In case you'd like to try this as well, here are my favorite "just add water" items
- Instant mashed potatoes. I often pre-mix in dried gravy mix, dried cheese mix (oh yeah, we're going seriously processed), dried onions, and spices. This pairs great with a can of peas (if weight isn't an issue), campfire roasted smokies, or summer sausage.
- Couscous. Pre-season your couscous (chicken bouillon does wonders). I like to mix it with a mini can of flavored tuna.
- Cup o' Soup. Chicken noodle is my fav. These tiny packets take up almost no space and sure make a welcomed first course or hot addition to a cold meal. Just don't make the same mistake that Mountain Man did and mix it with your hot chocolate. I can vouch that chicken noodle hot chocolate is gross. I can also vouch that since we were camping (ie super hungry and had no where to dispose of leftovers) we drank it anyway.
- Instant Oatmeal. I mix 50% pre-packaged type (think Quaker Oats) with 50% plain quick oats because I find the packaged stuff pretty sugary. I also always hit the bulk isle to find yummy add ins - macadamia nuts and coconut, almonds and dried apples, chocolate chips...whatever strikes your fancy.
- Ramen noodles. For me it's not quite filling enough, but many love to camp with Ramen. You can always fill this meal out with some pre-cut fresh veggies.
- Kraft Dinner Cups - good old KD in it's own little cup. You can ditch the cup and repackage in a Ziploc if it is too bulky. If you take yours with ketchup snag a to-go packet from a fast food joint.
These are some of my favorite no-fuss-no-muss-nothing-but-hot-water-so-I-can-get-on-with-it meal ideas. How about you? What is your favorite easy peasy hot meal in the backcountry?
I remember my favorite being Kraft macaroni and cheese. Also any kind of "gorp." I make my own now with all kinds of nuts and dried fruit and chocolate chips. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that such food is perfect to take on hikes, bike rides and camping. I find these dishes both tasty and easy to prepare. As you write, it is highly processed food. It does something to my digestion. I am among those who easily get constipated when I travel. But on trips where I mostly eat highly processed food, the challenge is often the opposite.
ReplyDeleteThe combo of such food and physical activity is "explosive". Typical situation: A "just add water" lunch. Then go hiking or cycling for a while. And suddenly it just has to happen, completely impossible to plan, sometimes a few minutes after the meal, other times after four or five hours. Then it cannot be postponed. As soon as I feel the urge, I just have to start looking for a suitable hiding place, typically down a slope, behind a bush or a rock. I barely manage to get my pants down and squat down before the process is underway and the bowels are emptied within seconds.
Fortunately, diarrhea is rare. Usually a perfect, soft "cable". Ultra-processed food for lunch together with fiber-rich foods for breakfast and supper seems to be the perfect thing for my stomach.
A little distressing that it has to happen so suddenly and cannot be planned. But it's still better than constipation.
To me it is important, as Bettina mentions, to ensure an intake of enough fibers too. I am using fiber-rich food, in addition to drinking a good amount of water, for breakfast and lunch, without meat or ultra-processed products. For dinner in the evening I can then use energy and protein rich products, even those ultra-processed, without getting any problems with my digestion. It may perhaps be TMI to some (but you can stop here). [With this dietary strategy when hiking, I typically poop once in the early morning and then once more about 1-2 hrs after lunch. Both times usually type 4 (smooth) on the Bristol scale, but considerably more after lunch (typically 15-20 inches) than in the morning (typically 4-5 inches). (The only challenge is that poop #2 often has to be performed somewhere along the trail.)]
ReplyDeleteWhen going to live outside for several days, perhaps even months, it is important to find a diet that ensures normal bowel motions. A constipation really reduces the physical and mental capasity. I know from own experience that it is important for me to have a diet with much fibers to increase the volume. The volume trigs my urge and hinders me to postpone the "toilet visit" (which I otherwise tend to do). Out there, when forced to do it in the bushes, it is all to easy to try to avoid doing it. Therefore a large volume has shown to help me keep regular motions and avoid constipation.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very important discussion. Several years back, I had to interrupt my first attempt on a long distance bike ride after less than a week due to constipation. I think I looked upon these matters as trifles, with no need for any planning. When giving the bike ride a new chance the following year, I was much more prepared and I had reflected on nutrition as well as prepared myself for the challenges connected with the necessity to "go in the bushes". Then six weeks on the bike turned out to be a fine experience also in this aspect.
ReplyDeleteMy "formula" is WVW (water, volume, walking). Then it usually is sorted out with a short visit in the bushes around 10am.
ReplyDeleteI use quite a lot of "just add water"-food when hiking. The challenge as I see it, is the amount of salt in such meals. Salt binds water in the body. Therefore, I try to drink much when walking (which also is important for keeping normal motions as mentioned above).
ReplyDeleteI often prepare my own dried meals. Then I add some bran to it to be sure that I get a sufficient intake of fibers. When I use commercial formulations, I try to bring some pharmaceutical fibers, as Metamucil capsules. I then take type 3-4 capsules in the evening with a good portion of water. I also drink a lot of water at breakfast. Following this procedure I can maintain normal motions. After walking or biking for type 1-2 hrs, I feel the need and can pass stools easily and normally. Bran or Metamucil increase the volume quite much, which trigg the urge. For sure, then sometimes it has to be done just somewhere out there in the wilderness. I have experienced that it is not wise to put it off! Luckily, where I walk and bike, it is easy to find hidden spots where even an adult woman can get it done with sufficient decency. (Hopefully not TMI, but I find it easier to get a complete relief when squatting.)
