MacScouter: Cooking for Scouts and Scouters

Custom Search

  USSSP/usscouts.org Home
  USSSP/MacScouter.com Home

     MacScouter Cooking Home

Gourmet Backpacker Menus

By Claude Freaner, Lake Ridge, VA

These recipes were put together as a result of wanting to eat well during 8 day hikes in the High Sierras of California, generally between Mt. Whitney and Yosemite Valley (not all in 8 days!!!). These recipes are what we actually took on various hikes, but are primarily geared toward adults or older youths (people who like green stuff and strange tastes).

Recipes

Italian

Fettuccine With White Clam Sauce
Minestrone Soup
Green Vegetable
Punch
Cake

This menu is good for either a weekend outing or as a special meal on a long trek. Serves two.

Ingredients:

6 oz. can of Minced Clams
9 oz. pkg. Contadina Fresh Fettuccine or 6 oz. dried pasta
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered milk
2 Tblsp. Margarine
1 pkg. Knorr Minestrone Soup
Fresh Broccoli or Freeze-Dried Green Beans
Crystal-Lite Drink Mix
Mrs. Whites Muffin Mix

Fix soup according to package directions. Put broccoli into 1 inch water, cover and boil for 5 minutes, set aside. For long-term treks, fix the green beans according to package directions. Put pasta in large pot of boiling water, simmer for about 5 minutes, cover and set aside. Mix cornstarch, milk, and 1/4 cup water in pot and heat, stirring constantly, until thick. Add butter, clams and juice from can, plus small amount of additional water if sauce is too thick; stir until hot. Serve pasta with sauce poured on top. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of pasta sauce and broccoli. Put muffin mix into Silverstone frying pan, add water, stir, cover with another upside-down frying pan and put on low heat for 10 minutes. Hold both pans together, flip, and cook other side for 10 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a fork into cake; if done, the fork comes out clean; if not, cook a little longer. Remember to pack out can and other trash.

Mexican Fiesta

Vegetable Soup
Refried Beans
Tortillas
Spanish Rice
Sweet Corn Cake
Punch

This meal is good for a weekend and is especially good on a long trek. Serves two.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Knorr Vegetable Soup
Freeze-dried Refried Beans
Corn Tortillas
1 pkg. Lipton Spanish Rice Mix
1/2 can Marie Calendar's Corn Bread Mix
1/4 cup sugar
Crystal-Lite Drink Mix
1/4 lb. cheddar cheese
Several packages of taco sauce from a fast-food restaurant or dried red pepper flakes
Dried onion flakes or several green onions
Optional: For a weekend hike, bring along some frozen hamburger, crumble and fry for burritos or tacos. On a long-term trek, if you can catch some fish, add cooked fish to make fish tacos.

Fix soup according to package directions; add "some" red pepper flakes to spice up the soup and give it a Mexican flavor. Fix some freeze-dried refried beans according to package directions (get these at Smart and Final). Heat tortillas one at a time in the bottom of a frying pan over high heat. Cut up the cheese into very small chunks so it looks grated. On a long-term trek, add the onion flakes and some more red pepper flakes to the beans, put some beans and cheese into a tortilla and eat. On a weekend, cut up the green onions; put beans, cheese, and onions into tortilla, add taco sauce, and eat. For sweet corn cake, make the corn bread according to directions, adding the sugar before baking. Pour the batter into a Silverstone frying pan, cover with another upside-down frying pan, and put over low heat for 10 minutes. Hold both pans together, flip, and cook other side for 10 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a fork into cake; if done, the fork comes out clean; if not, cook a little longer.

Oriental

Won Ton Soup
Beef Chop Suey
Steamed Rice
Punch
Almond Cookies

This menu is for a weekend outing. Serves two.

Ingredients:

Won Ton Cup-A-Soup Mix
8 oz. steak, frozen, or 8 oz. hamburger meat, frozen
2 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)
2 oz. olive or peanut oil or 2 Tblsp. margarine
1 pkg. chop suey vegetable mix (fresh produce section of grocery store)
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 cup regular long-grain rice
1 beef bouillon cube
Crystal-Lite Drink Mix
Several packages of soy sauce from Chinese take-out restaurant
Almond cookies

Cut steak up into small pieces at home and freeze. Fix soup according to package directions. Put 2 cups water and 1 cup rice into pot, heat to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes covered. Remove from heat and set aside. Heat oil or butter in Silverstone frying pan, add meat and sauté until done. Add package of chop suey mix and cook for about 4 or 5 minutes. Add red pepper flakes according to how much you prefer Szechwan style. Serve with the rice. Season with soy sauce as desired.

New England Dinner

Potato Soup
Corned Beef and Cabbage
New Potatoes
Carrots
Cherry Pie

This menu is for a weekend backpack trip. Serves two.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Instant Mashed Potato Mix
2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
Onion flakes or several green onions
1/2 cup dried milk
1 Can corned beef
1/2 head green cabbage
2 medium red potatoes
2 medium carrots
4 Tblsp margarine
2 individual cherry pies (bread and sweet roll section at Von's)

Heat 4 cups water to boil. Add bouillon and dried milk, reduce heat to simmer. Add in instant mashed potatoes slowly, stirring constantly. Add onion flakes or finely chopped green onion and simmer over low heat for 3 or 4 minutes. In large pot, put quartered potatoes, cut up peeled carrots, and cabbage cut into 4 pieces, along with about 1 inch water. Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes and carrots are done (about 30 minutes). After vegetables are done, cut corned beef into chunks, put in pot on top of vegetables and heat another 5 minutes. Make sure pot doesn't run out of water. Serve, putting margarine on top of potatoes.

All American

Onion Soup
Steak
Home Fries
Green Vegetable
Apple Pie

This menu is great for a weekend backpack trip. Serves two.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Lipton French Onion Soup Mix
16 ox Sirloin steak, frozen
2 medium potatoes
1 small yellow onion
4 oz. olive oil
Frozen Julienne Green Beans
2 Individual Apple Pies (bread and sweet roll section at Von's)

Fix onion soup according to package directions. Quarter potatoes and onion, then cut into thin slices. Heat half of oil in Silverstone frying pan and add potatoes and onion, sauté for about 20 minutes, or until done. Cover and set aside. In a small pot, put 1/2 cup water and the green beans. Heat to boiling and simmer for 5 minutes. Cover and set aside. Heat rest of oil in Silverstone frying pan, add steak, sauté until done enough. Options: Take along a small plastic container of A1 Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, or whatever else you like. You can also add a little cut up bell pepper to the home fries.

--Thanks to :

Claude Freaner
Lake Ridge, VA