Any good One-Pot recipies out there?

[Hetchy]

Sorry, but as I have stated before: I have not had TV for 8 months and I have no friends(nearby) so y'all are my victims... HA! Though I plan to repay you with posts and trail reports from the towns and intenet cafes along the PCT this summer so it's not a total one sided thing.
First let me tell you where I am at with this whole 5 months of food thing.
I have been collecting supplies (and trying them each night) for this "little" thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail for many weeks now.
Yet, until tonight I had not actually begun to consolidate them into indiviual resupply boxes.. OMG! 18-12"X12"X5" boxes loaded with crap! And that ain't all of it yet. I intend to buy the other half of my comestibles from the trail towns along the way. I figure they must be hurting as much or worse than we are here in Santa Cruz(Los Gatos Hills). And I want to remain flexible 'cause I just know that whole grain spaghetti is gonna get real old by the half way point (Drakesbad Guest Ranch by the way.. mile 1353.3). I have already been living off my trail food for the last month and sleeping in the yard trying out shelters and such.. is it April yet?!
I guess the point of all this rambling is: Does anyone have any cool trail recipies?
I have mixed up milkshakes with milk powder, pudding mix and ovaltine.. shaken in a tupperware bowl and they are to die for.. but I am easily impressed.
Does anyone have any one-pan wonders I should try? I sure appreciate any advice and you can bet I will give it a try immediately, as I have already burned more denatured alcohol here while home cookin' up stuff on the Trangia than I planned for the whole trip.
My requirements are:
It must cook in a one liter pot; water just to a boil or two minutes beyond boil.. no longer. & It must be tasty.(Remember: I am the guy that eats.. uh ate.. milkbone dog biscuits for trailsnacks (once!)so I am not too hard to please.. just looking for variety).
Hey! Thanks in advance for any replies.. I know I seem to be a strange cat, but very soon(APRIL 16) I will be a VERY hungry strange cat. And I need to mix up the friskies so I don't go nuts(more nuts?).
Thanks, Hetchy

[copeg]

One of my favorite trail recipes is Annie's mac and cheese (the microwavable kind) - come in small packets and are easy to make. I like combining them with some baby carrots or something heavy but healthy like that. I also like instant rice with dehydrate refried beans and some taco seasonining - spread on tortillas and top with cheese.
If you are unfamiliar, check out http://www.freezerbagcooking.com. I've tried a few of the recipes there and while I haven't been extremely satisfied with them, they get the job done. I'm also not a huge fan of poring boiling water into a plastic bag, but you can easily just make them in the pot. The advantage to them is that you easily customize however you wish (for a future pct hiker like you, for many of them I'd recommend pumping them full of carbs like olive oil and/or nuts).
If you are cooking on a triangia, I'd recommend some sort of cozy - be it for your pot or for a bag. Definitely helps 'finishing off' many one pot meal.

[Hetchy]

Thanks Trailblazer! I am gonna give the freezer bag site a try as well as your recipe. I just got home from plumbing a house in the downpour rain today. I went into the kitchen and cooked up a good quick dish with the Trangia. I just brought a liter of water to boil and added it to my lidded bowl into which I had put: 2 cups Instant stuffing mix, 1/4 cup instant milk powder, 1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes, a dash of Butter Buds, a dash of Dried ground Garlic, a dash of dried ground Onion, and a dash of sea salt. After 2 minutes I tossed the lot with my plastic spork. It was delicious! I like your idea of adding veggies.. I wish I had read this post first as I have a freezer full of home made dried ground mixed vegetable powders.
Dessert last night was Instant rice, milk powder, sugar(like I need more sugar!), Nutmeg, cinnamin, and butter buds... That sure was good!
For a pot cozy I have always inverted my fleece sleeping hat and placed my hot food laden lidded tupperware into it and folded the earflaps over the top.. the best part is that I have a warm hat to put on as I begin to eat chow!
It is funny that I am cooking more at home now than ever before in preparation for leaving home for a long time! I truly live a life in reverse sometimes! Cheers & Thanks, Hetchy

P.S. I found someone to take care of my Leopard Geko.. A relief because I thought I might have take him along on the PCT.. I don't think he would dig the snow too much. There is very little left standing in the way of my PCT dream now, just time. Is it April yet?!

