Cold Cooked Minute Rice and Beans--My New Favorite Lunch

Have a favorite trail recipe or technique you'd like to share? Please do! We also like reviews of various trail food products out there. The Backcountry Food Topix forum is the place to discuss all things related to food and nourishment while in the Sierra wilderness (as well as favorite trail head eateries).
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powderhound
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Cold Cooked Minute Rice and Beans--My New Favorite Lunch

Post by powderhound »

I had a bit of a food mishap a couple years ago on the trail and ended up eating some of my dinner food for lunch. I previously had been eating cliff bars and trail mix for lunch as I hiked, but discovered that I can rehydrate minute rice and instant refried beans (Santa Fe Bean Co) together in a zip lock bag without heating any water. I just move the bag of rice/beans into an outer pocket on my pack in the morning before I leave, add water when I start getting hungry for a more substantial meal than energy bars, and let it soak for about 20 minutes while I hike. That's it! Just let it soak for 20 minutes in cold water, preferably in a pocket close to my body or on the outside of my pack in the sun, and I can eat a sizable lunch with almost no time spent preparing it.

I have no idea if this is a common practice or not, but it's something I discovered due to an accident and it turned out to be one of my best practices. Rice and beans sure do taste good after hiking for 5 hours!
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gary c.
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Re: Cold Cooked Minute Rice and Beans--My New Favorite Lunch

Post by gary c. »

Sounds like it would be good and should even save some wt over the Cliff Bar.
"On this proud and beautiful mountain we have lived hours of fraternal, warm and exalting nobility. Here for a few days we have ceased to be slaves and have really been men. It is hard to return to servitude."
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longri
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Re: Cold Cooked Minute Rice and Beans--My New Favorite Lunch

Post by longri »

Anything tastes better than a Clif bar.
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Wandering Daisy
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Re: Cold Cooked Minute Rice and Beans--My New Favorite Lunch

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Depends if you are carrying much more water. Hydration while hiking is not something I do because I really try to reduce the amount of water I carry. I am a compulsive "gram counter". But I agree that cliff bars are not the best. I prefer to make my own "gorp" type mix.

I do see this method as valuable if you plan on hiking until dark and then can have instant dinner. A fellow on another forum did the CDT for an entire month, "no-cook" - did not even take a stove. He said it was not bad at all. But then those thru-hikers walk from dawn to dusk and actually get into towns quite often to fill up on regular food. I would think the no-cook method would be great for 2-3 day trips, where the weight of the stove is hard to justify. But I tried it once and the cold coffee convinced me that no-cook is not for me. I really like my hot food, too.

It would be interesting to experiment with other dry food and see what happens.
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Re: Cold Cooked Minute Rice and Beans--My New Favorite Lunch

Post by fishmonger »

Wandering Daisy wrote: I would think the no-cook method would be great for 2-3 day trips, where the weight of the stove is hard to justify.
Not hard to justify for me. I'll start worrying about stove weight when I can't pass people on the switchbacks any longer. Any overnight trip, I want my hot coffee in the morning. I'd leave a few pounds of camera lenses behind before I question my hot coffee ritual :unibrow:
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