Pasta Sides

[Chair-man]

Bring a thick paper clip, cut top off pasta side, boil water, poor it in, they are foil lined. let sit for 15-20 minutes.

This is probably the best advice on this thread. The foil lined packets really keep the heat in. I let mine sit for 30 minutes and it's still piping hot and thoroughly cooked and no pot to clean. I suspect the reason some folks feel a bit queasy after eating Knorrs is because it's undercooked which makes your digestive system work twice as hard to break down the food.

I then eat my meal, scrape out my container, lick my spoon and call it good. Next meal both my container and spoon contact boiling water so I'm not worried that it wasn't cleaned perfectly last time.

Colter,

I really enjoyed reading your Alaskan journal. But not cleaning your pot. I don't know man.

[Theosus]

Ive used the knorr sides. Usually I cut them in half, the full bag makes too much for me. Im usually doing one or two nights and just don't get that hungry. Otherwise my meals consist of idahoan potatoes and maybe some beef jerky at night, and grits and a bagel or something in the morning.

[saltysack]

Yes. Good sharp cheddar keeps very well on the trail.


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What is best way to keep a sharp cheddar cheese block good for use while out for 4 days?


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[Hikes in Rain]

Just put it in a baggie. It'll be fine, although it may "weep" a bit of liquid. Won't hurt a thing. Remember, cheese is how we kept milk good without refrigeration for centuries.

[Coffee]

Regarding cheese and pasta, I haven't used blocks of cheese but I have used dried pasta with cheese many times. The Trader Joe's tortellini product, either regular cheese or cheese pesto, is excellent and very cheap ($1.99 or $2.99 for a 16 ounce bag). The Barilla brand is more widely available but quite a bit more expensive. I normally improvise a sauce for this pasta by using a half bag of a Knorr Pesto sauce mix plus plenty of olive oil. It takes some experimentation to determine the right amount of water to use, and also this type of pasta requires quite a bit of time in a pot cozy to rehydrate adequately. I typically boil water, add the pasta, bring it back to a boil and then put in a pot cozy for ten minutes. Then I bring the pasta to a boil again and put it back in the cozy for another 5-10 minutes. End result is very good and better than mac & cheese. Vastly better than a Knorr's side. But I still eat Mac & cheese quite a bit since it is easier to find even in the smallest convenience store.

[Another Kevin]

Just put it in a baggie. It'll be fine, although it may "weep" a bit of liquid. Won't hurt a thing. Remember, cheese is how we kept milk good without refrigeration for centuries.

I recently learnt that an even better approach is to wrap hard cheese in waxed paper, and then overwrap loosely with plastic wrap. Apparently it sweats less if it isn't tightly sealed in a ziploc.

[saltysack]

Thx I'll give it a try


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[saltysack]

I do quite a bit of "freezer bag cooking" and have used various brands. The key is to get freezer bags and not storage bags. Quart-sized bags work well. Ziploc sells some now that have flat bottoms.

Trailcooking has some information about the safety aspect.

My favorite is "Thanksgiving dinner" - some instant mashed potatoes, instant gravy, instant stuffing, and some canned meat. For weekend trips I will prep the ziploc bags ahead of time (adding all the dry ingredients). On the trail I add the meat to the bag, add boiling water, and let sit for 5-10 minutes. It is a little more expensive than some other freezer bag recipes (Lipton sides, for example), but I recently priced it out with some friends on my last trip. They bought a $10 Mountain House meal. My ingredients cost about the same, but I was able to get 3-4 meals out of it. Had I left meat out the price per meal would have been about $2.

Bg
Sent u pm


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[AO2134]

So I did my first two freezer bag cooking attemps recently. I did Idahoan, which was great and I also did a Pasta side recently. It turned out to be a little soupy, but it was fully cooked and with minimal clumping. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it even more given that I saved $7 per meal compared to mountain house meal.

[wormer]

I do my pasta and rice same as Gambit McCrae & Chair-man. Pour hot water into the bag that the pasta came in, seal the bag with a clip and eat after 10- 15 minutes. I now eat the Knorrs rice and pasta at home the same way.

[lal2wx]

I'm still inconsistent on getting pasta sides to be cooked perfectly and not soupy, but I find I'm hungry so a little extra soupiness doesn't really matter. I'm of the mindset that pasta sides are so processed that making sure it's not slightly undercooked isn't an issue in regards to not being sick. You're not cooking a steak or anything.

With FBC, I always use heavy duty ziploc freezer bags. They won't burst and leak on you, and they're well enough made that after packing them out I can clean and reuse them to cut down on plastic garbage. If you're FBC'ing, dumping into a bowl to eat from doesn't make a lot of sense to me as there is now a container that needs to be cleaned. A pot cozy made from a sunshine windshield reflector with a bottom that holds the bag upright is great.

[Rocket Jones]

Carry a little extra instant mashed potato flakes, parmesan cheese or instant refried beans. Any of those will thicken up a soupy meal without affecting the flavor.

[Ken.davidson]

On my latest hike I tried Knorr sides for the first. I am normally only doing FBC cooking. The first time I made them in my pot boiling then simmering them per directions. The second time I used the bag from the box with my trusty cozy. For me the original bag is the best option. Both options produced a great flavorful meal of equal consistency flavor. I will be using Knorr sides in the future hikes.

[atmilkman]

I recently learnt that an even better approach is to wrap hard cheese in waxed paper, and then overwrap loosely with plastic wrap. Apparently it sweats less if it isn't tightly sealed in a ziploc.

Nice tip. Next time I'm gonna try this only loosely in a baggie not zipped.

[RED-DOG]

I do a lot of freezer bag cooking and the freezer bags works perfectly fine but about a year ago I bought a Mountain House meal and when I was finished with the meal I started looking at the bag itself and decided to try one instead of a freezer bag works great and you don't need a cozy, so now what I do is I will buy one Mountain house meal every week or every two weeks and just simply Re-use the bag the meal came in instead of a freezer bag works great and I don't have to carry all that freezer bag trash.

[lonehiker]

[QUOTE=RED-DOG;1921323]I do a lot of freezer bag cooking and the freezer bags works perfectly fine but about a year ago I bought a Mountain House meal and when I was finished with the meal I started looking at the bag itself and decided to try one instead of a freezer bag works great and you don't need a cozy, so now what I do is I will buy one Mountain house meal every week or every two weeks and just simply Re-use the bag the meal came in instead of a freezer bag works great and I don't have to carry all that freezer bag trash.[/QUOTE

So you have to wash the MH bag after each meal? If that is the case, doesn't it defeat the purpose of FBC?

[gbolt]

I do a lot of freezer bag cooking and the freezer bags works perfectly fine but about a year ago I bought a Mountain House meal and when I was finished with the meal I started looking at the bag itself and decided to try one instead of a freezer bag works great and you don't need a cozy, so now what I do is I will buy one Mountain house meal every week or every two weeks and just simply Re-use the bag the meal came in instead of a freezer bag works great and I don't have to carry all that freezer bag trash.

+1 I buy one MH and two to three Knorrs Side and use the MH as the cook bag instead of a freezer bag. I don't usually do the pasta sides, but love the rice meals as many have suggested.

[shelb]

I haven't used pasta sides since I figured out how to cook mac & cheese in my Jetboil. It is a much more satisfying meal.

While I enjoy the pasta and rice sides (with added meat), I am intrigued by your post. How do you cook Mac & cheese in a jetboil without burning anything? (I only like to heat water in my JetBoil because of the burn factor!)