Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

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Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby Hikin_Jim » Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:28 pm

Not that this is earth shattering or anything, but I've written an article for SoCalHiker.net about an inexpensive alternative to freeze dried food.

See Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus.

Image

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby Florian » Tue Jun 16, 2015 7:16 pm

Jim, any tips for sushi or sashimi on the trail? :wink:

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby arocknoid » Tue Jun 16, 2015 9:34 pm

Are wa oishi desu, Jim-san!

Those are indeed good noodles, sir. And a fine article you've written.

Adding any of a variety of additional dried foods makes for better nutrition, as well as taste, texture and so on. The home garden, orchard, and food dehydrator are handy for personal favorites; YMMV. E.g. try some jicama and a variety of radishes, as well as the usual suspects.

Here's a pic of some noodles (base, add-ins not pictured) on the last spring snow hot-meal hike I shared with my brother-from-another-mother. In the stove shadow you may be able to make out "Shin Bowl" as the brand, homage to both the road and especially Mt. Baldy Emissary we know so well. Photo is at Kelly's Camp.

For multi-day jaunts, the bowl itself is very handy for additional duties and meals. (usually I don't bring the packaging but did so for other photo-teasing purposes). The generic "Cup o' Noodles" is preferred by my pal--no put-downs allowed, to each his own; also, he is less tolerant of the decidedly spicy Shin Bowl.

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Florian, I do have some tips for trail sushi (but not sashimi per se, thought tekka maki/maguro etc will have similar temperature control issues).

I quickly found these pics of some sushi I made for a Baldy hike. I'll look for some of the other rolls/pics/sauce/wasabe etc on a backup drive, with further comments/tips if you have interest.

This is vegetarian; using tofu-based crab-simulacrum of deceptive texture and taste--the "pink stuff". More temperature tolerant, too.


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(film reference for Ellen: channeling Toshiro Mifune and his sushi and sashimi dining "out west" with Charles Bronson. PM for personal anecdote/1980)

kind regards,
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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby Florian » Wed Jun 17, 2015 5:53 am

arocknoid, that sushi looks very good!

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby Hikin_Jim » Wed Jun 17, 2015 11:13 am

Nomilicious, Arocknoid-san.

One thing I like about the Sapporo Ichiban is that there's very little packaging. Especially on longer backpacking trips, trash can really build up. With Sapporo Ichiban, the wrapper compresses to nearly nothing. But as you say the bowls included with some brands can be very handy for the rest of a hike, and they're generally lighter than most bowls sold at, say, REI.

That sushi does look good. I've got a little insulated lunch bag that I keep blue ice in that I can use for such delectable comestibles, but my main advice to Florian would be to catch and consume in place. Doesn't get much fresher than that. :)

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby arocknoid » Wed Jun 17, 2015 1:21 pm

Yes, the Shin noodles also come in plain pkging without the bowl, same as number one choice Ichiban. The pkging with the bowl has almost the same volume as three pks without the bowl. Those particular bowls are sturdy and heat tolerant, yet light, and rinse easily, so they work well for double duty. Years of lazy, all I "cook" in my pan is water.

One cleanup tip: for anything with a sauce constituent, sprinkle and mix a tad of psyllium. It will make the sauce more cohesive than adhesive--won't stick much at all to pot or bowl. This is more of an issue with the past couple of drought years, most often carrying all water vs. resupply, and hence more parsimonious with qty used for cleaning.

Likewise for double duty with insulated pouch, I used ziplocked ice instead of blue ice, and use the water after the ice has melted.

Best advice to Florian: let someone else bring the sushi, and you can help with the consumption.
How about an arocknoid special: wasabi-maki. That'll make the weather seem cool.

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby Florian » Wed Jun 17, 2015 1:32 pm

Another thought i have for a hiking lunch is Japanese natto. For those that don't know it's a type of fermented soybean with a very pungent taste and odor with a unique sticky/stringy texture. I love the stuff but might be a bit messy on the trail. We had for lunch today with steamed rice and green onions.

Here is a picture .. https://instagram.com/p/4Cup83Par2/

Natto comes in small single-serve styrofoam packages which is what made me think it might be convenient on the trail. I have one package left. Might save it for trail testing.

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby zippetydude » Wed Jun 17, 2015 1:51 pm

Okay, so we're talkin' sushi are we? How about this?

When I hiked up to lower Gaylor Lake (in Yosemite) last summer with family and friends, we brought a couple of fishing rods. The trout there are all naturalized - the last trout plant in the back country lakes took place in the 1950's according to a ranger. Apparently they are a non-native species and are presently considered as invasive and detrimental to the frogs and other wildlife that were once abundant in these lakes. Anyway, we caught a few, cleaned them, and having no stove with us (Where was HJ when I needed him?!) and not wanting to build a fire, we simply ate them. It was actually very tasty, and if was surprisingly fun. We even left the heads on them when as we cleaned them, and it felt very strange to eat them just like that. "Nice fishes! We likes the nice fishes doesn't we my precious! Gollum!" Yes, we actually said stupid things like that as we ate. But it was fun. I wish we had brought a couple little packs of soy sauce or something, but maybe next year.

In any case, the reason for my post is merely to say that if I were to do a serious backpack like the JMT or HST, I would definitely augment my food supply with fish, and I would most likely just eat them raw just like I described above. Yummy!

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby Hikin_Jim » Tue Jun 23, 2015 11:34 am

Zip, gotta say, you bring "getting back to nature" to a whole new level. :lol:

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Re: Cheap Eats for the Trail: Ramen Plus

Postby Ellen » Wed Jun 24, 2015 11:03 am

Howdy "Noid :)

Thanks so much for the movie reference. Did a little research and found it is "Red Sun." I found a video of Toshiro Mifune tossing around Charles Bronson 8) I'll be adding another classic picture to my "must see" list.

Howdy Z-dude :)

Raw fish and Gollum -- EEW! :lol:

Miles of smiles,
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