[nevadasmith]

Hetchy, I may have to try that out, sounds like rice pudding, I think I would probably add some raisins to the mix.

[fishmonger]

(for a future pct hiker like you, for many of them I'd recommend pumping them full of carbs like olive oil and/or nuts).

Olive oil is a zero-carb food

it does contain 100 percent fat, though

[AlmostThere]

Have you looked at onepanwonders.com?

A Fork in the Trail is another source of good food - instead of throwing together dry/freeze dried ingredients, you cook a whole meal and follow instruction to dehydrate it. Make up a bunch of those and intersperse with simpler recipes and hopefully alleviate the food boredom.

Pack It Gourmet is a great source of food items and ingredients, as is Harmony House Foods. Pack It has a great grocery section, including some really good powdered dairy products.

[East Side Hiker]

I am trying to do the mtns without cooking at all. My coffee is cold. I'm eating stuff thats not cooked. I'm not carrying a stove. I don't know if there's a trade off, weight wise, between not carrying a stove and gas, and taking seeds and dried fruit. I seem to have enough energy.

Any thoughts?

[AlmostThere]

I am trying to do the mtns without cooking at all. My coffee is cold. I'm eating stuff thats not cooked. I'm not carrying a stove. I don't know if there's a trade off, weight wise, between not carrying a stove and gas, and taking seeds and dried fruit. I seem to have enough energy.

Any thoughts?

I tried that, once.... Do you find you get bored with the menu, or your food sits in the stomach like lumps? Are you using food bars or just raw fruits and nuts?

I think I might be able to with enough variety - I can't stand eating the same thing over and over, myself. I think the closest I could come to going totally cold would be to bring the stainless steel mug and some Esbit, using half or a quarter of a tab to heat up water for a cup of tea every day.

I'm too spoiled to go completely cold food all the time, now that I know the wonders of hot coffee or tea at 10,000 feet on a chilly night under a tarp as the rain patters down. But maybe that's a challenge for next summer, come up with a menu of cold items that's tolerable AND light. Just found some iced coffee mix at the dollar store, packaged in very compact single serving tubes.

[East Side Hiker]

I do love to eat, and I love to cook when I'm at home. I make splendid squash dishes all winter that are to die for.

But over the years, I've been getting more and more impatient with cooking in the mtns. I've been thru the gauntlet from Boy Scouts in the mid 60's, carrying all that heavy stuff in a canvas backpack on a wooden frame, thru the lentils, rice, etc, phase of the 70's, etc. etc. on to now. So summer before last, I began trying to go without a stove. Its been working out OK, but I could use help diversifying my menu.

I'm weird because I don't get bored eating the same boring stuff meal after meal, and I don't care about cold coffee or food when I'm in the mtns. I just want to wander and photograph and look at stuff.

I've been eating dried fruit and veggies, nuts, and dehydrated stuff I get from the Mormon Emergancy Food store, with cold water. I seem to do OK energy wise, and have had some good up-to-10 day trips without cooking. And I have 2 10 day trips and a month planned for this summer.

Basically, I use dried green beans, broccoli, peppers, squash, and various fruits; potatoes, oatmeal, wheat germ, powdered milk, noodles, Folgers coffee; sunflower seeds and peanuts; and vitamins.

[gary c.]

East Side, I'm not sure how well precooked pasta would re-hydrate with cold water but it would be worth trying out. Just hydrate your pasta and veggies then drain and add some parmesan cheese and it should be pretty good. Even better would be to add a packet of italian dressing but it sounds like you are cutting wieght to ultra-lite status. If the pasta does not come out well you could also try the ramen type noodles.