Gotta eat, but don't want to cook/boil

[happyriding]

I did my first tour last summer: 2 1/2 months.  I took cooking gear, but after the first two weeks, I stopped using it.  It was just too much of a hassle to cook and clean up--especially in bear country.  I even carried a plexiglass bear cannister to put my food in. 

I stopped cooking, but I rarely ate in restaraunts.   I picked a destination for each evening, and before setting up camp, I stopped at a grocery store and bought food for dinner and breakfast.  Sometimes a store was right near where I camped, and sometimes I had to carry my food for 20 miles. I ate turkey jerky, nuts, bagels, lunch meat, fruit, carrots, milk, granola, and cookies.

Then I stopped during the day at a grocery store and bought similar items for lunch, as well as 5-7 Cliff bars.  I always had at least one meal in my panniers for an emergency.  I found that I was so hungry that any food tasted great.

[Paul A]

I always carry a small jar of peanut butter and a spoon, if nothing else.

[mucknort]

I couldn't imagine NOT bringing cooking gear on tour, but as a cooking break I highly recommend hitting Subway Restaurants. A 6" breakfast sandwich is $2.50 and a footlong lunch/dinner sub is $5. The great thing is you can load it up with tons of veggies at no extra charge.

[Westinghouse]

I am seriously considering doing the Atlantic coast starting in a few days from now. I plan to take a small stove and cook along the way. I am checking the weather. I hope to start when it is still just warm in Florida, and not yet into the high 80s and low 90s. If I can get far north when the cold weather has gone and it is still nice and cool, that would be great. They are getting a lot of rain in Piladelphia .

[Westinghouse]

Cooking or not cooking, you still have plenty of opportunities for good food. Some stretches of the USA have little more than convenience store fare for days if you are on a bike. Sometimes C stores have small restaurants with booths where you can get chicken with potato logs, and pizza, and of course out in the southwest there is plenty of Mexican food. Cooking is far from being a necessity on a transcontinental tour. I cooked nearly all the way across once, but that was because my girlfriend went with me and it became apparent that cooking for two was a lot less expensive than two eating in restaurants all the time. To cook or not to cook. That is the question. The answer is---Suit yourself. You should be just fine either way.

[BigSherm]

Here's an alternative that's not cooking, and not going to a restaurant, kind of-

In preparation for my first tour, I've been experimenting with cooking in my thermos!

So far, I've made really good chili, lasagne (yes, lasagne!), stew, and I've even cooked two chicken thighs, all in my little 18oz thermos food container.

My thinking is this:  at a convenience store when I'm buying beverages or snacks, use their microwave to boil the ingredients of one of these different meals, throw it in the thermos, and hours later it's freaking delicious!

It really makes great oatmeal overnight, too, if you use real oats.  No instant necessary.

Next stop, clean out the thermos in their sink and repeat.

Google thermos cooking and you'll see tons of recipes, etc.

For my expected huge appetite on a long tour, I've got the 48oz Nissan Thermos food container ordered!

Sherm

[bogiesan]

The Nissan 48 ounce wide mouth unit by Thermos tips the scales at 2 pounds. And it relies on external energy and technologies to function. Not saying the Nissan a bad idea, just saying an alcohol stove (and a bit of fuel) and a titanium cup with a plastic spoon would keep you independent.

david boise ID

[staehpj1]

The Nissan 48 ounce wide mouth unit by Thermos tips the scales at 2 pounds. And it relies on external energy and technologies to function. Not saying the Nissan a bad idea, just saying an alcohol stove (and a bit of fuel) and a titanium cup with a plastic spoon would keep you independent.

Not sure if other vacuum flasks weigh substantially less,  but at 48 ounces I can't imagine carrying one.  My whole cook set including pot, cup, utensils, lighter, stove, windscreen, and scrubbing pad weighs 11 ounces and a bottle of fuel another 8 ounces or so.

[jim623mo]

I have given up cooking on my tours. I pack enough snacks for a couple of days, restocking as I go. Jerky, dried fruit, energy bars, and the like are fine for me. First thing after breaking camp, I eat a bit, then set out with plenty of water until I get to a spot where I can get a meal of some kind. A big lunch or dinner will get me through the afternoon and evening. This has worked well on the Pacific Coast from Olympia to Monterrey, the Olympic Peninsula, SR 20 from Mt Vernon to Metaline Falls, WA to Michigan, etc. In Alaska, a lodge served me a warm peanut butter and jelly sandwich with coffee for breakfast -- perfect, as it turned out. In Europe, my wife and I never cook in camp: breakfast is usually the challenge unless one finds a bakery next door to a bar/coffee spot.  Again, we have a supply of easy to carry snacks and make do until lunch. 

[Westinghouse]

IMO, BigSherm just solved the problem. I wouldn't have thought of that. Use microwaves in C'stores. If I ever do another wintertime, E-W crossing on the ST again, I assure you I will take that advice to heart. You could get a can of realy good soup, put it in a container, microwave it, put it in a thermos, and there you have it.

[ACEasterling]

I did a ten day tour around Florida and the only food I ate was trail mix,nutrigrain bars and 2 footlongs from Subway a day. I am planning a 2500 mile ride in 9 months and will stick to that, maybe mix it up here and there with some of the suggestions above.

[Pat Lamb]

I did a ten day tour around Florida and the only food I ate was trail mix,nutrigrain bars and 2 footlongs from Subway a day. I am planning a 2500 mile ride in 9 months and will stick to that, maybe mix it up here and there with some of the suggestions above.

I'm curious; how often is that possible?  I don't recall seeing a Subway between Hutchinson, KS, and Pueblo, CO, some 400 miles, just to name one stretch.  To be honest, I may have missed one or two.  I expected to be eating a lot more subs than I actually did on that trip.

[nomad]

IMO, BigSherm just solved the problem. I wouldn't have thought of that. Use microwaves in C'stores. If I ever do another wintertime, E-W crossing on the ST again, I assure you I will take that advice to heart. You could get a can of realy good soup, put it in a container, microwave it, put it in a thermos, and there you have it.

Beware of long-term heat turning solids to mush!  On a somewhat related note, how great would it be if campgrounds had coin-operated propane stoves?

[bogiesan]

Beware of long-term heat turning solids to mush!  On a somewhat related note, how great would it be if campgrounds had coin-operated propane stoves?
[/quote]

The other two issues would remain for the OP: carrying eating utensils and cleaning up.

In Iderho, someone would just steal the propane tank.

 

[Kittery Rider]

You all should check out the backpacking forums for cooking ideas.  I carry a 3oz stove " not alcohol" 5oz canister of fuel and a titanium pot, 4ozs.  Freeze dried meals weigh next to nothing and are not bad.  I guess I am used to roughing it in the back country.  Ni cooking ever.  Big pain and bears love the smell.  Can't imagine pulling up to a Huddle house and getting a biscuit!!!  Thats would rock in the woods.