Category Archives: Cooking

Homemade Backpacking Meal: Mashed Sweet Potatos

Homemade Backpacking Meal: Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Green Beans
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Green Beans

For the last few years, I have been making homemade backpacking meals. When you backpack every weekend, $8 store-bought meals get pretty expensive. I like doing this because I can control the ingredients and the results taste better than pre-packaged meals. Some of my recipes are really simple and others are a bit more complex, but they are all fun to make.  One of my favorites is mashed sweet potatoes. Continue reading Homemade Backpacking Meal: Mashed Sweet Potatos

Sample Backpacking Meal Plan

sample backpacking meal plan: Data enjoys some tuna on tortillas with olive oil.
Data enjoys some tuna on tortillas with olive oil.

This post discusses a sample backpacking meal plan.  The fourth priority on our Rules of Three list is food. While you can survive for about three weeks without eating, you won’t be able to travel very far. In order to keep up a strong traveling pace, a backpacker must consume anywhere from three to five thousand calories per day. Calories are energy and energy is what keeps you moving. Continue reading Sample Backpacking Meal Plan

Backpacking Stoves

Backpacking Stoves: Snow Peak Isobutene Canister Stove
CampingJay’s standard Cookset

A participant in my upcoming Intro to Backpacking Workshop at Harriman State Park asks about backpacking stoves, “Do you have any suggestions for cooking stoves? I’e gone camping and backpacking a couple of times, but every time I’e taken the easiest non-perishable foods because I don’t know which stove to purchase. Are there some that can be used across most seasons? Which are the best models? Which are the most economical and light weight, yet durable?” Continue reading Backpacking Stoves

Paleo Beef Jerky Recipe

paleo beef jerky

Paleo Beef Jerky

One of my favorite snacks while backpacking is paleo beef jerky.  It stays fresh for days without refrigeration, tastes great, and provides the protein you need to keep moving.  Unfortunately, most store-bought jerky is loaded with corn, wheat, soy, sugar, and artificial preservatives.  Follow this easy recipe for making your own delicious, healthy snack! Continue reading Paleo Beef Jerky Recipe

Learn How to Melt Snow for Water

CampingJay demonstrates how to melt snow for water.
Melting snow while on a short winter day hike. Disregard the unfrozen lake behind me.

Backpacking in the winter is a lot of fun, but presents a lot of challenges.  Its cold.  Trails are tough to follow.  Fire wood is buried in snow.  One of the things I actually find easier about backpacking in the winter is finding water.  In the summer, I often have to walk some distance from camp to find water in a spring or stream.  In the winter, however, there is water everywhere.  This article is about how to melt snow for water, which is actually pretty easy.

Continue reading Learn How to Melt Snow for Water

Dutch Oven Cooking: Camp Culinary Delight

Paul demonstrating his expertise at Dutch Oven Cooking.
Paul preparing dinner on the dutch in a dutch oven.

Every year I go on two or three car-camping or base-camping trips with friends, and I always find that I’d like to contribute more to cooking on these trips.  When I was younger, my father always talked about cooking in the Dutch Oven on scout trips, but he never showed me how to use one.  Two years ago, I borrowed one of his old rusty Dutch Ovens, and refurbished it, then tried using it on a camping trip in the Adirondacks. The results mixed, but I wanted to keep trying, and it is still a work in progress. Here is what I have learned so far about Dutch Oven Cooking

Continue reading Dutch Oven Cooking: Camp Culinary Delight

Start Camping Right

The goal of this blog is to help introduce people to the joy of camping. So far, I have been covering a lot of advanced topics, like gear care and navigation; and perhaps I have been neglecting the basics, like how to start camping right.  Recently, a friend of mine expressed interest in getting started. Here’s her question:

Hey Jason! How are you? This is a GREAT PAGE!!! Where is there a nice spot to go camping that’s close [to home]? What would I have to do to camp there? I’ve NEVER been camping before and would like to try it this Summer!!! 🙂

Continue reading Start Camping Right

Homemade Wood Gas Stove and Backpacking Meals

This short video discusses the wood gas stove, home made backpacking meals, and my 2014 trip to the Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness.
This short video discusses the wood gas stove, home made backpacking meals, and my 2014 trip to the Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness.

This year while planning for our trip to the Adirondacks, we had the idea to shoot a bunch of video and make a documentary. We didn’t end up taking as much video as we had planned, but I do have a few interviews to share with you over the next couple of days.  This one features myself explaining the wood gas stove and showing off a few of my home-made backpacking meals. For more information on making your own wood gas stove, check out this video from Intense Angler. You can also check out my article on making homemade backpacking meals for some cool ideas on eating healthier on the trial. For a full trip report on my 2014 adventure in the Pharaoh Lakes Wilderness, click here.

Continue reading Homemade Wood Gas Stove and Backpacking Meals