No cook - options

[PedalRoll]

I’ve been a cold soaker for a bit.

Oat mix for breaky.
Bars and jerky throughout the day.
Couscous mixes and such for dinner.

Recently tried some Primal Pods and have some Greenbelly Meals (there’s a heap of hype around these) on the way.

What other high calorie no cook/soak meal options are out there?

[Zzoe]

We find dehydrated hommus does well soaking just in cold water (or did you mean no soaking at all?) Lunch is usually mountain bread, sachet tuna and jerky. I was in an Asian grocery a few weeks ago and found a dried bbq pork which is really very good. Seaweed is also a hit for a snack.

[Lamont]

Hey Zzoe where do I get some dh hummus?

[ofuros]

These previous threads should help...forum search button didn't help much at all, so i had to go the scenic route, via google.

http://new.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4278

http://www.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7928

http://www.bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic ... 16&t=10802

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=11545

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15042

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=25531

[Zzoe]

Hi Lamont

Ah.... I don't know if you can buy it: we make our own. It's dead easy- just blend a cup of tahini, a couple of tins of chickpeas, loads of lemon juice and garlic, salt and pepper and a little smudge of olive oil; and then spread it out on a silicon tray (or baking paper) and into a dehydrator. You need to break it into very small grains when it comes out fully dehydrated, so it makes a powder. I chuck it all in a bag and go over it with a rolling pin. It's even yummier with a pinch of smoked paprika added. Nutritious, dead easy to rehydrate on the trail, and pretty bullet proof to carry. We went through 1.8 kilos of dehydrated hommus on our recent hike (family of four, 26 days).

Our dinners were:

Thai yellow chicken curry with rice
Wild mushroom risotto
Kangaroo bolognese
Kangaroo cottage pie

All home cooked, all criminally delicious! The dehydrator was the best investment I've made in years. (Also made a ton of mango and passionfruit fruit leather )

Let me know if you need more precise ingredient amounts. You can basically use any hommus recipe but reduce the amount of olive oil... oils don't dehydrate well, and the tahini is already very oily. I would avoid trying to dehydrate commercially bought hommus as I think they put much more oil in it.

[Lamont]

Ta Zzoe, that info is champion. Yes, I have been putting off a dehydrator, maybe I should just do it.
If I look at Ansley Herriot cous cous again I might just gag!

[Warin]

tahini

How much oil is there in that?
I ask because a suggested tahini alternative is Peanut Butter - the smooth kind. And that has a fair amount of oil in it...

[Zzoe]

Hi Warin

Yes, there is a lot of oil in tahini- even more than in peanut butter. But this hasn't caused us any problems. I should say that we froze our hommus after dehydrating. We had it in the freezer for about four months, and then out of the freezer for the duration of our month long hike. No issues at all, and no affect on taste. I wonder if this is because it's plant, and not animal based fat?

It's interesting that peanut butter has been suggested somewhere as a substitute... I can see this working; but I think the peanut flavour would overpower the chickpeas a little too much. Tahini has quite a gentle, smoky flavour.

Is my dehydrating obsession showing itself?

[Zapruda]

I have used this method for dried hummus and found it to be pretty decent. I carry my oil in a small 200ml Nalgene - https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how ... ummus-mix/

Breakfast - Mostly bars or Granola in a Ziploc with coconut milk powder. Just add water.

Lunch - Safcol have started selling tuna in pouches again. There are a few flavours available at Woolies. I crush some Shapes or similar into the pouch and eat straight out of it.

Dinner - I have tortillas/flatbread with cheese, crushed up doritos and a pouch of salsa. It tastes as good as it sounds. Yum!

[Lamont]

Mmmm tuna in pouches, I am on to them-there are some nice ones for sure. I carry some Sriracha to add too or hot taco mix and Extra virgin olive oil.
ZaprudaS where do you get the dried chick pea flour? Is that pretty common? That looks doable for me without a dehydrator.

[Warin]

where do you get the dried chick pea flour?

