New to all of this, but - Good/Favorite meals to cook?

[AaronB]

Hi guys my name is Aaron.

I am 20 and I am relatively new to all of this. I had a neighbor that had a blue road bike outside of his house for a few days. Upon further speculation and discussion turns out it was an 80s? Schwinn Le Tour and it could be mine for 30 dollars. After a quick ebay search to make sure I wouldn't be ripped off I took the bike off his hands. Needless to say I love it and what it has done for me, it has gotten me to work through alot of car troubles, and I have been on a few 15-25 miles rides. Since then I have become aware of the whole bicycle touring adventure. I am expected to get a Fuji, a used 2009 Fuji Sport soon off of ebay. Once I have the right equipment I am planning to do several small tours through out Texas and California once I move there in Feb. These will all one day build up to the tour I want to do across America. That is just a little about me since this is my first post.

This isn't entirely another post about tell me all you can for a first time tourist because I have already been ghosting this forum and it has an abundance of good advice, thank you for that. What I seem to have failed to notice is any fun threads about cooking recipes on tours.

With my tours I hope to camp as much as possible, if possible, and am already planning meals with ingredients that are reasonable enough to carry. When touring and camping out what are some of your favorite things to cook? Do you do anything different or add any spices or anything that could make a basic meal after a 50-70 mile bike ride awesome?

[FredHiltz]

Hi Aaron,

Eating is always a popular topic in this crowd. You might start with searches for "cooking" and for "recipe" to see what we have already. Do this from the main forum page to get posts from all the groups.

Fred

[DaveB]

An advantage to bicycle touring/camping is that, unlike backpacking, you don't have to have the entire trip's meals with you from the start.  Every town you ride through is an opportunity to restock for your next meal. 

I would keep both the cooking gear and stove relativly simple as they are both bulky and heavy. 

[geegee]

I'm one for easy one pot combinations of dry staple+something canned+something fresh if available.
For example rice + canned soup + chopped veggies.

My faves:
cream of mushroom soup + canned chicken chunks + peas, poured over rice
Mac and cheese with a can of smoked mussels stirred in
couscous + chunks of ham + small jar of salsa
Ramen noodles + canned tuna or salmon + egg

[johnsondasw]

We sometimes stop in the afternoon to buy hamburger, spaghetti sauce, and pasta noodles, then ride another hour or two.  At camp, brown the meat, add jar or can of sauce, boil the noodles and you've got an easy, quick dinner with protein and carbs.  Once, we did this every day for about 10 days in a row. 

Tuna fish and minute rice, with a can of cream of celery soup is another fast and nutritious meal. 

For breakfast every day I have oatmeal with PB, apple slices, raisins, nuts, etc all mixed in. 

Lunch consists of bagels with PB or cheese, apples, chocolate bars.

We carry very little food when touring in areas where there are towns.  You don't need to--all this kind of stuff is available in even very small towns.

Eating well on a bike tour is much easier than on backpack or climbing trips.

[raybo]

This page has 21 links to information about food and bike touring.  Not all of the links will be of interest to you but several provide recipes and other foods that go well when touring.

Ray

[indyfabz]

Cooking after a long day in the saddle is one of my favorite parts of touring.  Weight be damned, I take a good kitchen setup.  MSR Dragoinfly stove w/22 oz fuel bottle, two-pot set, folding spatula and ladle, small cutting board, a plastic bottle with olive oil and four 1 oz. Nalgene bottles containing salt, black pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.  During my 8-day trip this summer I even took a small santoku knife.  My body craves carbs. when riding every day, and I usually make pasta with a protein source, such as chicken or sausage, and fresh vegetables if available.  I cook the meat and veggies in the smaller pot first then set aside.  I then cook the pasta.  While I am draining the pasta, I put the smaller pot back on the stove to re-heat.  Then I mix the two together and it's bon apetite.

When pickings were slim, I have had to resort to something like pasta with canned chilli.  I usually carry at least a 1/2 lb. of pasta with me in case I cannot get groceries for dinner.  That and the olive oil keeps me covered.

You will probably have to get creative on occasion.  I did AC's Northern Tier tour.  One day the "grocery store" at the campground where we stayed was not much more than a gas station convenience store with a few more basic items.  The best we could do was pasta with red sauce and canned peas and canned corn.  It was the lamest meal of the trip.

Oh...Don't forget the corkscew.  You can get a plasic one that weighs next to nothing.

[FrankenTank]

This is off topic, but you had a question mark behind the date of your Schwinn.  I've found these sites: http://re-cycle.com/History/Schwinn/SwnB_Serial.aspx#location

http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1981_1990/index.html

useful in dating my '82 Schwinn Traveler.

[AaronB]

Cool cooking stories.

And thank you for that website I was able to find my bike, http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1981_1990/1981_05.html

[Galloper]

I know it might sound a bit daft but I always try and carry some cake then when I stop for the evening, the routine goes: tent up, sleeping bag out to air, kit stowed away and then a large mug of tea and a slice of cake.   A wonderful way to relax before getting a shower, swim or whatever's available.  Then it's time for dinner.

By the way, what's PB?

[johnsondasw]

By the way, what's PB?

Peanut butter.  One of the two food groups.  The other one is chocolate.

I like the cake idea.  I substitute, well, a chocolate bar or chocolate chip cookies, etc.

[Westinghouse]

Oatmeal and raisins cooked to a paste with banana and yogurt thrown in.

[denbec]

1 can Hormel Chili - add one can water (or a bit more), heat to boil and add Idahoan Three Cheese instant potatoes - eat out of the pot.

I don't know about healthy but it certainly is hardy!

[mikedirectory2]

[quote

Peanut butter.  One of the two food groups.  The other one is chocolate.

I like the cake idea.  I substitute, well, a chocolate bar or chocolate chip cookies, etc.

I totally agree!