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  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by squeezebox View Post
    I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.
    At age 25 you can go a long time on things like pop tarts and Snickers bars before you are aware of the negative impact it is having on your health. I'm 46 and very much feel the health benefits of better food. Carrying a stove does not automatically mean you eat better, but I suspect going stoveless works best for the younger crowd.

  2. #22
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    I've gone stove less on a couple of overnight and three day hikes in the heat of summer. I was fine. Anything longer or cooler weather, no way.

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by squeezebox View Post
    I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.
    I eat dry oatmeal stove less, pour some in your mouth then take a swig of water and swallow. You just got to shift the focus from meals having to be an enjoyable experience to it just being a necessary function. Plenty dry things you can still eat, taste isn't always great but that's not important.


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  4. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by jj dont play View Post
    I eat dry oatmeal stove less, pour some in your mouth then take a swig of water and swallow. You just got to shift the focus from meals having to be an enjoyable experience to it just being a necessary function. Plenty dry things you can still eat, taste isn't always great but that's not important.


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  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by squeezebox View Post
    I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.
    You make a generally good point, but that's a poor example. Assuming you're referring rolled oats as bought in a supermarket, they are not "raw". They are parboiled, and can easily be eaten without further cooking. Look up "muesli." (Don't try that with steel cut oats.) Other dehydrated items that are generally cooked, but don't have to be, are instant mashed potatoes, Ramen noodles, instant refried beans (excellent with corn chips) and couscous. Corn grits do NOT work.

    Also consider the last day or two before resupply for a stoveless hiker. The pack is definitely lighter then!

    For stoveless hiking to be successful, it may help to stop thinking about traditional "meals." I can eat quite a bit at every break, say five or six times a day, and call it good. One advantage I think of when I hike in grizzly country is there are no cooking odors. That's probably mainly psychological, but it's important for those with a bit of a grizz phobia.

    Pop tarts and Snickers never make it into my food bag. Lots of nuts and nut butters, cheese, tortillas, dried fruit, rolled oats--it's a pretty good diet of mostly real food, lots of whole grain and natural fats. On my AT hike I did not lose more than couple of pounds, and returned to my job as a firefighter with little noticeable loss of strength or muscle mass.
    "Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning

  6. #26
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    Use Esbit stove and tablets. Bring along a scrubber for the bottom of your cooking pot. Almost weightless, takes up almost no space, reliable
    You never know just what you can do until you realize you absolutely have to do it.
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  7. #27

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    I really think a warm meal at the end of the day is spirit lifting. Considering the light weight of a cat can stove with a little alcohol fuel and a titanium pot, you can bring it and only cook a couple times a week to change things up and it would be worth it.
    Whether you think you can, or think you can't--you're right--Henry Ford; The Journey Is The Destination

  8. #28
    Registered User GriZZiLLa_Ga-Me09's Avatar
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    Everything is comparable. What doesn't kill you makes you..........
    Regardless whether you have a stove or not the last couple days before resupply are lighter. Last time with crappy gear i weighed in near 35 lbs after resupply and was flying with a 25 pack going into resupply.
    Compare my trail legs to that of someone who topped out at 20lbs and well you get the idea.
    Made Moosilaukie and the rest of the Whites look like foothills. Never stopped on any NOBO ascent. I pushed myself to that point though. The stove and fuel in my pack did not weigh me down one bit. It seems of all the items someone would consider going without, stove would be near the end of that list.

  9. #29
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    Had a stove until Harpers Ferry and sent it home. MSR Pocket Rocket. Picked it up again in Hanover. Was an adjustment to get it back.

    Had a small jar of instant coffee, powdered milk and hot chocolate when I had the stove for the mornings, switched to caffeine pills when stoveless.

    Stoveless:
    Tortillas (heavy) had good calorie content, peanut butter (heavy), went to nutella when I was tired of PB. Also grabbed an 8oz block of cream cheese for the first day or two out of town.
    Belvita breakfast bars
    Pop tarts
    King sized candy bars, any flavor

    With stove: usually Mt. House type meals. Warmth at night and in the morning was very welcome.
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  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lone Wolf View Post
    don't even think of asking someone to boil you some water when you get to a shelter and it's 40 degrees and raining.
    I would never think of it! :-)

  11. #31

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    Like others have said, to go with or without is a personal choice. Personally, I like having a warm meal when it's cold out. There are so many light weight options available. If you don't like fussing with an alcohol stove then you could go with a BRS stove http://www.gearbest.com/camping/pp_116350.html . The stove weighs under 1 ounce (mine came it at .89 ounces). Paired with a 550ml titanium pot and the smaller of the Jetboil Isobutane canisters, you've got yourself a pretty light setup. The canister and stove would fit nicely inside the pot too. Most of the weight is in the canister. The smaller Jetboil canisters I believe have a net weight of 3.5 ounces.
    Last edited by The Roaming Gnome; 10-17-2016 at 12:30.

  12. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by SawnieRobertson View Post
    Use Esbit stove and tablets. Bring along a scrubber for the bottom of your cooking pot. Almost weightless, takes up almost no space, reliable

    Yes that is a very good compromise.

