry for yet another no-cook thread, but the others don't target exactly what I'm looking for. I no longer carry a stove on short (~3 day) summer trips, but want at least one "wet" meal per day. However, I don't want to mess with anything that requires complex preparation. I'm also less interested in stuff that isn't exactly food, like ramen or packaged mac/cheese. I'm thinking dirt-simple: chia seeds and hot chocolate powder soaked for an hour. Done. Are there any other grains that work this well, and what would you put in them? Ideally the meal would end up heavy in protein and fat (but not just nuts and cheese, because I'm eating them all day anyway). Never heard of freeze dried beans and unfortunately dehydrated ones don't rehydrate well in cold water from what I can tell. Not too interested in veggies because I always have fresh carrots and cabbage. Tried buckwheat, but it's slimy, bland, and can be eaten raw (or toasted) anyway. Quinoa I don't think would work well, although I haven't tried it. Don't want to bother with any canned/packaged meat products. Quick-cooking rice supposedly works, but what do you put in it? Perhaps I'm asking the impossible and should just stick with dry foods, drinking water when I want something wet. But I really feel that if you don't have a sloshing canister hanging off your pack these days, you're not a real hiker.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
neek
Member
Member


Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 2329 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA
neek
Member
PostMon Aug 19, 2019 12:21 pm 
To elaborate, here are the types of raw ingredients I'm thinking of: ground flax seeds. hemp seeds. nutritional yeast. quick cooking wheat berries. chickpea flower. i.e. the stuff you probably have in the cupboard already because it looked good at the health food store but then you never figured out how to use. Maybe with a few spices thrown in to make it edible. But nothing that is too likely to infected with e.coli, like wheat flour. Obviously I wouldn't combine all that stuff I just listed, because that would be gross. But someone must have figured out a few magical combinations. Hope this helps to clarify. Dirt-simple, but healthy and sufficiently palatable.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Bernardo
Member
Member


Joined: 08 Feb 2010
Posts: 2174 | TRs | Pics
Location: out and about in the world
Bernardo
Member
PostMon Aug 19, 2019 7:01 pm 
Maybe this? Looking forward to some good ideas.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
neek
Member
Member


Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 2329 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA
neek
Member
PostMon Aug 19, 2019 7:25 pm 
Yes! beans + olive oil + taco seasoning (would probably mix this myself at home) + corn chips. "Precooked" is the keyword on the beans. Bet you could throw some rice or other grain in there as well. I could eat that every night. Luckily most of my trips are solo. cool.gif Thanks Bernardo, I'm sure this will show up in a future trip report.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Navy salad
Member
Member


Joined: 09 Sep 2008
Posts: 1864 | TRs | Pics
Location: Woodinville
Navy salad
Member
PostTue Aug 20, 2019 9:18 am 
neek wrote:
chickpea flower
Although I love Chickpeas, I learned the hard way that any kind of beans, even bean flours, need to be cooked, not just soaked, or you (and your companions) will pay the price! 'Nuff said! (Note that the freeze dried or dehydrated beans are pre-cooked, so although gassy, they are not 'explosively' gassy. Bean flours, in my experience, are not pre-cooked).

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Ski
><((((°>



Joined: 28 May 2005
Posts: 12798 | TRs | Pics
Location: tacoma
Ski
><((((°>
PostSat Aug 24, 2019 9:44 pm 
Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend Just found this the other day and bought a little bag at TJ's for a trip. It's a mix of Israeli Couscous (tiny round balls, not the usual grainy couscous), Orzo pasta, Tiny Garbanzo beans, and Quinoa. Requires cooking: 7 parts water - 5 parts grain mix Bring water to boil, add salt and butter and grain mix. Cover. Reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to rest for a few minutes. Not bad. Found it better cold mixed into a salad than served as a side dish. Nutritionally, way better bang for the buck than rice: 1/4 cup of dry product = 6 grams protein. (Rice is a poor choice for backpacking - too heavy for its nutritional value.) Just tossing this out there because it's a new thing for me. Might be worth considering. Maybe sarbar has some better ideas.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Brushwork
Food truck



Joined: 18 Aug 2018
Posts: 508 | TRs | Pics
Location: Washington
Brushwork
Food truck
PostSun Aug 25, 2019 3:48 pm 
I would imagine you could cook this maybe with some spices, then dehydrate. So just adding hot water at camp, without so much cooking, plus lighter.