ReplyDelete"The meal isn't over until you've passed stool," I once heard another long-distance cyclist say. When out there it's very important to recognize the total digestive process as a unit. You're very vulnerable, much more so than at home, if your digestive system isn't working as intended. The intake of well-composed meals is on one end, the awareness of the importance of the elimination is (literally) on the other end.
ReplyDeleteWell spoken! Getting a constipation during a long distance hike or bike trip is cumbersome and may reduce severely both physical and mental capacity. Therefore, it is important to be well prepared on the practical challenges that may turn up along the chosen route. Often you may have to manage without an ordinary toilet, which may come as a surprise to many.
DeleteEvery summer I work as a nature guide taking groups for hikes in the mountains, often groups of seniors. At the information evening that we have beforehand, we give quite thorough advice on nutrition and water intake, focusing the importance of fibers and sufficient drinking to avoid pains, fatigue and weakness.
DeleteBecause many of the participants are very inexperienced hikers, we have found that we also need to provide advice on toilet practices and emphasize that daily bowel movements are important, even when you don't have access to a regular toilet. When the hike lasts several days, we have previously experienced that several people became constipated and had reduced physical performance, simply because they were unsure or unfamiliar with how to do it. Many also probably found it a bit embarrassing and perhaps even almost indecent.
Everything is connected to everything. There is no doubt that diet and digestion have a lot to do with well-being and physical performance, even when you are hiking.
DeleteWhen I was a young scout I remember when hiking for several days our leader made a special soup the first or the second evening. I am not sure what the soup contained, but it was a vegetable soup consisting at least of courgette and leek and herbs. It tasted well and we all ate it. The effect was undoubtable. The following morning everyone felt a strong urge to go to toilet. I guess that was just why she prepared this particular soup for us so that we should not get into constipation.
DeleteMy nutritional principles out there are:
Delete1. Enough water to prevent dehydration.
2. Enough energy to prevent exhaustion.
3. Enough fibers to prevent constipation.
As to point 3, it is also important to be aware that the brain and body may cheat you, I have to "listen" actively for the tiny signals from the belly and then react immediately upon them to avoid troubles. I think my brain is too occupied with finding a place with a door to lock!
The combination of enough water and fiber with physical activity and mental awareness is the clue to me. When I started to regard my body as an element in an ecological system, stimulated by challenges posed upon me, I began to understand how activity, "input" (physical, mental and social) and "output" is closely related to one each other. Everyone knows that eating and activity are normal challenges, but at least I ignored other factors (as stress and bowel motions) and tended to regard them as abnormalities.
DeleteI find the system's perspective intriguing. Can anyone tell more about it?
DeleteThe systems perspective should ideally be illustrated.
DeleteTry to imagine:
The body in the centre as a circle encompassing: circle symbolizing skin, inside the circle a duct symbolizing lungs and guts with mucosae. Microbes in the guts. The brain as a central organ, blood and immune system as symbols.
Arrows in and out of the circle, symbolizing intake of food and water, sweat, urine, feces, mental and social stimuli, and physical activity.
Outside the circle environmental factors as heath, humidity, access to water, different types of food, microbiological environment etc.
Then describing the processes along the arrows between the different elements inside and outside the body.
For example "nutrition on a hike": You have to describe different types of food (highly processed, fibers ....), intake of water, activity that makes you sweat and use energy, microbiological (normal and possibly pathological) affecting uptake of food). Perhaps even emotions can be described, for example fear or simply shyness for going to toilet outside. If for example such a fear is detected or described, it has to be compensated in a systems perspective. You can train to regulate emotions or you can simply eat much fibers and thus be "forced" to obey the signals from your body.
The whole point of this system's perspective is to see bodily processes connected, not in isolation. Constipation, for example, should not be treated without also taking into account physical activity, nutrition and hydration as mentioned above, and possibly even emotional and social sides of it.
Yes, it is probably important to see this in a larger context! Last summer I went on a longer pilgrimage hike. I stayed in hostels, but walked all day. For the first couple of weeks I was very bothered by constipation. I tried all sorts of dietary advice, without any effect. It was only when I realized that I had to listen to my gut that everything became in order. Even an older, respectable lady had to seek refuge in the bushes and do it in a rather primitive way. At first very unusual, but eventually I discovered that others did it too, and then it became a habit. I actually think that most hikers have a lot of understanding because it often has to be done this way, and are not offended by a glimpse of someone in a private moment.
DeleteThis is among those matters I don't like to talk about, but as it here can be done anonymously, I do! Woman, 69, hiker for decades. In younger days I often got very constipated when outdoor. At first I thought it was due to embarrassment etc, but I gradually understood the importance of nutrition and hydration. I use much dried food, commercial as well as homemade, but now (for years) I have always added a daily dose of nutritional fiber, and certainly lots of water during the day. And being a "respectable lady" seeking refuge in the bushes? Yes, for sure, no other way. However, a sound nutrition and hydration lead to very efficient "toilet visits", all done in a few minutes. And the result? Very comfortable. A soft "cable" at least in the morning and often also some time after lunch.
DeleteDelivering a smooth "cable" every day is an important part of my outdoor life, else I don't feel comfortable and don't function optimally. Nutrition is the "clue". Enough fibres and water and the "gut health" is maintained and sustainable. Yes, initially squatting in the bushes may be perceived as embarrassing. What are other options to keep normal motions out there? None!
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