    Thom

  13. #33
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    Don't even need the scrubber as you can always wipe it on grass, moss or sand to clean it!

    I have an Esbit setup that is nowhere near the lightest, but it still weighs in at only 11.7 oz including fuel for breakfast/dinner for 5 days. At that weight I'll never go without my morning coffee and oatmeal or go to bed without a hot dinner. Alky set-up complete with fuel is about 18 oz and still totally reasonable on weight IMO.

  14. #34
    Registered User Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by left52side View Post
    Have you looked into esbit cooking???
    That is A really super ultralight form ,then if you decided you didnt really need/want to cook it would not be that much of A weight penalty ... Also multi functional as you can use the esbit tablets for emergency fire starter.
    I myself like mentioned above find that A hot meal at the end of the day is so rewarding on the the cooler nights.
    Also someone had mentioned above about the days of summer when it is hot not wanting a hot meal.
    In the summer for myself I find myself hiking later into the day with the longer days of sunlight and often not eating dinner until after dark when it has cooled off a bit.
    And even in the summer I still enjoy A hot meal at the end of a long day.
    As far as being able to do it stoveless of course you can and there are lots of people doing it,some are opting to rehydrate there meals with there body heat etc and eating it at room ? temperature .
    I myself use an alcohol stove made by zelph and A 10cm pot made by batchstovez.
    It is always evolving and changing though as I have alot of different variables of alcohol stoves I use under certain circumstances.
    But my kits never weigh over 7 ounces total and I generally never carry more than 12 ounces of fuel at a time.
    But again as mentioned above this is entirely a personal decision for you to make.
    I myself would check out an esbit stove,sounds like it might be right up your alley.
    Here is A link from zpacks and the stove they carry.
    http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/esbit_stove.shtml
    Uh Esbit sucks if you have Aluminum pots. Have you found a way to clean them or are you using something else?
    Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

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  15. #35
    Registered User GriZZiLLa_Ga-Me09's Avatar
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    The wise old owl sat on the oak.
    The more things it heard, the less that it spoke.
    The less that it spoke, the more that it heard.
    Why can't we all be more like this wise old bird.

    Off topic-Owl's name just reminded me of a poem. ��

  16. #36
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    Two words boiling coffee. Or the ocatioanl day hot food sounds good just carry a fancy feast stove make a wind screen and boom easy to use. Light and can be stowed at minimal weight hit.
    Hiking the AT is “pointless.” What life is not “pointless”? Is it not pointless to work paycheck to paycheck just to conform?.....I want to make my life less ordinary. AWOL

  17. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    Uh Esbit sucks if you have Aluminum pots. Have you found a way to clean them or are you using something else?
    Dido...I love Esbit but that pine tar residue is a deal breaker. It sticks to aluminum, titanium, your hands and clothes.

  18. #38
    Registered User WiredMonk's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FreeGoldRush View Post
    At age 25 you can go a long time on things like pop tarts and Snickers bars before you are aware of the negative impact it is having on your health. I'm 46 and very much feel the health benefits of better food. Carrying a stove does not automatically mean you eat better, but I suspect going stoveless works best for the younger crowd.
    I cannot agree more. I know if I'd had done a thru in my younger years, going without a stove and living on handy snacks would be doable. Now a days...I think my body would pull a Donald Trump and say, "You're fired". (not being political, referring to his "reality" show.). My metabolism doesn't process things the same, and the wrong food will bind things up in a hurry.

    I also enjoy the pause in the day where I prepare some better-than-GORP or boil some water for coffee and just enjoy sitting on my backside and watching nature without just moving through it. I'm ready to go at a slower pace and enjoy the walk. I could drop the pound, pick up the pace and hope that all helps me breeze through the trail. Then, I can come back to civilization and get back to what I'm going to the trail for? The purpose of the trail for me is to get away from things here... I'm going to try to enjoy every moment I can. I'm going to sit there an extra 15-20 minutes and make something worth eating, for my mind and body, then I'm going to stroll at a pace that's one pound heavier/slower than the stoveless folks.

  19. #39

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    Stove, yes.
    I think the no-stove idea is overrated and misrepresented.
    I met hikers (young males, only) who were going oh so very light, making big miles, and eating sports bars and snickers. The only question on their lips was "when does the all-you-can-eat buffett at Pizza Hut open?"

    This is a bastardization of nutrition. A gluttony/starvation cycle. Yes you can do it, if you want...

  20. #40
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    Well, you see what you want to see. I see so many hikers with stoves eating nothing but boxed mac'n'cheese, Knorr's sides, Ramen noodles, and coffee. Great nutrition there, right?

    My no-cook bag includes whole grain muesli and couscous, cheese, nuts and nut butters, dried fruit, fresh vegetables, dried beans and hummus. I completed my AT thru hike (in 3.5 months) weighing the same as when I left home, and returned to my job as a firefighter with no noticeable loss of strength or muscle mass. Mature adults can make a good diet on the trail without a stove.
    "Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning

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