[at-l] Cooking System

["Mayer, Jim" <JMayer@crt.xerox.com>]

Hi all,

I just came up with an idea for a "cooking system" and was wondering if
anyone out there has used something like it.

The idea came from the folks at the ADK-AMC Winter Mountaineering Camp...
because they share cooking they use a "boil water only" system... they never
put anything in the pots except water.  Their basic assumption is that folks
use freeze-dried meals.  Anyway, they note that for winter use you need an
insulated pouch to hold the food, and suggest repackaging the meals into
ziploc bags.

So, I tried a couple of freeze dried meals and didn't much like them.  The
food was OK, but somehow the thought of spending six dollars a pop for the
stuff was more than I could handle.  So I started figuring out if I could
make "add boiling water only" meals with my dehydrator (the answer is yes...
greens rehydrate almost instantly).

Anyway, to get to the real point... It occurred to me that the starches I
use (instant rice, instant grits, some pasta, cous-cous, etc.) all work fine
in the "add boiling water" mode.  It also occurred to me that the real
problem was rehydrating the veggies.  So here is the final idea...

	(1) Package the meal in two bags.  The outer bag is a 1 quart ziploc
freezer bag
	     and holds the starch, etc. and the inner bag.

	(2) The inner bag holds the hard to rehydrate stuff.

	(3) To cook, remove the inner bag and put the outer bag in the
insulated pouch.

	(4) Add the contents of the inner bag to cold water and bring to a
boil.

	(5) Add the "soup" to the outer bag, stir, seal the outer bag, close
the pouch,
	    and wait.

	(6) Fold over the edges of the outer bag (to make a rim and keep the
bag
	     from folding on itself) and eat.

The big advantage here is virtually no cleanup: the pot will always come
clean with just a rinse, the ziploc bag just gets sealed up and put back in
the food bag, and the spoon I can lick.  The pouch (which I made from
Reflectix, aluminum foil tape, contact cement, and Velcro) replaces the pot
cozy that I've used to let food cook without simmering.

The insulating pouch weighs 1.2 oz (twice what the cozy weighs), but I can
get an ounce back by carrying a 0.9L titanium pot instead of the 1.3L pot I
normally carry.

Weight:
	2.6 oz		Homemade alcohol stove (including wind screen and
stand)
	5.0 oz		pot (0.9l Evernew titanium)
	1.2 oz		insulated pouch

	9.6 oz		Everything, including stove, pot, pouch, and lighter

Materials:
	Reflectix is basically foil covered bubble wrap.  I can get it at
home center style
	stores, where it is sold for insulating things like pipes and duct
work (I guess).

	The aluminum foil tape is sold for taping Reflectix.  It is neat
stuff.

	Reflectix can be glued very effectively using contact cement.  I
mostly used
	the tape to cover edges to make spill cleanup easy.

	I used Velcro to hold down a top flap of the pouch.  I attached it
with contact
	cement.  A big rubber band might work just as well and would be
easier to clean
	up after a spill.

	The folded pouch is about 8 inches wide and 6 inches high.

Any thoughts?

-- Jim Mayer
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