A google got
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/prod ... -pea-flour 330 g $11 per kg
https://www.goodness.com.au/organic-besan-flour-5kg 5kg $7 per kg

Edit - And then ... aldi - Besan Flour ... in there 'Organic' range ...500g $8/kg


And what is an ingredient without recipes?
https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/sea ... kpea+flour

[Zapruda]

Mmmm tuna in pouches, I am on to them-there are some nice ones for sure. I carry some Sriracha to add too or hot taco mix and Extra virgin olive oil.
ZaprudaS where do you get the dried chick pea flour? Is that pretty common? That looks doable for me without a dehydrator.

Warin nailed it. The Mackenzie brand is the only one I have ever bought. I gave up on dehydrators because of laziness and find this a good compromise.

[Lamont]

Ta, you two.
Mackenzie, well I'll be. That brand has been around forever. Whether my ultra white bread supermarket, in my ultra white bread town has it I don't know.
They just heard of olives.
Speaking of which (semi) dried olives are powerful and tasty and a great addition to your menu -wish I could still get them.
If that supermarket has chickpea flour I am experimenting this weekend.
Now if I can just get some felafel to go with it I am set.
Hummus for everyone!

[davidf]

Was talking to the missus about this, she has no interest in walking etc but is a fine cook of Asian background. We had no dried chick peas but some spilt peas and lentils. We have a nice mortar and pestle. Had a go. To hard. Found an empty fruit tin. Droped some dried peas in and crushed to powder with the blunt end of a crowbar. Warm water and flavour and acceptable slop. Got a result for a first time experiment.

[Lamont]

Hopeful fool-"any chickpea flour?"
Helpful chap-"hmmm, what is that"
Hopeful fool-"dried and ground chickpeas"
Helpful chap-"sorry never carried it"
Times two supermarkets.
Hopeful fool counts the varieties of white bread going out the door
sighs

[ribuck]

Chick Pea flour is called Gram Flour by many people.

[Warin]

Chick Pea flour is called Gram Flour by many people.

And Besan Flour by others.

[Tortoise]

where do you get the dried chick pea flour? Is that pretty common? That looks doable for me without a dehydrator.

Chick Pea flour is called Gram Flour by many people.

And Besan Flour by others.

Available at many health food shops, even little ones in Tassie. Usually found in bulk, so you can scoop out as much or as little as you like.

[Zapruda]

Hopeful fool-"any chickpea flour?"
Helpful chap-"hmmm, what is that"
Hopeful fool-"dried and ground chickpeas"
Helpful chap-"sorry never carried it"
Times two supermarkets.
Hopeful fool counts the varieties of white bread going out the door
sighs

I’ll send you some, mate. Chick pea flour not white bread

[Lamont]

Call it besan, call it gram, call it farina di ceci, call it what you will, this is not cosmopolitan Tazzie nor worldly Canberra, nor anything like Melbourne (I had some deep fried crickets there six months ago -delicious!) where I grew up.
I hope pedalroll can get some in WA, but in this little backwater there is none to be had.
Thanks for the kind offer ZaprudaS, you're a champ.
I am off soon to cosmopolitan Geelong and Werribee though and will get some there.

[trekker76]

some of you are experienced bushwalking connoisseurs that's for sure. my fare as I don't cook or soak is usually tortillas, peanut butter, condensed milk, trailmix( nuts + seeds, dried fruit etc), beef jerky, energy bars, electrolyte satchels.

[coryjohnrist]

Cant beat a good peanut butter burrito!

[flingebunt]

It is so frustrating in Australia because the supermarkets sell so few shelf stable or processed foods. Even some of the ones I have eaten in the past are no longer sold. I guess most people prefer fresh and who can blame them.

Here are a few tricks
When making hummus, try substituting cannellini beans for the tahini. It makes it into a smooth paste and I think it tastes better. Though nothing wrong with standard hummus.

For your breakfast oats try adding in almond meal. The supermarkets, including Aldi also sell mixes of almond meal and other things you can add to smoothies and oats.