When I grow up I wanna play.
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
sarbar
Living The Dream



Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 8055 | TRs | Pics
Location: Freeland, Wa
sarbar
Living The Dream
PostWed Aug 28, 2019 4:59 pm 
When it comes to grains and legumes, you MUST precook and dehydrate first for it to work - and to not give you horrible gut aches. Having said that, drying beans is a snap. If you are too busy, you can buy precooked from Harmony House Foods online (they also sell on Amazon). These can be cold soaked. https://trailcooking.com/fbc/mediterranean-lentil-salad/ That is a suggestion of how one can make easy no cook for trail, that is whole foods.

https://trailcooking.com/ Eat well on the trail.
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
sarbar
Living The Dream



Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 8055 | TRs | Pics
Location: Freeland, Wa
sarbar
Living The Dream
PostWed Aug 28, 2019 5:02 pm 
https://trailcooking.com/ Eat well on the trail.
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
neek
Member
Member


Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 2329 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA
neek
Member
PostThu Aug 29, 2019 10:09 am 
Ski: interesting mix. They must use pre-cooked beans for the cook time to work out. So I wouldn't want to cook at home and then re-dehydrate this particular mix, but rather would create a similar one myself. Also, I never thought of rice as being that bad. I agree that white rice (and flour) should be avoided (on the trail and at home), but surely brown rice is at least as good nutritionally as the orzo and couscous in your Trader Joe's mix? FWIW, I cook brown rice in lots of water, then drain it when al dente to remove some of the arsenic. sarbar: great insight, especially from your last page. For some reason I was under the impression that dehydrated food doesn't cold-soak nearly as well as freeze-dried does, but maybe that's wrong. I'm going to do some experiments this week and hopefully expand from my "slimunchy" chia pudding mix.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
Ski
><((((°>



Joined: 28 May 2005
Posts: 12798 | TRs | Pics
Location: tacoma
Ski
><((((°>
PostThu Aug 29, 2019 5:42 pm 
neek - as I noted, that TJ's mix is a completely new find for me. I was kind of impressed by the amount of protein in it, considering that it's all grain. it may or may not serve your purpose. whether or not part of it's pre-cooked I couldn't even guess. only rice I use is Basmati, and the best I could come up with was 2/3 basmati to 1/3 red lentils, with some raw cashews and dried veggies and turmeric in the mix. problem was twofold: it required a lot of fuel to cook (has to simmer for 20 minutes) and after figuring out what I was getting nutritionally (pound for pound) as opposed to other options, I determined it was a loser, so I stopped hauling it. I'd delve into sarbar's suggestions - she's a lot better at this stuff than I could ever hope to be. bk

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
sarbar
Living The Dream



Joined: 28 Jan 2002
Posts: 8055 | TRs | Pics
Location: Freeland, Wa
sarbar
Living The Dream
PostThu Aug 29, 2019 8:45 pm 
While freeze dried does rehydrate faster, with enough time dehydrated comes back just fine. However...the difference is FD will be plumper looking and more tender. Dehydrated will always have that slightly wrinkled look smile.gif

https://trailcooking.com/ Eat well on the trail.
Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
neek
Member
Member


Joined: 12 Sep 2011
Posts: 2329 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle, WA
neek
Member
PostFri Aug 30, 2019 1:00 pm 
Cooked some brown rice and garbanzo beans in the instant pot yesterday and dehydrated in the oven at 175F (the lowest mine goes). Rehydrated at room temp for 6 hours. Turned out pretty well! I added olive oil and corn chips at the end as suggested in the video above. Made a spice mix of chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic, etc. I wonder if toasting the spices at home would improve their flavor, since with plain soaking they never actually get cooked. Will try that next. But I'm happy to know that home-dried stuff soaks up fine.

Back to top Reply to topic Reply with quote Send private message
   All times are GMT - 8 Hours
 Reply to topic
Forum Index > Food & Grub > super simple soaking?
  Happy Birthday speyguy, Bandanabraids!
Jump to:   
Search this topic:

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum