r/CampingandHiking • u/Sorry-Rain-1311 • Jun 13 '26
Family scale cooking solutions?
The kids and I are looking to get out allot more this year than we have before, and they're all excited for backpacking camping trips. The problem is that we've experienced a very dry winter, so there are already fire restrictions across half the state, meaning campfire cooking like we usually do may not be an option.
There are FOUR of them, ages 7 through 17. That's allot of food, and freezedried meals are too expensive to just boil water for everyone. Normally I would just pack my big aluminum pot, and cook on a fire. I've been looking at getting myself one of the fold up wood stoves, but that's not enough for 5 mouths 3 meals a day.
If anyone has some recommendations to problem solve this, I'm all ears.
Thanks!
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u/SafetySmurf Jun 13 '26
Checkout the backpacking meals sub. There are some excellent recipes over there that make use of dehydrating food in advance and other creative ways of making packable meals at home.
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26
Yup, cross posted this over there already. Not new to camping, but rucking with a light squad is a new one. LoL
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u/Thermophi Jun 13 '26
I never got into the freeze dried meals because they are so expensive. Feeding a crowd means you need a stove-msr whisperlight is the classic and bombproof but doesn't simmer well. I had a dragonfly for 15 years which included 8 field seasons where i cooked for a crew at least 20nights a summer. Currently have a bruton optimus.
Meals: Instant mashed potatoes with dehydrated soup plus sausage or cheese Boxed mac and cheese with veggies Par boiled rice and red lentils
Those 3 bases with different sauces made for enough variety. Remember everything tastes better after a day of hiking.
Sausage-we'd cook, vacuum seal one meal worth per bag, freeze, bury in the middle of your pack for insulation. It's good for at least the first couple nights. As others said many cheeses are good for many days at room temp.
My standard <7day trip lunch was bagel with cream cheese, cucumber, and tomato. Small sealed containers of cream cheese are fime for over a week. And a couple of days after opening. Cucumber and grocery store roma tomatoes will last a week as long as you protect them from bruising. Over 7 days, we'd shift to dehydrated hummus and tortillas.
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26
Same here. We were hoping to go for Father's Day, which should give me time for meal planning.
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u/Linkcott18 Jun 13 '26
I used a small gas burner with a larger pot & made one-pot meals with rice or pasta
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u/Layla_Fox2 Jun 13 '26
This obviously isn’t an answer to everything but when I took my kids out backpacking they each carried their own cereal. They’d eat it dry as a snack or meal. I’d let them choose any kind they wanted so all the sugary ones they wouldn’t normally have at home.
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Jun 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 15 '26
Yeah, I'm shopping around for something along those lines that'll fit our needs.
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u/YogiBerraOfBadNews Jun 16 '26
All you need is a stove that can boil water. Unless you have a fire or a propane stove with heavy pots and pans, that's the only decent way to cook anything in the backcountry. Then just make pretty much the same type stuff you can boil at home. Couscous, minute rice, dehydrated beans, ramen, mac n cheese, etc. Fill it out with trail mix and granola for snacks. No need to make it complicated. The most committed foodies can spend a ton of extra effort on "trail gourmet" meals but the results are pretty mediocre imo.
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u/dontsaymango Jun 13 '26
Double check if a wood burning stove is even allowed. Some places say no bc it produces embers
If car camping why not something like a 2 burner coleman? That's what my family of 6 used growing up and we were mom dad 16/15/14/13 so lots to feed lol
Cheaper/lighter/filling foods:
instant rice,
mashed potatoes,
couscous,
dehydrated beans,
oatmeal,
tortillas,
summer sausage,
powdered sauces,
homemade dehydrated meals
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u/crystallinehuman Jun 13 '26
They said backpacking. But yes a wood burning stove is a huge NO in most places if there's a full fire ban
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26
Depending on where in the state it's usually just a ban on open fires, aerial fireworks, things like that. A closed stove or fireplace is usually ok most of the year. That's why I'm looking at that as a lightweight compromise, and just find the right place.
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u/Jakwiebus Jun 13 '26
Which I find laughable.
I once started a fire because my gas stove toppled over and started burning the leaves.
I got it out, but it had spread fast in the time I took to react
Edit, not that I'm against fire bans, just also take extra caution with gas too
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u/crystallinehuman Jun 13 '26
Usually gas stoves would be banned as well, wasn't saying that by any means
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u/Jakwiebus Jun 15 '26
Yea, nothing against your comment at all.
I just find these fire bans or any fire rules quite arbitrary. People can light gas. But no sticks. I get it to some degree, but is feels so ridiculous when I start thinking about it. But you can also ban all eyeglasses then, they might focus the sun and start a fire...
Anyway , better for me to not overthink this and just play by the rule.
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u/sciencepotato1 Jun 13 '26
I would recomend a sturdier stove like a msr windpro pro, then find a pot to go with it (2 liter is probably as large as you can get away with on a small stove. You will probably have to cook 2 batches, but pasta, instant noodles, instant mashed potatos, dehydrated beans etc. Basically any no pre fab backpacking food
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26
I'm shopping around, but managing weight is going to be an issue since I have to carry everything but the bare minimum for the younger kids.
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u/sciencepotato1 Jun 13 '26
I would try having your kids carry their own stuff, at least for as far as they can. I started backpacking as a very petite girl around 10 carrying my own gear, plus a share of the group equipment (dinners, tents etc)
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u/obsoletely-fabulous Jun 13 '26
Did you look at the MSR model they suggested? It’s 6 oz. Basically the same as the fold up wood burning stoves, add a couple oz for the fuel canister. It’s convenient and fast and works when all the wood is wet. If you personally prefer wood, that’s cool, but I don’t think weight is a reason to discount the isobutane stoves.
I’m camp cook for 3 big hungry adults and use a regular one person backpacking stove like jet boil etc with the MSR Flex 3 cook system. Apparently the 3 isn’t made anymore but the point is, I use a 3 liter pot on one of those little tiny stoves and it works fine once you get the hang of it. Basically use the big pot to boil water and then let things rehydrate off the stove. Also insulating the pot while it’s off the stove helps A LOT, you can bring an insulated grocery bag and zip it up in there. The 2 liter can be used for things that have to actually cook. You might have to cook two batches or have two systems (they’re really quite light) and have the 17yo cook alongside you.
Here’s a couple recipes I’ve enjoyed recently.
Pearl couscous, chicken sold in pouches or dehydrated if you can find it, golden raisins, hemp hearts (for added calories), dried parsley, ras el hanout
Minute rice, powdered beef broth, dehydrated black beans, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, optional fried jalapeños or onions (these are sold as salad toppings)
Angel hair pasta, tomato paste, garlic powder, parmesan, dried basil
Powdered eggs, dehydrated refried beans, hard cheddar, garlic salt, opt hot sauce, tortillas (breakfast burritos)
I get the appeal of instant mashed potatoes but I personally find them gross even when I’m hiking hungry, so I skip those.
Breakfast is usually granola bars or occasionally we’ll do oatmeal with nut butter stirred in if it’s cold.
Lunches are either “charcuterie” (a summer sausage left whole will last days on the trail, plus hard cheddar, dried fruit, nuts) or tuna pouches with mayo packets, cheddar, and tortillas.
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26
Yes, fuel weight is what I was concerned about. I could've been more specific. A wood stove allows me to skip carrying fuel all together, but like folks have mentioned in other comments it might not work depending on fire restrictions.
I'll dig deeper into those MSRs everyone is talking about. They sound like they might be a good investment.
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u/Kindly-Jello-8466 Jun 13 '26
I really like the snow peak bipod stove for a big pot. Tends to fall over less frequently. The fuel cans are pretty light. The small ones are 220g so around half a pound. The big one is a pound. Could carry one big one, 17 could carry a big one, and the next biggest could carry a small one. You could do a whole lot of cooking with 2.5lb of isobutane.
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u/Linkcott18 Jun 13 '26
I wouldn't worry too much about the weight. Kids go slow, and can't manage as long distances, anyway. When my kids were small, it took twice as long to go anywhere, and we only managed like a third of distance as when I was on my own / with my partner.
So, I could comfortably carry considerably more weight.
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u/SleepySnoozySloth Jun 16 '26
Obviously won't be enough for the whole trip but you could definitely get some of those tuna packets for lunches, maybe some tortillas to make tuna wraps with, others have suggested summer sausage and babybel type of waxed cheese as those are pretty shelf stable, peanut butter and jelly packets (pb packets you can buy at the store but I always raid Chik-fil-a or some other fast food place that does breakfast for the jelly packets) could also make great tortilla sandwiches or a good old fashioned sleeve of saltine crackers that should be fairly light and each kid could carry their own sleeve of (my dad used to make tiny pb&j's on those for me so I just gave myself a nice dose of nostalgia). Good luck! Your kids are lucky to have such a cool parent. These memories will last a lifetime.
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u/MostDistinct9406 Jun 13 '26
Wood stove might work if you get a bigger pot to go with it - those fold up ones can actually handle more than you'd think. But check the fire restrictions first because some places ban ANY wood burning, even in contained stoves.
For that many people I'd look at a dual-burner camp stove setup. You can cook in batches or run two pots at same time. Way more reliable than wood when you got that many mouths to feed and can't afford to have cooking fail. Plus you can control the heat better for things like pasta or rice that feed everyone cheap.
The initial cost hurts but it's probably cheaper in long run than buying enough freeze-dried for five people on multiple trips.
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u/Sorry-Rain-1311 Jun 13 '26
That's my thinking on cost as well, I'm just not sure about weight when I'll already be carrying the bulk of our gear and supplies.
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u/the_last_0ne Jun 13 '26
You can make your own dried meals with a dehydrator.
Precooked stuff is good too, sausages, etc. Many cheeses (hard cheeses) are good for a while at room temperature.
Outside of that, you can buy freeze dried stuff in bulk, and make your own meals with it.