I love the outdoors. I enjoy fishing, hiking, camping, gardening, hanging out enjoying a book in the shade with a cold drink….but I don’t like to mow the grass. We have over ¾ of an acre, and I spend two to three hours a week or more mowing and trimming, about 8 months a year.
Category: Outdoors
Camping, hiking, backpacking, boating, fishing, snowshoeing, and whatever else we do outside for fun.
I have used a variety of camping stoves, from the old suitcase-style Coleman gasoline stoves to the most modern butane burners. But for several years I have been mostly using alcohol stoves (sometimes called spirit stoves) for backpacking. Let’s talk about what’s great about them, and what isn’t.
On a recent backpacking trip, my air mattress sprung a leak. It was entirely my fault. I was using it outside the tent to lie on while I propped my feet up, and apparently didn’t clear the ground thoroughly enough. At bedtime I discovered that the pad would slowly deflate, bottoming out in about 5 minutes.
In part one of this post, I covered how we came to doing more of our own dinners on the trail. I shared some my favorite ingredients and resources for making gourmet food on the trail. Now I will share some of what we enjoy.
We took a few favorite dishes from our dinner menu and tried to make them with freeze-dried and dried ingredients. I cook some pretty gourmet food, and have been thrilled with how the dinners have turned out.
So without further ado:
We do a lot of camping, going out as often as we can work it into our schedule. While we enjoy the convenience of freeze-dried dinners, we have found that there are sometimes things we don’t like about them.
• They may not have enough food to satisfy after a long day of hiking. I suppose we could each eat a dinner, but that gets bulky and expensive.
• They may be too bland or too spicy for our taste. The former is easy to fix, but the latter offers challenges.
• They can be bulky. The size and weight for the calories is uneven, and a long trip means a full pack.
• They can be expensive. Compared to a restaurant, it’s not too bad, but on a long trip it can be prohibitive.
So we have experimented with a variety of do-it-yourself options.
Why hello there, amazing person! I must compliment your amazing powers of discernment in visiting our humble web abode.
Relax, read a few posts, and enjoy!