Food to Go – A Cookbook for the Outdoorsy Crowd

September 27, 2010

Do you need fresh inspiration for your meals on an extended outdoors adventure?? How about help with menu planning or food dehyrdation? Food to Go may be just the book for you.

Food to Go, a 169 page eBook, written by Frank Wall, Sue Wall and Deb Hadskis is a cookbook targeting the outdoorsy crowd – those who plan to be outdoors on extended trips. Think backpacking, bushwalking, kayaking, canoeing, backcountry skiing – really any activity where volume and weight are a concern.

Food to Go Food to Go A Cookbook for the Outdoorsy Crowd

Food to Go

Food to Go covers the following topics:

  • menu planning with lots of sample menus from experienced outdoors people
  • an in depth look at food drying (dehydration) with excellent step by step instructions
  • over 70 recipe and food ideas covering breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks and drinks
  • review of commercially available ready to eat products like Backpackers Pantry
  • reviews of stoves and cooking equipment

Menu Planning

What I like about this book is that it logically takes you step by step through the whole menu planning process. This is an onerous task for a long trip yet it seems easy when it’s laid out in the format they suggest. It’s obvious that the authors are sharing years of experience and are trying to help the reader avoid their mistakes. I particularly like the fact that 13 people have provided sample menus from diverse countries – Australia (that’s why you see wallaby jerky as a snack item!), New Zealand, the UK, the US and Canada. You get the full range of what people like to cook.

Food Drying (Dehydration)

Perhaps you have a dehydrator but you’ve never put it to good use.  Read the cookbook and you’ll be inspired to dry a variety of foods. I’ve only dried fruit and vegetables but eggs actually look very easy to dry, especially when you separate whites from yolks. Who knew? Step by step instructions on dehydrating whole meals like a curry or stew are provided with before and after pictures. Look for detailed charts with drying times of fruit and vegetables. There are sections devoted to nutritional information, conditioning and storing of the dried product and tips on how to rehydrate including some time saving ideas. A comparison of the weights of fresh and dried products should convince you to try your hand at dehydrating. Did you know you can dry yogurt and make it into leather?

Recipe Section

The recipe section offers loads of suggestions for all meals. Some are old favourites but there are plenty of new ones to try. How about Chicken Tikka Marsala? Potato Latkes and Applesauce? Cheeple’s Dahl? And a sweet end to the day with a Berry Cobbler?  You are encouraged to take advantage of what’s in a supermarket and combine it with what you dehydrate to provide variety and interest in your meals. I concur with the authors that a good meal at the end of the day gives you much to look forward to, especially if the weather has been ugly or it’s been a physically difficult day.

Recipe instructions are thorough. Lots of pictures add zip to the cookbook. (See the Scroggin picture below) Even better they illustrate how the meal looks when dry, partially rehydrated and ready to eat.

Scroggin Food to Go A Cookbook for the Outdoorsy Crowd

Scroggin - akin to GORP but better

Review of Off the Shelf Meals

The authors offer several pages of reviews about Off the Shelf products from websites including Backpacker, Trailspace and Bushwalk Tasmania. Read what the public has to say and then decide for yourself what’s worth trying.

Review of Stoves and Cooking Equipment

Reliable, lightweight, easy to use equipment is a must on any long outdoor trip. The authors examine the types of stoves on the market – canister, water boiling systems, multi fuel, methylated spirits and a miscellaneous section. Price points and positive and negative features for all types are outlined. Look for tips on cooking pots and gear too.

Food to Go is a comprehensive cookbook for the outdoors person. Although it’s been written by Australians, the information provided, aside from a few food names mostly found in the sample menu section, is easily understandable. I smiled when I saw a few items that are unfamiliar to me – yoghurt frogs, wallaby jerky, balsamic vinegar peanuts (sounds interesting), Staminade and Tom Yum Soup. I like the fact sample menus were included. They illustrate how different everyone is with regards to food. Some people can survive on bars and instant soup and others prefer the gourmet route.  Frank, Sue and Deb show that with some planning, eating well for extended periods outdoors is achievable.

I like the Food to Go cookbook so much that I have made it available for purchase right from my home page. Just click on the Food to Go icon. The price is $Aus19.50 or about $Cdn19.28 but there are no delivery charges.

Leigh McAdam

www.hikebiketravel.com

You might also like:

Five Fabulous Reads for Armchair Travel
A Toast to New Zealand
Small Town Texas: Discovering Marfa, Marathon & Terlingua

Posted by Hike Bike Travel | Filed Under Books and Book Reviews, Hiking, backpacking, walking 

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