Cooking_Backpacking

Backpack Gourmet: Good Hot Grub You Can Make at Home, Dehydrate, and Pack for Quick, Easy, and Healthy Eating on the Trail
$12.95
Loved the recipes in this book! Probably my favorite recipe book that I have. The pesto recipe was better than any other I have ever made. The entrees are delicious enough to serve at a dinner party, not to mention on a backpacking trip. Tons of great vegeterian recipes too. And all super healthy and delicious and creative. Very good instructions on how to dehydrate too. Even easy in the oven!

Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpacking and Paddling
$10.95
I have done very little backpacking and moderate camping, and I waited with baited breath for this book to arrive (fortunately delivery was very fast so I had little time to form my expectations). When it did arrive, I read the book in a matter of a couple hours. Granted, I did not read through every recipe. This book does have some good common sense information about food drying, but not much more than typical instructions of most driers supply. From there the book goes through the other issues of packing, carrying and preparing trail foods in the very briefest of manners. There are many recipes included, and I will invariably use a few of them, but this is not the information I sought as I know how to cook. The book was weak on many issues that I hoped it might contain, such as information on nontraditional means of food production, such as solar cooking. The short piece on choices between stoves and fires, and the choices in stoves was near useless, even for an beginner, but it did help to fluff out this very tiny 88 page book to a bit more reasonable expectations of what defines a book. There are many line drawings that also stand in place of the diction I expected, and the majority of them have little to do with support of the text. My biggest disappointment is the complete lack of mention of plant based foods gathered along the way. I know there are many books on this topic, but I was more than a little surprised to find a total lack herein. I guess I was looking for a useful trail book, and this is certainly not it. The space in my pack is too valuable.
If you are looking for a recipe book with other basic tips, this book will serve you very well. Strangely, what I enjoyed most are the bits of prose at the chapter heads, but of course these had nothing to do with the book's subject. If you removed these from the book, and the useless line drawings, you would have enough left over for a lengthy magazine article, not a book. I am glad to have read this book, and I will refer to the recipes from time to time, but unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket, I would look for a used copy or go with another book altogether. Like most of you, I picked this book because of its high review ratings, and this time the ratings let me down.

Portable Push-Button Start Butane Stove for Camping, Emergencies
$32.99
Several years I bought one of these stoves for use during an emergency (we live in earthquake country). Recently we decided to do some remodeling and our kitchen was out for a month. The stove let us cook breakfast everyday and did a great job. Never failed to light and one can of fuel lasted the entire month. Found fuel at ACE Hardware. Bought two units for friends who saw ours and wanted one. Both new units fired up with no problems. Not the most rugged construction so might not be the best camp stove but is great for use in the home (or boat, cabin, etc).

Coleman One-Burner Sporter II Dual Fuel Gas Stove
$69.99
I purchased this little Coleman 533 one burner Dual Fuel stove, mostly for emergengy use. I read a lot of the reviews on it and based on the reviews, the Coleman reputation for relibility and longevity, and the 533 stove's small size, I was sold. Back in December 2007 we had an ice storm, and lost all power for nine days. No power and No heat. I like the idea of Dual Fuel, but will probably use Coleman fuel most of the time if it is on hand. My Chevy truck has a 35 gallon fuel tank, so we should always have access to unleaded gas if necessary. Now we will be prepared to boil water or make coffe or tea, or cook some dinner during the next emergency. Highly recommended.