For shorter trips look at wet pack foods. One example found in Korean grocery stores are meat packs that way about 250 grams (which I know are not that great for long hikes) but for a shorter hike can be good. They have curries, sweet and sour pork and others. If you are eating them cold, then the meat balls, hamburger or terrayiki chicken go good with bread.

Speaking of Asian grocery stories, there are a number of dehydrated products that can make a change from the standard jerky. For example, you can buy dried squid, which is a great snack along with various other fish flavoured snacks that could liven up noodles and couscous.

Oh and cheese. Cheese can be great, especially if the weather isn't too hot. For gouda lasts a while as does those processed cheese things.

[flingebunt]

I recently found a great no-cook option that I might try out for my next hike lunch, pate. It is hard to find shelf-stable pates at the moment because there is so much good fresh stuff the supermarkets have stopped stocking them in the import sections, but you can find cans in the deli.

Basic pates include pork, chicken and liver. Pates have between 200 and 400 calories per 100 grams and liver pate also has a lot of other nutrients as well.

I know some people won't like the fact that they are in cans, but we have few options here in Australia but check out your gourmet shops and delis and you never know what you will find. I know you can get shelf stable packing for pates that include foil and plastic tubs, but I have never seen them in Australia.

Also, there are a range of flavours that would be amazing if you could find them, such as smokey bacon. Imagine crackers and bacon pate for breakfast.

[McBlisters]

I am having a bit of a problem finding foods that are actually pleasant to eat with cold soaking.
I have found that cold soaking pasta just makes raw pasta dough, cous cous is also not like cooked, only noodles that come in the cup type containers are already cooked, otherwise it's raw noodles again. The same thing with rice, re-hydrated but raw.
I haven't tried back country cuisine yet, and the de-hydrated beans that a friend gave me didn't rehydrate properly and gave me terrible indigestion.
Please help, I must crack this.

[rob1970]

One of my favorite Lunches lately has been cold soaked Beans.

At home I basically make a Bean Salad.
Ingredients include any or all of the following,

Beans - Black, Kidney, Cannellini, Lentils, Chickpeas (tinned)
Beetroot - Tinned and cut up small
Sweet Potato - cut up small and roasted (pumpkin it fine)
Corn - Frozen (blanched)
Red Onion - diced
Olives - Sliced
Tomato - cut up small
Dress with Balsamic Glaze, then add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Then I spread on trays and dehydrate.
Once done, I make up packs of around 70g Bean mix and add 30g of either Cous Cous or Quinoa (or both).

On the trail about 1 - 1.5 hrs before lunch, I'll pour the mix into my container (375ml peanut butter jar), drizzle some Olive Oil over it and fill with water.
The end result is a Bean Salad that is pretty close to a freshly made one.

[Casparvitch]

Rob that sounds devine

[rob1970]

I haven't tried back country cuisine yet, and the de-hydrated beans that a friend gave me didn't rehydrate properly and gave me terrible indigestion.
Please help, I must crack this.

I read a while back that back country (freeze dried meals) don't re-hydrate properly unless there's heat... so probably avoid that.

I've tried doing a pasta salad, but that didn't turn out great. The pasta didn't really re-hydrate very well.

So far, only the beans have turn out well.

I too am keen for other ideas.

[Warin]

I read a while back that back country (freeze dried meals) don't re-hydrate properly unless there's heat... so probably avoid that.

Gear Skeptic on youtube suggests 'dehydrated' foods don't re-hydrate well with warm water, they need hot (boiling) water.

He also suggests freeze dried food does re-hydrate well with warm water.

Warm is ~160 F for killing buggs.

[ribuck]

The freeze-dried miso soups from the Japanese section of Woolies and Coles (e.g. Pandaroo brand) rehydrate quickly and perfectly in cold water. So do the freeze-dried fruit pieces sold in supermarkets under the brand name "Frisp". I would love to know what the difference is that makes freeze-dried backpacking meals fail to rehydrate in cold water.