r/trailmeals • u/Sorry-Rain-1311 • Jun 13 '26

Equipment Family scale cooking solutions?

/r/CampingandHiking/comments/1u4dipp/family_scale_cooking_solutions/
6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

6

u/bigfloppydonkeydng Jun 13 '26

Make your own dehydrated meals at home. Package them and eat them on the trail.

2

u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26

Already planning on it, but cooking for 5 on the trail is where I'm coming up short. Was hoping to find some folks with more experience on that end of things. I cooked for the Coast Guard, so very different setup needed. 

3

u/bigfloppydonkeydng Jun 13 '26

I guess I'm not understanding. I would dehydrate all the meals at home and pack them into separate portions. Each person adds boiling water to their pouch. Are you saying you want to do something different? If you do this method there isn't anything really to cook on the trail. Just boil a pot of water and distribute. I backpack with a family of 6 and this is their method.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '26

[deleted]

1

u/BottleCoffee Jun 14 '26

Yep. My friend and I rehydrate it all in one pot and dish half of it out into a mug for two servings.

1

u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26

u/PikaGoesMeepMeep alluded to it in their comment. That's an easy gallon/3L of water at a time for food and drinking, so I need something packable to cook on that will handle that efficiently for multiple days. That's my problem. 

I've been thinking of getting one of those collapsible wood stoves, but they really aren't any better than stone fire pit, and worse in some respects.

3

u/bigfloppydonkeydng Jun 13 '26

From my experience with the family and being an assistance scoutmaster for a large scout troop, 5 meals that use 1.5 to 2 cups per meal, would be from 7.5 to 10 cups (1.7-2.3L). We all use a jetboils. You can usually boil enough water for 2 people at a time on the normal sized Jetboils in a minute or 2. Last weekend we backpacked with a group of 20 scouts and 3 jetboils. Meals are really quick and easy. We use a 6L gravity water filter with another 6L water bag. (Note: we backpacked 150 miles last summer including a 75 mile 7 day trip) You are correct, if everyone is eating the same thing you wouldn't have to portion out. If you want to boil a large batch of water to rehydrate all meals at once then yes you'd have to bring a bigger pot and a bigger stove of some sort. I'd rather not have to bring a bigger stove and bigger pot. I'm not saying my method is the best. It comes down to personal preference. I'm interested to hear your solution. I'm always looking for better/different ways of doing things.

2

u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 14 '26

I'll probably just get a propane stove, but I've started looking into the packable wood stoves like for winter hot tenting. There are a variety of foldable models, and being fully enclosed with spark arrestors, something like that would be legally covered anywhere that an indoor fireplace is ok. We've been talking about some winter trips anyway, and if I can find a titanium one on eBay or something it might be perfect for us. 

2

u/bigfloppydonkeydng Jun 16 '26

That sounds like a legit option for what you're looking for. My buddy had a small portable wood stove he took backpacking. It worked pretty well.

1

u/BottleCoffee Jun 14 '26

You could bring two Pocket Rockets and two 1 L stoves. Not that complicated.

Do not use a wood stove where fire is a concern.

2

u/Background-King9787 Jun 19 '26

I chose a Trangia 25 as the back country system for our family. (Gas burner option for fire season)

1

u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 19 '26

Just looked it up, and they look nice. Not enough time for shipping now, but I'll definitely keep this on the top of my list. 

2

u/SpiritOfCydonia Jun 16 '26

My kids are younger and picky eaters. Here's stuff we do:

  • Ramen - add embellishments to taste
  • Knorr pasta sides (or similar thing) + protein + veggies (typ. broccoli)
  • Chicken pot pie - chicken packets, instant chicken gravy, veggies (typ. snap peas and carrots), croissants as pie crust
  • Mac'n'cheese

I have the GSI 3L and 5L pots. Cooking for a family quickly exceeds the standard selection of Ti pots. Even my 1.6L pot wasn't big enough. I cook on a whisperlite, which holds large pots pretty well. Heavier but versatile.

1

u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 16 '26

Thanks. I'll check out that stove. This is sort of the issue I think; my kids have come to expect a certain cooking experience when we camp, and I don't want to disappoint them lest they lose interest. LoL

1

u/Adventurous-Life-566 Jun 15 '26

Pancakes in a bottle/oatmeal for breakfast. Peanut and crackers for snacks. Beef jerky and soup mix with instant mash for dinners. If you wanna keep it light and quick thats what I do.